Lifting is complicated for the same reason that dating is complicated. Not everyone is starting from the same place. Not everyone will see the same results, in the same time. That is where the complexity arises. People will see others doing better, and try to find shortcuts, or magic panaceas.

Response depends on your proportion of fast twitch muscle fibers. The more you have the better you'll respond. It really is almost effortless for some. It's genetic. If you're predominantly slow twitch it's going to be a fight. You can make progress, but it will come far more slowly and your potential is limited.

Futhering this:

You lift incorrectly, you get trauma, injuries, I've seen a guy in a gym lose an eye. I've seem people leaving weights where they shouldn't, others trip over them.

You choose your date poorly, you could get trauma and injury too I guess.

The reply you’re quoting could be written by me, though I’m a decade short. It gets complicated for people that compete (bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters, strongmen, crossfitters… and insert the most of the sports), but that is around nationals level specialization. And it gets complicated because the actual problem space varies a lot from sport to sport. But to get there up to that point, one needs the consistency that the most of the people don’t have.

Edit: For an example a bodybuilder, an olympic weightlifter and a greco-roman wrestler all have muscle, but the problem space is very different even though they all share some common set of tools. But in any of these three you’ll get pretty far and see quite a lot of progress just keeping it simple. Optimization is needed only at the very top.

Lift or train about every other day, try to improve from the last time. Eat. If you feel extra tired, rest. If you dont seem to progress, change your regime a bit. Human body is built for adaptation, it’s the only thing we have. It is not complicated.

Yes most of fitness industry isbullshit. But simple =/= easy. Past , for 80% of the 20% rule, the easy simple methods are exhausted and progress generally requires increasingly complex methods when simple methods become too hard. Lifting / growing muscle especially - fatigue / diet management to optimize stress / recovery cycles especially if you're not full time athlete.

Indeed. Everyone wants to be a body builder but nobody wants to lift heavy ass weight.