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Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#121

Post by derekp7 »

stinos wrote: post #79
padobson wrote: post #47

I go to therapy to manage my depression. I don't have a severe case, but it's bad enough that it affects my productivity at times. Once a year or so I'll have a bout where I am almost completely unable to function. The tools I use to manage depression are (wait for it) diet, exercise and prayer (or meditation, if you want to keep it secular). Exercise is particularly useful. Depression affects the mind, so it's diffi…

it's difficult to be self-aware about it I don't have any difficulties myself with being self-aware about it at all, on the contrary. The major difficulty for me is using that knowledge to do something with it. Not sure what is worse: being depressed, or being depressed and knowing that you are and realizing all your thoughts are going downwards into the wrong spiral and not being able to do shit about it. Well, exce…

I've found that hot sauce on some crackers, or jalapeno peppers can do the trick -- it doesn't make me "happy", but moderates some of the "despair" feeling.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#122

Post by DrScump »

jinst8gmi wrote: post #40
cronjobber wrote: post #37

Anecdotal confirmation: Bill Gates, who is widely believed to have a very healthy brain, in more youthful years used to perform silly jumping feats, like jumping out of garbage cans.

Anecdotal counter-example: my dog likes jumping into garbage cans but isn't very smart.

or he is carefully hiding higher intelligence from you.

To paraphrase Steve Martin, if you have $3000 worth of unexplained dog treats and chewy-toys show up at your doorstep, make sure you are shredding your credit card statements before putting them in said garbage can.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#123

Post by DrScump »

DevX101 wrote: post #33

Strong legs are also associated with people who run a lot, which has been already shown to be associated with healthy brains. It's possible this study is a proxy for the common health advice of 'just do more cardio'

Unfortunately, the abstract says nothing about how "leg power" is measured or what exercise regimens were used.

Lifting and sprinting will utilize different fibers (and fuels) than cardio.

I'd also want to see how they corrected for other effects, e.g. sleep. I sleep a lot faster and better a couple of hours after lifting, and that will have other benefits like hGH release.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#124

Post by DrScump »

kaitai wrote: post #95

Full article at https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/441029 Leg strength was tested by "Leg Extensor Power Rig," a custom-built instrument in one of these medical school labs (Nottingham Med School). It's important to remember that for all of these strength tests on average citizens you want an exercise that doesn't require coaching or good form, so no squats, sadly....

That puts disproportional emphasis on quadriceps strength. I had hoped for a broader metric.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#125

Post by xiaoma »

ubercow13 wrote: post #111
xiaoma wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah that makes sense. Still, I stand by my shock. Going to kale before spinach is just nuts (barring pressure from a doctor who doesn't care about your culinary experiences).

Have you tried cooking it though? Kale is one of the greatest stir fry ingredients

I had the misfortune of working at a company that chose to get us lunches from Zesty. I endured more varieties of kale preparation (and avocado which I also dislike unless made into guacamole) in a month than in my entire previous life. So many things were great about that job, but I was actually dreading lunch on most days.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#126

Post by uououuttt »

jperras wrote: post #120
uououuttt wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any runner? Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Of course, the best sprinters work lifting into their training as well.

> Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Considering that "leg strength" is conventionally measured via seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition, I would be extremely surprised if an Olympic sprinter could achieve the same sort of leg strength that an Olympic weightlifter (of similar weight) could attain.

If you define leg strength specifically as "seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition" then sure, the Olympic weight lifter will win.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#127

Post by uououuttt »

kyllo wrote: post #83
uououuttt wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word isn't being redefined. Endurance is the ability to continue exerting physical force over a long duration.

Do you disagree that it's useful to distinguish between strength and endurance? codingdave asserted, "I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K." The former is an example of great endurance (without necessarily having great strength), and the latter is an example of great strength without endurance. You can…

Endurance is the ability to retain strength over an extended period of time, that's all I'm saying.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#128

Post by foldr »

kaitai wrote: post #90
nostrebored wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particularly damning is that the research participants were all female. Anyone who's set foot in a gym knows that women do cardio disproportionately, and that the cardio they do increases thigh musculature...

I have to disagree. Sure women do more cardio, but the cardio increasing thigh musculature? Not a chance. Squatting increases thigh musculature. Doing the elliptical for an hour a day does not. Running slowly or at a medium speed does not. Nor do either lead to any gain in strength anywhere.

Huh? Running certainly increases the strength of your leg muscles. The only possible exception to this would be if you were jogging very very slowly. But if you go from not running at all to running faster than, say, 6mph, your legs will certainly get stronger.

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#129

Post by raverbashing »

makeset wrote: post #114
raverbashing wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the thing, you don't/can't "isolate" development of a muscle, especially a big one Working out has systemic (anabolic) effects

> you don't/can't "isolate" development of a muscle This is not true at all. You may be confusing it with the assertion that you can't isolate individual heads of a particular muscle. Yes, training has some systemic effect through hormonal activity, but muscle anabolism is very highly specific to local stimulus. Otherwise we'd all be just doing curls and watch our legs grow. For a comically extreme example of localiz…

Yes, if you focus your training on one specific muscle, especially if it's a small one (arms basically) you will cause said muscle to be hypertrophied

But you can bet Matthias Schilitte doesn't stand all day training only said muscles (also he has a genetic problem)

Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study

#130

Post by omginternets »

shas3 wrote: post #106
omginternets wrote: post #38

This is actually a fairly old idea and hinges on the role of leg muscles in general circulation and brain irrigation. I don't have the other papers on hand, but I recall there being studies relating sitting time with cognitive performance, the idea being that there's a bit of hypoxia associated with immobility. Edit: An anecdote which I think will resonate with many. Very often I start getting drowsy in front of my c…

Do stronger muscles result in increased blood flow?

I believe so, but take that with a grain of salt. As I remember, the leg muscles play a role in forcing blood back up towards the heart.
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