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How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

nytimes.com

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Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#21

Post by starpilot »

leet_thow wrote: post #15
dirtyid wrote: post #9

Serious lifting or athletics in general necessitates cultivating competent time management, planning skills and self control/discipline. Even more so if you roll into dieting for maintaining weight class or generally aesthetics. Once a lifter exhaust all novice and easy gains which doesn't take long, it's down to planning multi week/month long meso cycles, trouble shooting and learning about about your body, refraini…

On the social comparison note, I don't regret 8 years of constant training in the least, however I do suspect that if you do add a lot of musculature to a tall frame it can be a bit intimidating in engineering cultures where most men are out of shape and view the activity as "meatheadish."

I don't know, in west coast tech centers, it's pretty much a meme that all tech bros rock climb/boulder.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#22

Post by fortran77 »

leet_thow wrote: post #15
dirtyid wrote: post #9

Serious lifting or athletics in general necessitates cultivating competent time management, planning skills and self control/discipline. Even more so if you roll into dieting for maintaining weight class or generally aesthetics. Once a lifter exhaust all novice and easy gains which doesn't take long, it's down to planning multi week/month long meso cycles, trouble shooting and learning about about your body, refraini…

On the social comparison note, I don't regret 8 years of constant training in the least, however I do suspect that if you do add a lot of musculature to a tall frame it can be a bit intimidating in engineering cultures where most men are out of shape and view the activity as "meatheadish."

I'm not sure. Even though I don't want to admit it, I'm sure I, along with many others, would have more confidence in a fit, muscular person than an out-of-shape slovenly one.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#23

Post by GavinMcG »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #12
dirtyid wrote: post #9

Serious lifting or athletics in general necessitates cultivating competent time management, planning skills and self control/discipline. Even more so if you roll into dieting for maintaining weight class or generally aesthetics. Once a lifter exhaust all novice and easy gains which doesn't take long, it's down to planning multi week/month long meso cycles, trouble shooting and learning about about your body, refraini…

Seems like using gear is a pretty easy way to rush this

"Gear" is slang for steroids, hormones, and other chemical aids to muscle development, for those who aren't familiar.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#25

Post by red2awn »

kasey_junk wrote: post #8
Kpourdeilami wrote: post #3

for me personally the biggest benefit of weight training has been the discipline it gives me. Once I stick to my gym plan, everything else in my day falls to its place. Knowing I have to be in the gym every other night from 10 to 11:30, gets me to get my chores done quickly before 10 and not waste time on Reddit/Netflix all night. I also listen to audio books between sets to make a better use of my down time For anyo…

Strong recommendation for the StrongLifts 5x5 iOS app. That said there are some downsides to 5x5. - the lifts in it are simple, but also very easy to hurt yourself with if you don’t have good form. Form work is not emphasized. - there is no flexibility work in it. It’s basically impossible to do strength work without flexibility. To the point 5x5 should likely recommend yoga as a central component or something. - whi…

You are supposed to start with an empty bar and progress from there, so you have a good amount of time at low weight to work on form.

That said, I do agree there should be more flexibility work. The suggested warm ups are also inadequate.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#26

Post by imesh »

leet_thow wrote: post #15
dirtyid wrote: post #9

Serious lifting or athletics in general necessitates cultivating competent time management, planning skills and self control/discipline. Even more so if you roll into dieting for maintaining weight class or generally aesthetics. Once a lifter exhaust all novice and easy gains which doesn't take long, it's down to planning multi week/month long meso cycles, trouble shooting and learning about about your body, refraini…

On the social comparison note, I don't regret 8 years of constant training in the least, however I do suspect that if you do add a lot of musculature to a tall frame it can be a bit intimidating in engineering cultures where most men are out of shape and view the activity as "meatheadish."

I beleive it's all in your head. I used to feel very self conscious in my CS classes about looking like a meathead, but I can't point to in instance during schooling or career where that feeling was confirmed by someone's actions/words.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#27

Post by hueving »

fortran77 wrote: post #22
leet_thow wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the social comparison note, I don't regret 8 years of constant training in the least, however I do suspect that if you do add a lot of musculature to a tall frame it can be a bit intimidating in engineering cultures where most men are out of shape and view the activity as "meatheadish."

I'm not sure. Even though I don't want to admit it, I'm sure I, along with many others, would have more confidence in a fit, muscular person than an out-of-shape slovenly one.

I'm the opposite for hardcore engineers. An in-shape, muscular person looks like they have dedicated a non-trivial amount of time to not software. I presume most people that look like that just see writing software as "a job" and won't be as capable of fully owning anything more complex than small portions of a complex application.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#28

Post by User23 »

valleyjo wrote: post #7
Kpourdeilami wrote: post #3

for me personally the biggest benefit of weight training has been the discipline it gives me. Once I stick to my gym plan, everything else in my day falls to its place. Knowing I have to be in the gym every other night from 10 to 11:30, gets me to get my chores done quickly before 10 and not waste time on Reddit/Netflix all night. I also listen to audio books between sets to make a better use of my down time For anyo…

5x5 is an amazing starting program. Highly recommend. Just make sure you have good form.

Which is to say get a competent coach or record every compound lift you do and form check the videos. You may think you are doing a lift correctly, but you're rounding out or whatever. It's very hard to tell without that extra evidence. Done correctly powerlifting is about as safe as strenuous physical activity gets, but with bad form you will ruin your knees, your back, and who knows what else.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#29

Post by dirtyid »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #12
dirtyid wrote: post #9

Serious lifting or athletics in general necessitates cultivating competent time management, planning skills and self control/discipline. Even more so if you roll into dieting for maintaining weight class or generally aesthetics. Once a lifter exhaust all novice and easy gains which doesn't take long, it's down to planning multi week/month long meso cycles, trouble shooting and learning about about your body, refraini…

Seems like using gear is a pretty easy way to rush this

For a subsect of a subsect of the population - those who genetically respond well to training and drugs. The general consensus on gear is you shouldn't start until you're familiar with the nuances of training (3-5 years). Particularly when it comes to ligament health- it's very easy to outstrip recovery ability when progressing fast on gear. That doesn't stop people from being reckless.

Plenty of people on gear who doesn't have the basics dialed in and get poor result. That said, I whole endorse more research into gear use, it's sad that purity of sports culture has basically made the area taboo. I think a lot of the population, particularly elderly or sedimentary would benefit from more muscle providing if the true cost benefit analysis are better understood or better gear is developed without current known side effects. The benefit would be compounded with resistance training but that's a hard sell for general population whereas magic juice is not. The health care savings in mitigating falls among elders (one of the largest medical expenditures) alone would be gargantuan.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#30

Post by peteretep »

dirtyid wrote: post #29
whamlastxmas wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like using gear is a pretty easy way to rush this

For a subsect of a subsect of the population - those who genetically respond well to training and drugs. The general consensus on gear is you shouldn't start until you're familiar with the nuances of training (3-5 years). Particularly when it comes to ligament health- it's very easy to outstrip recovery ability when progressing fast on gear. That doesn't stop people from being reckless. Plenty of people on gear who d…

> Plenty of people on gear who doesn't have the basics dialed in and get poor result.

I don't believe this is true. I read a study (that I can't source right now) essentially suggesting something like:

Training +gear: 9kg of muscle gained Training -gear: 5kg of muscle gained No training +gear: 7kg of muscle gained No training -gear: 0kg of muscle gained

All that said, I'm left with the same conclusion as you, which is we should be actively shooting up menopausal men with testosterone. When my count goes below healthy, I'll certainly be looking for it.

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