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How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

nytimes.com

51–60 of 177 posts

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#51
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how lifting would compare to other core activities, like hiking or lumberjacking.

Hiking isn't generally something that builds mass. Hiking promotes a lean frame that isn't going to intimidate anyone.

I don’t think that’s the goal for most people. For those wanting to do enjoyable activities, hiking is a good way to get some exercise and enjoy nature, which can be as meditative as any other cardio.

If muscle mass is the goal, hiking isn’t the best way to do that. But it can be healthy in a variety of ways for many people.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#52
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Before I trained an engineering manager literally said offhand a candidate was "to big," during my training I had a small framed junior engineer do a 180 and become adversarial after I talked about my training and goals at a group lunch and in interviews I've sensed discomfort from men with small frames as well. It really is instinctual. In the manosphere subculture it is called getting "mogged" as in Alpha Male Othe…

Everyone really is a victim these days aren't they. I'm sorry but as another tall, muscled software engineer, it sounds like you need to get off those forums.

I'm sure there are some people that feel that way, but when it comes to leadership, and other areas in life the truth is that your frame will give you 'instinctual' benefits. Not to mention with women.

Life isn't fair. But don't feel bad for the positive traits that you do have.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for saying this, as I was about to post something similar. I came to the valley about 8 months ago, and switched from hiking to lifting because of time constraints. Since getting big, I've felt more and more out of place. I even caught one of my bosses referring to me as a 'bro' when he didn't realize I had dialed in to a meeting. Now, granted, the current crop of engineers I work with are some of the most…

I think you are likely on to something with this and your comment below. Testosterone has been decreasing steadily in men over the years and sitting in front of a machine all day probably doesn't help. And yes, the "jocks vs nerds" meme likely contributes to the mentality we are sensing.

> And yes, the "jocks vs nerds" meme likely contributes to the mentality we are sensing.

Well, bullying was a thing, and it wasn't the nerds bullying the jocks

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#55
post #45

Speaking of exercise, anyone want to go for a run together in Hong Kong?

I'm not into running anymore, mostly focussed on weight lifting, if you're on HK island, go for a run on Bower Road, it's definitely an experience. I also used to run in Happy Valley race course, it's nice and quiet there.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#56
post #34

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."

That comment is more directed towards the increase in eating disorders, body dysmorphia and negative thinking when comparing progress online. Particularly in men. 5 years ago, 5plate is a solid deadlift, now junior women are pulling that. And it's causing very brittle minded people grief and others to push too hard ruinously when it's clearly not in their cards. Not to mention predatory fake natties schilling nutriti…

Junior women can't pull a 5 plate DL. Women can, but certainly not junior. Even for men it takes some time to get there.

There's a tendency (especially on the internet forums) to think that average muscle mass an capability is the same, when it varies a lot more.

It's ok if a person can't do a 50kg deadlift at the beginning. Everybody has their own limits.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before I trained an engineering manager literally said offhand a candidate was "to big," during my training I had a small framed junior engineer do a 180 and become adversarial after I talked about my training and goals at a group lunch and in interviews I've sensed discomfort from men with small frames as well. It really is instinctual. In the manosphere subculture it is called getting "mogged" as in Alpha Male Othe…

Everyone really is a victim these days aren't they. I'm sorry but as another tall, muscled software engineer, it sounds like you need to get off those forums. I'm sure there are some people that feel that way, but when it comes to leadership, and other areas in life the truth is that your frame will give you 'instinctual' benefits. Not to mention with women. Life isn't fair. But don't feel bad for the positive traits…

I don't feel bad and don't feel like a victim, I'm just stating an observation. I'm on those forums because I've become fascinated by social and evolutionary psychology and they provide a lot of insight into people's thinking.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#58
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Taking care of your body only takes ~1h a day and eating healthy most of the time.

You might as well not trust anyone with a family or any kind of hobby outside of programming to write a decent program.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#59
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That comment is more directed towards the increase in eating disorders, body dysmorphia and negative thinking when comparing progress online. Particularly in men. 5 years ago, 5plate is a solid deadlift, now junior women are pulling that. And it's causing very brittle minded people grief and others to push too hard ruinously when it's clearly not in their cards. Not to mention predatory fake natties schilling nutriti…

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 5 plate, but if you're talking about 5 x 20kg plates on either end of an olympic bar (which is another 20kg), that's a 220kg/495lb deadlift and is still very much a solid deadlift. For an 85kg man (average in UK is 83.6kg) that's as near as makes no odds 2.6x body weight. For a 70kg woman (average in UK in 70.2kg) it's more than 3x body weight. Generally anything more than 2x bod…

~500lb is very much an aspiration life time goal for most trained men, even revised army fitness standard full score doesn't ask for more than 340lbs. Minimum is 140lbs. I think NASA / astronauts prescriptions is also a very low sub bodyweight multiplier for reps to prevent atrophy AND MITIGATE INJURY RISK in space which is key. That is probably what the general population should shoot for.

On social media, the gold standard for bragging strong was 500 as little as 5 years ago, hence all the meme that 600 is the new 500 and now 700 is the new 500 everytime world records are pushed by elite athletes no one should be comparing themselves to. But for some reason a lot of lifters tend to do this even though very few people think if they train hard enough they can be faster or comparable to Usain Bolt.

I think it's a unique development with the intersection of social media and lifting culture. The bell curve for strength in the population hasn't changed, but the top 0.01% are increasingly visible and it's causing a crisis in social comparison that's not healthy. I don't know if it's a unique issue only for people involved in niche powerlifitng/bodybuilding subcultures, I think it's one of those situations where memes migrate up to general fitness/resistance training enthusiasts and starts to affect casual viewers who like to compare. There's also a fair amount of people who get into lifting due to self esteem reasons.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#60
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80% probability of failing in clinical trials (on humans) https://www.nature.com/news/preclinical-research-make-mouse-...

Wow that's way higher than I expected. And it saddens me, all the tests we run on these little beasts for such a small eventuality of success.

Animal studies are about models and proof of concept, not direct replication. It’s silly to get hung up on that aspect.

Comparative Medicine is conducted with an awareness of the necessity for additional translational research, and while pharmaceutical outcomes are potentially total dead ends due to deeper biochemical pathway differences (which are strongly rooted all the way down to genetic differences, even across human subpopulations), one can easily get a sense of the value you of animal studies via trauma and gross anatomical studies.

A surgeon won’t make the same cuts and blood vessel clamps in a porcine heart transplant as with a human, but if you can transplant one pig’s heart into another pig, human to human is next. Curveballs like blood transfusion (types and factors) and immuno-suppression/rejection add overhead to making a transplant work in humans, but the answers to the big questions all say it will work.

So too with mice and rats and dogs and primates. To a degree behavioral realities fit too, although humans have a far deeper grasp of abstract concepts, so we’ll make leaps of cognition that render some animal models invalid.

Humans and animals are both prone to compulsive behaviors, addiction, self harm, but how we get there is often a little different since society and the rule of law can lend layers of social padding that give us a second chance to rescue ourselves before we violate norms and resort to pathological patterns. So animal psychology compares along bolder, broader strokes and lines than broken bones and wound care.

So 80% failure is just considering direct replication of practice, like a vet going and doing the same thing to a person. Sometimes the vet can save the day, but other times a human has a very different standard of care.

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