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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

#91

Post by devbug »

blunte wrote: post #86
mycall wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There is something significant about learning to coordinate the firing of signals to a dozen muscles at once (and maintain those GO signals for the duration of the rep) which cannot be replicated any way other than lifting a big weight with one or more major muscle groups. Also, as an aside, for the duration of that one rep, (if the weight is sufficiently heavy for the lifter) the mind narrows focus completely - no o…

I love lifting for exactly this reason. It's meditative.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#92

Post by srge »

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.

Yes it’s great to start at the gym and get used to that environment. But yes form is very important and you should not progress in weight if all your reps are not 100% ok. This is NOT emphasized in the program but it should be. It’s easy especially on squat and deadlift to progress quickly with bad form. And then you get injured...

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#93

Post by scottlocklin »

boringusername wrote: post #13
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…

That program is basically a rip-off of Mark Rippetoe’s work in Starting Strength which I also recommend.

I guess Rippletoe stole it from Bill Starr "Strongest shall survive; strength training for football" then.

This study is bloody awful. For all we know it's the fruit loops which improve rat cognitive function.

The only good thing I'll say about it, is when the NYT starts reporting on the health benefits of X, it means X (drinking red wine, high fat diets, etc) has become trendy among the self regarding upper middle class. Weights; it's about time.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#94

Post by reitanqild »

bigmit37 wrote: post #73
leet_thow wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Is there a reason why there is a decline in testosterone? Is it connected to the sperm count steadily decreasing mystery?

> Is there a reason why there is a decline in testosterone?

Except for the ongoing war against boys?

I'm fully aware that girls has faced problems as well, probably more than men, but the solution to that shouldn't be to punish young boys today for the sins of their grandparents.

Edit: I'm serious. I'm as much against sexism as anyone, but IMO the solution isn't to make all boys behave more like girls but to make boys behave as better boys.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#95

Post by rofo1 »

m463 wrote: post #11

We've already figured out that aerobic exercise increases our cognitive abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise#Neurobiologic... Even though weight training isn't aerobic, couldn't it still increase our state of fitness?

I started running (very) seriously only recently.

I can tell you for a fact that weight training will not significantly improve aerobic fitness. However, it will improve it up somewhat.

Just an example, you will never run 5km under 20 minutes just by weight training. But you can run 5km on the first try (say.. ~30 minutes) if you are into weight training (so your cardiovascular fitness is okay-ish, it's just not great).

Almost the same exact thing happened to me, as someone in supreme physical shape.

Long story short: you get great results in the things that you directly train; some things overlap, but the overlaps are never significant.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#96

Post by rofo1 »

User23 wrote: post #62
m463 wrote: post #11

We've already figured out that aerobic exercise increases our cognitive abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise#Neurobiologic... Even though weight training isn't aerobic, couldn't it still increase our state of fitness?

Weight training is as much neurological stimulation as it is muscular. In fact, most of the fast gains a new lifter makes are due to learning to recruit motor units, which is to say training the nervous system. As any long time lifter can tell you, putting on muscle mass naturally takes a long time. The question is does stimulating motor neurons have knock on effects for the rest of the CNS? It's plausible that it do…

> As any long time lifter can tell you, putting on muscle mass naturally takes a long time.

I don't agree with this. It's generally easy and straightforward to put mass fast: do hypertrophy, sleep 8+ hours a day, eat 2g protein per kg of body weight. That's all it takes. You'll see results very quickly, even with subpar training.

Learning new motor patterns (especially firing many muscles/full body at once), improving tendon strength, potentially increasing muscle density, improving physical awareness (say, handstand, or anything inverted, or anything with balance, or splits/pancake/perfect shoulder mobility), cardiovascular fitness - all extremely difficult to achieve (compared to just getting muscle mass).

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#98

Post by codingdave »

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…

> It's one of the few hobbies that can't be rushed.

I haven't found any hobby that doesn't have the exact same process and progression. Quickly gain some skills, but have to dedicate serious time to it to achieve more than a basic level of proficiency.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#99

Post by raverbashing »

dirtyid wrote: post #75
raverbashing wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Junior is usually defined as "inexperienced" (as in "junior developer") They might be at a competition "junior" level but I'm willing to bet they have at least 5y.r. of experience lifting weights She was competing already in 2014 (source https://www.openpowerlifting.org/u/jessicabuettner ) and she's also Type 1 diabetic Also this is a competition/record level of weight for their bodyweight, men might be lifting 220kg…

My bad for using lifting classification nomenclature. Record breakers get social media attention and lifters like to compare/peg their progress to how fast the top 1% progresses. Conventional wisdom suggests diminishing returns at extreme end of competitiveness, but since there are so many new entrants into the sport, outlier "juniors" are progressing extremely fast and shattering records on time scale that normally…

> Record breakers get social media attention and lifters like to compare/peg their progress to how fast the top 1% progresses.

Completely agree.

But I think people are progressing earlier due to starting earlier, better information/training (and a bit of better/more accessible supplements) and their progress is getting more visible through social media.

Congrats to those breaking records in competitions but it's exactly that, outliers and records (and even then a lot of hard work to get there).

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#100

Post by jamespo »

reitanqild wrote: post #94
bigmit37 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reason why there is a decline in testosterone? Is it connected to the sperm count steadily decreasing mystery?

> Is there a reason why there is a decline in testosterone? Except for the ongoing war against boys? I'm fully aware that girls has faced problems as well, probably more than men, but the solution to that shouldn't be to punish young boys today for the sins of their grandparents. Edit: I'm serious. I'm as much against sexism as anyone, but IMO the solution isn't to make all boys behave more like girls but to make boy…

Ow your poor male feelings
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