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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

#111

Post by nextlevelwizard »

circlefavshape wrote: post #103
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people I know that don't lift don't care about body shapes This is a lie and you know it. Everyone and I mean literally everyone cares about appearances. No matter how you slice it everyone has a style they are trying to project. This same goes for body shape. If we had a pill that instantly -- without effort -- gave everyone a six pack and lean muscular body, everyone of your friends would be on it, because d…

> Problem is one of discipline Not discipline - priorities. I'm lean and fairly fit, and while I would like to be a little bit more muscular I'd rather spend the time at the piano or with my family

>I'm lean and fairly fit

Judging this is real hard since fairly fit means such different things for different people, but spending 5 hours a week at the gym isn't a big time investment. It obviously won't be getting you Mr. Olympia body, but it will make you bigger and stronger than most people.

Part of discipline is also fighting against excuses. Excuses like I don't have time to work out. I don't have time to prep my meals. That's why you need discipline.

Taking things to extreme you could wake up at 4:00 am to workout for an hour every single day. Obviously that means giving up on media consumption time during evening to get full night's of rest, but that is why you need discipline.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#112

Post by tarsinge »

dirtyid wrote: post #34
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."

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…

Also there is a lot of confusion between bodybuilding and powerlifting, especially on communities like /r/fitness (it starting to improve though last time I checked). I think it started a few years ago with websites like stronglifts.com with the idea that increasing weight was the only objective, leading to injuries and disappointment for beginners.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#113

Post by tpetry »

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…

The amount of volume stronglifts 5x5 expects you to for your legs compared to other body ports is just much to high. It‘s not really balanced.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#114

Post by sundvor »

asdfman123 wrote: post #18
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 think if you are fit and in addition dress well and are nice to people, you just come across as someone who has their life together. I suppose there will always be the haters, though.

As you get older staying fit is even more important. Both for your ability to just function, and also I strongly believe it signals you've still got your sh1t together.

In my mid 40s I let myself go and got over 100kg (I'm ~6.3), but have dropped 10kg in the last 1.5 years and also gotten stronger. 2-3 sessions a week of Stronglifts 5x5 and riding instead of driving to work.

I reckon my head just works better as well. I find it much easier to concentrate for longer periods of time.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#115

Post by sundvor »

devbug wrote: post #91
blunte wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm reading this thread in between sets during a late night lifting session. Tired as, but I'm still giving it a shot..!

Agree it's very, very good for calming my mind.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#116

Post by sundvor »

red2awn wrote: post #25
kasey_junk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As a middle aged lifter I'm finding that the 2.5kg increase every session is one I'm best off disabling in the app as the lifts get heavier, having started from the bar. I still aim to increase once I'm solid at a level, but the important thing is getting consistent workouts. Getting injured runs counter to that.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#117

Post by pcstl »

noragami wrote: post #101
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people I know that don't lift don't care about body shapes This is a lie and you know it. Everyone and I mean literally everyone cares about appearances. No matter how you slice it everyone has a style they are trying to project. This same goes for body shape. If we had a pill that instantly -- without effort -- gave everyone a six pack and lean muscular body, everyone of your friends would be on it, because d…

>everyone of your friends would be on it No. Why are you talking in absolutes after spending so much time on the internet? There are always exceptions. Muscular body requires a ton of energy and protein to maintain. Not trying to get on a soapbox here, but I am personally trying to minimize my impact on the environment. This includes eating the minimum amount of protein required to stay healthy. I definitely won't wa…

There are a lot of hidden assumptions here.

One of them being that protein-dense foods always has a greater impact on the environment than other foodstuffs. There are plenty of vegetarian or even vegan bodybuilders, and we know how to isolate protein from vegetables. Pulses are protein-rich, if you don't want to eat isolated proteins.

The second one is that a muscular body will always require more energy than a non-muscular body. While muscle does have higher calorie requirements than most other kinds of tissue, most fit people actually eat less calories (and better quality calories) than unfit people, due to being used to keeping their diet under control.

The final one is that the only thing one might want to do with their life is their job. Even if you work a desk job, that doesn't mean you won't want to be physically active in your off time.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#118

Post by pcstl »

hueving wrote: post #27
fortran77 wrote: post #22

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.

People who spend all their time writing software tend to be very good at pushing out very large amounts of lines of code very fast, but that doesn't necessarily make them good engineers.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#119

Post by AlchemistCamp »

dirtyid wrote: post #59
bartread wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> ~500lb is very much an aspiration life time goal for most trained men.

I think that's a bit ridiculous. I could lift nearly that untrained, albeit overweight. I'm 40.

Given the option, I'd be leaner and better at running!

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#120

Post by notfromhere »

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…

chemicals and a sedentary lifestyle seem more plausible than a war against boys that doesn't exist
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