>... weight training, accomplished in rodents with ladders and tiny, taped-on weights... This is awesome. How comes I'm hearing about that first time? And why are there no videos?
How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
151–160 of 177 posts
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#152Earlier 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…
the mind narrows focus completely Rock climbing is the same way when you're in a precarious position or executing a difficult move.
I suppose that’s true of many things. I already recognized it from performing music, but the athletic experience had escaped me until this topic came up.
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#153Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are few things they don’t tell you about weightlifting: - stretching is critical and takes time, without stretching you’ll eventually injure yourself. - eventually you’ll get some minor injury and will have to manage that and wait for it to heal. - start by getting a coach to specifically learn good from and find your max weights for different lifts. Strictly control trainer’s desire to add some non-core exerci…
Can you point me to a study that shows stretching has a statistically significant positive impact on injury rates? I know it's the common school of thought, but the studies I've read have found it was beneficial for flexibility, ROM, and soreness but no statistically significant impact on injuries or performance (data is mixed positive and negative for performance). Anecdotal data is useless, but I've been lifting re…
Well, my personal take, based on experience, is this:
You have to have enough range of motion for the lift you are doing, if you lift and don't stretch, muscle tends to shorten, and eventually you are not going to have enough range. This leads to two problems:
1) Potential over-stretch under load and injury, which will require time to heal.
2) Pain in joins, like knees or shoulders. Goes away once you start stretching.
If you do some other additional activity which gets you through full range of motion, like yoga or some active sport, then there is really no need to do extra stretching, otherwise, for me, stretching is required.
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are few things they don’t tell you about weightlifting: - stretching is critical and takes time, without stretching you’ll eventually injure yourself. - eventually you’ll get some minor injury and will have to manage that and wait for it to heal. - start by getting a coach to specifically learn good from and find your max weights for different lifts. Strictly control trainer’s desire to add some non-core exerci…
Do you know of any recommended stretching routines?
I just do stretches for the muscles I'm training.
This is good book:
https://www.amazon.com/Stretching-Pocket-Book-Bob-Anderson/d...
This strap is really helpful:
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You could try something like 5/3/1, which has you generally working at submaximal loads most of the time and only increases the weight every 2-3 weeks. One of Wendler's principles is that slow progress is still progress, something I agree with.
Oh thanks, I'll check it out. That sounds very interesting, and might be just what I need.
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you point me to a study that shows stretching has a statistically significant positive impact on injury rates? I know it's the common school of thought, but the studies I've read have found it was beneficial for flexibility, ROM, and soreness but no statistically significant impact on injuries or performance (data is mixed positive and negative for performance). Anecdotal data is useless, but I've been lifting re…
Well, my personal take, based on experience, is this: You have to have enough range of motion for the lift you are doing, if you lift and don't stretch, muscle tends to shorten, and eventually you are not going to have enough range. This leads to two problems: 1) Potential over-stretch under load and injury, which will require time to heal. 2) Pain in joins, like knees or shoulders. Goes away once you start stretchin…
Lifting is basically weighted stretching. You can't train a movement and lose mobility for the range of motion you're training.
If your training has at its core multi-joint compound exercises, you shouldn't have to worry about your mobility.
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#158Earlier 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…
As a guy who's bulking, I worry about this too. I've been skinny my whole life and true nerds have always recognized me as one of their own. Will that change with a lot of weight training? It feels really silly to type that but I feel the ability to seamlessly fit into that culture is a big advantage. Like, my fiancee is an attractive latina woman and she is the biggest geek I know, but she feels like she has to "pro…
Gatekeepers are going to be gatekeepers. Some folks rely on the nerd persona to look like the smartest person in the room; they probably picked that identity up at an early age. When they see an intelligent person who doesn't fit the stereotype, it can make them uncomfortable.
But those people are rare. For everyone else, it doesn't matter.
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe you feel out of place because you're thinking in terms of "alphas" etc., which to me sounds like a totally douche/"bro" thing to do. Most people I know that don't lift don't care about body shapes etc., otherwise they would lift.
> 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…
I think you overstate the case. Yes, everyone will choose a better option at no cost, but most everything has cost, and we have limited budgets of discipline, money, etc. to pay the various kinds of costs required for good things...so when someone "doesn't care", it literally mostly means that they won't pay the cost of the thing.
So, I don't really find it far fetched that quite a few people by a reasonable definition "don't care", by which I mean they don't consider the benefits worth paying much cost at all, which I consider a fairly reasonable definition of "don't care." I'd like to know Sanskrit; if I could take a pill and know Sanskrit, I would. But do I really care? No. I won't pay my time and attention for it. It'd just be neat. Mostly, too high of an opportunity cost to spend the time on it. The same applies with body shape for me. It'd be nice, but it's not worth my effort. I won't pay much for it, so "I don't care."
Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a guy who's bulking, I worry about this too. I've been skinny my whole life and true nerds have always recognized me as one of their own. Will that change with a lot of weight training? It feels really silly to type that but I feel the ability to seamlessly fit into that culture is a big advantage. Like, my fiancee is an attractive latina woman and she is the biggest geek I know, but she feels like she has to "pro…
Gatekeepers are going to be gatekeepers. Some folks rely on the nerd persona to look like the smartest person in the room; they probably picked that identity up at an early age. When they see an intelligent person who doesn't fit the stereotype, it can make them uncomfortable. But those people are rare. For everyone else, it doesn't matter.
Uncomfortable is an understatement. Being smart/geeky is their identity, the "self" that they see within, and it is something that separated them from the jocks. Seeing someone who looks like a jock but is smart/geeky must be like a punch in the face. The thing that made them who they are, the thing that they were made fun of and bullied so much for, is now so casually adopted by the people who did the bullying. It is similar to the feeling when male gamers see female gamers who portray themselves as geeky gamers or whatever after for years making fun of those geeky virgins and their video games.