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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

#161

Post by SantalBlush »

parliament32 wrote: post #144
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…

100%. I can guarantee that every single one of those weak guys decided to "get in shape" at some point in their lives, went to the gym for a week, then quit because "it's too hard". The followed up with a mountain of excuses about why they're too busy or they'd rather play piano or whatever other explanation is necessary for "I'm actively choosing to look like shit". The funny thing is, physical appearance is the pri…

This discussion has become a satire. It began like this:

> 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."

And it devolved into this:

>The followed up with a mountain of excuses about why they're too busy or they'd rather play piano or whatever other explanation is necessary for "I'm actively choosing to look like shit."

Jesus, I wasn't rooting for the scrawny nerds at the outset of this thread, but now I am.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#162

Post by AlchemistCamp »

dirtyid wrote: post #131
AlchemistCamp wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ~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!

BW / lean mass plays a huge part. There's a few powerlifting phenoms whose origin story is pulling 500lbs on their first try, albeit as skinny teenagers. There's people who worked on farms or have athletic backgrounds that's build a muscular base and moving to barbell is a relatively easy transition. And there's people who are genetically blessed. But I don't think that's typical. Here's the 2018 /r/powerlifting surv…

Very interesting. I don't understand all the terms in those pics, but I'm taller than their median respondent and heavier (BMI ~34), so that's probably what it is. Just doing a lot of hiking, walking upstairs to the apartment, etc is "deadlift training" if you weigh enough.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#163

Post by [deleted] »

reitanqild wrote: post #128
notfromhere wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> chemicals and a sedentary lifestyle As for the theory about chemicals I think that can be a good explanation for parts of the problem. One observation that strengthens this theory is that dogs are affected as well. > a war against boys that doesn't exist The war part is a way of speech, or hyperbole, I give you that. But how about you explain: - the majority of prison populations being men. Is society failing them…

[deleted]

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#164

Post by Tharkun »

codingdave wrote: post #98
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.

Indeed. Certainly any hobby that requires hand/eye coordination or any use of muscles at all, cannot be rushed. Doing too much in too little time leads to injury, whether it's lifting, martial arts, heck even rushing playing the guitar will lead to bleeding fingers. Coordination and perception can be pretty hard to improve on.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#165

Post by nextlevelwizard »

asdfman123 wrote: post #142
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only reason people hate on others improving themselves is because it brings forth their own inadequacies and chips at their ego. Rock/wall climbing is fun and you can really see yourself improve fast if you just have the discipline to get to the climbing gym three-ish times per week. Plus it will make you look good and feel better about yourself which will just make you all around better person.

I don't think it's that. Some people are legitimately obnoxious and believe they can dominate you because they spend more time lifting weights, and they have really obnoxious philosophies and pet theories that justify their own behavior. They're the natural enemy of shier people, and as a result those types can be distrustful.

Lifting and in general working on yourself does shift your world view. You start to see through a lot of the bullshit that people peddle during the day. I bet same thing happens when you build something all by yourself knowing that only you could have done what you did.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#166

Post by nextlevelwizard »

Firadeoclus wrote: post #123
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

If it's not your priority then it's not a matter of discipline. Discipline is what you need in order to live according to your values and long term priorities instead of short term desires. But people can genuinely value other things, which will take up all their available time, over being bigger and stronger.

Almost anything you focus yourself on would benefit greatly if you were more fit and taking care of yourself and making yourself grow (both mentally and physically) doesn't take that much time. I currently spend 1 hour per day for 5 days at the gym. On top of that food prep and other training related stuff, lets say it takes me 2 hours a day. Everyone can find 10 hours per week if they just time track what they are doing. For me it has pretty much mean unsubscribing from Netflix and way reduced Youtube consumption.

But true your milage may vary, but usually it is just discipline issue. People want instant gratification and do not want to wake up early to hit the gym before they head out to work.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#167

Post by circlefavshape »

cloverich wrote: post #125
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

> but spending 5 hours a week at the gym isn't a big time investment. That's a sizeable investment when you have kids. Which is fine -- but you definitely have to stop doing something else in order to do it. If like me (and perhaps parent comment) you _already_ don't passively consume media, go to bed early, etc, you really do have to trade something for it. And (again, perhaps like OP) if you are already healthy and…

Sounds like we have a lot in common ;)

All my meals are already home-cooked (and, in the summer, mostly home-grown), and I exercise for 30 mins 5 days a week (plus extra physical work in the garden at weekends). I'm fit enough. The extra couple of hours I'd need a week to build muscle are better spent doing something else, IMO

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#168

Post by scottlocklin »

asdfman123 wrote: post #143
scottlocklin wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

> 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 I realized long ago so many of my long-term life decisions were based on thinkpieces in The Atlantic, The New York Times, or a similar publication. Choosing experiences over stuff, eating only "real food" and cutting out sugar, getting more invo…

Could be worse: could be Joe Rogan (aka Oprah for dudes).

The Times definitely wasn't writing about such matters when it was a working class hobby; now that the upper middles have discovered crossfit...

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#169

Post by tomp »

01100011 wrote: post #38
leet_thow wrote: post #33

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…

I think there is something that is inherent to 'nerd culture', at least of a certain generation, which instills a feeling of otherness and persecution by 'alphas'. I was a socially awkward nerd in high school with few friends. I left feeling like I was persecuted and had a large chip on my shoulder towards 'normies'. It wasn't until years later that I realized most of it was in my head and self-inflicted. There is a…

I'm really conflicted about this.

I'm a nerd. I was bullied in school.

I was also fairly small and weak and non-sporty, so I was an easy target.

I also liked to talk and especially talk back to the bullies. Who knows, I might have even "psychologically" bullied other people using my wit and intelligence (several of my classmates complained to the teacher once that I would "insult" them which came as a total shock to me... was probably true but I wasn't doing it maliciously and wasn't consciously aware the impact it had on others).

It's really hard to generalize from 1 example.

Re: How Weight Training Might Change the Brain

#170

Post by asdfman123 »

nextlevelwizard wrote: post #165
asdfman123 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's that. Some people are legitimately obnoxious and believe they can dominate you because they spend more time lifting weights, and they have really obnoxious philosophies and pet theories that justify their own behavior. They're the natural enemy of shier people, and as a result those types can be distrustful.

Lifting and in general working on yourself does shift your world view. You start to see through a lot of the bullshit that people peddle during the day. I bet same thing happens when you build something all by yourself knowing that only you could have done what you did.

Well, very broadly speaking there are two ways of looking at things. One philosophy is we should live in a world where the playing field is leveled and we should look out for the weak.

Another is the weak need to get out of the way of the strong, and if you are struggling, it is your responsibility to become stronger.

Increasingly I feel personal philosophies are largely self-serving. You believe in things that will benefit you. As you gain strength in one area, you tend more towards the second philosophy.

However, I think believing that can easily turn people into bullies. Do we want a society that is optimized for the dominance of the few? Do we want to break every interaction down crudely into a competition between "the strong" and "the weak," despite the fact that human beings are complicated and are strong and weak in many different areas?

The mistake a lot of meatheads make is assuming because they have physical strength, they should be allowed to dominate. However, in modern society, I feel other forms of strength are much more important. Emotional strength. Moral strength. Intellectual strength. They don't have much to do with muscle size, despite what some seem to believe. We should respect character more and physical appearance less.

I'm actually gaining weight pretty quickly now after weight lifting, but I hope I never forget what it feels like to be pushed around, and I never let myself push around others.

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