Friday, 02.03.12: Brains and Brawn
Phys Ed: Brains and Brawn
by Gretchen Reynolds - The New York Times
It has long been a cliché that muscle bulk doesn’t equate to intelligence. In fact, most of the science to date about activity and brain health has focused on the role of endurance exercise in improving our brain functioning. Aerobic exercise causes a steep spike in blood movement to the brain, an action that some researchers have speculated might be necessary for the creation of new brain cells, or neurogenesis. Running and other forms of aerobic exercise have been shown, in mice and men, to lead to neurogenesis in those portions of the brain associated with memory and thinking, providing another compelling reason to get out at lunchtime and run.
Since weight training doesn’t cause the same spike, few researchers have thought that it would have a similar effect. But recent studies intimate otherwise. Several studies involve animals. It’s not easy, of course, to induce a mouse or a lab rat to lift weights, so the experimenters have to develop clever approximations of resistance training to see what impact adding muscle and strength has on an animal’s brain. In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November,researchers from Brazil secured weights to the tails of a group of rats and had them climb a ladder five sessions a week. Other rats on the same schedule ran on a treadmill, and a third group just sat around. After eight weeks, the running rats had much higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (B.D.N.F.), a growth factor that is thought to help spark neurogenesis, than the sedentary rats. So did the rats with weights tied to their tails. The weight-bearing rats, like the runners, did well on tests of rodent learning and memory, like rapidly negotiating a water maze. Both endurance and weight training seemed to make the rats smarter.
Mobility WOD
Episode 135: Badass American Cyclist Mobility - Levi Style
Thursday, 02.02.12: Happy Birthday Ash!!!
Happy Birthday!!! Ash hasn't been in the box in a while, for obvious reasons. Yesterday she got an early birthday present...her doctor released her for full activity!!! So, as soon as we work out a schedule with the little ones she'll be back in action.
Reel Steps
by Haley Byrnes - Again Faster
Each night, I’d walk through the steamed-up glass doors, toss my gym bag to the side, and evaluate the torture that the class before me was still enduring. With the music blasting through the speakers, I’d pull up my knee-high socks and triple knot my shoes. Pretending to stretch, I’d nervously wait for my coach to bark her first instructions at us. Moments after the music cut out and the previous class had limped off to the sides of the floor, she’d turn to us: “Shoulders back. Stand up tall. Pointed toes...Slip jig number one...go!”
Wait, what were you expecting? I’m talking Irish step dancing.
I spent much of my childhood getting in trouble for practicing reel steps under my desk and walking around on my tiptoes until I couldn’t stand anymore. I was obsessed.
Flash-forward ten years, and long after quitting step dancing (did you know that wearing those big curly wigs is mandatory?), I found myself in a CrossFit gym for the first time. I was uncoordinated, out of shape, and scared. So scared. I was shocked by how weak and de-conditioned I truly was. Pressing a 45# barbell was impossible. My first attempt at “Annie” resulted in twenty-two minutes of single-unders and half the reps of sit-ups. It was bad.
During my second week of training, one rep max deadlift day appeared. Having never done strength training before, my expectations were very low, and I think I was more shocked than anyone when I pulled 225#. My coaches and fellow CrossFitters assured me it was a sign of strong legs.
Only later did a fellow former Irish stepper point out that maybe my years of jigging had helped develop some muscle in my legs. Maybe...
Mobility WOD
Episode 134: Baby Shoulder Fix and 3rd Most Important Hip Mob
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