I know this is a stupid question embedded with insecurity but does weight lifting dumb you down? What I mean is does it change your thought pattern to thinking like a big dumb muscle head?
I know exercise is good for you but this is about specifically weight lifting and it’s effects on the brain.
Big Dumb Muscle-Head Syndrome is usually a symptom of steroid abuse. If anything, exercising and getting in shape will make you smarter and more alert, as long as you lay off the juice.
Nah, but it can make you boring as hell if you’re idea of scintilating conversation is to talk about how much you were able to bench press that day. 
ok well I know that there are different types of people and you can categorize them by body type, ex ecto morph, mesomorph and endomorph, when you break it down, those with a lot of muscle tend to think a certain way, different than those with less muscle correct?
Actually it will fight osteoporosis. It is good for you. Steroids area little iffy. Want to have a good conversation ,ask a golfer how they shot last week.
Why in the world would you think that?
Sure they obviously “think differently” about their priorities in life, for example, by working out instead of eating chips on a couch watching a re-run of Seinfeld.
But how would that correlate to “getting stupider”? What a strange concept.
They might be “less smart” than they would have been otherwise if they chose to take away from their book-reading or studying time to hit the gym, rather than their TV time, but if they were “smart” to begin with I don’t see how they would likely make that choice.
I think maybe the converse would have more truthiness to it - you might need to not be burdened by excess mental capacity in order to actually enjoy repetitive lifting of heavy objects, though I’m sure subsequent posters will chime in with cites telling of super-intellectual weight lifters balancing P-chem equations and getting ripped simultaneously or somesuch.
sorry I did not mean less smart or dumb just using a different area of the brain to think, for instance those who enjoy doing math use a different part than those who enjoy reading and writing, so does muscle mass have anythign to do with the way you think?
No.
I’d love to give a more detailed and eloquent answer, to state a thesis and expound on it, but there’s really not much more to say. Guys who turn out to be big dumb muscleheads were dumb before they started lifting, and would have stayed dumb no matter what they did. Those of us who weren’t dumb to start with aren’t getting any dumber from the repetitive lifting of heavy objects.
…you might need to not be burdened by excess mental capacity in order to actually enjoy repetitive lifting of heavy objects…
Or, you might just like feeling strong and fit and be self-motivated enough to do what it takes to have those feelings. You might even like the rush you get from pushing yourself to the limit. You could even spend some of your non-lifting time reading scholarly papers about physiology and sports nutrition to make sure you’re making the most of your time in the gym.
I personally know one guy at my gym with a PhD in Physiology and one with a PhD in Philosophy. I’ve been told there are several medical doctors who train regularly as well. Sure, there are a few knuckleheads, but most are just “regular folks.” I train at a “hard core” facility, not one of the single’s bars with treadmills.
My experience is that all types of people lift for all kinds of reasons. I think trying to stereotype weight lifters is a sure sign of ignorance about the subject.
True, and yet, I can see where an observer might get that idea. There seems to be something about weight training in particular, wherein otherwise intelligent people completely throw out their critical thinking skills. In over twenty years of lifting, I’ve seen some truely bizarre exercises/routines performed by people I knew to be pretty smart. And done so on little more than “I read it in a magazine” or “such and such is huge and he does X”. I can understand where overhearing a few such conversations would reinforce the big, dumb, weight lifter stereotype.
Or it might be that more dumb guys than smart guys take up weight lifting.
Just sayin’
There must be more to it than that. How many runners are really honing their critical thinking skills on their sport, and going with more than they read in a magazine? Is running any less repetitive than lifting–after all, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other over and over again. Why don’t people think that you need to be dumb in order to enjoy that?
Surely it would not be difficult to find the answer: just lift some weights yourself and find out.
In fact, I’m doing this now. Unless my brain capacity suddenly diminishes to that of an exceptionally bright marmot, I’ll let you know the results. In fact, I can predict them now: no change.
OTOH, repetitive mindless tasks (such as gardening) are great for clearing the mind and paving the way for insight. And all that exercise is bound to get some blood to that brain, right?
I hate to go for the stereotype but maybe, as some have already suggested, it is just that it is dumb people in the first place that take up weight lifting.
Umm… this is basicaly, bullshit. I went to a university that was 90% engineering students, and I’d see many of them in the gym regularly. I have a BS, working on a dual MS, and have hit the gym very reguarly at different parts of my life. Sure, there are big, dumb meatheads; but categorizing an entire group of people based on a few of their members faults is no better than racism.
On behalf of my son, a competitive weightlifter who’s in college on an academic scholarship, I’ll accept your apology.
Weightlifting has helped him develop discipline and an awareness of his physical abilities and limitations. Neither characteristics are commonly associated with “dumb people.”
Through him, I’ve met a couple of championship/Olympic weightlifters, and found them to be pretty smart.
Next time you’re tempted to start a sentence with “I hate to go for the stereotype,” it might be better to follow your instinct.
Well, I hate to feed a stereotype, but. . .
I had one period of intense interest in body building. Shaping really, rather than an attempt to lift more, or have bigger muscles. I did it really intensely for six months or maybe a bit longer. It worked just fine. I was very methodical, and planned with lots of research about cause and effect of different types of lift regimens, and the interactions with diet. I did weights, and swimming, and some highly aerobic daily activities as well.
But you know, during that year, my conversation got really boring. I don’t think it was a direct effect of physical exercise. But, the fact is that it did happen that way. People I knew even remarked about it. Eventually, I got bored with it too.
Now I’m fat and out of shape, but my scintillating wit is a wonder much appreciated by my associates.
Or, maybe not.
Tris