# Does weight lifting dumb you down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781 "2006-12-27T20:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/21 "2006-12-28T02:11:39Z")
ok, **kunilou** , you got me. I am glad you accepted my apology before I offered it, which I sincerely do. But you know what I mean, though. You are the proud parent of a child who has both the smarts and the body (and I am guessing he is also good looking and well mannered). And I don’t think that is such an oddity. There is a gym at MIT, right?. That said, if you ever watched an after game special of just about any sport, you may have noticed that most pro-athletes are best watched and not heard. I was just suggesting that IF there is some causality between muscles and dumbness, it would most likely not be muscles causing dumbness (as per the OP) and I offered a couple reasons why that would be so. If anything, it should be the other way around. A guy who is all muscles has very little options but make the best of them. Just as a guy who is all brains has zippo chance at Sumo wrestling or what-have-you. People who have both, have all the options available to them. It would be like asking “Do thick eyeglasses make you smarter?”. No, but if you are stuck with using them since childhood, that could have prevented you from more physical activities and pushed you into more intellectual pursuits. (and yes, I am sure there is a handfull of near-blind athletes out there just to counterexample me to death) So there. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/22 "2006-12-28T02:20:34Z")
Generally it is safe to assume that any stupidity you encounter in any aspect of your life was there to begin with and looking for a cause is only a worthwhile endeavor if you have really good evidence it wasn’t. The sheer amount of incredulity some people exhibit when confronted with stupidity of others is, however, somewhat odd. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/23 "2006-12-28T02:26:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] That said, if you ever watched an after game special of just about any sport, you may have noticed that most pro-athletes are best watched and not heard. [/QUOTE] Yeah, some people who are often approached for airtime don’t speak well. What’s your point? I submit that most people do not carry themselves well on TV, and speech patterns, especially in those situations, indicate precious little about intelligence. For the record, I got a 2310 on my SATs last year, and bench 350. ---
**Author:** ![OriginalG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e56c9b/32.png) [@OriginalG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OriginalG)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/24 "2006-12-28T03:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] 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 [/QUOTE] OMFg, this is exactly what I am reffering to, a loss of creativity in speech and wit, like before I was extremely verbose but then during heavy weight lifting and sports training, I didn’t even care for starting conversation, and on the message boards that I usually posted, I became more argumentative and less of a creative writer ---
**Author:** ![OriginalG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e56c9b/32.png) [@OriginalG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OriginalG)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/25 "2006-12-28T03:33:40Z")
like it changed the way I think ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/26 "2006-12-28T03:42:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] ok, **kunilou** , you got me. I am glad you accepted my apology before I offered it, which I sincerely do. But you know what I mean, though. You are the proud parent of a child who has both the smarts and the body (and I am guessing he is also good looking and well mannered). And I don’t think that is such an oddity. There is a gym at MIT, right?. That said, if you ever watched an after game special of just about any sport, you may have noticed that most pro-athletes are best watched and not heard. I was just suggesting that IF there is some causality between muscles and dumbness, it would most likely not be muscles causing dumbness (as per the OP) and I offered a couple reasons why that would be so. If anything, it should be the other way around. A guy who is all muscles has very little options but make the best of them. Just as a guy who is all brains has zippo chance at Sumo wrestling or what-have-you. People who have both, have all the options available to them. It would be like asking “Do thick eyeglasses make you smarter?”. No, but if you are stuck with using them since childhood, that could have prevented you from more physical activities and pushed you into more intellectual pursuits. (and yes, I am sure there is a handfull of near-blind athletes out there just to counterexample me to death) So there. [/QUOTE] Yes, my son is handsome and well mannered. He also wears thick glasses, at least when he isn’t wearing thick contact lenses. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/27 "2006-12-28T06:58:17Z")
[QUOTE=OriginalG] OMFg, this is exactly what I am reffering to, a loss of creativity in speech and wit, like before I was extremely verbose but then during heavy weight lifting and sports training, I didn’t even care for starting conversation, and on the message boards that I usually posted, I became more argumentative and less of a creative writer [/QUOTE] But, it might be something other than the weightlifting. Like Monomania. Like obsessing. Like actually becoming less interesting as a person, because you eliminated half the things in life that made you interesting. I stayed strong and fairly trim for a couple of years after my binge of fitness. But my social facilities returned almost at once. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/28 "2006-12-28T09:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=OriginalG] 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? [/QUOTE] Eh, no (those theories got debunked over 100 years ago), and also those body types are NOT something that changes with exercise. I could exercise until the sun went nova and I’d still have wide hips. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/29 "2006-12-28T10:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I’d still have wide hips. [/QUOTE] How you _doin_! or even iQué _hay_! ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/30 "2006-12-28T12:10:02Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Generally it is safe to assume that any stupidity you encounter in any aspect of your life was there to begin with and looking for a cause is only a worthwhile endeavor if you have really good evidence it wasn’t. [/QUOTE] beautiful. That’s exactly what I wanted to say before I started digging myself in sh!t. I will say no more in this thread. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/31 "2006-12-28T18:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Well, I hate to feed a stereotype, but. . . I had one period of intense interest in body building. … during that year, my conversation got really boring. [/QUOTE] weight lifting, like any sport , can become a lifestyle. And the type of lifestyle you choose _can_ dumb you down. If you’re gonna be a weight lifter, please try to be something else in addition to that. Your friends will be happier. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/32 "2006-12-28T19:16:36Z")
[QUOTE=OriginalG] OMFg, this is exactly what I am reffering to, a loss of creativity in speech and wit… [/QUOTE] Well, look at it this way. Weight lifting doesn’t make you stupid… but _weight lifting all the damn time_ takes away from activities that could otherwise make you a more well-rounded individual. If you are spending 4 hours a night in the gym, and another 2 hours reading up about techniques and exercises and mass-adding dietary tricks, that’s 6 hours you’re spending while other people are catching up on current events, reading books, playing board games, doing the crossword puzzle, playing cards, chatting, seeing the latest movie, painting, learning an instrument, taking a hike or a swim, going out to eat, or whatever. You won’t be stupider because you lifted weights, but you may find after a few years of shutting yourself up in a gym night after night that you don’t have much to talk about. The same could be said of watching re-runs of “Star Trek” six hours a night, or of peeling potatoes 6 hours a night. You’ll obsess over one aspect of your development and neglect others; brains need exercise as well as muscles. Next time, do your weightlifting and buy some books on tape. S’better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/33 "2006-12-28T20:28:00Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Through him, I’ve met a couple of championship/Olympic weightlifters, and found them to be pretty smart. [/quote] I think it’s pretty safe to say that achieving success in just about any sport requires a good brain as well as a good body. Competitive bodybuilders have to know scores of movements and set combinations to target specific muscles and muscle groups; a big stupid guy can certainly lift some weights but the weightlifting doesn’t make him stupid–he already is. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/34 "2006-12-28T21:09:45Z")
I’m gonna say that considering the health benefits of lifting weights, it could be a sign of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/35 "2006-12-29T04:31:12Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Or it might be that more dumb guys than smart guys take up weight lifting. Just sayin’ [/QUOTE] Oh, I wouldn’t say that. My IQ’s 143 and I can bench nearly three times that. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/36 "2006-12-29T12:00:43Z")
[QUOTE=GrizzRich] Oh, I wouldn’t say that. My IQ’s 143 and I can bench nearly three times that. [/QUOTE] 🙂 I can’t wait for the chance to ask that at a cocktail party. “So, what’s your IQ to Bench Press ratio?” ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/37 "2006-12-29T12:22:19Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Eh, no (those theories got debunked over 100 years ago), and also those body types are NOT something that changes with exercise. I could exercise until the sun went nova and I’d still have wide hips. [/QUOTE] Good point, and let me add that we need pictures for a complete evaluation. My personal experience is that, when I get regular exercise, I also feel more mentally alert; maybe because of more bloodflow. But following anything obsessively is likely to make your conversation boring (to anybody who doesn’t share that particular enthusiasm). For God’s sake, stay away from steroids. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/38 "2006-12-29T15:55:35Z")
Ask Arnold:Gov of California . Actually don’t. Sorry.Bad example. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/39 "2006-12-29T16:58:53Z")
I had a friend who was into body building. once, I met him for lunch with another guy-the conversation was booorrriiinng!=all they talked about was the newest extension exercises, protein supplements, how much time they spent working out, etc., etc. Nothing for me there! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781/40 "2006-12-30T15:09:15Z")
Could the “going to the gym dumbs you down idea” have come about through Boxers? Boxers in training have always spent alot of time in the gym but after many years medical science discovered that the repeated blows to the head incurred during matches and sparring caused the brain to be damaged and genuinlly did in effect dumb the individuals down. As to boring conversations I think that people who heavily focus on any one particular sport or pastime tend to become single subject bores,many of my mates are sports skydivers and I can assure you that you most definitely DONT want to be trapped in a corner talking to one of them at a party . If you’ve all just watched a volcano erupt they’ll STILL manage to bring the conversation around to their last few jumps.(For those of you who ever get caught in chatting to a skydiver I’ve found that faking death sometimes can get you out of it ;or pretending to have a fit is worth a try) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-weight-lifting-dumb-you-down/385781.md?page=3)