So, I finally did it. I had my first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, the Sputnik V from Russia. In four weeks, I will be injected with the second dose to become fully inoculated.
So far, I have not experienced any side effects and I encourage others to get vaccinated in order for us to achieve herd immunity and end the deadly pandemic, which has claimed in excess of 3 million lives worldwide and almost 300 locally.
Many people are super skeptical about taking the vaccine. I was initially, but I blocked out the ‘online experts’, did my own research and concluded it was the best thing to do, which brings me to today’s topic. Contrary to popular opinion and stereotypical thinking, regular gym goers and people who work out are actually not just ‘meatheads’. Rather, despite the common stereotype, I find high-level athletes tend to be quite intelligent, compared to most people.
For starters, the science is that exercise can improve your ability to think critically. The extra blood flow to and from the brain results in higher brain activity and increased activation of gray-matter cells. Meanwhile, a healthy body has a much more stable hormone balance, which keeps emotions and logic far more levelled as well.
Next, getting in particularly fantastic shape takes a lot of brainpower. Nearly all of the components of fitness can be broken down into a form of math or science. Nutrition requires understanding of ratios (nutrient balances and calories), biology (what your body needs), biochemistry (what those needs are and how they interact), among other things. The actual exercising requires anatomy (understanding how the muscles move), applied physics and engineering (to focus on the muscle you are targeting so you don’t cheat the rep) and more percentages (understanding your one rep max and knowing how to reduce for getting a full set in). Unless you have a full team of coaches and specialists to do the thinking for you, you need to understand quite a bit of this information if you wish to excel beyond a certain point.
So to conclude, there are certainly people who dedicate most of their time to working out and aren’t very bright. There are also very smart people who work out regularly.
Intelligence and a muscular body aren’t mutually exclusive.
If you’re intelligent to begin with and then do weight training, you’ll be intelligent and muscular. If you’re stupid to begin with, you’ll be stupid and muscular.
