New research shows that the more muscle mass you have, the sharper your brain... and the more visceral fat mass, the higher your risk of developing dementia.
Due to my job as a geologist, I travel around to remote areas a lot. I have found a combo of body weight exercises to be very convenient, as they can be done anywhere, anytime, everyday, without any equipment.
Oddly enough, some people can have a sixpack while still having excessive visceral fat! The rectus abdominis (sixpack muscle) sits underneath the subcutaneous fat layer, but above the visceral fat layer. Men, in particular, can have low subcutaneous fat but high visceral fat. By contrast, athletic women might have quite impressive muscle mass but it's not really visible because of their higher subcutaneous fat reserves. It's all about the hormones!!!!
I had a client who was a geologist. She was about 4'9", and so tiny that she had to have her clothes made for her because otherwise, she'd be shopping in the kids' section! But she was as tough as nails, because of lugging around all her equipment in remote locations.
Bodyweight exercises are superb for building strength. I must admit, I struggle with pull-ups though.
Bahahaha! Not in my personal experience. You raise a really interesting point though, which is - What happens when you push the human body to extremes? The amount of muscle mass that bodybuilders put on is unnatural and extreme, and they have to do unnatural and extreme things to attain it - like overeating calories, particularly from protein, and spending many hours per day in the gym (and of course, many take anabolic steroids). Also, bodybuilders reduce their body fat percentage to an unnaturally low level. In the not-so-distant past, these specimens would have been weeded out of the gene pool by the next famine! Unsurprisingly, bodybuilders don't enjoy a long life expectancy. I haven't seen any data on their incidence of dementia, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was at least as high as the general population and possibly higher, because of the rampant drug abuse in the bodybuilder community.
However, the average adult in western countries is overfat and undermuscled, and it's this large segment of the population that studies such as the ones discussed in this article provide valuable guidance for.
Yes, the relationship between physical activity and mortality risk is basically a U-shaped curve - being sedentary is bad for you, but running 100s of kms per week is also bad for you.
so basically, try to get yourself a sixpack?
Due to my job as a geologist, I travel around to remote areas a lot. I have found a combo of body weight exercises to be very convenient, as they can be done anywhere, anytime, everyday, without any equipment.
Oddly enough, some people can have a sixpack while still having excessive visceral fat! The rectus abdominis (sixpack muscle) sits underneath the subcutaneous fat layer, but above the visceral fat layer. Men, in particular, can have low subcutaneous fat but high visceral fat. By contrast, athletic women might have quite impressive muscle mass but it's not really visible because of their higher subcutaneous fat reserves. It's all about the hormones!!!!
I had a client who was a geologist. She was about 4'9", and so tiny that she had to have her clothes made for her because otherwise, she'd be shopping in the kids' section! But she was as tough as nails, because of lugging around all her equipment in remote locations.
Bodyweight exercises are superb for building strength. I must admit, I struggle with pull-ups though.
I wonder if body-builders are the sharpest tools in the shed?
Bahahaha! Not in my personal experience. You raise a really interesting point though, which is - What happens when you push the human body to extremes? The amount of muscle mass that bodybuilders put on is unnatural and extreme, and they have to do unnatural and extreme things to attain it - like overeating calories, particularly from protein, and spending many hours per day in the gym (and of course, many take anabolic steroids). Also, bodybuilders reduce their body fat percentage to an unnaturally low level. In the not-so-distant past, these specimens would have been weeded out of the gene pool by the next famine! Unsurprisingly, bodybuilders don't enjoy a long life expectancy. I haven't seen any data on their incidence of dementia, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was at least as high as the general population and possibly higher, because of the rampant drug abuse in the bodybuilder community.
However, the average adult in western countries is overfat and undermuscled, and it's this large segment of the population that studies such as the ones discussed in this article provide valuable guidance for.
I remember reading a comparison between long distance runners and sprinters with the sprinters enjoying a much longer life expectancy.
Yes, the relationship between physical activity and mortality risk is basically a U-shaped curve - being sedentary is bad for you, but running 100s of kms per week is also bad for you.