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Strong legs are also associated with people who run a lot, which has been already shown to be associated with healthy brains. It's possible this study is a pro

by DevX101 11y ago

Strong legs are also associated with people who run a lot, which has been already shown to be associated with healthy brains. It's possible this study is a proxy for the common health advice of 'just do more cardio'

pessimizer 11y ago
Or just an overblown observation that smart people do more exercise. Similar to the massive bullshitstorm over the observation that people who are healthy sit less.
hyperchase 11y ago
Or weightlifting, squatting and deadlifting heavy on a regular basis will give you substantially stronger legs than any runner.
- DevX101 11y ago
  I'm not entirely convinced 'strong legs' are the causative factor in healthier brains. It is possible the researchers measured an artifact of people that do running cardio.
  - nostrebored 11y ago
    Particularly damning is that the research participants were all female. Anyone who's set foot in a gym knows that women do cardio disproportionately, and that the cardio they do increases thigh musculature...
    - kaitai 11y ago
      I have to disagree. Sure women do more cardio, but the cardio increasing thigh musculature? Not a chance. Squatting increases thigh musculature. Doing the elliptical for an hour a day does not. Running slowly or at a medium speed does not. Nor do either lead to any gain in strength anywhere.
      - nostrebored 11y ago
        Have you seen the thighs and calves of people who bike? Of course lifting will cause more hypertrophy, but arguing that cardio doesn't lead to some gains in musculature is just wrong.
      - foldr 11y ago
        Huh? Running certainly increases the strength of your leg muscles. The only possible exception to this would be if you were jogging very very slowly. But if you go from not running at all to running faster than, say, 6mph, your legs will certainly get stronger.
- codingdave 11y ago
  That depends completely on how you define "strong". I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K.
  - kyllo 11y ago
    That's endurance, which is objectively different from strength.
    - codingdave 11y ago
      Objectively? Because last I checked, the english language was flexible, with multiple definitions for most words. I looked a few up for "strength". I did not find any dictionary that solely defined it as the ability to move heavy objects.
      - kyllo 11y ago
        Words have consensus meanings, and when you try to redefine them unilaterally you make it harder to communicate. Strength in this context is defined as the ability to exert physical force (as in Newton's Second Law, force = mass x acceleration). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_strength https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_strength
        uououuttt 11y ago
        The word isn't being redefined. Endurance is the ability to continue exerting physical force over a long duration.
        kyllo 11y ago
        Do you disagree that it's useful to distinguish between strength and endurance? codingdave asserted, "I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K." The former is an example of great endurance (without necessarily having great strength), and the latter is an example of great strength without endurance. You can have one without the other, so they're different, and it's plainly incorrect to say that a person with high endurance/low strength is "stronger" than a person with high strength/low endurance.
- uououuttt 11y ago
  Any runner? Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Of course, the best sprinters work lifting into their training as well.
  - jperras 11y ago
    > Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Considering that "leg strength" is conventionally measured via seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition, I would be extremely surprised if an Olympic sprinter could achieve the same sort of leg strength that an Olympic weightlifter (of similar weight) could attain.
    - uououuttt 11y ago
      If you define leg strength specifically as "seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition" then sure, the Olympic weight lifter will win.
OldSchoolJohnny 11y ago
No knowledgeable sources are advising to "just do more cardio" anymore. Science has long marched on past that advice.
DrScump 11y ago
Unfortunately, the abstract says nothing about how "leg power" is measured or what exercise regimens were used. Lifting and sprinting will utilize different fibers (and fuels) than cardio. I'd also want to see how they corrected for other effects, e.g. sleep. I sleep a lot faster and better a couple of hours after lifting, and that will have other benefits like hGH release.

by DevX101 11y ago

pessimizer 11y ago

Or just an overblown observation that smart people do more exercise. Similar to the massive bullshitstorm over the observation that people who are healthy sit less.

hyperchase 11y ago

Or weightlifting, squatting and deadlifting heavy on a regular basis will give you substantially stronger legs than any runner.

DevX101 11y ago
I'm not entirely convinced 'strong legs' are the causative factor in healthier brains. It is possible the researchers measured an artifact of people that do running cardio.
- nostrebored 11y ago
  Particularly damning is that the research participants were all female. Anyone who's set foot in a gym knows that women do cardio disproportionately, and that the cardio they do increases thigh musculature...
  - kaitai 11y ago
    I have to disagree. Sure women do more cardio, but the cardio increasing thigh musculature? Not a chance. Squatting increases thigh musculature. Doing the elliptical for an hour a day does not. Running slowly or at a medium speed does not. Nor do either lead to any gain in strength anywhere.
    - nostrebored 11y ago
      Have you seen the thighs and calves of people who bike? Of course lifting will cause more hypertrophy, but arguing that cardio doesn't lead to some gains in musculature is just wrong.
    - foldr 11y ago
      Huh? Running certainly increases the strength of your leg muscles. The only possible exception to this would be if you were jogging very very slowly. But if you go from not running at all to running faster than, say, 6mph, your legs will certainly get stronger.
codingdave 11y ago
That depends completely on how you define "strong". I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K.
- kyllo 11y ago
  That's endurance, which is objectively different from strength.
  - codingdave 11y ago
    Objectively? Because last I checked, the english language was flexible, with multiple definitions for most words. I looked a few up for "strength". I did not find any dictionary that solely defined it as the ability to move heavy objects.
    - kyllo 11y ago
      Words have consensus meanings, and when you try to redefine them unilaterally you make it harder to communicate. Strength in this context is defined as the ability to exert physical force (as in Newton's Second Law, force = mass x acceleration). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_strength https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_strength
      - uououuttt 11y ago
        The word isn't being redefined. Endurance is the ability to continue exerting physical force over a long duration.
        kyllo 11y ago
        Do you disagree that it's useful to distinguish between strength and endurance? codingdave asserted, "I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K." The former is an example of great endurance (without necessarily having great strength), and the latter is an example of great strength without endurance. You can have one without the other, so they're different, and it's plainly incorrect to say that a person with high endurance/low strength is "stronger" than a person with high strength/low endurance.
uououuttt 11y ago
Any runner? Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Of course, the best sprinters work lifting into their training as well.
- jperras 11y ago
  > Sprinting is as good as anything for developing explosive leg strength. Considering that "leg strength" is conventionally measured via seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition, I would be extremely surprised if an Olympic sprinter could achieve the same sort of leg strength that an Olympic weightlifter (of similar weight) could attain.
  - uououuttt 11y ago
    If you define leg strength specifically as "seated leg press for a maximal, single repetition" then sure, the Olympic weight lifter will win.

OldSchoolJohnny 11y ago

No knowledgeable sources are advising to "just do more cardio" anymore. Science has long marched on past that advice.

DrScump 11y ago

Unfortunately, the abstract says nothing about how "leg power" is measured or what exercise regimens were used. Lifting and sprinting will utilize different fibers (and fuels) than cardio. I'd also want to see how they corrected for other effects, e.g. sleep. I sleep a lot faster and better a couple of hours after lifting, and that will have other benefits like hGH release.