Naudi Aguilar from Functional Patterns has proposed a question that he would like exercise science to investigate: "Does building muscle make you stupid?" Check it out for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpTFYpEWGf8&t=355s (This was the video link, but it has since been taken down for obvious reasons.) |
Though he does act like he is asking a genuine question. Other mannerisms and words of his in his video and his description, as well as his thumbnail, seem to indicate he pretty much has made his mind up with a 'yes' to his pretty much rhetorical question.
My response to his flawed logic: He doesn't seem to have any scientific evidence to back up what he is almost asserting. Studies, if I'm not mistaken, actually show that exercise, whether it be strength training, bodybuilding, or cardio, actually helps to brain development and/or function. I've certainly never heard of any studies point to what he has is pretty much implying.
Naudi seems to be open to alternative health practices, having an open mind to things outside of the mainstream. One fundamental principle of this school of thought is that the body is not stupid like Western mainstream medicine seems to think. The brain is more adaptable than he seems to think. It seems to be plain logic that the brain will prioritize itself even if one is not eating enough calories to support brain function, let alone if it is but you have a lot of muscle to feed, so that even if one is not eating enough calories to support brain function, it will go into survival mode and use the body's muscle mass and stored fat. If and when one is in starvation mode, it is actually the brain that gets eaten away at the last.
I highly doubt any negative side effects such as Naudi proposes would happen to the brain because of weight lifting. This is because the human body is able to adapt in regards to calorie distribution. Losing parts of the brain would mean losing the parts of the main organ that is needed to survive. The human body is not stupid. The brain is not stupid. The body will not sacrifice the brain, the brain will not sacrifice itself for the sake of building muscle mass. This goes against our bodies' built in survival mechanisms.
UPDATE: Steve Shaw also responded to this, which I liked, so I'm sharing his response video here:
Though not a fan of his work generally, Every Damn Day Fitness did a very good video on Naudi's BS here, and it is very much deserved in this case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9NcV2x-78 (The video is not down. Probably due to YouTube's insane community guidelines policies.) |