Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor Forget brain training games - here's a powerful to keep your brain young and healthy: Wisdom Wednesdays
Feb 17, 2026
They discuss randomized trials showing progressive resistance training can lower MRI-derived brain age and improve cognition in mild cognitive impairment. Research details include whole-brain connectivity shifts, links between leg strength and prefrontal networks, and possible muscle-to-brain mechanisms like BDNF and improved perfusion. Practical advice recommends supervised resistance sessions two to three times weekly.
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Resistance Training Reverses Brain Age
- Two randomized trials show resistance training reduces biological brain age and improves cognition in older adults.
- Effects were whole-brain, distributed network shifts rather than single-region changes.
Train 2–3 Times Weekly For Brain Benefits
- Do two to three supervised progressive resistance sessions per week targeting major muscle groups to improve brain health.
- Moderate intensity was as effective as heavy in the brain-clock trial, so use realistic loads you can sustain.
Leg Strength Predicts Brain Youth
- Improvements in leg strength strongly correlated with reductions in brain age gap, linking peripheral strength to brain network health.
- This reinforces the concept: 'train the muscle, shift the network.'