Is the Gym Making you Dumber?

In my life I’ve come across different struggles and challenges. One of those challenges was insecurity about my body image. I was skinny my whole childhood, and I wanted to change it when I was 14 years of age. So I started lifting weights. First in our garage with some barbells, dumbbells and a pullup bar, then later I joined a regular commercial gym. I was a football player all my life, and football was my biggest love. I was obsessed with playing football and watching football. I’ve always been injury prone however, and then one day I tore my knee ligaments during a game. No football for atleast 6 months.

As I was injured, I realised I have to do something with my physique. So I went all in on working out, even stopping to play football multiple times because I started to fall in love with the gym more and more. It will soon be 3 years that i’ve been working out. But as i’m getting older and my opinions naturally continue to change, I started to wonder.. is the gym worth it being my number 1 love?

First of all, the more I was realising how weird the gym community is, the more I was trying to not identify myself as a gym culture member.

I found out most of male gym goers are people with a victim mindset. They often think the whole world is programmed against them, that girls should pick the guys they talk to based on how jacked they were, etc. These people are also known as gymcels. They also have no personality outside the gym. Once they appear in the real world and the conversation isn’t about their bench press PR, it’s over for them.

So once I realised how shallow gym poeple are, atleast from my experience, I started to distance myself. It even got that far that I made football my number 1 sport again.

The second reason why I think the gym is making you dumber is, that it changes your perspective on what a fit human being actually is. When I was the skinniest i’ve ever been, I was arguably the fittest i’ve ever been. I had the most endurance. Once I became a gym goer instead of an athlete, I became stiff, slow, and a person with no stamina and endurance. The average gym goer thinks lifting weight will make them fit. That’s WRONG.

During the time the gym was my number 1 priority, I also started boxing. I thought I was going to have an advantage because of my decent physique. But at my first sparring session I got punched in the face. That made my ego shatter. I also gassed out in about 30 seconds. It was an embarrasing lesson.

I was boxing for a few months, and I improved endurance-wise and skill-wise. The gym was taking that away from me.

Now I play football, practice muay thai, and my stamina is finally getting as good as it once was.

But all this doesn’t mean the gym is bad. It’s great as a compliment for your main activity that’s making you FIT. Don’t make the gym your whole personality and whole focus.

Remember, the gym is supposed to improve your life OUTSIDE the gym.