Yea. I’m specifically referring to the very common belief that “fit” people are somehow less inclined to do things considered “smart” like reading a book, love art and so on. To be honest I think that people going regularly to the gym or doing any kind of training have an extremely strong discipline that you can apply in other fields.
I used to share the house with a young guy, he is a film maker and at one point I noticed he lost seriously a lot of weight, starting already from a very thin bodytype. I asked him if he was okay and he answered me that he was creating a look that make it easier to deal with people from his working field.
Yes, it sounds really stupid but I have no problem in believing it’s true, because I’m exactly on the opposite side of the bodytype and experience daily the prejudice related to it. For example I love books and every time I enter a library or a book shop, the look on the people’s face say it all. It’s not my imagination, it actually happened to me that someone told me that I clearly don’t look like someone who likes reading or art in general.
Looking weak doesn’t make you smarter, just lazier (UNLESS THERE ARE CONDITIONS PREVENTING YOU TO CHANGE IT).
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I’ve never heard this in my entire life
Correct, we call this a ‘cope’.
The decision to exercise is fundamentally intelligent.
The fact is that exercise is proven to increase IQ scores.
Exercise creates a range of proteins associated with memory and cognitive performance.
If you don’t exercise regularly then you are not operating at your peak mental capacity.
I run a design-focused business.
If I let my training slip it has a noticeable impact on my ability to focus and produce great creative work.
It is dumb. You hear it about pretty women too, they’re assumed to be dumb for some reason. I’ve known a lot of smart, educated attractive people.
It’s interesting because I believe there is evidence that staying physically fit is positively correlated to brain health and function. The issue is that of course there was the old trope of the dumb jock in moves and TV shows, and especially if you’re in America there is very much the system of graduating students who are not academically smart, but incredible athletes. I’m a New England Patriots fan and I’m sorry Gronk, I will never believe the people who claim you’re Einstein level smart.
Edit: didn’t even finish my thought 😂 But yeah it is a shame though because I follow a few different fitness people and some of them are incredibly smart. One of them I follow just earned her PhD.
It’s about time investment. Someone that spends all day reading books will not have time to do exercise, and vice versa. As such the first would likely have a bast amount of knowledge (most of it probably useless, specially if they read fantasy) that the second one would lack. Most people obviously fall somewhere in the middle, but stereotypes are about extremes, always.
We need data. Otherwise its just a personal observation. And to call anyone with a different opinion stupid is… well….
Stereotypes are often based on a kernel of truth. You’re right that athletes who have commitment, determination, and motivation can apply it to other fields. But I’d be interested in seeing some data on whether that’s the case when it comes to more “cultural” pursuits.
There’s a stereotype about meatheads and gym rats who are dumb and haven’t read a book since high school English class. Obviously not all weightlifters or people who focus on athletics aren’t interested in intellectual pursuits. However, I think it’s important to point out that if you are a high achieving athlete, you may not have a huge amount of time to spend on more intellectual things. That’s not a knock on their intelligence, but rather a result of how they choose to focus their time and energy.
As far as I have experienced, nobody is saying there’s a correlation between physically weak and being smart.
The reason is time, especially for young people/kids.
The young kids who doesn’t spend extracurricular activity time on sports and such and develop a fit body often spend time in intellectual extracurricular activities instead.
This tendency can also be applied to people later in life, time spend in the gym and doing sports activities preclude that time being used in intellectual pursuit, thereby the connection can be made that very fit people must spend appropriately much time on physical activity, thereby having less tile to do activities that develop intellectual abilities.
Not saying that fit people dont do intellectual activities, they obviously do, but this is an explanation to why the correlation exists in the collective mentality, and why the idea isn’t “stupid”
I find it funny that Arnold played a big role in creating this type of stereotype while himself being a very smart man in real life.
Ofc it is, but thing is this:human beings must use mental shortcuts,thus it is easy for us to fall into those trap.We tend to make a choice base both on stereotypes and how much we know about them.For instance,around only the 10% of snakes is actually dangerous for us.Now, imagine u go outside and u find a random snake.What u do?U can act rationally,return inside,take a book,analyse the snake,and when assumed it is safe(which is 9/10 times)u can keep going.Or u may just got scared and go away asap.Bias and heuristics were once fundamental for evolution,tho nowadays we gotta be aware of it.For that specific topic,i actually even remember that some dumb scientist back in the days made an actual research,ofc a stereotyped one.It made a correlation between physical form and personality (Ie,Nerd/not fat)
Now that is not scientific ofc.It is important to know about our shortcuts
That is assuming someone’s personality over their appearance, I find it stupid when it is about clothes, even more when about body…
Edit: « narrow minded » would have been more accurate than « stupid »
I agree it’s dumb, so much math and knowledge go into being really good at bodybuilding and to think a big strong person is dumb is just silly.
It is dumb and it’s used as a trope in TV shows and movies because it establishes a narrative.
I’d agree with this one completely. The biggest shock I never got in grappling was an IT guy came in for his first class, he was balding, way overweight, wearing a flashy suit and turned out to be one of the strongest guy I ever met.
He had played underage basketball at international level and had gotten a scholarship for it, had boxed at a good level, too. He is one of the smartest and most interesting guys I know and came from a very athletic background.
Lol people live their life based off of 90’s movies
> Looking weak doesn’t make you smarter, just lazier
And here you stereotype as much as you are stereotyped. No your conditional doesn’t absolve you. There are people who aren’t interested in being fit – not interested, as opposed to interested but not being able to discipline themselves to do it
Personally, I find fit people to look more intelligent then the weaker ones. And I’m probably going to get some hate for this, but when conducting job interviews, and with equal experience and education, I’m more inclined to hire physically fit individuals over the physically weak ones. Fitness is irrefutable evidence of relentless perseverance, endurance, self respect and yes, intelligence too. And INB4: “What if they’re just using gear?” Gear isn’t a magic shortcut, it still requires the same positive properties. Doing gear correctly is surely not for the stupid.
Assumptions ain’t facts & looks are deceiving—always remember that no matter what. Be ignorant if you want.
Ashton Hall’s morning routine taught us that we no longer have to choose between fitness and intellect; we can do it all if we have just the right amount of psychosis.
There is a correlation between intelligence and physical ability, surprisingly. New neuronal pathways are made in the process of exercise and recovery, as well as proper nutrition. The Myelin sheath, particularly, gets a huge boost from burning fat — one of the only types that passes the blood brain barrier to buffer the brain’s operation. Not to mention that someone who is dedicated and disciplined will be so in all aspects of life.
But big human go, “durrrr…”
It’s objectively true that you shouldn’t make assumptions about people based on their body type, BUT there is a reason stereotypes exist. You don’t see many football players at the opera, you don’t see many scrawny dudes in glasses at the gym, you find obese people at a gamer convention and not a tennis match, etc.
The look in people’s faces when you enter a library or book store? Like what look and why?
I think it starts when we’re kids in school. We only have so much time in the day for structured hobbies and activities, so we kind of end up falling into one group or another.
Also, a lot of more physically gifted kids do struggle in school in the early stages because they tend to have more energy and want to be more active, which is something schools try to discourage and even punish in the classroom. So they learn early on that they are good at their sport or activity, and not so good at being in a classroom. Kids tend to gravitate towards what they are good at.
And it works both ways. When I had free time I almost always chose to read, even at recess or when my siblings were running around. I quickly fell behind physically and wasn’t as fast or agile as them, so when I did try to play with them I always lost or embarrassed myself. So I went and found more activities I felt like I was good at. Painting, writing, etc. All less physical hobbies.
All that to say, I agree that as adults we are capable of engaging with multiple types of hobbies both physical and not. But I think this belief starts when we are kids and a lot of us end up picking one side or the other.
OK hear me out … I spent most of my life as an overweight programmer. I would eat a lot of sugar to fuel binge programming sessions where I had to do a lot of mental work. Now, for the past five years, I’ve been doing intermittent fasting, lost around 70 pounds and exercise A LOT more. I have noticed that when my blood sugar is getting its lowest, I feel dumber than a bag of rocks! Glucose is the brain’s primary source of energy! I think there may actually be some science behind the “Dumb Jock” theory.
I have met gym bros that are smart and gym bros that are ignorant. And here is what I notice:
For smart people, yes you can be smart and fit but these stereotypes are based around school involved people.
Physical fitness knowledge is something important to know ofc, but if they are the gym bro stereotype, it’s not just a casual day at the gym. It is time consuming with not only the gym time but meal prepping and eating. There is some college classes I couldn’t even imagine having the time to do all of that. The stereotypical “smart” courses are extremely time consuming so as a result, many “geeks” become less of their peak performance with their health.
Overall I think the stereotype is stupid and it is doable to be both smart and fit, but depending on either extremes, it feels at times near-impossible, especially when both is time consuming.
This is a cope from weak nerds. They have resentment towards men who are stronger and better looking than them but they tell themselves “at least I’m smarter”. As if someone who is fit cannot be smart. In many cases the person coping this way is a midwit. They’re not even that intelligent.
Batman and many others especially superhero’s are seen as fit and smart these are stereotypes test are not relevant in modern media as much
I think part of the stereotype comes from like. Time constraints. Getting jacked requires a lot of time and effort. Scholarly pursuits also require a lot of time and effort. There’s always been a lot of people on both sides who prioritize one or the other.
But also I really do think you’re overstating how much weight people actually give to the stereotype. People aren’t giving you looks when you’re at the library or bookstore, you’re just imagining reactions to something you’re sensitive about.
It’s not really that stupid. People who are good at athletics usually get compliments, and that encourages them to keep going into sports and training. It’s a positive feedback loop. Same for people with an inclination towards academics. Teachers say Good job or You’re smart and that encourages them to keep studying. Same with the negative feedback loop. Athletes are called stupid and will avoid reading, and smart people are called weak and will avoid exercise.
I’m not entirely sure how to actually judge this opinion because I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it. I’m pretty physically fit, and living in the midwest being physically fit, especially at my age stands out pretty significantly.
That said the only time I’ve ever really clocked myself getting looked at weird is when I buy a bunch of shitty food at the market. Going into bookstores or the library I don’t know that I’ve really ever had anybody look at me any way.
So I guess I both agree and disagree with you? I don’t really think this opinion is even a thing, but I also would agree with you if it was.
Not really. Lately gym has been more popular and people want to believe they are smarr for it bc is healthy and stuff.
Dont get me wrong, I go to the gym and I like it and it makes me feel good but thats mostly to appease the monkey brain.
Smart people, and I mean really smart people, not like confusing it with having a degree and stuff or reddit smart, usually, dont waste their time on these stuff, they use most of their time learning and improving in other fields, because at the end of the day is easy 2-3 hours per day and thats quite a lot, so yeah theres a strong correlation with it I would say.
Also being able to follow a plan and being consistent is mostly proof you are average and not necessarily smart, dumb people literally cant, you need around an average IQ to do it so, if you can follow a plan is mostly a sign of at least being average.
One is not dumb for going to the gym but that doesnt make you smart either and is more likely someone actually smart is less physically fit.
I used to have this mindset when I was younger. It took self-reflection to realize that it was my insecurity talking. I always looked at fit people as inherently dumb, until I realized that I was simply jealous. There was nothing stopping me from getting in shape aside from my own fear.
sounds like somebody is weak and dumb and too lazy to change either and or both
A lot of movies and media in general have done a lot to perpetuate this stereotype – the dumb, muscular jock and the scrawny, weak nerd
well, i myself is physically weak, and at the same time not very smart
alright, topic closed, next…
“Let me tell you why you shouldn’t judge a person based on their appearance, while I call you lazy if you don’t look the way I think you should.”
My bf is hands down the smartest person I’ve ever met and he could also probably snap a human spine if the occasion called for it.
If you look at the research, it’s likely that a person who is smarter is also more physically fit, and also more attractive.
But I may be biased, because I’m pretty ripped but also a nerd with a graduate degree.
Also, anyone with real intelligence would understand the importance of health and fitness.
If you use time for physical activity, you are not using it for intellectual activity. If you don’t do physical activity, you have more time for intellectual ones. Do you agree about this? So, at parity of other conditions, that given a large enough sample will smooth out, weaker people are more educated, and, so, on average smarter.
You may prefer experimental data to theories. In this case you could google for example google the picture of all the nobel prizes in physics, and keep the count of how many look jacked vs weak. Then repeat the experiment using pictures of random people in a subway over the years.
Of course, prejudice are wrong, but you can’t pretend you can’t see the correlation.
I think this comes down to a shift in societal priorities. It’s so much more acceptable to have a nerdy hobby nowadays. For example, when Star Wars came out, the social norm was to think that only guys who didn’t score chicks— weak, shy guys would care about nerdy things. The general consensus was that hot guys were jocks and didn’t care about higher level concepts. Attractive and fit folks just didn’t feel comfortable giving away their social status for the ability to be a nerd. Whereas the folks considered “losers” really had no social standing to diminish. I think this is also lowkey tied into toxic masculinity from the past coupled with how American society used to romanticize blue collar workers during the 20 century and before when America still had its manufacturing jobs. Now everyone pushes for academia as the road for success so it’s several variables all wrapped up and changing overtime imo.
I think it depends. If you are a muscular and kind-of fat guy on TRT talking about conspiracy theories, then you’ll probably be judged for being not very smart. If you are a thin, sort of awkward person with glasses and a book, you will probably be judged for being smart. These are more likely than not somewhat correct judgments.
But people who take their health seriously by running, eating a proper diet, and going to the gym are generally considered smart across society imo. These people are also pretty educated. It’s the lazy looking obese folks that get judged negatively for all kinds of reasons. And that isn’t necessarily fair
No notes, Plato, you are right and the world should hear it
I’ve never thought of the stereotype applying to “fit” people. I always thought it was more about bodybuilder/meathead/gymbros. And a little bit high school/college athletes that are only really getting by because coach needs them.
This is actually really fun.
Try to follow this chain of thought, please:
During your socialization, you likely experienced that people accepted that you are well-built and good-looking. What you did not notice is that they treated you differently, as the general life “on the street” prefers good-looking or muscular built people. It’s an often documented bias in various situations, ranging from who gets served at the bar first right to how people are treated in court. Being perceived as good-looking is making you run your life in Easy Mode, scientifically observed with many examples.
Now, there are certain areas, like libraries, though, in which this bias is not dominant. The perceived norm of people in a library rarely contains a well-built guy, a stunning blonde in a red dress or a toddler on their own. So, the looks you perceive are the NORMAL looks people give you when you are not running on Easy Mode. The way you are classified as “stupid person accidentally walking into the library” equals a fat guy walking into a gym, or even a restaurant. The original assumption would be for them to be eating three orders alone on their table, and not that they are having a date (as everyone would expect from Mr. Look-Good). Equal to the assumption that the fat guy is in the gym to leer at sexy people training instead of doing something against their overweight. While the already fit guy is revered for their perseverance and knowledge about the human body.
You are facing a short shower of how people who are not having the luck or will or genes or whatever reason to have an attractive appearance to the public. That you are even treating it as prejudice just confirms for me that you might not be facing being judged by your cover very often. People do that all the time to people not fitting in Big Corp beauty standards.
Doctors even kill people due to that bias, as they assume the wrong medical conditions. It is just much easier to account the left-sided ache of a heavy-weight young woman as a lack of training in her shoulders (instead of a heart attack), than that you are mistreated for lead poisoning you contracted from an old tome in your literary adventures and nobody ever thought you would have touched a potentially hazardous book.
The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.- Thucydides
>Looking weak doesn’t make you smarter, just lazier
You can’t have it both ways. If looking fit doesn’t mean you’re dumb, then looking weak doesn’t mean you’re lazy. Plenty of ‘weak’ looking people are extremely dedicated to their craft and interests.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am the stereotype. When I got a buzz cut I was called Schmuel for a month
I’d argue that looking weak doesn’t inherently make you lazier, because looks rarely tell the full story. I agree that the stereotype that you can’t be both strong and smart is ridiculous, though.
The only place I can think that this MIGHT apply would be when it comes to physical work.
A weaker person tends to have to use their brain alittle more some times when they body weight/straight isn’t enough.
Im not saying stronger people are dumb, because i know this isn’t the case but there is alot of situation that their strength allows them to do things without having to find a solution.
Adds up for me back in elementary/middle/high school. The sports people got more praise for athletic feats while others got it from getting good grades. Naturally, they both were drawn to the attention it brought and focused their efforts there.
Might be different these days tho.
A city perishes when its warriors are strong but foolish, and its rulers wise but weak
Dude started working out and already have fantasies where he mogs all the nerds at the bookstore
I mean, is this unpopular?
I suppose there’s some truth to the idea that if you spend a lot of time doing one thing,’you have less time to spend on doing something else. So there’s almost certainly a slight correlation there.
It’s such a funny stereotype to me, given the large group of people in my PhD cohort that would go work out before lab, including one guy that was a former bodybuilder
Stephen Hawking is laughing in his grave
It’s insecurity from people who are unfit.
This isn’t a thing these days unless by fit you mean serious bodybuilders
It is a dumb stereotype. I have a friend who looks like the typical buff brawler type and he secretly applied to law school because he felt even his family didn’t believe he was smart enough to do it. Now he’s in his last year and doing well.
Typically time spent doing one thing is time spent not doing something else.
On average someone who spends their free time working out and training will be more fit then someone who spends that time reading and the person who reads is going to be “smarter”
Most people fall somewhere in the middle
Socrates worked this out.
As did all the Gamers when esports became a thing.
Epke zonderland, olympic champion, 3 time world champion, has huge arms. And he did all his gold medall winning while studying medicine and becoming a doctor
I mean it’s really not that deep or complicated my guy. Typically people only have time to focus on a few specialties in their life. If someone spends all their time at the gym, it’s likely they’re not pursuing a PhD. If someone is pursuing a PhD, it’s likely they don’t have time for the gym.
Further, people that care about looks and aesthetics usually also care about other social things more than intellectual things and visa versa.
It’s all extremely basic and normal associations, that of course there’s exceptions to.
I mean it’s really not that deep or complicated my guy. Typically people only have time to focus on a few specialties in their life. If someone spends all their time at the gym, it’s likely they’re not pursuing a PhD. If someone is pursuing a PhD, it’s likely they don’t have time for the gym.
Further, people that care about looks and aesthetics usually also care about other social things more than intellectual things and visa versa.
It’s all extremely basic and normal associations, that of course there’s exceptions to.
It comes from the idea that life is fair, and that someone who’s bad at one thing must be good at something else to compensate.
And then you see Hugh Jackman and realize it’s all a lie.
The thing is, a lot of the things that you need to do to become fit are intolerably boring to people with an active inner life.
I find the opposite to be true. In my experience, people who create and execute a fitness plan are smarter than those who don’t.
How smart can you really be if you neglect your health…?
It’s true when you go to the extremes, achieving excellence in one thing will leave you mediocre in others.
Plus when you consider the lifestyle that surrounds excelling in academics or sports you can see why that’s the case.
With the way even average gym goers are optimising their workouts and macros and the massively reduced barrier to “nerdy hobbies” since the like 90s when the trope was first established I think if anything the opposite is closer to true.
Theoretical physicist tend to really love rock climbing, I don’t know why. This extends the point where I know physicists who an avoid nearby climbing gyms because they know they will just see people from work there and end up talking about work. There are a lot of super buff theoretical physicists out there (I’m a fat one, but I’m definitely the exception not the rule).
The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools. – Thucydides of Athens.
It especially sucks for people who arent smart and weak
The reason you see the tropes of smart people being weak or beautiful people being dumb is because of 1) values and 2) we have a finite amount of time.
Someone who puts a lot of time into getting intelligent has less time, all else equal, to put into fitness than someone who doesn’t. Same goes into time/effort to look attractive.
A secondary effect is if they value intelligence a lot in people, they tend to not hold looks in such a high value. There’s more of a correlation between looks and athletic ability (both are body-related), so that tends to go together more.
Obviously a combination of good time management, good genes, and valuing everything somewhat highly in general will debunk this stereotype, but the idea is that not many people do all of that.
Edit: also this explains why it’s more of a thing in kids. You have less free time (8hr of school) and it needs to be invested accordingly. As adults you can pick your line of work and you have likely learned better time management to close previous gaps.
I think people want to believe that god/the creator/universe makes things fair by evening things out lol
Statistically good looking people are actually probably more educated and smarter since being healthy and in shape is correlated with a higher socioeconomic background. Poor people dont have the time to workout and exercise.
I always assume the quieter ones are smarter for some reason. Definitely not the case
This is a stereotype that dates back to as far as ancient Greece. There is obviously some truth to it if the stereotype stood for this long.
Maybe less today though.
Fit people don’t usually get that stigma, it’s the guys with huge muscles that are usually meat heads
I could see where someone could lack physical fitness because they are only focused on studying, book learning, research, etc., and I can also see where someone could be so into their working out or physical activities that it consumes their time and/or they don’t care to develop their intellect. However, I don’t think there’s a polarized either/or on this, but rather a lot of grey area. Plus there’s a lot of research that exercise is good for brain health and cognition in a number of ways, so perhaps somewhere in the middle is the place to be.
If it’s literally EVERY time you go into a book shop or library, maybe there’s some other thing you are doing, because unless they told you, I’d say it’s not guaranteed that they are thinking what you think they are thinking esp. if you’re basing it solely on what someone told you one time. It sounds almost like they are looking more so because perhaps you’re extremely muscular, OR extremely attractive, OR dressed to attract attention, OR walking in with some sort of an attitude/the way you carry yourself, OR some combination of these, in which case the people are probably responding more to that than thinking or caring how intellectual you are or why you’re even there.