Physical Activity Enhances Motor Skills Learning in Men
Researchers recommend cardio training both before and after learning new skills.
Moderate aerobic training immediately before and after learning a new motor skill led to around a 10% improvement in an adult man’s ability to remember the skill, when compared with no training, or training only before or after the skills learning session. University of Copenhagen researchers in Denmark concluded that various exercise protocols, both before and after skills training sessions, can promote stabilization and long-term retention of motor skills. Experts theorize that exercise enhances brain plasticity; this is particularly significant for people rehabilitating to restore lost motor skills. Recommendations are to integrate moderate aerobic activity both before and after focused motor skills training to optimize in-session learning, and to consolidate motor memory over the long-term.
“Typically, rehabilitation is divided between two or three different disciplines. In practice, this may mean that Mr. Smith will have physical training with a physiotherapist on one day, work with an ergonomist the next and train cognitive abilities with a psychologist on the third,” says senior study author Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, PhD, associate professor and head of Movement and Neuroscience in the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at University of Copenhagen. “Our research suggests that it could be wiser to plan rehabilitation so that these areas are considered together, as doing so could have a synergistic effect…even slight improvement in efficiency [of rehabilitation] can mean a lot to people in that situation.”
The research is described in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (2023; doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107830).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
