If you could only do one exercise for the rest of your life to protect your brain, what should it be and why?
The deadlift is the single best exercise for brain protection. When performed correctly, it recruits nearly the entire musculature — including the erector spinae, glutes, quads, serratus anterior, and calves — making it comparable only to the barbell squat in terms of full-body muscle engagement. The greater the number of muscles recruited in a single movement, the greater the release of myokines and the stronger the neural drive to the brain.
Myokines are signalling proteins released by muscle tissue during contraction. The more muscle fibres engaged in a single exercise, the larger the myokine release — and those molecules travel to the brain, where they support neuroprotection and cognitive function. This is the core biological mechanism that makes compound, full-body movements like the deadlift so effective for brain health.
"Having strong legs is by far the most important tool in your toolbox for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease."
— The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, episode: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms!
This recommendation sits inside a much broader argument for resistance training as the highest-return investment for brain health. The SMART trial — one of the most compelling pieces of evidence cited in the episode — placed people with mild cognitive impairment on resistance training two to three times per week. The results went beyond preservation: participants improved their processing speed and fluid intelligence, and showed a measurable slowing of grey matter loss. The implication is clear: muscle contraction does not just maintain the brain, it can actively push back against its decline.
The deadlift earns its top-ranked status precisely because no isolation exercise or machine movement comes close to its muscle recruitment profile. Compound movements that demand coordination across the full kinetic chain produce a disproportionately large neurological and biochemical response. If the goal is to maximise brain benefit per minute of exercise, the compounding nature of the deadlift is its defining advantage. You can explore the full episode and related conversations on Listenly's The Diary Of A CEO page.
See also
All studies show that in order to produce the neural effects of resistance training, you need to be lifting at around 80% of your one repetition max — the maximum weight you can lift for a single repetition of a given exercise.
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