#17 Brain Bite - Physical Fitness verse Mental Fitness

What if your strongest muscle isn’t a muscle at all? We make a bold case that mental fitness—not just physical training—is the real foundation for performance, health, and resilience. You’ll hear why a brain-first routine can protect you from burnout, sharpen focus, and steady your emotions when life gets loud.

We break down the core capacities that mental fitness trains: 

• sustained attention, 
• emotional regulation,
•  cognitive flexibility, 
• resilience, 
• and stress management. 

Using clear, science-backed language, we connect daily habits to brain systems—the prefrontal cortex that keeps you calm under pressure, the hippocampus that accelerates learning, and the amygdala that reacts less when you practice regulation. Then we map out practical, five‑minute tools you can start today.

By the end, you’ll have a weekly challenge to start your own mental fitness streak and a clearer view of how small, deliberate practices can rewire your brain at any age.

If this sparked a shift in how you think about training, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves the gym but skips “brain day,” and leave a quick review to help more people build an unshakeable brain.

Note: This podcast episode is sponsored by Dr. Rewire's Brain DNA test. Learn more at Unshakeablebrain.ai. If you're a practitioner and you're interested in adding this at-home lab test to your toolkit, go to Unshakeablebrain.ai/expert.

I, Dr. Kylie, no longer work with clients in any endeavor. If you'd like more support for your health, I recommend working with the physicians at the EllieMD telemedicine platform. To get started, go to https://elliemd.com/?bp=drkylie. For health and wellness experts looking to provide this resource to your clients, get started at https://elliemd.com/join-us/?bp=drkylie.

Thank you for joining the Unshakeable Brain community. Dr. Kylie

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Welcome to Brain Bites, your quick dose of
science and strategies for anunshakable brain.
I'm your host, Dr.
Kylie, and in the next fewminutes, you'll get a sharp
insight to feed your brain.
This episode is brought to youby Dr.
Rewire's Brain DNA test.
To learn more, grab yours and asa practitioner incorporate this
into your toolkit.

(00:25):
Go to unshakablebrain.ai.
If you're a practitioner, hitthe expert button at the top of
the page, and you'll get all theinformation you need to
incorporate this remarkable testinto your toolkit with your
clients.
And maybe even monetize yoursocial media.
Anyways, all right, let's digin.

(00:46):
If you were to ask someone abouttheir fitness routine, they'll

tell you everything (00:50):
leg day, cardio, macros, recovery, rest
days, progress, progressiveoverload.
They'll track their reps,they'll measure their body fat
percentage, obsess over theirsplits.
But if you were to ask themabout their mental fitness
routine, most often you willreceive a blank stare.

(01:11):
We live in a culture that'sobsessed with physical fitness
and completely ignores mentalfitness.
We'll spend an hour at the gym,but we won't spend five minutes
training our brain.

Here's the irony (01:22):
the brain controls everything.
Your muscles don't fire withoutit, your heart doesn't beat
without it, your lungs don'tbreathe without it.
If your brain isn't fit, nothingelse matters.
So what is mental fitnessexactly?
It's the practice ofstrengthening your brain's core

(01:43):
functions.
Those are focus, emotionalregulation, cognitive
flexibility, resilience, andstress management.
Just like you train your bicepsto get stronger, you can train
your prefrontal cortex to staycalm under pressure.
You can train your hippocampusto learn faster.

(02:06):
You can train your amygdala toreact less intensely.
But most people treat theirbrain like it should just work.
No training required, nomaintenance needed.
Imagine training your body thatway, never exercising, never
stretching, just expecting it toperform at its peak day in and

(02:28):
day out.
That's ridiculous, right?
Coming from an athlete as I havebeen, and I come from a very
athletic family.
That's crazy.
But yet you sit back and youthink about it, and it's like,
holy crap, it's true.
We focus so much on our physicalfitness, but we don't even give

(02:49):
our mental fitness five minutesa week.
We're here to change that.
And if you are here, you'realready changing that.
So welcome aboard to ourunshakable brain community,
where we are focusing on ourmental fitness.
Here's the difference.
Physical fitness builds yourbody.
Mental fitness builds your life.

(03:12):
Physical fitness gives youstrength, endurance, and
mobility.
Mental fitness gives youclarity, emotional control, and
the ability to navigateadversity without falling apart.
You can have six-pack abs andstill be emotionally unfit.
You can run a marathon and stillhave zero stress resilience.

(03:33):
Physical fitness doesn't protectyou from burnout, anxiety, or
mental collapse.
But mental fitness does.

The best part (03:41):
mental fitness doesn't require a gym
membership, special equipment,or an hour of your day.
Five minutes of intentionalpractice can rewire your brain.
Meditation strengthens yourattention networks.
Journaling improves emotionalregulation.
Learning something new buildscognitive reserve.

(04:02):
Challenging negative thoughtsincreases mental resilience.
Those are just a few things thatyou can think about
incorporating into your mentalfitness routine.
They are training your brain inthe same manner as if you were

(04:24):
physically training your musclesand the rest of your body.
You should also know that whenit comes to mental fitness, just
like physical training,consistency matters more than
intensity.
You don't get fit by working outonce.
You get fit by showing up everyday, even when you don't feel

(04:44):
like it.
Your brain is the same.
So here's the question.
If you're willing to train yourbody, why wouldn't you train
your brain?
That brings us to our weeklychallenge.
I want you to create one mentalfitness habit.
Just one.
Take something simple and do itevery single day.

(05:06):
Here are a few ideas.
One, five minutes of meditationor breathwork.
Two, ten minutes of readingsomething that challenges your
thinking.
Three, a daily gratitudejournal.
Just write down three thingsyou're grateful for.
Four, learning one new thingevery day, such as a word, a

(05:27):
concept, a skill, whatever itis.
Track it just like you track aworkout.
Check it off.
Build a streak.
Physical fitness gives you astrong body.
Mental fitness gives you anunshakable brain.
So let's start training.

(05:49):
Your unshakable brain fact.
Just like muscles, your braingets stronger with use.
When you learn something new orpractice a skill, your brain
physically changes.
Neurons fire together and wiretogether, creating stronger
connections.
This is called neuroplasticity,and it happens at every age.
Your brain is never too old toget stronger and rewire.

(06:14):
I think one of the things I wantto learn is tennis.
And that's something that willbe big for me because I've tried
to learn it in the past.
As a volleyball player, the ballcomes to your hands.
As a tennis player, the ballcomes to a racket in your hands.

(06:35):
So I literally will have toretrain my brain on where to hit
the ball, or in my case, I wouldset the ball with volleyball.
So think about something thatyou could do that will create a
challenge for your brain becauseyou literally have to rewire or
wire a new thought, a newaction, a new something.

(07:01):
Just like if you think about it,volleyball is ball to hand.
Tennis is ball to racket in yourhand.
And there's a big difference inthat.
Um I'll let you guys know how itgoes throughout the next several
months because it's not gonna bea slow process.
All right, I'm Dr.

(07:22):
Kylie, and that is your brainbite for the week.
See you next week.