Strong built legs are an indicator of the power in your brain, says twins research scientist Dr Claire Steves, senior lecturer at King’s College London and King’s College Hospital.

Steves is lead author of a study in Gerontology that offers scientific motivation to us to work our legs and glutes to the max because doing so builds the brain too; the doctor used twins in the study as they share many factors, such as genetics and early life, which we can’t change in adulthood.”

She enrolled 324 healthy female twins average age 55 into the TwinsUK volunteer registry in 1999. The registry became a source of analytics on what keeps people fit in the realm of cognitive function while taking into account genetics.

Over every other lifestyle factor, leg power determined brain health over time. The twins with the more powerful legs had the more powerful brains after 10 years. “It’s compelling to see such differences in cognition and brain structure in identical twins who had different leg power 10 years before,” Steves says. “It suggests that simple lifestyle changes to boost our physical activity may help to keep us both mentally and physically healthy.”

What’s happening in the brain can be answered with other studies that find white matter, which is the message delivery tissue in the brain and spinal cord, is thick and densest in the most physically active children. Though with children, it means they will probably have more powerful cognitive function as evidenced by what they remember, how they pay attention and grasp things mentally—and knowing what we do about the regenerative powers of the brain, combined with this new study, the most powerful legs have the most brain white matter—and that’s something to get pumped about.