Since I am older (in my 40:th) and have had an brain damage (stupid me) I am a slow learner. But, there is hope for us older students as well:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20070313/get-fit-improve-memory

There are in fact several such researches. So, I have tested this on my self for a while. I started with increasing the daily exercising. This actually did help me a lot. Might be that i also listen to Chinese pod when running. So, I have also added a punishment for my self. When I have a bad character session with more than 10 errors / 30 minutes i have to run/walk up and down the 21 floors in the house i live in. Today that have been 4 such runs, yup a bad memory day. This is actually helping in many ways. During the session I can practice my character in my head and i get a lot of blood to the brain so it gets much more active. This is actually helping me a lot. It is never to late to learn anything:-)

By the way, If any one is up for an fun challenge, have a look at the great wall marathon: http://www.great-wall-marathon.com/Default.aspx
I should have been running that this year but missed it due to unexpected work. Better luck next year.

@Mandarinboy
What kind of brain damage did you have? Your brain is malleable and is able to recover and compensate for a lot.

I agree with your improved blood flow idea.

First I had a violent crash when parachuting and then i fell down from a building cracking the scull. My short term memory is really bad but the brain is in fact able to recover and use other ways to get the info.

Right after I get back from the gym, I am in no shape for Skritter practice! But when I'm exercising, I have more energy the rest of the time, and it's very easy to tell how much energy I have by how well I Skritter.

That Great Wall marathon looks awesome. I can't afford it, but how else would I get anyone to race with me?

I entirely agree with the statement more exercise leads to increased memory. Why not Skritter while exercising? I laughed at the idea at first, but hey, why not?

http://blog.makezine.com/_blog_rick_treadmill-1.jpg

(The blog nor the image are mine.)

I find it almost impossible to do any sort of work when running on a treadmill :p.

Even on the bikes it's pretty hard...

I think it's ok to let your mind relax a bit while the body is working...you can't always go 100%

The picture with you on the treadmill mcfarlj made my day. Whatever works I suppose :) But I agree with the original poster that excercise does help general cognition and I see a sharp difference when I excercise regularly and when I don't.

I think the handwriting on the bike could be hard, but a 5kg dumbell with buttons 1-4 under the fingers and spacebar under the thumb would be good, to be used while on the treadmill and listening to Chinesepod.

I listen to/watch Chinese vocabulary tapes while at the gym. (The 'Learn in Car' ones, I got the videos for them which show you the characters.)

Its good because I don't have the motivation to do either activity on its own. But somehow both is something I can happily spend a few hours a week at.

Competitive master class Olympic weightlifter here (85kg, 55-59) and RKC certified kettlebell instructor. The brain AND body must both be trained hard and often. JMO ..

heruilin, can I email you some questions about lifting?

@heruilin how many people have been clocked in the head with kettlebells? And how many have died instantly? They look amazingly dangerous.