Since the 1970s, I’ve been intrigued by the cerebellum’s role in peak performance. Looking at athletic prowess through the lens of neuroscience was a regular topic of conversation as I was growing up, because my father was both a brain researcher and a tennis fanatic.
Tucked beneath the cerebrum, the cerebellum is a small but powerful part of the brain that helps coordinate movement, balance, and timing. It fine-tunes motor control, synchronizing muscle contractions to enable smooth, fluid action. Much like it coordinates movement, new research suggests that the cerebellum also coordinates how we think.
The cerebellum is a mysterious powerhouse. Dad would often say, “We don’t know exactly what the cerebellum’s doing, but whatever it’s doing, it’s doing a lot of it.” Cerebellar ataxias show us what happens when the cerebellum falters, and, by contrast, highlights how strengthening it can turbocharge performance.
In Greek, ataxia means “without order.” In medical terms, it describes the loss of voluntary coordination and balance caused by cerebellar damage from genetics, trauma, or neurological disease, making simple movements appear clumsy, wobbly, or “disorderly.”
This post explores how high-intensity aerobic training can help those living with cerebellar ataxia by improving coordination and how vigorous workouts can grease the wheels of cerebellum-driven flow states and may improve fluid intelligence.
Björn Borg and Cerebellar Optimization
To visualize what cerebellar optimization looks like in action, I often think back to my childhood tennis hero, Björn Borg. As a young player in the mid-1970s, I idolized his fluidity on the court and even wore headbands and Fila outfits to emulate him.
My neuroscientist father had taught me that the cerebellum fine-tunes timing, rhythm, and balance, so I couldn’t help but connect Borg’s grace to brain science. Borg was notorious for high-intensity training runs. It’s easy to imagine that his grueling workouts sculpted his cerebellum to optimize coordination and paved the way for the superfluidity that set him apart.
While Borg’s training results are anecdotal, modern neuroscience now provides empirical evidence to support it. Rigorous training can improve cerebellar function and enhance fluidity both on and off the court.
Understanding Cerebellar Ataxias
When this “little brain” doesn’t work well—as is the case with cerebellar ataxia—it causes discoordination. Simple tasks like walking steadily or picking up a coffee cup become jerky and discombobulated. For decades, the standard approach to treating ataxias was to help people adapt to their symptoms rather than focusing on strengthening the cerebellum itself.
Accumulating evidence suggests that vigorous physical activity and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), such as fast cycling or treadmill sprints, strengthen the cerebellum in ways that smooth out disjointed movement and promote “orderly” coordination.
How High-Intensity Aerobic Training Helps
A recent randomized clinical trial, published in JAMA Neurology (Barbuto et al. 2025), tested whether high-intensity cardio workouts could improve motor function and coordination in people with ataxia.
Participants in this study did 30-minute cardio sessions, 5 times a week, at up to 85% predicted maximum heart rate on a stationary bike at home. Compared to those doing balance training, the aerobic, neurological assessment of the exercise group showed measurable gains. As the authors explain:
Improvements in ataxia symptoms, fitness, fatigue, balance, and gait were maintained for individuals in the aerobic group who continued to hit training goals at one year, but trended back to baseline for those who did not.
The researchers are still analyzing MRI scans, but the initial review shows a subtle but meaningful increase in the cerebellum’s gray matter volume. In other words, high-intensity cardio sessions appear to make the “little brain” slightly bigger.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is known to boost growth factors like BDNF, which has been likened to “Miracle-Gro” for the brain, as it helps neurons grow larger and stronger, much like fertilizer.
Although researchers aren’t sure exactly why vigorous exercise improves cerebellar structure and function, the findings highlight the role that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) plays in stimulating neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.
Other studies on Parkinson’s and stroke rehabilitation show similar benefits, suggesting that vigorous exercise may enhance cerebellar resilience across a broad range of neurological conditions.
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Why a Stronger Cerebellum Matters for Everyone
Even if you never set foot on a tennis court, a stronger cerebellum shapes how you move, think, and feel every day. Think of cerebellar ataxias and flow as opposite ends of a spectrum. On one end of this continuum, there’s jerky, uncoordinated movement. On the opposite end, there’s frictionless integration of brain and body into superfluid performance. The more finely tuned the cerebellum becomes, the closer we move toward fluidity and flow.
- Balance and Movement: Smoother gait, quicker reflexes, and sharper hand-eye coordination make everyday tasks like carrying groceries or driving a car easier and improve sports performance, too.
- Cognitive and Creative Gains: The cerebellum contributes to thinking as well as movement. A stronger cerebellum supports cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, and superfluid thinking, in which seemingly unrelated ideas connect and creativity flourishes.
- Emotion Regulation: Research shows the cerebellum also influences mood and stress response by coordinating brain signals that support physical and emotional balance.
Practical Tips for Cerebellar Fitness
Even if balancing is a challenge, options like seated cycling or using treadmill support bars make it possible to engage in aerobic training safely. Always begin cardio sessions with an easy warm-up and finish with a cool-down. Use the peak-end rule—which posits that people remember the most extraordinary “peak” moments and their feelings of an experience near the end most vividly—to help you stick with it.
Consistency matters most. Start at a leisurely pace and increase intensity gradually. Doing too much too fast increases injury risks and can lead to exercise aversion. Steady, repeated practice gives your cerebellum the reinforcement it needs to adapt and ultimately work better.
Take-Home Message
High-intensity aerobic training doesn’t just help people with ataxia; it can also fortify the cerebellum in ways that benefit everybody. By strengthening this vital part of the brain, we can move, think, and create with greater fluidity, making flow-state experiences more accessible in our daily lives.
Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only and isn’t a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a healthcare provider before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have a pre-existing condition or haven’t done high-intensity exercise recently.
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