Good news, ladies: All of those early morning runs, evening yoga classes and sessions in the gym are paying off. If you’re not able to see the inches melting away or the abs tightening, fear not because one particular part of your body is making positive progress: your brain. In an article released last week in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds discussed various studies showing that the exercise you engage in is actually making you smarter.

And who doesn’t want a little edge in the office? Regular workouts are proven to be essential in staying sharp and increasing your intelligence possibly even more so than stimulating cognitive activities. The New York Times article pulled from a 2011 study published in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior where researchers found that mice were better able to complete cognitive tasks if they worked out regularly compared to mice who did not.

Beginning in your late 20′s, you’ll begin to lose 1 percent of the volume of the hippocampus–the key portion in your brain related to memory and learning. So, don’t take those wicked smart ideas for granted. With exercise you can stimulate brain cells to join the existing neural network (unlike Facebook, it is a network that actually builds brainpower) making you smarter.

I’m thinking this is a good enough reason to hit the gym again this week. So go on, lace up those Nike Frees and go bulk your brain.

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Maxie McCoy has a Bachelor’s degree and a Masters from Lehigh in Journalism and Media, respectively. She is the co-writer of Less Work More Money and has experience hosting for Fox Sports Southwest. Follow her @maxiemccoy