Few adolescents engage in the recommended levels of physical activity, and daily exercise levels tend to drastically decrease throughout adolescence. Beyond physical health benefits, regular exercise may also have important implications for the teenage brain and cognitive and academic capabilities. The current paper reviews a number of studies showing that regular patterns of exercise and physical activity relate to academic performance, cognitive function, brain structure, and brain activity in adolescents. We also discuss how additional intervention studies that examine a wide range of neurological and cognitive outcomes are necessary, as well as characterize the type, frequency, and dose of exercise and identify individual differences that contribute to how exercise may benefit the teen brain.