5 Reasons Why You Should Train Your Legs (Blog)

[Mehdi]

Use this thread to discuss the next post from StrongLifts.com's blog:

5 Reasons Why You Should Train Your Legs

[JorickDD]

Totally agree with this article

Especially the mental part... Most people are pussies. They want muscle, but they dont want to work for it...

I got one question though.

1. More Muscle. You can find studies showing that Squats & Deadlifts increase the release of Growth Hormone & Testosterone more than any other exercise.

Why not refer to those studies when you mention them?

[Mehdi]

Because I want all of you to do your own research. Don't take my stuff for granted.

[holvoetn]

1. More Muscle. You can find studies showing that Squats & Deadlifts increase the release of Growth Hormone & Testosterone more than any other exercise.

Why not refer to those studies when you mention them?

Because I want all of you to do your own research. Don't take my stuff for granted.

Logically thinking you already know it is true.
The most muscles are being used during squat and deadlift.
Muscle being used results in testosterone being released.

So ...more muscle being used results in more testosterone being released.

[vhalros]

It seems like the more general principle is that, if you ever hope to actually use your strength for something other than wheelchair basket ball, you'd better have strong legs. Moving a sofa, climbing a mountain, throwing a punch, etc. all make use of the legs.

[itsbruce]

I have great legs and a toothpick upper body. Which blog posts should I be reading?

[bluestreak]

I've been told this repeatedly by one of the big, strong, regulars at my gym: if you want a big upper body you need to work your legs. Nice to have others independently verify this.

[KCE]

I always read and hear about how squats have a "spillover effect" which makes you bigger all over. Although in my experience, deadlifts have really made me bigger and stronger probably because your upper body is utilized much more than back squatting. I'm sure there is a lot of anecdotal evidence but is there any studies to back this up? Studies say squats produce some of the highest hormonal responses. If training legs causes a spillover effect, why couldn't the opposite happen - training the upperbody causing a spillover effect to the legs (maybe it does to a minimal extent?). Which makes me wonder for guys with huge upper bodies but no legs, why don't they get a spill over effect from upper body training.

I'm just throwing this out there and I know there's a much more complicated physiological answer to this but the hormones circulating in your blood effects all the cells (with androgen receptors) in your body, but certain cells are more affected by it than others like the muscles that are utilized more such as the leg muscles in squats compared to the chest or arms. My reasoning is since squats produce some of the highest test/HgH levels that this "spillover effect" is stronger than "spillover effects" from other exercises.

[MidLifter]

Exercising muscles at high levels of intensity contribute to T production. The more muscle involved in the movement, the more T is produced. The squat is a more compound exercise than the bench in terms of the sheer mass of muscle involved-muscles you never knew you had are being worked. The Benchpress is a compound exercise too, but the volume of muscle/number of muscle cells involved is smaller, therefore the squat has a larger "spillover effect" than the bench...

[Mehdi]

Merged spillover effect thread with this one since it's on topic.

@KCE
Deadlifts is considered a lower body exercise, although yes it works upper-body too like Squats. Check pubmed or something, should find studies there if you want. Logical thinking: you can use a lot more weight on Squat or Deadlift than on a bench or oh press. And heavy Squats or Deadlifts can be so challenging, you can get dizzy and what else after heavy work. You just don't get that with a bench or press. Training legs is more challenging, more stressful on body than training upper-body. I'm sure there's a spill over from training upper-body too, but not to the same extent.

[Wellhairedbeast]

Also think of it like this...

If you can't squat 100kg then you will probably fall over trying to OHP 100kg (not that i see anyone who can OHP that not squat the same but still the point is true). Most of the time when you need strength your standing up and not lying down on a bench.

Also if a tree had bad roots it would fall over as an analogy.

I have a friend who is an olympic lifter and he has always maintained that squats produce testosterone.

[itsbruce]

Oh, I know I'm gaining upper body strength through this programme. But the first and most obvious result was on my legs - I now have corners on my quads - and I already had good legs. The upper body impact is more subtle at first.

[Wellhairedbeast]

Oh, I know I'm gaining upper body strength through this programme. But the first and most obvious result was on my legs - I now have corners on my quads - and I already had good legs. The upper body impact is more subtle at first.

Yeah tell me about it, i've gone up two sizes in trousers... im forced to wear 40inch waist trousers to work ( i normally wear 36 casual trousers) but because of the way they are cut i have to wear clown trousers... the tightness of me in 36inch suit trousers is ridiculous.

[Mehdi]

In the long-run it's better to start with your upper-body lacking vs. lower body than the other way around. Lower body strength will help upper-body. Wellhairedbeast gave good example.