Want bigger arms and upper body

[acutofcoleman]

A lot of people say that doing squats increases test levels and makes you grow. They also say that doing so will give you bigger arms and upper body, I think this is a load of crap for natural people. There is only so much your body can do and it can only distribute a certain amount of testosterone to the parts of the body as well as a certain amount energy etc to the muscle. If you want your arms and upper body to progress I think you should stop training legs but then you'll have skinny legs, which is okay if you're a boxer. Otherwise take gear or eat lots of good protein and be patient, not training legs evrey second week to help your upper body progress isn't such a bad thing, afterall which is more important, upper or lower.

Give me some feedback on what you think, I know you guys will be honest.

[imperfectly_lou]

I don't think you should ever stop training legs. If you are happy with the size and definition of your legs, drop the weight a little and do higher reps..... but you definitely need to keep up the training.

If you want a bigger upper body and arms, you simply go heavier! Some people like to train a lagging body part twice a week. For me, I am working on my delts at the moment so I often throw in a second session about 5 days after the first.

[Machine]

Some people say training a lagging body part twice a week is the worst thing you can do. It will result in overtraining and your results will slow down even more. People don't normally say training legs gives you a bigger body, they say doing power movements that involve legs will. Doing leg extensions won't give you large arms, but doing heavy squats will. Doing a squat is demanding on the whole body, which results in the entire body growing. Thats the idea there. I believe it.

[acutofcoleman]

Originally posted by imperfectly_lou
I don't think you should ever stop training legs. If you are happy with the size and definition of your legs, drop the weight a little and do higher reps..... but you definitely need to keep up the training.

If you want a bigger upper body and arms, you simply go heavier! Some people like to train a lagging body part twice a week. For me, I am working on my delts at the moment so I often throw in a second session about 5 days after the first.

thanks for the feedback im not saying don't train them im saying if you are natural and want big arms youll have to sacrifice some legs. what do you reckon. I personally go quite heavy with arms and i agree it works but it only gets you so far. Youll never have 22" arms as a natural.

[acutofcoleman]

Originally posted by Machine
Some people say training a lagging body part twice a week is the worst thing you can do. It will result in overtraining and your results will slow down even more. People don't normally say training legs gives you a bigger body, they say doing power movements that involve legs will. Doing leg extensions won't give you large arms, but doing heavy squats will. Doing a squat is demanding on the whole body, which results in the entire body growing. Thats the idea there. I believe it.

i see what you're saying about the squat thing it will in theory make you bigger overall but it will take up resources and increase recovery time training another massive set of muscles, im not saying don't train them at all.

[Laurie]

The legs, hips and thighs are the places I do not have problems with. At least sizewise. Never had "thunder thighs" and overall, have always had rather muscular legs. I found squats more useful in helpng build overall strength in the upper body. My problem is holding my fat in the stomach and back and losing it while building muscle. Strengthening my back muscles is another concern and another reason to do squats when not doing rows.

I used to do leg presses/extensions during my first semester of a college strength class for women. But switched over to squats during the second semester. This past Summer class has been a combination on those "Leg days" (One "Leg session" squats, the next one, Leg presses/extensions). The squats are more effective, I think.....at least it feels more like it. (Parallel with 205-215lbs at 10-12. Near parallel with 235 at least 8-10 reps)

My shoulders/arms are developing well enough through those exercises (curls, bench press, et.c) Never considered the idea that squats would help those too (although I remember reading about it before).

[acutofcoleman]

Originally posted by Laurie
The legs, hips and thighs are the places I do not have problems with. At least sizewise. Never had "thunder thighs" and overall, have always had rather muscular legs. I found squats more useful in helpng build overall strength in the upper body. My problem is holding my fat in the stomach and back and losing it while building muscle. Strengthening my back muscles is another concern and another reason to do squats when not doing rows.

I used to do leg presses/extensions during my first semester of a college strength class for women. But switched over to squats during the second semester. This past Summer class has been a combination on those "Leg days" (One "Leg session" squats, the next one, Leg presses/extensions). The squats are more effective, I think.....at least it feels more like it. (Parallel with 205-215lbs at 10-12. Near parallel with 235 at least 8-10 reps)

My shoulders/arms are developing well enough through those exercises (curls, bench press, et.c) Never considered the idea that squats would help those too (although I remember reading about it before).

Yes squats are the mother of all leg excercises really, they damn well should be cos they're hard work. Thanks for the feedback.