Do squats really affect upper body growth?

[majortak]

Well i've heard that squats inc/ test levels bla bla, but what;s so special about squats? you can move heavy weight on bench/other compounds, granted you move more weight on squats the 'test boost' difference can't be that drastic that it effects actual upper body growth?


I'm not bashing squats just wanna know the truth...

[DaVidum]

Well i've heard that squats inc/ test levels bla bla, but what;s so special about squats? you can move heavy weight on bench/other compounds, granted you move more weight on squats the 'test boost' difference can't be that drastic that it effects actual upper body growth?


I'm not bashing squats just wanna know the truth...

No, its made up so armchest clowns would squat also...Hopefully they dont read this :x

[SinkNJ]

The more muscle tissue is broken down, the more human growth hormone will be secreted to repair all those little micro fissures. Since your legs and glutes are pretty much the largest muscles in your body (your back is big but its really three traps, rear delts, lats, and lower back all working together obv, rather than one big, dense muscle) they stimulate the greatest chemical release possible, naturally. So you were right about it pertaining to the test boost...but that's why squats and deads are so much more effective than other compound lifts; it's the leg involvement.

[Poezel]

I'm not an expert nor have I studied this but I've read articles on various sites and books that big and heavy movements like deadlifts and squats will raise you testosteron en GH levels. I think it's because you are using very large muscles like the gluteus maximus and the quads etc...

If you search on this forum you'll find many topics, and google will help you too!
Tnation has an article about that topic too. And try to google: squats raises testosterone

hope that helps!

[Bruno93]

The more muscle tissue is broken down, the more human growth hormone will be secreted to repair all those little micro fissures. Since your legs and glutes are pretty much the largest muscles in your body (your back is big but its really three traps, rear delts, lats, and lower back all working together obv, rather than one big, dense muscle) they stimulate the greatest chemical release possible, naturally. So you were right about it pertaining to the test boost...but that's why squats and deads are so much more effective than other compound lifts; it's the leg involvement.

I'm not an expert nor have I studied this but I've read articles on various sites and books that big and heavy movements like deadlifts and squats will raise you testosteron en GH levels. I think it's because you are using very large muscles like the gluteus maximus and the quads etc...

If you search on this forum you'll find many topics, and google will help you too!
Tnation has an article about that topic too. And try to google: squats raises testosterone

hope that helps!

The difference is negligible. No, your arms or chest won't grow from squatting.

[bailey1106]

Squats work your biceps like crazy, never gotten such a big pump from any other exercise.

[SinkNJ]

The difference is negligible. No, your arms or chest won't grow from squatting.

But everything does grow dependent on how much hormone your body is secreting...so squats really do help your upper body grow. If you look at the difference between women and men and their natural limits bodybuilding, it'll help you see how important HGH and testosterone are. It's true that women's muscles are attached to the tendons slightly differently, but other than that, they're basically the same as men...and yet they really can't get big at all without steroids comparable to men (look up pictures of natural female body builders and how long and hard they had to train to get where they are).

The difference definitely isn't negligible...look at the progression of people who don't train their legs compared to those that do.

[Bruno93]

The difference definitely isn't negligible...look at the progression of people who don't train their legs compared to those that do.

There won't be any. The only difference is that one guy has a proportional body and the other has chicken legs. Your upper body won't benefit from squatting at all, that's just one thing we tell the curl bros so that they squat too. The difference in the release of HGH/ test IS negligible and it lasts for a short period of time. Go figure..

[Poezel]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20803956
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15831061
In theory heavy squats will make you grow. And if you train you biceps properly, the increased level of test en gh will help your biceps grow. But I think that if you do not train you biceps, your biceps wont grow

[spiderman997]

Derp.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910330

We conclude that exposure of loaded muscle to acute exercise-induced elevations in endogenous anabolic hormones enhances neither muscle hypertrophy nor strength with resistance training in young men.

Key word here is acute. A short burst of endogenous hormones does dick all.

[SinkNJ]

If you trained your triceps yesterday, for example, and today you do squats, that HGH release you're stimulating through squats -even though it only peaks over about 3 hours- is delivered to the tissue by way of the bloodstream. Since your blood is circulating your entire body and interacting with all of your muscles, the hormone will affect anything that's healing, not just the muscle(s) you just worked in your session. Since your triceps are still healing and growing from the previous day (usually for 48-60 hours for most muscles) the hormone is feeding and stimulating this growth in the same way that the nutrients in your bloodstream do all day long. So when you squat, you greatly help your upper body development, given you've recently worked your upper body. If you just do squats all the time and don't do anything else, there will be no cross-benefit.

[spiderman997]

If you trained your triceps yesterday, for example, and today you do squats, that HGH release you're stimulating through squats -even though it only peaks over about 3 hours- is delivered to the tissue by way of the bloodstream. Since your blood is circulating your entire body and interacting with all of your muscles, the hormone will affect anything that's healing, not just the muscle(s) you just worked in your session. Since your triceps are still healing and growing from the previous day (usually for 48-60 hours for most muscles) the hormone is feeding and stimulating this growth in the same way that the nutrients in your bloodstream do all day long. So when you squat, you greatly help your upper body development, given you've recently worked your upper body. If you just do squats all the time and don't do anything else, there will be no cross-benefit.

Stop posting. This is not true. A short hormone elevation is not enough to do dick all, and HGH is not even an anabolic hormone.

[__Iceman__]

The "test boost" will do nothing. However, the squat is a fullbody exercise. You're going to be developing core and back strength as well. Squatting will definitely benefit upper body exercises, but it's not always going to be as direct as you'd like it to be.

[Jonline]

Squats work your biceps like crazy, never gotten such a big pump from any other exercise.

ha i know right, arms have grown 4 inches in 1 week from doing squats, completely natural!

[Bruno93]

ha i know right, arms have grown 4 inches in 1 week from doing squats, completely natural!

Lay off the creatine tbh.

[SinkNJ]

Stop posting. This is not true. A short hormone elevation is not enough to do dick all, and HGH is not even an anabolic hormone.

This is a general and unspecific statement that doesn't address what I said. If you understand the biochemistry then explain what happens when you lift and why your muscles get bigger. Please tell me why increased human growth hormone and testosterone levels in the body will not induce hypertrophy in recovering muscles. The scientific community will be aflutter.

[spiderman997]

This is a general and unspecific statement that doesn't address what I said. If you understand the biochemistry then explain what happens when you lift and why your muscles get bigger. Please tell me why increased human growth hormone and testosterone levels in the body will not induce hypertrophy in recovering muscles. The scientific community will be aflutter.

No they won't because no one with any scientific merit buys this stupid ****. How muscles actually grow is still an unknown but it's most caused by satellite cell activation through the mTOR pathway. Growth hormone has never been proven to be anabolic, and a short spike in endogenous testosterone is not significant enough to cause changes even in the long term. I posted a study up above if you want to pull your head out of your ass and look.

[SinkNJ]

How muscles actually grow is still an unknown but it's most caused by satellite cell activation through the mTOR pathway.

lol

[spiderman997]

lol

Gripping counterargument ripe with relevant empirical evidence. Sorry, I meant to say 'you tear dah mussels and dat dere hormone repairz dem'.

[SinkNJ]

Gripping counterargument ripe with relevant empirical evidence. Sorry, I meant to say 'you tear dah mussels and dat dere hormone repairz dem'.

Hahaha. I understand your point, especially "a short spike in endogenous testosterone is not significant enough to cause changes even in the long term". I'm not talking about the long term; I acknowledge that after a few hours the difference is inconsequential, I'm talking about the short term -during and immediately following a session.

And the articles you posted...I only looked at the first one tbh, but the conclusion of the abstract is "The acute increase for Tes is in agreement with previous reports that high power activities can elicit a Tes response. High power resistance exercise protocols such as the one used in the present study produce acute increases of Tes. These results indicate that high power resistance exercise can contribute to an anabolic hormonal response with this type of training, and may partially explain the muscle hypertrophy observed in athletes who routinely employ high power resistance exercise." This supports my argument, I don't see how you could even begin to assert that boosting hormone release will not stimulate ALL growth, when that's what it's for by nature. You can really only argue the extent on a cellular level, but this is moot since we all agree on the benefits and that leg involvement is part of what makes squats and deadlifts the cornerstones of weight lifting. You can work the same pulling muscles rowing as deadlifting, it's the hamstring involvement that matters; that's why no ones says "dude, rows make you huge...how much can you row?"

[Poezel]

Derp.

ht tp:// ww w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910330


Key word here is acute. A short burst of endogenous hormones does dick all.

The study you postes were light leg excercises, the study I posted were really squats. But like I said, I'm no expert and I'm here to learn something ^^ so keep the discussion going guys!

[SinkNJ]

*quad and hamstring involvement

[spiderman997]

And the articles you posted...I only looked at the first one tbh, but the conclusion of the abstract is "The acute increase for Tes is in agreement with previous reports that high power activities can elicit a Tes response. High power resistance exercise protocols such as the one used in the present study produce acute increases of Tes. These results indicate that high power resistance exercise can contribute to an anabolic hormonal response with this type of training, and may partially explain the muscle hypertrophy observed in athletes who routinely employ high power resistance exercise." This supports my argument

That wasn't me you ****ing herptard. The conclusion of the study I posted was 'We conclude that exposure of loaded muscle to acute exercise-induced elevations in endogenous anabolic hormones enhances neither muscle hypertrophy nor strength with resistance training in young men.'

The study you postes were light leg excercises, the study I posted were really squats. But like I said, I'm no expert and I'm here to learn something ^^ so keep the discussion going guys!

The exercise doesn't matter as long as the hormonal environment is the same. If leg press leads to the same spike in hgh and test that squats do, it's virtually the same as far as research goes.

[Kscof]

Well, if you get the hardcore lower body work out of the way, the body will be able to have the upper body grow at a more efficient rate, since keeping everything balanced is key for both fitness and athletics.

EDIT: In my experience, the only way to get my bench up is to get my row up. Take that idea and apply it to lower and upper body. Squats are good because they hit so many damn muscles, kinda like how a chin up is great for biceps because it hits them hard while also keeping a natural balance to your lats, grip and arms.

[Poezel]

That wasn't me you ****ing herptard. The conclusion of the study I posted was 'We conclude that exposure of loaded muscle to acute exercise-induced elevations in endogenous anabolic hormones enhances neither muscle hypertrophy nor strength with resistance training in young men.'

The exercise doesn't matter as long as the hormonal environment is the same. If leg press leads to the same spike in hgh and test that squats do, it's virtually the same as far as research goes.

Dude stop cursing.

Squatting is MUCH heavier then leg presses!

[SinkNJ]

That wasn't me you ****ing herptard. The conclusion of the study I posted was 'We conclude that exposure of loaded muscle to acute exercise-induced elevations in endogenous anabolic hormones enhances neither muscle hypertrophy nor strength with resistance training in young men.'

The exercise doesn't matter as long as the hormonal environment is the same. If leg press leads to the same spike in hgh and test that squats do, it's virtually the same as far as research goes.

A herptard? Yikes. I see the one you posted, it's "Elevations in ostensibly anabolic hormones with resistance exercise enhance neither training-induced muscle hypertrophy nor strength of the elbow flexors."

Yeah, I don't think that pertains...since we're not talking about the elbow flexors. At all.

[SinkNJ]

I g2g unfortunately. To be continued though, Spiderman. I'm sure you got something to say back so I'll try to find this thread tomorrow if I remember. Good talk cuzzy

[majortak]

FUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK MAN why does this always happen to my threads :'(

[spiderman997]

Yeah, I don't think that pertains...since we're not talking about the elbow flexors. At all.

WTF am I reading? Are people really this stupid?

[NZninja101]

I doubt it causes direct growth in other areas of the body, but, and I'm just thinking out loud here, if you went back in time, got Jay Cutler before he started lifting, and somehow forced him not to do legs, I don't think his upper body would be as big as it is now in the real world where he works legs. I doubt the hormone release is a major factor, but perhaps if you increase the weight on squats, this will have a slight carryover to being able to increase the weight on other lifts, including upper body lifts, promoting muscle growth indirectly by working legs. Just a thought.