I have been thinking long and hard about whether the widely accepted notion of the squat as a general all-around mass builder is really true. What got me thinking was Bill Roberts’ leg extension only quad routine. It also made me think back to my college days when I worked my legs only when I had the time. I always made the time to work my upper body, but if things got busy, I skipped my legs. The result was that I got the classic triangular look, but unfortunately, the shape was from my shoulders down to my toes, instead of only down to my waist.
Last year, when I resumed doing squats religiously, I did not notice any carryover effects to the rest of my body. In fact, I’d venture to say that my upper body would grow much better if I did not do legs at all, because less metabolic resources would be lost to the legs. Of course, I would not do that because I want a balanced physique. I think Ian King’s advice to just maintain the rest of the body when on his Great Guns program seems to support this notion. What has been the experience of the rest of you guys? Instead of just spouting off what comes to the top of your head, I want you to really think about this dispassionately. Has the squat (or the deadlift) lent some magical hormonal benefit that allowed the rest of the body to grow?
I’ve heard that T levels increase only briefly after a squat - I’m not sure if there are any proven real world benefits as this may be classic plate head myth & lore. I squat and enjoy the overall “powerful” feeling I get from doing this - whether it’s in my head or not I don’t know.
I have heard the same for years. I personally believe it is a “crock”. More test. may be released after squatting, but as far as impacting gains elsewhere on the body, I haven’t seen it.
I think the logic goes that the size of the muscle group trained dictates overall hormonal response, therefore squats and deads would be the exercises that work the biggest groups (i.e. hams, gluts, quads) and thus get the best hormonal response. Plus, they somewhat involve a lot of upper body muscles.
That said, I think one drawback is that since these exercises do work so many muscles that, in your genetically average lifter (me), it can put enough added stress on your recovery abilities that you start to overtrain. Personally, I have noticed quicker recovery times (i.e. how long it took for doms to go away) when I was not squating! However, would I stop squating? No, I just allow more time for recovery.
I really can’t say scientifically wether or not squats produce overall body growth and positive hormonal benefits…but I can say from experience that I never felt that I’ve grown much in other areas of my body from squatting. In fact, I’ve always seen better results (and have had better workouts) in my quads from leg extensions! I incorporate deadlifts into my training, rather than alot of squats. Deadlifts are definitely an overall physique enhancer and strength builder, much better than squats IMO.
I can’t remember the magazine, but several years ago, there was a program printed whereas for 6 weeks (and I think you were to work-out 5 times per week) whereas the primary muscle groups worked out were legs. Virtually you did some type of squat exercise every day – plus also lunges, etc. There was minimal upper body work. I had just had a forearm injury – so thought it would be great to go through this workout and give myself time to heal.
I figured that I would lose a lot of strength in the upper body. Put on about 10 pounds – leg strength went up considerably. Surprisingly after the 6 weeks, tried bench pressing for the first time, and I was slightly stronger than I was before the 6 week leg program. Don’t think the strength gain came as a result that my upper body injury healed during this period.
I am not sure about hormone response, but the ultimate goal in myofibular hypertrophy is essentially breaking down the most muscle protein possible that you can recover from as effectively as possible (in other words break down optimal amounts of protein), then a supercompensation occurs, which boosts protein synthesis to repair that area, but also this boost in protein synthesis is for the whole body. I would say that squats should be able to do this more than any other exercise due to the fact that they train the largest muscle group and offer large loading.
I’m not sure if you’re asking this question to stop squatting or what, but you seem focused on quad development from squats. I think squats are an overall leg developer. What about the impact squats have to glute development or even the affect to conective tissue from the balance required in the squat? What about increases in bone density from the weight bearing portion? Squats do way too much to stop them just because you think you’re getting better quad development from leg extensions. Squats are definitely a mass builder and extensions are primarily a shaping exercise IMO.
Geez, Planner, I’m not posting this to get out of squatting. I can get out of squatting very nicely on my own. Actually, I’ve injured my left knee after two months of heavy squatting. I have been trying to get back into squatting, but it seems to be making it worse. Strangely enough, I can do leg extensions without pain. Regardless though, I’ve got to say that the most development I’ve gotten from squatting has been in my glutes. In fact, I’m thinking of changing my name legally to Hugh Jazz. I’m coming around to the notion that, depending on the individual requirement (like if your glutes are growing like crazy), you should use the squat judiciously.
What the hell does LOL stand for anyway? I thought I would get it from the contex clues after a while, but it looks like I’m going to have to show my ignorance. I do know what IMO and IMHO stand for, just in case some of you guys would think any less of me
Every person I know who squats religiously is big as shit. The same goes for deadlifting. I have huge traps and a neck that wont fit in the shirts you by at stores and i am positive that it came from deadlifting and squatting. Ive always thought that you should do as little as possible in the weight room and these lifts allow me to bash tons of different muscles with one lift. Ive never understood why people would do ten exercises when a squat or deadlift would do it quicker and better. I dont think its hormonal, its just that they work a lot of muscle really hard. You can always spot the guys who have put in their time on these lifts. They just look different.
Maybe if someone isnt putting all the effort into squatting, then i believe the rest of the body wont respond. But, when you start increasing those poundages to big numbers, tehn HELL YEAH the rest of you will grow. These guys who made awesome gains on the classic 20 rep squat routines, did so by working upto serious poundages. They used a weight they could only get 10 reps on, but they stayed at it and did 20 reps, no matter how long it took, how many breaths in between reps, and when they missed a rep, they didnt count it. You want to know if squatting will make you grow real muscle, then try out the 20 rep routine the way it was designed to be used.
Leg extentions for me is known as the devil! When i do leg extentions, my knees hurts. Squats, quite in contrary to you hyok, seem to rather heal my legs since i started out with a knee pain.
Oh and my first year of training i did nothing but leg extentions. Because i were afraid squats were bad for my kneees and such. I might add that i did like somebody else noted below that i skipped leg training if there were bad time or i were simply too lazy that day. After this entire year i added about 12lbs of LBM. Then i started a leg gvt routine and did a few weeks of more of a 5r * 3s routine. I measured my leg after 3-4months - And i were shocked after noticing almost a 4" increasement!! My body weight increased like 20lbs those months. Added only 1/2" on my waist even.
I’ve had incredible increases in size from deadlifting. I’ve added fifteen lbs. to my physique in the last year to year and a half just from adding deadlifts. That brings me up from 190 to 205. Also, when I was sixteen (I’m 22 now), and started squatting then I went from 135 (and really fat) to 175 (and only a little fat) in less than a year. I think that most of my current gains from deadlifting are just from the large amount of muscle that was worked with loads I was unaccustomed to.
Thanks Buster. As for people that gained a lot of weight with squats, I guess I’m still skeptical that the weight gain in other areas not directly worked by the squat was influenced by the squat. If you’re on a good diet and workout hard, who really know what caused your bench to go up. If it so happened that you also added the squat, then I guess it is easy to conclude that the squat somehow contributed to your bench. Sure it makes sense that when you work the large muscles such as the glutes, quads, hams, lower back, and various tiny muscles I don’t even know the name of that they will all grow. But as for the squat being a great quad builder, Dave Tate even noted that the quad is not the prime mover in the squat. I’m not bashing the squat as worthless by any means. As soon as I can get my knee better, I will resume squatting, but I think I will make it only 40% of my quad work, rather than 80% like before. Like diet, I’m finding that exercise selection is also highly individual.