I have heard from one of my friend that by doing heavy Squats, Deadlifts & Heavy Row’s help in increasing overall body size and Arms’ size too. Is there any science in this?
please post in the beginners section.
haha , idd
If you do lots of heavy curl variations, will your calves grow?
[quote]malonetd wrote:
If you do lots of heavy curl variations, will your calves grow?[/quote]
Ofcourse, if you have shitty form and do calf raises at the same time! 
Of course. The phrase “If you want big arms…SQUAT!” has been around for a long time and for good reason. Heavy loads (especially those that compress the spine) cause the largest release of growth hormones. Additionally, your body will not allow too much unbalanced increases in strength. Just like weak triceps will inhibit biceps growth, a spindly lower body and weak core will not support a lot of upper body mass and strength. It’s a protective mechanism.
[quote]mesomorphus wrote:
I have heard from one of my friend that by doing heavy Squats, Deadlifts & Heavy Row’s help in increasing overall body size and Arms’ size too. Is there any science in this?[/quote]
yes
Bench presses and overhead presses will do more for your triceps than Squats ever will.
People take that phrase, forget the message behind it and blindly say it.
In the simplest terms I can make it.
If you just curl you will have pretty good biceps eventually.
If you curl and workout your whole body with heavy load exercises you will have better biceps eventually.
You won’t find a guy who dead lifts 500+ for reps who’s small(unless they try to be).
[quote]Kruiser wrote:
Of course. The phrase “If you want big arms…SQUAT!” has been around for a long time and for good reason. Heavy loads (especially those that compress the spine) cause the largest release of growth hormones. Additionally, your body will not allow too much unbalanced increases in strength. Just like weak triceps will inhibit biceps growth, a spindly lower body and weak core will not support a lot of upper body mass and strength. It’s a protective mechanism. [/quote]
I might have agreed with you if not for the “chicken legs” epidemic, I’ve seen plenty of people with good upper body development and NO legs.
[quote]IQ wrote:
Kruiser wrote:
Of course. The phrase “If you want big arms…SQUAT!” has been around for a long time and for good reason. Heavy loads (especially those that compress the spine) cause the largest release of growth hormones. Additionally, your body will not allow too much unbalanced increases in strength. Just like weak triceps will inhibit biceps growth, a spindly lower body and weak core will not support a lot of upper body mass and strength. It’s a protective mechanism.
I might have agreed with you if not for the “chicken legs” epidemic, I’ve seen plenty of people with good upper body development and NO legs.[/quote]
Yup, but it doesn’t mean the theory is wrong. There are lots of people who do no direct bicep work and are big. Those “lightbulbs” may have been training like that for years.
The growth hormone surge from big compound movements is true. But would the growth hormone make all the muscles grow? Even the groups that aren’t trained? I wouldn’t think so.
[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
The growth hormone surge from big compound movements is true. But would the growth hormone make all the muscles grow? Even the groups that aren’t trained? I wouldn’t think so.[/quote]
I think they do. I mean hormones don’t occur locally but have an effect on the entire body. Take adrenaline for example. Someone hits you in the face, the adrenaline surges, and all of a sudden, you have very strong abs, pecs, shoulders and triceps and punch that guy back.
[quote]undeadlift wrote:
MytchBucanan wrote:
The growth hormone surge from big compound movements is true. But would the growth hormone make all the muscles grow? Even the groups that aren’t trained? I wouldn’t think so.
I think they do. I mean hormones don’t occur locally but have an effect on the entire body. Take adrenaline for example. Someone hits you in the face, the adrenaline surges, and all of a sudden, you have very strong abs, pecs, shoulders and triceps and punch that guy back.[/quote]
Yes it is true that compund movments increase the acute release of hormones especially test., it is however lactate that acts as the trigger for GH.
Whilst hormones do not have a localised response unless you have caused microfibre damage in an area your body will not change that body part one bit it has no reason too.
Again, as someone else already said, you guys are missing the point and the phrase is usually used way out of context.
The reason people are told to squat and deadlift for big arms is because of the sad fact that most trainees (and 100% of beginners) think that the key to big arms is to do set after set of curls. Doing curls alone will do very little to increase overall arm size. If you want big arms, you should train your entire body AS WELL AS doing direct arm work.
Most people simplify it to, “squat and dead for big arms,” because they know that 99% of people are still going to do those curls.
So for those poor souls who are still lost: YES squatting and deadlifting will increase GH and test levels which will help you put on size everywhere, but if you want a certain muscle to grow you still have to work that muscle.
And as for the observations of people with chicken legs and big upper bodies, in my experience I have never seen a person with a truly large upper body that had small legs who wasn’t on steroids. I am definitely not one of those people that accuses everyone big of being on steroids, but only a genetic freak will naturally develop a truly large upper body while having small legs. It is quite possible to develop a decent upper body without training legs, but decent is by no means impressive or big.