There's a saying, "if you want big arms, squat!" How can this be? Squats are for legs! A group of scientists in Denmark (Hansen et al. 2001) conducted an interesting study of arm strength. First, the scientists tested the arm strength in a group of subjects and then divided them into two groups: One group trained only their arms and the other group trained their arms and legs. Both groups trained their arms the same amount of time, however, the second group performed additional leg exercises. At the end of the experiment the group that trained arms only increased their strength by 9%. The group that trained arms and legs increased arm strength by 37%!!!
How did this happen?
Lifting heavy weights releases large amounts of testosterone and growth hormone. Since the legs are a large muscle group, you can lift much more weight than you can with only your arms. You'll never be able to use the same amount of weight and release the most testosterone on a biceps curl than you do on squats or even the leg press. So, the key point here is to use exercises that recruit large amounts of muscle, compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and pull/chin ups to get your ticket to the gun show!
Reference: Hansen, S., T. Kvornign, M. Kajaer, and G. Sjogaard. 2001. The effect of short-term strength training on human skeletal muscle: The importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels. Scandanavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 11:347-354.
Originally Posted by Ricky Thunder
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