Squats and Testosterone

Im sure im not the only one who's heard of people stating that doing squats boosts testosterone or releases it. First of all what is the significance of this? Doesnt every muscle release test? Also does doing squats elevate tesosterone levles in the bloodstream ... I heard that after working out tesosterone levels drop. Just wondering what people mean by that statement.

From what some guys at the gym were telling me was that tesosterone is stored in the legs in large quantities and working them out promotes faster tissue growth through-out the body. How much truth is there to this statement and does doing leg workouts increase the bodies natural production of test?

Also ... intense leg training can actually stimulate growth in your chest, back and arms ... why is this ... hope someone has some answer to these questions - this is really pickin at my noggin for some reason...

[Doug]

Originally Posted by BMAN

Im sure im not the only one who's heard of people stating that doing squats boosts testosterone or releases it. First of all what is the significance of this? Doesnt every muscle release test? Also does doing squats elevate tesosterone levles in the bloodstream ... I heard that after working out tesosterone levels drop. Just wondering what people mean by that statement.

From what some guys at the gym were telling me was that tesosterone is stored in the legs in large quantities and working them out promotes faster tissue growth through-out the body. How much truth is there to this statement and does doing leg workouts increase the bodies natural production of test?

Also ... intense leg training can actually stimulate growth in your chest, back and arms ... why is this ... hope someone has some answer to these questions - this is really pickin at my noggin for some reason...

Research by scientists from the University of Connecticut examined the hormonal responses and adaptation to resistance exercise and training. They noted that high-volume, moderate-to-high-intensity weight training, using short rest intervals and stressing a large muscle mass, multiple joint exercises (legs, Chest, Back, shoulders) tended to produce the greatest acute hormonal elevations (notably testosterone and GH). In comparison low-volume, high-intensity resistance training methods using long rest intervals did not induce a similarly high hormonal response. Sports Med 2005; 35(4):339-61

Since an higher volume lead to more testosterone but longer training time lead to less there must be a time factor somewhere that will enable us to conciliate the two. Of course it's the time of rest between your sets. To cut a long story short, many studies researched that variable, the most significant being by Kraemer et al. This research consisted of two groups, one performing an hypertrophy workout made of sets of 10 RM with a minute of rest between each sets. The other one was a strength training consisting of multiple sets of 5 RM with 3 minutes between each sets. Both groups shown significant increase in serum testosterone, the earlier showing a slightly higher increase. That indicated that hypertrophy workout do increase testosterone level more than strength training. Also shorter rest periods seem to have the same effect. If 1 minute seem to lead to bigger increase in testosterone level than 3 minutes, then going below 1 minute in hope to increase the testosterone level even more, would greatly impair your short-term recovery.

[Damien]

Nice post mate. If anyone ever needed a reason to train your legs hard...

Great post doug ... that makes a lot of sense.

Don't forget the deadlifts. That another big exercise you don't want to leave out.

Troy

[Doug]

Originally Posted by thonaker

Don't forget the deadlifts. That another big exercise you don't want to leave out.

Troy

Personally unless someone is into pure stength training i.e., powerlifting I never recommend doing deadlifts to my clients, due the fact of the use of other muscle groups involved in the lift. When I was into bodybuilding competitions I never did deadlifts, always allowing the other muscle groups involved to rest whilst leg training. I was told this by an old bodybuilding champion and left them out of my workouts ever since then.