Squats help bench press #s?

I heard somewhere that doing squats helps your bench press numbers. Or rather that working out the entire body increases how fast you build muscle by "evening it out". I'm not sure if this is true, can anybody clarify or am I just off my rocker :icon_neut

 

squats are good period

 

You're only off your rocker if you don't squat

 

Well to be honest back in the days when I lazily lifted I HATED doing squats, don't ask me why but I always opted to just sit on the leg sled. Until I did some research, I realized I was missing out on alot of solid strength exercises (like squats, and deadlifts). You could have almost called me a curl monkey who benches alot and to spice shit up did tricep pulldowns every once and a while. I'm happy to report I've included squats, deadlifts, and dynamic rows into my workout plan.

 

Squats and Systemic Growth

You may be wondering, "Just exactly how do squats promote growth throughout the body?" To begin with, the squat involves multiple joints and muscles which in turn increase the level at which the nervous system must coordinate movement in conjunction with the lifter's muscle-skeletal system. In the squat there are numerous muscles of the body working simultaneously to provide the stability and mobility needed for this exercise. It has been estimated that there are up to 200 muscles involved in the squat.

The hormonal or endocrine system combined with the nervous system makes up what is known as "neuroendocrinology". This term describes the relationship of chemical substances that have both neural and hormonal functions. The endocrine glands are stimulated to release hormones by a chemical signal received by the receptors on the gland or by neural stimulation, which is what occurs during weight training. Ever wonder why you feel particularly upbeat and euphoric after a hard workout, even if you are physically drained? Its because of the increased presence of hormones in your body, hormones that also influence our moods. This is similar to the runners high experienced by long distance runners.

The increase in anabolic hormone levels observed after a hard workout can increase hormonal interactions with various cellular mechanisms and enhance the development of muscle protein contractile units. On neural stimulation from an alpha motor neuron to initiate a muscle action, various signals (electrical, chemical, and hormonal) are sent from the brain and from activated muscles to a number of endocrine glands. Hormones are secreted during and after the workout in response to the physiological stress of resistance exercise. This simply means that the nervous, muscle-skeletal, and hormonal systems are responsible for the effects promoted by exercises like the squat.
There are various hormones, which produce this effect, and the one that most people are familiar with is testosterone. It's been demonstrated that testosterone serum concentrations can increase with exercises such as the squat.

Squats can increase growth throughout the entire body because they use numerous muscles and this means they stimulate more muscle fibers than say an exercise such as a leg extension or a leg press. The greater the fiber recruitment, the greater the process for potential growth and development in the muscle. Only muscle fibers that are recruited by resistance training are subject to adaptation and the more muscles used in an exercise like the squat the more the muscle fibers are stimulated.


Keith

excerpt from "Full Squats for Strength and Development"

 

Ahah I knew I could count on Keith Wassung!

Thanks.

 

I didn't read KW's post yet, cause I don't have time. If it says anything about lifting increasing hormone levels, I agree...

I'll read it in the morning when I wake up, though

 

Keith has it right on.

 

Sorry, but that could be said of any exercise, not just the squat.

 

What could be said? That hormone levels increase?

 

I doubt preacher curls will increase your hormone levels like squats.

 

Incorrect. The degree of which the motion affects overall strength varies GREATLY. You couldn't be more wrong. Generalizations like this result in curl monkeys.

 

whats the leg sled?

 

This coming from a nutrition bafoon.

 

Didn't say they did:icon_lol:

 

Then what are you saying?

 

How did you get dubs SixTwoSix?

 

This coming from a strength and power bafoon.

You can take all the vitamins and protein in the world and have a crap Wilks score if you know what that means.

 

Apparently my avatar was too sexy. Hopefully you got to see it before it went bye bye.

 

I did not.