Do you want to grow properly? Then incorporate the right exercises into your training, namely the deadlift and squat! These are guaranteed to increase your growth hormone and testosterone levels!

Small arms can be cured with leg training.

You need to know this...

1. When you train your biceps with your legs, your biceps will grow faster. Leg training increases the production of growth hormone (GH) and testosterone.
2. This doesn't just apply to biceps. Leg training has the same effect on all small areas.
3. In general, do complex exercises like deadlifts and squats in every workout. This is how the most testosterone is created.
4. Practice exercises that create lactic acid later in the workout. These will arrange for the production of growth hormone.
5. Split your leg workout into 2 halves to enjoy the maximum hormonal response. Exercise your quadriceps and triceps one day, hamstrings and biceps another day.

Leg training and hormones

When you do it right, leg training hurts. But intense leg workouts can also do something amazing: cause a natural rise in testosterone and growth hormone levels.

You probably know this. But have you tried training smaller muscle groups with your legs to properly take advantage of the hormone washout?

We don't have to theorize about it. A group of researchers from the University of Lillehammer took a closer look at the hormone levels increased by training.

Science

The researchers used 9 men between the ages of 20 and 34 and had them do bodybuilding training for 11 weeks.

They exercised only their left biceps two days a week using pull-ups, hammer raises and overhead press-ups. The other two days they then exercised their legs on leg presses, overhead presses and stumbling, followed by the same biceps training, but this time they used it to exercise the right biceps.

After 11 weeks, the right biceps was noticeably larger than the left one. The researchers found increased concentrations of GH and testosterone during leg and biceps training, which they attributed specifically to the leg training. You can take advantage of this relationship in your training.

Training

Leg training, which is damn hard, causes a cascade of processes that will increase GH and testosterone levels. You can take advantage of this by adding smaller areas to your leg training. In fact, you can build your entire workout around this information.

Split your leg workout

Most people train their legs once a week, maybe twice. My understanding. It's a painful experience and there's another problem. Leg training is made up of exercises primarily for the quadriceps and exercises primarily for the hamstrings. Not many people get to do both in one workout. One of the groups usually doesn't get enough attention.

So it's smart to split the leg workout into 2 units, which will also engage the increase in hormone production described above. Do the following:

• Combine quadriceps training with triceps training.
• Combine hamstring training with biceps training.

You'll exercise your legs properly and give your biceps and triceps increased GH and testosterone levels.

The rest of the week's workouts can be devoted to the large muscles of the upper body (chest, shoulders, back).

Maximumtestosterone and GHproduction

Complex exercises like deadlifts and squats clearly make more of these hormones than less demanding exercises.

However, GH is mainly formed in workouts that promote lactic acid production. These are workouts with higher intensity (around 75% of 1RM), high volume of work and short breaks.

Exercises that promote testosterone production should be practiced at the beginning of the workout, GH-boosting exercises at the end.

Training for increased testosterone levels

To take advantage of the findings from the above study, training should meet the following:

• It should have the legs divided into a unit for the quadriceps and one for the hamstrings.
• Pair triceps with quadriceps and biceps with hamstrings.
• Incorporate heavy exercises with high weight and low reps (3 to 8) at the beginning of the workout (for testosterone).
• Incorporate exercises with high volume work and short breaks later in the workout (due to GH).

Below is an outline of what this might look like. I left out chest, back, and shoulders because adding them to the leg workout would likely interfere with the increased hormone production. Plus, a proper leg workout probably wouldn't leave enough energy in you for another big batch that wouldn't be as likely to grow.

However, feel free to use both of the above methods for GH and testosterone production in training the other big parts as well

Training split

• Day 1: Quadriceps leg workout + triceps
• Day 2: Chest and Shoulders
• Day 3: Rest
• Day 4: Hamstring leg workout + biceps
• Day 5: Back and smaller muscle groups

Day 1: Quadricepslegworkout+ triceps

A. Quadriceps leg workout

Example testosterone-boosting quadriceps exercises (heavy weight, low reps and multiple sets, e.g. 4 sets of 6 reps):

• Squat
• Hacken squat
• Bulgarian squat
• Leg press

Example GH-boosting quadriceps exercises (roughly with 75% 1RM and exhaustive) to practice after the exercises described above:

• Squats on multipress, 1 1/4 reps
• Pre-kicks, crash sets
• Leg press, sets of 8-10 reps, 30 to 45 second breaks

B. Triceps training

Examples of triceps exercises (heavier weight and fewer reps on the first one, 6 to 10, the next ones will have more reps, 10 -15, to engage different muscle fibers:

• Bench press on close
• Skull crusher
• Pulley press
• Kickback with one arm

Day 2: Chest and Shoulders

Day 3: Free

Day 4: Hamstringleg + bicepsworkout

A. Hamstring leg workout

Example testosterone-boosting hamstring exercises (heavy weight, low reps and multiple sets, e.g. 4 sets of 6 reps):

• Deadlift
• Deadlift with legs extended
• Thrust
• Vis Thrust
• Power Move
• Glute/Ham Raise

Example GH-raising hamstring exercises (roughly 75% 1RM and exhaustive) to practice after the exercises described above:

• Lying lunges, dips series
• Romanian deadlift, 1/4 reps, 30 to 45 second breaks
• Kettlebell Swing, 6 reps with one arm, 15 second pause, and 6 reps with the other arm. 10 minutes total.

B. Biceps Training

Examples of biceps exercises (heavier weight and fewer reps on the first one, 6 to 10, the next ones will have more reps, 10 -15, to engage different muscle fibers:

• Big Axis Lifts
• Single arm lifts
• Sit-ups on the positive bench
• Hammer lifts
• Pull-ups on pulley

Day 5: Back and small parts (abdominals, calf rotators)

This is just a suggestion for a workout split, and feel free to flush it down the toilet. Never mind. But at the very least, try pairing your legs with your biceps and triceps, and see if the increased hormone levels work for you.

Source: www.t-nation.com - Ronnestad BR1, Nygaard H, Raastad T. "Physiological elevation of endogenous hormones results in superior strength training adaptation, " Eur J Appl Physiol. 2011 Sep;111(9):2249-59.
Author: TC Luoma
Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř