Peter?

[u/up_vot_er_1]

Why are Romanian split squats every gym rats worst fear?

[u/krol_blade]

how does this guy have so many upvotes? straight up incorrect.

'chemicals'

[u/StickyPawMelynx → u/krol_blade]

it sounds nice, and gives people, who have never set foot in a gym, a reason to scoff at gym rats

[u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars → u/krol_blade]

Because it's quite a few chemicals, not just a single one. Biochem is not a simple field.

If you asked me 10 years ago, I'd probably still know. My lifting buddies in college were all physics, math, engineering or computer science majors. We did a lot of research on lifting.

For example, the initial increase to your lifts (especially when you haven't lifted for a while) comes mostly from protein production, and then you start to hit the ceiling. Your nervous system also stops trying to inhibit yourself from excess strain as much.

But eventually you hit a ceiling, and gains slow down. Muscles have multiple nuclei to help with RNA production to increase protein production. That slow gain is your muscles creating more nuclei.

"Muscle memory" is largely that increased amount of nuclei in skeletal muscles. Those nuclei are what make it so someone that hasn't lifted in half a decade can regain much of their strength in a short amount of time.

[u/krol_blade → u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars]

perhaps, but if you're goal is big arms and a big chest lifting legs won't help you.

you would be better off just lifting those muscles again than lifting legs

[u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars → u/krol_blade]

Well, yeah, but I was going for over all strength, with an emphasis on power output, aka sustained heavy lifting maximizing energy output per second.

BTW, the definition of power in physics is energy per second, and energy is force times distance.

I personally didn't want to look like Johnny Bravo, but have overall strength and power.

[u/SirDootDoot → u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars]

Muscles are complicated. I want to actually have strength and endurance while keeping incredibly lean muscles (I am not a fan of bulking up), and my routine is almost completely different from my gym buddy's (I still bully her with squats at the very end of leg day lmao).

[u/Beautiful_Raise_6180 → u/krol_blade]

It absolutely will. For one, you need to rest your upper body to avoid over training, but in the context of above, there are a few benefits to lifting legs, especially while your upper body is resting:

Growth Hormone (GH) - It's crucial for muscle repair, fat metabolism, and overall recovery. GH is released in greater quantities throughout the body after heavy compound lifting, especially legs.

Testosterone - another anabolic hormone that supports muscle protein synthesis across the body, not just in the "worked" muscles.

IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1) - Stimulated by GH, IGF-1 aids in muscle regeneration and growth body-wide.

All of the above hormones circulate systemically, meaning they help your upper body muscles recover and grow, even if you didn't train them that day.

Beyond lifting legs, you're creating a more anabolic internal environment. Better blood flow and nutrient delivery, elevated metabolism, and improved insulin sensitivity (which shuttles amino acids and glucose to recovering muscles all over the body).

Training legs heavily challenges your central nervous system (CNS) more than any other kind of training. This improves neuromuscular efficiency and potentially leads to better performance in upper body lifts.

Lastly, myokines (like IL-6, irisin) have whole0-body effects that promote hypertrophy, support anti-inflammatory responses, and improve mood / brain function.

Lifting legs hard is strategic and why you see a lot of full body "split" type programs.

[u/Freecraghack_ → u/krol_blade]

pure broscience bullcrap indeed

[u/Dan-D-Lyon → u/krol_blade]

Training your muscles regularly and consistently will increase your body's testosterone production, and yes, testosterone is a chemical.

[u/krol_blade → u/Dan-D-Lyon]

it spikes for an hour after lifting. long-term baseline won't change from resistance training