Bodybuilding is kind of a chain reaction. When you train one muscle
the growth / training effect will filter down to other muscles. This
is what's known as the indirect effect. When one muscle grows the entire
musculature area grows to a lesser degree. The indirect effect is the
bodies way of keeping everything in Balance. Even if all you did was
squats after a few months you would find that your arms have grown as
well. An average 150 pound man starting a squat program might gain 20-30
pounds but the muscle wont just be in his legs, it will be all over
the body he would find his back, delts, and arms even the chest has
all grown larger. The larger the muscle that’s growing or the
greater the degree of growth the greater the indirect effect will be.
Now it is true using an incorrect training program will alter the body
and some muscles will be out of proportion with others. The body will
place limits on the growth. This is why its almost impossible to build
your arms beyond a certain point without training your legs. When people
first start bodybuilding all lifters want big arms and chest. If you
look at their programs often you will find they are neglecting their
legs. Sooner or later the growth of the chest and arms will slow or
even come to a stop now if they start squatting bam ! all of a sudden
new chest and arm growth.
Take the muscles of the arms, if you train biceps hard and heavy you
will find your front delts and outer chest are growing as well. Now
the indirect effect produced by the arms is not as great as the one
produced by the legs but IM sure your starting to see the point. It
breaks down like this. The lager the muscle being exercised the larger
the indirect effect. The greater the distance between muscles the less
the effect.
This is why for the best development your bodybuilding program needs
to be well rounded and should include the big 3 the bench press , squat
and dead lift these lifts should be the cornerstone of your workouts.
You should also structure your program working the largest muscles first
in the training session. Work from largest to smallest.
In practice this will require you to work your lower body before upper
body back before chest ect.
The indirect effect is also related to chemical reactions in the body.
When a muscle is stressed hard certain chemicals and hormones spill
over to the surrounding muscles and to a lesser degree the whole body.
If you look at bodybuilders of the 70s and compare them to today one
thing stands out like a spotlight. Their legs, you will be hard pressed
to find a bodybuilder of the 70s with massive legs. Likewise the upper
bodies of the 70s bodybuilder are much smaller than that of today. The
biggest difference in bodybuilders of old and today are the legs, and
by training the legs hard the upper bodies have grown massive as well.
This increased mass isn't just because of increased drug usage but a
result of the indirect effect in action. Look at the champs of today
like Ruhl and Coleman and many others all of these monsters have huge
legs.
If you have never understood why training the legs is so important
you do now. So don’t short change your self, if you want to grow
as much as you can keep the indirect effect in mind. This is just the
reason the squat is the king of exercises and by neglecting the legs
your really slowing your upper body growth.
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