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The Indirect Effect
by priest943, Moderator @ www.IronLife.com & Team IronLife.com Writer
Courtesy of IronLife.com & IronLife Online Magazine. For full article click here.
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.
by priest943, Moderator @ www.IronLife.com & Team IronLife.com Writer
Courtesy of IronLife.com & IronLife Online Magazine. For full article click here.
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.
