03.13.18
By: Kyle Dale, Dayne Sommer, Breion Young, Melinda Murillo, Casey Wissinger
Keywords: Lower body, Upper body, Strength, Resistance training, Muscle
In this field we all know that guy that starts and ends the week doing nothing but upper body exercises. Neglecting the legs because they’re not the “show muscle” as we like to call them. Growing up, my favorite cartoon character had the arms and chest of a Greek God so that is what we all wanted to look like. Now that I am older I realize that the most important movements are movements involving the lower body. For fitness and performance, developing your lower body can have positive affects overall.
Lower body exercises can enhance overall muscle growth.
Squatting can help with your abdominal muscles and back if performed correctly. 
Lower body strength has a correlation with overall strength. As your lower body strength increases so, will your abdominal strength. The strength of your abdominal core will aid in overall strength development.
You will burn more fat!
The muscles in your legs are some of the largest muscles in your body. When worked out body temperature is increased and depending on intensity, it will continue to be high after the workout for that current amount of time.
The Hormones
The one hormone our muscles need is testosterone. Your body can naturally produce testosterone and performing high intensity lower body exercises can increase the count. As by how much depends on the individual.
References:
Effect of Lower-Body Resistance Training on Upper-Body Strength Adaptation in Trained Men. Bartolomei, Sandro 1,2; Hoffman, Jay R. 1; Stout, Jeffrey R. 1; Merni, Franco 2
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 32(1):13-18, January 2018.
