Raising Testosterone - How I Gained 2 Inches on My Arms

by John
(Toronto, Canada)

Hey Guys,

I have a quick question in regards to working out your Arms and Legs to increase testosterone production.

In your summary stated above, it states that working out your legs makes your arms grow bigger due to significant increase in testosterone.

So to take full advantage of this testosterone increase, should we work our arms out FIRST then work your legs the day AFTER or work your legs first then work out your arms to MAXIMIZE the benefits of testosterone and bigger ARMS?

Thanks.


Answer:

To be honest, I don't think that sort of timing will mater that much. I think the main point is that compound exercises like squats and deadlifts can help increase total body stress which helps produce testosterone. I don't think timing it with specific arm exercises will really make that big of a difference.

Now, if you've never done squats and start doing them, you're not going to magically build big biceps over night. But there have been numerous studies that show how adding squats to a workout program can help build your upper body as well. Doing squats will help increase natural testosterone levels and the release of growth hormone and if you combine them into a program which involves arm exercises, you should see better results over time.

So squats and deadlifts will have a bigger impact on your testosterone levels when compared to bicep curls and tricep pushdowns, but I can't really comment on timing this with your weekly workouts or doing certain exercises before others.



Side Bar:

See the pictures above. That's me from day 1 to day 60.

Recently I gained a lot of weight over the past few months. I had been traveling for awhile and hadn't been training much at all.

I gained two inches on my arms in less than two months and I didn't do any isolated bicep curls or tricep work. I just did squats, deadlifts, and bench and shoulder press.

So Mondays I did squats, 5 sets of 5 reps and some ab work. Wednesdays I did bench press for 5 sets of 5 reps, and then shoulder press 5 sets of 5 reps. Fridays I did deadlifts and then weighted chins all for 5 sets of 5 reps. I took 3 minute rests between all sets. I combined this with about 3500+ calories per day and in two months gained over 20 pounds and two inches on my arms. I did gain a bit of fat but that comes with gaining weight that fast.

So there's more to getting big arms than just bicep and tricep work. You need to eat a lot of food, and I found that when I focused on squats and deadlifts it really helped out.

Regarding more information on why squats help build your upper body, read this thread over at T Nation.