Deadlifts & Squats Increase Testosterone levels?
September 9th, 2008 by AdminI was always told as a bodybuilder, to do squats and deadlifts because they increased testosterone and helped build muscle throughout the body. I decided to try and seek out a definitive answer to these common beliefs.
Studies on Testosterone Increase in Squats & Deadlifts :
It didn’t take me too long to stumble across research studies showing that after squats or deadlifts, there was a large increase in serum testosterone levels. Not only is there a increase in testosterone levels, but in Growth Hormone and IGF-1, a couple of other important anabolic hormones. This anabolic release didn’t just happen in squats and deadlifts, but also in smaller resistance excercises, including bench press and isolation excercises. Research indicates that the larger more involved excercises, like squats and deadlifts, will have the largest increase in Testosterone and Growth hormone. Although all resistance training has this effect, a curl for example, would have only a very small increase in Testosterone and Growth hormone. A study published in (Int J Sports Med. 1991 Apr;12(2):228-35) showed this hormonal increase after weight training in both men and women.
I was glad to see there is research to back up that squats and deadlifts are good for increasing testosterone levels. However, there is one major caveat. According to studies it seems to be temporary increase, as a few hours to about a day later, your Testosterone and Growth Hormone levels drop below normal and cortisol remains high. This is where your body is recovering hormonally and people warn about overtraining.
After about a couple days your testosterone levels will return to the same or maybe even slightly higher. I couldn’t find any research that showed those who squatted or weightlifted in general, have significantly higher body testosterone levels long term. In fact, you have to be careful of overtraining. In a study published in (Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1993 Aug;25(8):929-35), strength lifters who came back from a break of weight training, had a surge in testosterone and lowering of cortisol levels. Therefore, taking a break was actually a good thing for them for restoring / increasing their anabolic hormones. If anything, it looks to be long term weight training, is more likely to cause lower testosterone levels than higher levels, if you don’t take a break from training every few weeks and watch workout volume.
Do squats help increase overall muscle mass in body?
This is a little more difficult question to answer. There is no research directly on it, but if we use some logic here, we can probably answer the question. When you do squats, your releasing a substantial amount of hormones that your whole body can feel the effect. When your testosterone increases in your blod, it reaches all parts of the body. It’s not like your arms are going to grow significantly from just a leg workout, but I believe the testosterone increase in the blood can cause muscle growth to other parts of your body. Steroids help you grow by increasing testosterone in the blood, so it makes sense that squats could have a similiar stimulus effect on other muscle parts in the body.
Squats and deadlifts are the best exercises you can do. Anyone that tells me they’re struggling to put on muscle, I just say “Start doing squats and deadlifts”. They’re the best exercises.
I totally agree. Squats and deadlifts are the two best exercises for building big muscle. They result in massive Testosterone spikes which leads to big muscle gain.
Good article.
Thanks
Wow.
I didn’t hear about that till now. Testosterone spikes as a result of doing squats and deadlifts? should do some squates before I meed my girlfriend…
Dan
Abso-freakin-lutely!
I squat twice a week, Monday & Thursday, for maximum gains. After reading the ‘hormone recovery’ time period though, I’ll probably start doing my deadlifts on the same day to get some recovery time in-between.
I’d like to add that I’m getting better results by switching from squatting 500 lbs parallel (3-5 reps) to deep squatting (to the floor) 275 lbs for 8-10 reps. I’m getting far better muscle penetration into my teardrops, and let’s just say that my wife can testify to my increased test levels!!
I’m curious though: do any other hormones besides the big 3 (test, HGH, & IGF-1) increase as well? I’d like to know about the adrenal gland hormones like DHEA and all other related compounds.
You ain’t squat if you don’t squat!! Good article!
Bryan
I’ve been doing dead lifts and squats for 3 months now with my new workout split. My muscles look alot thicker then they did before doing these heavy compound movements. My back has gotten a very nice look to it. Thick traps and strong shoulders. My legs are super strong now and All my other lifts have gone up exponentially. as an example I was benching 225 before. I now bench 320 for 3 sets of 6. My shoulder presses use to be 55 pounds now its 70. My body fat used to be 12% at 170 now i’m at 9% at 173.
I DO SQUATS TWICE A WEEK ON TUES. & FRI. I DO DEADLIFTS ONCE A WEEK. I WORK ALL MY MUSCLE GROUPS ONCE PER WEEK, LEGS TWICE A WEEK. I HAVE NOT YET SEEN ANY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN MY BODY. I DO 3 SETS 8 REPS FOR SQUATS WITH 205 LBS. & 3 SETS 10 REPS FOR DEADLIFTS WITH 160 LBS.
Good Article on the testosterene levels.
I think that the key here is whether you take advantage of the muscle stimulation that squats and deadlifts provide by following everything up with a well thought out post workout nutrition plan – as well as a decent bodybuilding diet the rest of the time. I have personally noticed an increase in my overall lean body mass when ever I make squats and deadlifts a priority in my workouts. I will typically increase the size of my arms by 1″ within a few weeks of heavy deadlifting and squatting. In my opinion, these are the 2 best exercises for building muscle mass fast!
Hello first post her I do a lot of squats and agree 100 percent that there are huge increases. My workout is centered on the Kettlebell but still do a lot of squats.
Love squats, i like the 6 week super squat workout by doing 20 reps with a weight you can normally only do for 10.
I too have noticed an increase in my other lifts, especially bench, from my recent change to squats from leg press. I took a 10 year hiatus from squats and did mainly leg presses during that time due to a pinched nerve. Now I’m back to squatting and in a short time I’ve seen tremendous gains in my leg strength/size and overall gains in my chest and back. Guess that’s why they’re the grandaddy of all exercises!
If you don’t squat and deadlift don’t even waste your time with lifting. Its true squat to grow! Nothing else needs to be said, just shut up and do it.
Yes!! Essential, Essential, Essential, Can’t train without them.