Lifting Legs

[pelagius]

My close friend (a fitness instructor/personal trainer/nutritionist) insists that lifting legs increases levels of natural HGH and testosterone, which, in turn, helps in building lean muscle throughout the body.

This is true but with some caveats, at least as I understand it but I am not an expert. for example The acute hormonal response to resistence training was found for other muscles as well. Working large muscle groups works the best. People tend to single out legs because it is the largest. But clearly there are other large ones. Also the sudy found the biggest response for high volume and short rest interval workouts. So, DDD's five minute rest interval when doing Zercher squats is probably not causing a huge hormonal response.

This is from the abstract of the study that most people cite with regard to this idea:

Protocols high in volume, moderate to high in intensity, using short rest intervals and stressing a large muscle mass, tend to produce the greatest acute hormonal elevations (e.g. testosterone, GH and the catabolic hormone cortisol) compared with low-volume, high-intensity protocols using long rest intervals.

See Hormonal responses and adaptations to resistance exercise and training., Sport Medicine, 2005.

[TripletDaddy]

pelagius slags on my workout and he has never even seen me in my Zubaz.

[Sizzle]

I meant to ask about this. Just to be clear, are you saying that lifting legs has a different effect on metabolism as compared to lifting upper body? Or just saying that lifting, in general, will increase your metabolism?

I have zero idea either way so i will defer to you.

Lifting in general will increase you metabolism. I've read that adding one pound of muscle will burn an extra 50 calories per day. Some of your larger muscles in your body (especially for me) are in my butt and legs. So, I don't know that legs in particular increase metabolism any faster than your upper body, but adding legs into your workout would give you more time to rest the remainder of your upper body, which is essential to help you build muscle.