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So for about a year now I have been actively lifting my upper body 3 times per week. That's not a ridiculous amount so I'm not expecting to be totally ripped by now, but I have been doing a fairly consistent 3 times/week. Even my personal trainer who I had last March says he notices improvement. Unfortunately, I never got into the habit of lower body lifting and I don't do that at all (I do cardio though 5x per week so my legs get SOME exercise). What I want to know is how much can NOT lifting lower body affect my upper body gains, my fat loss, my ability to look cut, etc.?
people say that working one area of the body helps with others. i do believe thats true but not tremendously so. the same people will also make fun of someone who has big biceps and scrawny legs, so clearly they believe that gains can still be made without working legs. nobody can quanitfy the difference but i think if you are lifting seriously 3 times a week and runnin 5 times a week, then you will make gains and will probably just be a little scrawny in the legs for your upper body size.
people say that working one area of the body helps with others. i do believe thats true but not tremendously so. the same people will also make fun of someone who has big biceps and scrawny legs, so clearly they believe that gains can still be made without working legs. nobody can quanitfy the difference but i think if you are lifting seriously 3 times a week and runnin 5 times a week, then you will make gains and will probably just be a little scrawny in the legs for your upper body size.
My legs aren't scrawny. Not even close. My calf muscles can put up 400 pounds.
My legs aren't scrawny. Not even close. My calf muscles can put up 400 pounds.
well, some people have naturally thicker legs and some have scrawny ones. also, fat people tend to have strong legs for obvious reasons. but if you dont appear to have scrawny legs and you dont want to work them, then i dont think you will be majorly penalized for that in lost gains elsewhere. i do think that there are diminishing returns on your workouts, so doing upper body 3 times a week doesnt make you 3 times more beefcake than someone who does it once a week.
For me anyway, working my legs fairly hard has positive impact on the rest of my body. There have been several occassions when I've had injuries to my shoulders or chest, and performed absolutely NO upper body exercises for up to 6 months at a time, while I did squats and leg presses exclusively. When I went back to my upper body routines, I expereinced no appreciable loss of strength. In fact within a couple of weeks, I was able to handle heavier weights in my upper body exercises than I was using prior to my injury. Your mileage may vary.
Having stronger legs ( which will increase the strength of your core ) will help you hold positions to workout the upper body, or you could continue to go down your road, and just make sure you do a lot of core exercises..
Edit: but the time you put into the core exercises, you could just have well done legs...
^^^^The emphasis is mostly on upper body development. Symmetry between upper body and lower body seems to be an interest of the past. Nowdays it is common to see bigger upper body development while relegating the lowerbody to second class status. The era of Steve Reeves symmetry is a thing of th past. I've also noticed that being ripped and having great muscle definition is a thing of the past. Nowdays being BIG is the thing, even if being BIG comes with the price tag of having smooth, undefined muscularity.
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Skip leg day??
