01 Feb Friends Don’t Let Friends Skip Leg Day
We all have that friend who’s nowhere to be seen on leg day.
We have heard all of the excuses – I’m sick, it’s my cats birthday, or I have that old footy injury that only flares up on Mondays (conveniently known as ‘leg day’).
We now have hard facts that the benefits of training legs goes beyond just having quads to match your upper body. It helps boost testosterone, increase muscle and accelerate fat loss; all while ensuring you can enjoy that well deserved cheat meal since your body digest the food you’ve eaten much more efficiently.
So here are the main reasons you should never to skip leg day. Read, learn and then hit the Facebook “share” button to send to your absent friend. To quote a modern-gym saying, “friends don’t let friends skip leg day.”
1: It spikes muscle-building hormones
Naturally boosting testosterone in men is a good thing for fitness. It helps you increase muscle mass, burn fat and even helps you between the sheets. Well that is what the research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology suggests – every man should become good friends with the squat rack.
2: You’ll lose fat
Want to lose fat? Get off the treadmill, put down the slimming shake and squat! That’s what a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology says, which tracked athletes’ energy output and metabolism after heavy weight training. What they discovered was that after 90 minutes of heavy weight training (including squats) an athlete’s metabolic rates skyrocketed. What’s even more interesting is they stayed high for hours after they’d left the gym. Scientists then concluded that “strenuous resistive exercise may elevate post exercise metabolic rates for a prolonged period and may enhance post exercise lipid oxidation [fat burning].”
3: You can eat what you want afterwards
This’ll be music to the ears and stomachs of all gym goers: after leg day you can eat what you want.
According to the teachings from the American Journal of Physiology that say after heavy weight training you increase the efficiency of a protein called GLUT4. This improves our body’s insulin sensitivity and the rate at which we absorb and use glucose.
Put simply this means a giant, homemade burger with sweet potato chips no longer seems like a bad idea. It will be absorbed efficiently, won’t be stored as fat, and will help the muscles repair and re-grow.
4: Girls notice bad geometry
Enough said…. Women will notice if you skip leg day!
Never skip leg day: squat, eat and repeat!
Facts sourced from the American Journal of Physiology via GQ.
Image: BuzzFeed/Adam Ellis
