Why Every Man Needs to Squat and Deadlift

Unless you’re completely out of touch with reality, you’ve certainly noticed the myriad of “Never skip leg day” posts showing regular gym goers with chicken legs.

Even though I do find the joke mildly amusing, I decided to chime in on the subject with my own expertise.



See, the legs are one of the largest muscle groups in your body.

Not working your legs means that you are robbing yourself of the one of the greatest gifts you have been granted as a Man.

Take a glance at any Powerlifter or Olympic lifter.

These men have huge upper bodies for a reason.

I made it my mission to share three reasons because each reason touches upon a different aspect:

our Hormones, our Psychology and our Physiology.



1) Hormones

Multi-joint compound lifts have been shown to release the most testosterone and growth hormone post-workout:

The Acute Hormonal Response to Free Weight and Machine Weight Resistance Exercise

Not taking advantage of this hormonal boost means that you are purposefully handicapping the development of your whole body.

Working out the largest muscles in your body leads to more Myokine being released, which leads to more hypertrophy in the long-run.

Since switching from machines to free-weight exercises for my leg development, my whole body grew right in front of me.



Furthermore, by doing squats and/or deadlifts, you will be burning more body fat in the long-run.

The caloric need to recover from such workouts is greater than doing isolation exercises.

Kill two birds with one stone: Raise your testosterone and burn those love handles !



2) Psychology

Heavy squats and deadlifts will make you reconsider everything else you got going on in your life.

The feeling is quite exhilarating.

Imagine yourself standing in front of the squat rack.

You’re staring at the bar… You’ve never loaded 405 lbs before, yet you look at the weigh and you say to yourself “Ain’t that beautiful” while wiping the sweat of your forehead.

You are at peace, because YOU are the prime mover of that weight and you know are worthy.

You squat ass-to-grass, you pause at the bottom, and you take one last look at yourself in the mirror before exploding vertically.

The veins in your neck look as if they were about to pop.

You might falter, but it don’t matter.

The mortals in the background are wondering who’s that animal grunting profusely, but they don’t matter…

They are too busy with their Pilates, Zumba or whatever other bullshit is “in” these days.

They will look confused, wondering what kind of person would make themselves go through such a workout.

“Working out should be fun !”, they will say…

The mentality that is necessary to endure heavy squats and deadlifts will carry over to every other aspect of your life.

Suddenly, getting up earlier doesn’t seem like such a chore and working on that project will be a piece of cake because…gasp… you squatted 2 times your own body weight earlier that day.



3) Physiology

Heavy squats and/or deadlifts will change the way you walk, correct your posture and make you more attractive to the opposite sex.

Have you looked at the men at your gym that are constantly either in the squat rack or doing deadlifts ?

They have a masculine walk !

This is how men are supposed to look: You have strong legs that are able to withhold the weight of your upper body.

Your legs are like columns, they’re the base for the rest of your body.

Start from the ground up: Make the base as strong as possible so that it can support the development of the upper portion.

Squatting and deadlifting with good form will also correct your shitty posture. Your lower back, upper back, abs, traps and neck muscles are all activated during the movement.

Finally, something else had to be said: Women love men with big muscular legs.

Here’s what you’re going to do: You will make sure to incorporate squats and deadlifts at least twice a week during the next month.

Then, you’re going to come back here and tell me I was wrong.

Guess what ? That’s not going to happen, because those two movements will make you a better Man.

 

Look around and see how many men in the gym are deadlifting ?

Just as many as there are squatting, over-head pressing, doing weighted pull-ups and weighted dips.

There aren't many unless you go to a hardcore gym.

The reason people don't do those exercises ? They work and they are HARD

What I mean is they will be hard to adjust to at first because of technique and hard because even though a squat is supposed to be a "leg" workout, it actually works the whole body. Many people won't like that discomfort and pain (I personally love it).

To start, you should of course work with someone that could show you how to deadlift properly and shouldn't shoot for 1 Rep Maxes until you can deadlift with perfect technique. There are indeed differences in bio-mechanics for short and tall people. Google is your friend

Also, there are many videos out there. In short, keep your back tight throughout the whole movement and don't curve your back like a cat unless you want to snap something. Lower the weight and don't lift with your Ego. Control the weight.


However, the benefits of deadlifting cannot be overstated (especially if you are a drug-free lifter).

 

Take it slow brother ! Go for quality instead of quantity If you ever need someone to critic your form, I'll be available !