Does Leg Training Increase Testosterone Production?

If you're looking to get into shape, one of the first things you should know is that leg training is key.

Not only do legs have more muscle mass than any other body part, but they also provide stability to almost all your movements and tasks throughout the day. However, did you know that leg training can also increase testosterone production?

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What is Testosterone?

Testosterone is a hormone that affects many parts of the body. (Image via Unsplash/Luis Vidal)

Testosterone is a hormone that's produced in the testicles. This hormone is responsible for the development of male sexual characteristics, such as muscle growth and strength. It also helps with fat burning, which is why men tend to have more chiseled bodies than women.

However, what does all that have to do with leg training? Well, there's reason to believe that testosterone levels can be boosted by working out the lower body muscles.

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Does Leg Training Generate More Testosterone?

Here's the deal: testosterone is a hormone that affects many parts of the body, including muscle mass and fat burning.

Testosterone is produced by the testicles (in men) or ovaries (in women) and adrenal glands. If you're interested in building muscle mass, losing fat, or increasing your libido — all of which are great reasons to work out — it only makes sense that you would want to maximize your testosterone production. There are ways that exercise can help with that.

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How to Boost Testosterone Level with Strength Training?

Compound exercises work on multiple muscle groups. (Image via Unsplash/Alexander Redl)

There's no question that strength training is the best way to boost testosterone production. When you lift weights, you put the body under physical stress and force it to respond by building muscle tissue.

The most effective way to build muscle with strength training is through compound exercises that work for multiple muscle groups. Squats, deadlifts, and leg presses are all great choices for this type of workout, as they target multiple muscles in one go. Squats work the quads and hamstrings; deadlifts target the erector spinae muscles and many other back muscles, while leg presses focus primarily on the quadriceps.

How to maximize your gains from these exercises: do three sets of 8-12 reps with 90 seconds of rest in between.

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Building leg muscle helps entire body, has no direct impact on amount of testosterone you have

Help you burn more fat and build strength (Image via Unsplash/Alora Griffiths)

You may have heard that building muscle can increase testosterone level. While that's true, it's important to note that it doesn't happen directly. Bicep curls, for example, don't make the body produce more testosterone than barbell squats — it's just that they might be more fun.

However, these leg training exercises do have a direct effect on the amount of protein your muscles are able to synthesize (and therefore grow), which leads indirectly to higher levels of testosterone. They also help you burn more fat and build strength throughout your entire body—which means better health overall—and as any guy knows (or should know), it's healthy for men to look good in tight clothes nowadays.

You might think that leg training only increases the amount of leg muscle mass but what about other parts like arms? While leg exercises do target specific muscle groups such as quads or hamstrings, there are many other smaller ones involved in each exercise as well: biceps during lunges; lats during deadlifts; glutes while doing squats etc. All these different groups work together during different types of moves, so if one part gets stronger then all parts benefit.

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Wrapping Up

Leg training is an important part of any workout routine, as they're responsible for many movements we perform: walking up stairs and down hallways; getting out of bed in the morning, or sitting down at work or dinner table with friends and family.

However, what most people don't realize is that these body parts alone can't boost testosterone production by themselves — if anything they will probably lower it. The key is having balance in all areas, including both upper body work and leg training exercises like squats or deadlifts (to name just two).