Strength train your legs to avoid "punk" look at the gym

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What people who sport the punk look may not realize is that their bodies look absolutely silly to those who are serious about strength training and overall health. In order to be healthy you have to have a balanced physiology that's made up of both lower body and upper body strength. Gym punks also like to cover their skinny legs by wearing extremely long basketball shorts. Doing this, they hope that nobody notices their legs and only looks at their upper body which is normally quite large.

This is what I call the "cosmetic approach" to strength training. It's the result of someone who is interested only in the way they appear and not their actual health. But it's even worse than that: avoiding strength training your lower body actually hampers your ability to build a strong upper body as well. Here's why: the largest muscles in your body are found in your lower body -- your glutes and hamstrings. By strength training these muscles, your body generates an enormous quantity of growth hormone. Once this growth hormone is circulating in your bloodstream, it actually enhances the growth of muscles throughout your body. In this way, working out your lower body actually helps you build more muscle mass in your upper body and gives you a much more balanced, healthy, fit look.

It's not just for looks, either: when you have a strong lower body, you are able to engage in more physical activities. You can jump higher, lift more, run faster, and basically be a more active, higher performing human being. Are you currently following a punk workout? It's easy to tell. Just look in the mirror. If your biceps are bigger than your calves, you're probably following a punk workout. You need to lay off the bench press and spend more time doing leg extensions, leg curls, squats, leg press, and other lower body excercises. Doing so will not only rapidly enhance your production of growth hormone and increase your muscle mass, it will also make you appear a far more balanced individual -- someone who is interested in holistic health, not just large biceps for showing off in public.

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About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a manufacturer of mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting products that save electricity and help prevent global warming. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics.

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