A popular bodybuilding notion asserts the superiority of compound weight training exercises as compared with isolation movements; proponents preach that the most effective method of muscle gain involves choosing weight training workout routines that stimulate the greatest number of muscle fibers. Moreover, those who follow this type of weight training believe that because the amount of weight used in compound exercise is larger than isolation movements, overall muscle growth will also be far superior, and therefore a weight training session should center around compound exercises as its foundation. But many will push this concept further, eliminating isolation exercises from their weight training routine, focusing completely on compound workouts alone, with the assumption that this will offer the most substantial muscle size gains.
As is customary with bodybuilding folklore, the truth is somewhat different from the popular claims, as although compound weight training exercises certainly will be extremely effective, and should become a part of any effective weight training workout routine, certain isolation exercises are also necessary for any weight lifter who wishes to produce the most dramatic muscle growth, and those who avoid isolation exercise can begin to produce a disproportional physique, with smaller muscle groups, such as the arms, becoming far less impressive as the chest and back begin to explode with muscularity, and this issue stems from avoiding correct isolation techniques.
Arms are one muscle group where this is very common, with some saying that heavy compound back exercises are by themselves capable of producing full biceps development, and consistent compound chest and shoulder exercises will provide the triceps with large amounts of muscle, all without isolation exercises to target these specific areas. Performing heavy compound weight training movements will certainly help the smaller muscles such as the biceps to grow, but the emphasis of the workout set when performing a compound weight training exercise such as seated rows is the back, with the biceps, in this instance, used for support in completing this exercise. The goal is to focus upon the back muscles during seated row, and therefore, the arms will not receive considerable overload since the back muscles are to experience maximum emphasis, meaning that the biceps are only trained to a certain percentage of their possible capacity. This same concept applies to triceps during bench press, where the goal is to overload the pecs, and the triceps are not to fail before the chest in order for the weight training movement to function as intended, therefore, the triceps only experience a fraction of the necessary overload.
Because of this, isolation exercises focusing on smaller muscle groups become critical if those areas are to reach their genetic potential, meaning that isolation weight training exercises avoided by some bodybuilders, such as preacher curls, barbell curls, side laterals, and triceps pushdowns become critical in providing needed overload to achieve failure for smaller muscle groups, as a bodybuilder, with these additional exercises, is then able to push those isolated muscles to total failure, and therefore produce the greatest muscle growth.
There is no doubt that a potent weight training workout system cannot be based upon isolation exercises alone, and certain bodybuilders on the other extreme mistakenly become fixated on performing every available weight training variation of a specific exercise, extending their workout length to the point of mental fatigue. Therefore, the correct combination of compound and isolation movements are necessary for those who wish to achieve the most impressive gains in muscle size, without bypassing any specific muscle group. The error many make is to either surround their weight training workout routines with far too few isolation exercises, where certain muscle groups neglected, or they alternatively perform such a large number of isolation exercises that their weight training workouts lack intensity, which harms the possibility for maximum muscle gains.
Remember that the most effective bodybuilding techniques involve a perfect blend of both compound and isolation weight training movements to avoid any of these possible pitfalls. If you currently find that smaller muscle groups such as the triceps, shoulders, and biceps are lagging in size when compared with your larger muscles (chest, back, quads, etc), then you should strongly consider implementing some isolation movements for these specific muscle groups so that they can improve to their maximum genetic potential.
Author Resource:-
Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight training program teaching the exact techniques for building muscle mass without supplements or drugs. He also owns IncrediBody.com, an online fitness superstore selling fitness equipment at guaranteed lowest prices.
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