Posted on July 29, 2015 by Jenny Cromack
Last week we discussed the merits of both compound and isolation exercises, and also their shortcomings. When it comes towards goal oriented training plans it is important to remember that neither is “better” than the other, rather there is a time and a place for each, and this depends on goals, time constraints, the health status of the individual, their exercise history etc.So when is it a good time to use isolation exercises?
If you’re looking to enhance your physique through hypertrophy then isolation exercises are a must! One of our favourite approaches in forcing muscles to grow is through using a post exhaust routine. It is a fine balancing act as we don’t want to negatively effect motor learning and neural recruitment. To post exhaust a muscle we first utilise a big compound movement that utilises the muscle being exercised, this is then immediately followed with an isolation exercise on the target muscle. We get a higher degree of fatigue in the muscle stimulated during the exercise, and providing nutrition and recovery are adequate, we experience amazing growth. So for example a typical post exhaust routine we use would be the following:
A1. Bent Over rows 3 sets 8-12 reps (compound movement stimulates posterior fibres of deltoid)
A2. Bent Over DB raise 3 sets 12-15 reps (isolation movement working the posterior deltoids)
The key with the above routine is intensity management, we dont want the A2. exercise to fatigue during the first 2 sets. If we fatigue the posterior deltoids in the first set, its likely that they will be lazy during the remaining bent over rows, causing negative motor learning. During the third set it is perfectly acceptable to run the A2. exercise to fatigue to really work the target muscle. We could include drop sets, or extended set approaches during the last set here…. providing you don’t need to train it again during the session.
Another great opportunity to use isolation exercises is during pre-habiliative or rehabilitative work. As personal trainers working in a city centre like Leeds, we are surrounded with clients that tend to work office jobs, this involves a lot of sitting on the hamstrings, glutei and a lot of rounded shoulders. Spending a considerable amount of time balancing out clients is something we do a standard in our programs, and this involves a lot of isolation movements. It’s not that compound movements aren’t effective here, just isolation exercises are easier to include to when training an individual with poor posture. If you want to have a look at your posture in more detail we have numerous highly qualified trainers who specialise in postural correction. Have a look here for bit more information http://www.m8north.co.uk/postural-back-pain
One simple strategy in the utilisation of isolation exercises is when you’re injured such as you’ve pulled a hamstring and can’t squat, no worries lets do some quad extensions. What’s that you’ve torn your bicep clean of the bone and cant move your arm? Not a problem, no reason you cant do lateral raises on the opposing arm. Using isolation exercses gives us the opportunity to train around injury and matin a reasonable level of conditioning, I guarantee you doing something is always 100% better than doing nothing when your injured