Compound VS Isolation Exercises

Weight training exercise falls into two categories.

1. Compound
2. Isolation

Compound Moves

Compound exercises use a combination of several different muscle groups.

Post-exertion (after a workout) hormonal elevations correlate with how much muscle mass was involved in the exercise so that is a major plus for compound exercises.

Some examples of compound exercises would be:

• Bench press
• Pull-ups
• Overhead shoulder press
• Rows
• Dips
• Lat pull-downs
• Deadlifts
• Squats

Here is a bench press demonstration

Isolation Moves

Isolation exercises are great for targeting specific muscle groups.

If an exercise involves curling, raising or extending it is usually an isolation exercise.

For example:

When you feel like there is an area in your body that needs more attention – especially due to injury or underuse- then isolation moves are ideal.

This means that they have a major role to play is physical therapy and balancing out of physiques.

Guys that go to the gym and focus only on specific muscles while neglecting other muscle groups would need to adopt more balanced routines but also add in some isolation moves to help balance out deficiencies.

Isolation moves are usually underrated but they have a lot of utility.

Some examples of isolation exercises are:

• Chest fly
• Wrist curl
• Flat bench press
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extension

Here is a bicep curl demo

Compound Exercises VS Isolation Exerises

To compare compound exercises vs isolation exercises we first have to look at them individually.

Compound exercises which involve multiple joints should be the foundation of any good weight training programme. Apart from general time efficiency, they have a greater overall strength gain effect than isolation exercises.

Isolation exercises involve one join. Like in the case of a bicep curl only the elbow joint is involved in the exercise motion.

However, that doesn’t mean that compound moves are best for all muscle groups.

For example the biceps and hamstrings. These muscles do not change length much during compound lifts so therefore isolation is the best way to strengthen them.

A Personal Opinion on Isolation Exercises and Compound Exercise

When I first started exercising I was addicted to the bench press which is my favorite “compound exercise”. I mean I was seeing results so fast, and that alone spurred me on.

But after a little while, I started realising that my biceps were underdeveloped and it looked imbalanced and strange. Even my triceps were bigger and my chest was much bigger, but my biceps were comedically small.

I had to start doing large numbers of biceps curls to equalise my look because it was honestly getting ridiculous.

Thankfully after a few weeks, they started to look a little more normal. Hence the power of isolation exercises.

Another point where they came in handy would be the time I dislocated my shoulder.

Apart from being physically weaker, my left arm was noticeably smaller than my right.

After the medical aspect had been dealt with it took a few months of curls to return the size to normalcy.

That being said, stocking your workout routines with isolation exercises is a very poor use of time and the results may be too localised to be effective.

80% of your work out should be compound exercises that target large muscle groups simultaneously then 20% for isolation exercises that target smaller muscle groups or muscle groups that work best with isolation exercises.

Then the rest can be isolation to make some specific muscles pop.

In summary

Emphasize on compound moves but also use isolation moves to strengthen muscles that work best with isolation moves and also to strengthen weak links.

In general, make your workouts challenging for the best results.

Make sure you train all the essential muscle groups effectively by combining both isolation and compound exercise for the best results.