Finding The Best Exercise: Compound VS Isolation

Many people are still wondering what might be the ideal workout to build powerful muscles and maintain good weight balance. The main discussion is going around whether is it better to do compound or isolation exercise for gaining muscles. Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that work several muscles at the time, whereas isolation exercises are characterized as single joint movements where you focus on training only one muscle group. So, in order to figure out what kind of exercise works best for you, read on to find out.

Compound Exercises

When you opt to do compound exercises you are setting your mind to do all kinds of exercise that involve exercising multiple joints and muscle groups. By doing compound exercise you can undoubtedly increase your stamina, strengthen multiple sets of muscles all at once, and stimulate the muscle gain. No matter if you are a novice or an expert, anybody can do compound exercises with proper guidance and get excellent results.

Benefits of compound exercises

In order to get the most out of your workout, the most beneficial way of exercising would be to implement compound exercises. The reason is that you use multiple sets of movements that move more than one muscle group and in that way, you will be able to effectively gain muscle mass. When you use more muscle groups in your regular workout routine you will burn calories faster, improve your joint stability, boost up your coordination, balance, energy and keep your heart rate up. By combining various compound exercises you will even be able to lift heavy weights and gain quality muscle mass.

Types of compound exercises

Some of the most common compound exercises are squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, deadlifts, dips, planks, and different variations of bench press. You have to take extra precaution when you do the workouts, in order to avoid injuries and get maximum results. For instance, when you do the deadlift, which is a majestic compound exercise where you move your whole body, you need to straighten your back, grip the bar or hold the weights correctly, and engage pretty much every muscle in your body to do the movement. You boost your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and back muscles, so it is of utmost importance to it diligently. You should be careful not to get hurt, so you had better watch a few weightlifting videos in order to learn how to properly perform, for example, a deadlift and get the maximum out of the workout.

Isolation Exercises

Some experts recommend doing isolation exercises when you have succumbed to some form of injury and when you need to revamp and correct a certain muscle weakness that has occurred due to an injury. On the other hand, people can do isolation exercise if they want to pump up and increase the size of a specific muscle group, or in other words to get big biceps for example. By performing and focusing on a certain type of isolation workout you will surely increase the size of that muscle you are targeting with that exercise. In case you have suffered an injury and you wish to cool down, doing isolation exercise will put you on the right track of your recovery because you will start with a mild form of exercise and gradually increase the intensity.

Benefits of isolation exercise

One of the biggest benefits of doing isolation exercise is that you can do specific muscle exercise and apply direct isolation tension on a single target muscle and in that way promote desired muscle growth. In plain words, you will be able to maintain a balanced muscle growth by doing separate forms of exercise and if necessary target smaller or weaker muscles to improve their symmetry. Besides that, you can also target and train one specific muscle group through its full range of motion to a maximum degree. By doing isolation you will be able to establish a better mind-muscle connection, allowing your mind to focus your attention on a single muscle at a time, thus boosting its quality growth.

Types of isolation exercises

As the point lies in targeting “single” muscle group with minimal engagement of other supporting muscles, the most common isolation exercises are biceps curls, triceps and shoulders press, calf raises, hamstring curls, legs extensions, and dumbbell workouts. The best exercise would be a combination of exercises for chest, arms, and legs. What is more, some of the exercises can target two muscle groups, such as calf raise, which is beneficial both for the calves and abs. When you perform any of the isolation exercises that require you to rise, curl, or extend a limb, makes sure that you first do it under supervision and guidance. Once you progress, you can do the exercises on your own.

Deciding which type of exercise is better actually depends on your individual desires and possibilities. Both compound and isolation exercise are good for your muscles if done competently.