If you are training to be more athletic, you must train the body to function as one synergistic unit, so ditch
the shoulder isolation exercises and lift a heavy barbell overhead instead and watch your total - body athletic strength soar!
Moseley et al. (1992) explored several
shoulder isolation exercises and found high muscle activity during the prone reverse fly also with and without external rotation (63 vs. 56 % of MVC), but also reported high muscle activity during standing abduction above 120 degrees (68 % of MVC) and prone rowing (67 % of MVC).
They can be fantastic addition, or even a substitute for your current
shoulder isolation exercises.
They participate in so many of the chest and back exercises, that often it seems utterly unnecessary to do
any shoulder isolation exercising.
Not exact matches
While neurocognitive testing is widely viewed as the cornerstone of the concussion - assement process, when used in
isolation, it
should never be used by itself, but rather in conjunction with symptom and other (e.g. balance, visual) assessments in diagnosing concussion and the readiness of an athlete for return to play after completing a symptom - limited graduated
exercise protocol;
For most people,
shoulder training means performing
exercises that target all three heads of the deltoids and a few
isolation moves for the traps.
Exercises should be a combination of compound and
isolation styles, with six to eight repetitions and 60 to 90 seconds rest between sets.
In short, your ideal workout
should focus on multi-joint, compound
exercises instead of
isolation moves using heavy weight and a low volume (ideally 6 - 8 reps per set), and allow only super-short periods of rest between sets (1 - 3 minutes).
This may sound a bit contradictory to the previous myth on our list, but just because
isolation exercises shouldn't be the focus of your training program, doesn't mean they are entirely useless.
This phase includes just a few
isolation exercises for chest, back,
shoulder and legs.
Combine compound lifts like Arnold presses and standing
shoulder presses with these
isolation exercises for the best effects and rear delt growth.
The idea is to use compound and neurally - demanding
exercises like bench press,
shoulder press, squats, deadlifts and rows instead of
isolation exercises for different body parts.
The dumbbell lateral raise deserves a place in any solid
shoulder and upper back routine since it's a great
isolation exercise that will help you strengthen your entire
shoulder complex.
In addition, it's almost an
isolation exercise that effectively target the muscles around your scapula (
shoulder blades).
Of course,
isolation exercises are very important for adding definition to your arm muscles and
should always find their place in your workout routine.
There is a good reason why some movements such as the squat, deadlift, bench press and
shoulder press are considered all - time classics which are better suited for maximizing your gains than assistance lifts and
isolation exercises.
Just remember that
isolation exercises should never overshadow basic, free - weight work («Rule # 5»).
Not that you shouldn't do
isolation exercises, but around 75 % of your training
should consist of compound
exercises.
To put it simply, compound
exercises are movements that use more than one joint (squats, deadlifts, bench press,
shoulder press, barbell row etc.), contrary to
isolation exercises that use only one joint (think leg extensions, bicep curls and triceps extensions)
The chest fly is an
isolation exercise, so it
should be performed after compound movements.
That does not mean that
isolation movements
should be avoided altogether, just that you
should rely more on
exercises that recruit larger muscle groups like squats, deadlifts, rows, bench press, etc..
If you do them right, you won't need any
isolation exercises, such as triceps work and
shoulder raises.
If you want to through in some
isolation exercises at the end you're welcome to but they
should always come second to heavy compound lifts.
It's an
isolation exercise (defined as a single - joint
exercise, in this case, the
shoulder joint) for the latissimus dorsi, a.k.a. the «lats,» which is rare.
In fact, the ratio of compound to
isolation exercises should be a ratio of at least 2 to 1, as compound
exercises are ones that work the most muscle groups.
In addition to
isolation movements like bridges, you
should really include standing
exercises like squats and lunges in your butt workout.
The following are some examples of
exercises you can do with dumbbells, most are
isolation exercises but some are good to combine with other
exercises (if you are aiming for a full body workout session) e.g. dumbbell squat into
shoulder press or lunge into side raises or bicep curls etc..
Isolation exercises still have a place in workout routines however the main focus
should be on heavy compound movements.
When you start working out you
should obviously be concentrating on «compound»
exercises, not «
isolation»
exercises.
There really are only two main side deltoid
exercises (movements) you'll need to include in your routine: (1) lateral raises (
isolation shoulder exercise), and (2) upright rows (compoud
shoulder exercise).
Generally speaking, you
should structure your
shoulder workouts so that you do maybe one or two heavy compound lifts followed by a few more targeted,
isolation - type
exercises.
A lot of guys want to jump into unique
isolation exercises, when in the early years they
should really focus on mastering the basic compound movements and get their joints and tendons used to heavy weights.
Whilst I agree you
should definitely focus most of your energy on compound
exercises, I find that towards the end of my workout I don't have the strength to carry on doing heavy compound
exercises but still have a bit of strength left over to do some lighter
isolation exercises.
As you
should know, if you want to pack on muscle mass you need to lift heavy weight and that's why it's important to include compound movements in your workout program and it will also help you when you do your
isolation exercises.
Comparing
isolation exercises, Schoenfeld et al. (2014) assessed variations of the plank
exercise including the traditional plank, long lever plank (greater flexion of the
shoulder), traditional plank with posterior pelvic tilt, and long lever plank with posterior pelvic tilt.
That was probably a longer answer than you were hoping for, but now you
should have a thorough understanding of why compound
exercises are better than
isolation exercises, especially for beginners.
You can also perform
isolation exercises like front raises for the anterior delt or reverse
shoulder flyes for the rear delt.