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Fit and Fine by Kamal Singh CSCS: Isolate, then integrate
That’s the benefit of including single-joint exercises in your routine, even as you follow a full-body workout
Sometime ago, a friend who is a competitive bodybuilder, connected with me to find out how he could get his pectoral/chest muscles to grow. We kicked around some ideas but most of those things he was already doing. Finally, I asked him to reverse the order of the exercises he was doing. He was doing compound exercises like the barbell and dumbbell bench press first in his workout, followed by single joint exercises like cable flyes. This change restarted his pectoral muscles growth again.
Single-joint exercises vs Multi-joint exercises
As the name suggest, a single-joint exercise works on a single muscle group and its associated joint. For example, a bicep curl works the bicep muscles which bend the elbow while triceps extension engages the triceps which straighten the elbow. Single-joint exercises help train a muscle in isolation, though let me be clear we cannot really isolate a muscle completely, the body does not function like that. Unlike spot weight reduction, we can train each muscle separately leading to strength and size gains.
Multi-joint exercises work across a large number of joints and muscles such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. We know that to get the biggest bang for your training buck, most of your training should focus on the multi joint exercises. But a chain is only as strong as the weakest link and that is where the single joint exercises shine. If your triceps are weak, then your bench press numbers will not go up till the triceps are trained separately and they become strong. In a multi-joint exercise the stronger muscles overpower the weaker muscles and those muscles can lag unless they are focused on.
Single-joint exercises – to do or not to do is the question
For too long trainers, and that includes me, have been saying that a long as you focus on multi joint exercises, a trainee does not need to do isolation type of exercises. But I sincerely feel that single joint exercises have been unnecessarily vilified and they should be utilized in a properly planned training regimen. Here are some of the reasons why they should be done:
•If you are looking for hypertrophy, then a mind muscle link is important. It is necessary to actively visualize a muscle contracting. Most people in the gym tend to think that by moving a weight from point A to point B is adequate to build muscle. This external focus is fine if your aim is to only lift weight but if building an aesthetic physique is why you are in the gym then an internal focus is needed. Single joint exercises are invaluable for creating the mind-muscle connection as only one muscle is working at a time. To take it a notch higher, I would recommend working one side of the body at a time.
•Too many of us think in terms of Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph. These were the three body types as categorized by Dr Harvey Sheldon. A classic Ecto is lean and has problems putting on mass, Mesos puts on muscle easily and Endos gain fat just by looking at food. Most of us are a combination of these three types. But from a training point of view body part ratios are more important. Thus, is your torso smaller or longer than your legs, are you long limbed etc. These ratios will affect how you respond to different exercises. For example, a person with long legs will not find success with just squats to put on size on his legs. He might need to shift to a leg press and leg extension combination. A trainee with long arms will struggle with increasing their barbell bench press, she would be better served with a dumbbell press paired with cable or machine flyes.
•Single-joint exercises shine when you are looking to change up a routine. If you are feeling bored of doing the same exercises over and over again, a very effective variation is to only do isolation exercises for a few weeks. You would be surprised to see an improvement in your physique as well a new enthusiasm to hit the gym.
•Isolation exercises are necessary while recovering from an injury. While rehabilitating a muscle strain, it is necessary to strengthen the muscle and isolation exercises are best suited for it.
There you go the above reasons are enough to actively include single-joint exercises in your routine and reap the benefits. Now go and do it!
Kamal Singh is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has been coaching for 15 years
From HT Brunch, April 18, 2021
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