Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Compound Vs. Focussed Exercise

  • 23-04-2005 3:59pm
    #1
    CathalMc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 225 ✭✭


    Hi,
    I've been doing weights and general strength and body building for about 3-3.5 years now. I've been purposefully not pushing myself to murderous extremes with many supplements and such, and I'm happy enough with my gains and an adequate bench press. My routine is a bit settled at the moment, and with the start of the summer I'll be doing a serious revision to get some good growth over the summer.
    So, finally, what would the group recommend as for breaking a self-imposed plateau? My current routine breaks down into a 3 day week, targeting chest and back on day 1, arms and abs day 2 and legs and shoulders day 3 with a aerobic (jogging) day in between and a day off. I also break up the big compound exercises across the week (bench press -day 1, squats - day 2 and deadlifts -day 3). What what you recommend as for the breakdown of compound and focussed exercises on a given day? To an extent I start off doing a compound including the areas of focus then move on to more specific exercises. Can anyone recommend alternatives that they have had success with?


Comments

  • #2
    Easygainer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 546 ✭✭✭Easygainer


    CathalMc wrote:
    Hi,
    I've been doing weights and general strength and body building for about 3-3.5 years now. I've been purposefully not pushing myself to murderous extremes with many supplements and such, and I'm happy enough with my gains and an adequate bench press. My routine is a bit settled at the moment, and with the start of the summer I'll be doing a serious revision to get some good growth over the summer.
    So, finally, what would the group recommend as for breaking a self-imposed plateau? My current routine breaks down into a 3 day week, targeting chest and back on day 1, arms and abs day 2 and legs and shoulders day 3 with a aerobic (jogging) day in between and a day off. I also break up the big compound exercises across the week (bench press -day 1, squats - day 2 and deadlifts -day 3). What what you recommend as for the breakdown of compound and focussed exercises on a given day? To an extent I start off doing a compound including the areas of focus then move on to more specific exercises. Can anyone recommend alternatives that they have had success with?

    Could you be more specific? Do you want to know what isolation movements you should couple with the compounds to make a good routine, or just a routine?

    Before I post anything I'll need to know this, and if you can train anything else on leg day, you're not training legs right!


  • #3
    BrianD3
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,513 ✭✭✭BrianD3


    Personally, I don't see much point in isolation exercises. Unless you are heavily into bodybuilding (i.e entering competitions) and want to target a specific muscle that you feel isn't up to scratch.

    I guarantee you that you can become a massive, strong, powerful bastard without ever doing a single isolation exercise. Why bother when there are so many excellent, tough, compound movements that you can spend your time doing. For instance if you talk about deadlifts there are about 4 or 5 different types all of which hit various muscles in different ways. Then there's Squats. Weighted chin ups. Bench Press (couple of different variations). Military press. Clean and Jerk. Snatch. Rows. Bent Press. etc. etc.

    BrianD3


  • #4
    Easygainer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 546 ✭✭✭Easygainer


    BrianD3 wrote:
    Personally, I don't see much point in isolation exercises. Unless you are heavily into bodybuilding (i.e entering competitions) and want to target a specific muscle that you feel isn't up to scratch.

    I guarantee you that you can become a massive, strong, powerful bastard without ever doing a single isolation exercise. Why bother when there are so many excellent, tough, compound movements that you can spend your time doing. For instance if you talk about deadlifts there are about 4 or 5 different types all of which hit various muscles in different ways. Then there's Squats. Weighted chin ups. Bench Press (couple of different variations). Military press. Clean and Jerk. Snatch. Rows. Bent Press. etc. etc.

    BrianD3


    As a powerlifter I'd agree in principle that the recreational lifter need not look beyond compounds but even in strength sport isolation exercise have their place, particluarly for lagging bodyparts and to overcome structural flaws. For instance, I have long arms, so while I find the bench press excellent for chest growth, someone with smaller arms wouldn't and dumbell exercises like flyes in addition to a press would be needed.

    But I will agree that only at a certain musculature to auxillary lifts give a noticeable difference. I've noticed a good deal of change, for the better, in my tris since incorporating cables.


Advertisement