Compound And Isolation Exercises
improve muscle strength and size. These include both compound and isolation exercises for all of your muscles.
Compound exercises are movements that require you to use more than one muscle to lift the weight. Take the bench press as an example, while the chest is the primary muscle targeted while performing it you'll also be working the front deltoids and triceps to get the weight up. While you squat you'll not only be training the quadricep muscles, but also the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Most upper and lower back exercises are compound movements as well because you'll get some assistance from the arm and leg muscles while doing them during your workouts.
Isolation exercises are movements that are working one particular muscle without much, or any, assistance from other muscles. Most bicep, tricep, and calf exercises are isolation exercises because you'll only be using those muscles to lift the weights for the most part (the forearms will get some work from biceps and triceps exercises). Other isolation exercises include flyes for the chest, laterals (front, side, or rear) for the shoulders, leg extensions for the quadriceps, and leg curls for the hamstrings.
Compound weight training exercises are superior to isolation exercises because you're using multiple muscle groups while doing them. Squats and deadlifts are the best exercises you can do to gain size and strength because not only do they need many muscles to assist while doing them, but they'll also give your testosterone levels a boost if you train with high intensity. Compound exercises are especially important for weight training beginners, as they give them the best chance for muscle size and strength gains. If you're new to weight training you won't get the results you want if you focus more on exercises like leg extensions instead of squats or flyes instead of bench and incline presses.
Even though isolation weight training exercises aren't as important as compound exercises, they should still have a place in your workouts. Obviously you'll need to do bicep and triceps exercises to build your arms, and most of them are isolation exercises. If you want wider shoulders you'll need to isolate the side head of the deltoid muscle with lateral raises. Flyes for the chest and leg extensions for the quadriceps are great isolation movements to finish off your chest and leg workouts. Once you've gained a nice amount of muscle size you'll probably want to do more isolation exercises during your workouts to add more shape where you need it and get a nice stretch and contraction for certain muscles.
To get the most out of your weight training workouts start them off with the major compound exercises and use isolation exercises as finishers.
Weight Training Advice
While you should vary your strength and weight training workouts to avoid boredom and keep your body guessing, there are certain exercises that should almost always be included to
