Muscle Isolation

Are you tired of training with a full body program? If the answer is yes, then this little insight into a different training technique may be what you are looking for!


Muscle isolation is a great way to change your training if you are looking to pack on lean muscle, as it focuses on each muscle working independently. By doing this you are making each muscle work harder, instead of multiple muscles working together. Another great reason to try this is you can train more days in a week, with one muscle resting while you train another area of the body. This is the type of weekly split you could use.

Monday – Legs

Tuesday – Chest

Wednesday – Back

Thursday – Shoulders

Friday – Arms

Saturday/Sunday – Rest

For this style of training you would be using the hypertrophy range. This method looks to enlarge muscle size and you will also notice strength improvements. You want to stick to 4 sets of 8 reps with a weight that is challenging especially when you get to the final rep on set 4.
Now we will look into potential exercises for each day:

Legs

Quadriceps - Bulgarian Split Squats, Static Lunges, Leg Extension

Hamstrings - Stiff Leg Deadlift, Good Mornings, Leg Curl

Chest

Bench Press, Dumbell Bench Press, Dumbell Flys, Cable Flys, Chest Press Machine, Pushups

Back

Bent Over Rows, T-Bar Rows, Single Arm Rows, Seated Rows, Lat Pulldown, Pull ups

Shoulders

Shoulder Press, Single Arm Shoulder Press, Lateral Raises, Front Raises, Upright Row, Reverse Flys

Arms

Biceps - Preacher Curls, Spider Curls, Incline Curls

Triceps - Rope Pushdown, Skullcrushers, French Press

Start with two to three exercises per day, with 4 sets of 8 on each.

With muscle isolation you want to focus on the movement and on form. You need to try and feel the muscle you have isolated doing the work. This is what we call the mind muscle connection. You must ignore any other muscles that are trying to get involved. As your muscle will be isolated it will fatigue a lot quicker than normal so try and find the right balance with your selected weight so you are able to perform all sets with good form. Once your muscle and mind connection improves, along with your strength, then it's time to up the weight.

Remember when you go to the gym you should always focus on yourself. Don’t worry about what other people are lifting and feel the need to compete. My favourite saying is "leave your ego at the door!". Just do your best to improve from your last session. A great way to track this is to get a gym diary and log your workouts along with the weights you use.

Elliot.