The term "isolation"
is given to certain exercises which generally use joint for movement,
opposed to two or more which are called "compound" exercises.
However, in
reality to build muscle you ALWAYS need to be isolating
the target muscle. I touched on this yesterday in my email, where I
discussed a tactic to isolate the deltoids whilst doing side lateral
raises.
That's just ONE of many, but today's point is isolation itself. It's KING to building muscle Ian because without it you are not creating enough trauma or stress & load on the
VERY area you need to in order to force growth.
If
you struggle to build muscle, or a specific muscle I almost guarantee
it's because you aren't isolating it properly. And yes, you CAN "isolate" a muscle even on compound lifts, to a large enough degree.
To "isolate" to me just means the stress and load taking place is within a specific area, which you are deliberately forcing.
For
instance, whilst doing incline dumbbell press NOT locking your arms out where the stress goes to your triceps, and NOT
dropping the weight too deep where the stress falls to your shoulder
joint is going to "isolate" the pecs. Yet it's a compound lift.
Does that make sense?
Isolation is ALL about making a muscle work harder by training intelligently and taking it apart, in a way where the
tension you are creating falls exactly where it needs to.
This is something I REALLY want you to learn because it will be a game changer for you, even if it does hurt like a f***er!!!
Here's 3 ways you can improve the isolation of a muscle now -
1. Slow the negative (eccentric phase) down to load the
muscle more thus increasing tension
2. Squeeze the muscle at the point of flexion (isometric contraction) to increase tension
3. Use the "fullest range of motion available WHILST keeping tension on the target muscle"
YES, a full range of motion is great but you only want to do that as far as the TARGET muscle is still working. Like the example I used above with the incline dumbbell press, by using a slightly shorter (and it is
ONLY slightly shorter i.e. 1-2 inches at the top/bottom) you create more tension and isolation.
Be smart and start isolating your muscle for faster growth, and yes it will mean reducing the weight in most cases.
Neil Hill
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