The “I” Word
By Thomas Phillips
Leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, leg press, lat pull-down, bicep
curls, tricep extensions—who in their right mind would continue to do these
ridiculous exercises? It’s true. Isolation bashing has hit an all-time high in
the fitness world—to the point where it’s almost laughable. It comes as no
surprise to me though. The industry has been guilty of taking a concept and not
just applying it, but utterly abusing it while taking it completely out of
context. Sure, many trainers love to talk about how useless isolation movements
are. But guess what? Most of the top powerlifters, strongmen, and bodybuilders
in the world still use them in their routines on a regular basis! It’s time to
set the record straight on these verbally abused exercises.
Now that I have your attention, let’s discuss why isolation has been bashed
in the first place and why top strength athletes continue to utilize them within
their program. First off, isolation of any single muscle group is
physiologically impossible. This is not news to most strength athletes. But what
might be news is that strength training can accurately be described as a
practice of creating tension throughout the body. So the idea of teaching
anything but that when it comes to pure strength training is utter inefficiency.
When we tell a trainee to “focus on pumping the biceps” during a bicep curl,
that’s just ridiculous if we’re trying to teach strength. However, if we tell
the trainee to grip the barbell like you mean it, stick your chest out, squeeze
your glutes, push down your diaphragm, lock your knees, contract the quads,
brace the abs, and curl the bar with bad intentions…well then that has a
different effect on the body. The practice is now on increasing tension within
the body and not on passively pumping the muscle.
These principles are described very well in Pavel Tsatsouline’s book,
Power to the People. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about in
this paragraph then you need to buy that book. It should come as no surprise
that Pavel is also one of the guys who unmercifully bashes isolation movements.
However, I don’t believe it’s because he sees them as “useless” but rather the
way that people approach them as useless. In this case, I couldn’t agree more
with Pavel and many others who share that exact point of view.
Don’t get me wrong here. I realize that most of the top guys mentioned above
are not consciously telling themselves to squeeze their glutes, brace their abs,
etc. while performing bicep hammer curls. But that’s because this state of
preparedness is already in their bodies from years of HEAVY max effort lifting.
Also, tension is second nature to them because of the templates that they follow
(more about that later). However, it’s not second nature to “Joe athlete” in the
gym and certainly not to the “40-something housewife with three kids who needs
to drop some inches.” That’s not to say that we need to hand the 40-something
housewife a barbell and inundate her with these instructions until she
physically and mentally passes out on her first trip to the gym! Instead,
introduce one instruction every other week or so. For example, tell her when she
curls the bar to think about gripping it really tight. Two or three weeks later,
give the instruction to continue to grip the bar and now brace the abs, etc. The
strength of the individual will dictate how quickly you can introduce these
concepts.
Now I know what you are thinking—“So Tom, are you saying we should focus on
isolation movements with the idea of teaching ourselves to increase tension in
our bodies?” Well that is only part of what I am saying. The much more important
part is the fact that ALL of the top guys mentioned above include these
isolation movements within their programs almost always AFTER lifting something
really heavy or lifting a bar with tremendous speed. In this case, the isolation
component is primarily to focus on a muscle group that is lagging behind. For
example, if you can’t lock out your bench press, then it’s time to get to work
with some tricep hypertrophy. Isolation for this purpose is just fine! If you
have trouble getting down into the squat, it’s probably because your hamstrings
are too weak so get to work on the leg curl or better yet the
glute ham raise if
you’re man enough.
So the practice of tension is developed within the template by lifting really
heavy weight. Then isolation movements are put in as supplementary lifts for the
purpose of hypertrophy for YOUR lagging muscle groups. However, you had better
believe that these movements are done with the principles of body tension in
mind. If you watch a top strength athlete do tricep extensions for their
supplementary work, you will see BOTH the concentric and eccentric motions. If
you look hard enough, you might see their finger indentations on the bar when
they are done with the set. That doesn’t mean that they’re training to failure
either! It means they’re creating a good deal of tension through the whole body
as they perform the movement.
A few months back, this exact point was emphasized continually when I went to
see Marty Gallagher and Kirk Kowarski at a seminar in Washington D.C. As you can
imagine, I asked many questions because I’m not very familiar with Gallagher’s
philosophies. It turns out there wasn’t much I hadn’t heard before. However,
what they did make VERY clear is the importance of creating tension in ALL of
the movements. Marty would grind his teeth intensely as he spoke about doing
basic supplementary work such as a calf raise, emphasizing both the concentric
and eccentric parts of the lift. His eyes were on fire as he spoke about
grabbing the dumbbells to do shoulder or arm movements. You raise, you lower,
you grip—control, tension, form. His point was well taken.
On the other hand, if you are a trainer and want to teach your client how to
create tension in the body, well guess what? Doing basic isolation movements
with the idea of teaching total body tension is a great way to get the point
across. The client will quickly learn for themselves that it’s really hard to
do! Then let them know that in order to squat, deadlift, or bench press, they
need to learn how to create this tension in their bodies and make it second
nature. And yes, I believe everyone who walks into a gym should learn how to
squat, deadlift, and bench press correctly (eventually), including the
40-something housewife. But that’s a different topic for another article.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to include isolation movements
within your routines. However, I can’t think of too many reasons to do isolation
movements for the sake of isolating a muscle. Practice tension even in your
supplementary lifts, and you will continue to get even stronger. Don’t neglect
those isolation movements. Otherwise, you will find that the guys who practice
those lifts regularly (for the purposes outlined in their templates) will blow
right past you in both strength and muscular development. This includes the
bodybuilders. Think about it—if a bodybuilder can practice creating more tension
in their “isolation lifts” that means they can eventually handle more weight
which means even more growth. And who doesn’t want that?
Thomas Phillips is the co-owner of Fit-for-Life. He is the 2002
Body-for-Life Grand Master Champion. He placed first in the deadlift at the
National AAU, received first place at the AAU PL Nationals 181 raw division, and
is a national qualifier for the sport of kettlebell lifting. Thomas also won
back to back first place finishes in the National TSC elite class (www.the-tsc.com)
and the U.S. Army certificate of Achievement in Physical Fitness. Thomas is an
assistant kettlebell instructor for Pavel Tsatsouline. He is a certified
personal trainer, sport specific trainer, strength trainer, and kettlebell
instructor. Visit his website at
www.ThomasPhillipsFitness.com or
www.FitforLifeMarlboro.com.
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training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
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