What is an isolation exercise?

Answer:
An isolation exercise is any exercise done in a small,

unlit room, all by yourself.... Sorry. When working out with weights, there are two basic categories of resistance exercises, these are compound and isolation movements. An isolation movement is any exercise that revolves around a single joint.

Examples of isolation movements are biceps curls, tricep press downs, leg extensions, or lateral raises. In all of these cases, one joint is doing the lions share, if not all of the movement.

Whereas pull ups, a compound movement, is a good biceps exercise, it also involves the back and rear deltoids because the joints involved are the shoulders as well as the elbow. In a biceps curl, the the movement is all around a single joint, the elbow. This "isolates" the biceps and doesn't bring other muscles into play.

This is also the case with triceps pressdowns. They revolve around the elbow. Dips, on the other, revolve around the elbows and
shoulder joints.

I like to use isolation movements as the second part of a superset. Pull ups followed quickly by biceps curls makes for a good biceps routine that covers all bases.


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