You Gotta Keep 'Em Isolated
The argument for single-joint exercises, and why I don't rage against machines.
I’ve talked before about why lifting is a good idea, why the bulk of your strength training should probably centre around multi-joint movements and free weights (if you lift), and how to go about creating a simple workout plan for yourself. But I’ve got a bone to pick with the extremist nature of the fitness industry, so I’m gonna sidestep a little from this pretty mainstream route today.
This is probably also a good place to remind everyone that I’m not a qualified personal trainer (though, tbh, these days it sometimes seems like any monkey with an internet connection could be), and that any recommendations I make shouldn’t be taken over those of some sort of trained professional in your life.
One of the things that has always really annoyed me about the health and fitness world is the way people seem to love swinging to extremes. Some of my favourites (/sarcasm) include:
FAT MAKES YOU FAT / CARBS WILL KILL YOU FASTER THAN BACON OR CIGARETTES
ONLY EAT PLANTS / FIBRE IS INDIGESTIBLE AND THEREFORE POISONOUS (just heard this gem today, which…wut.)
WITHOUT CARDIO YOU’LL NEVER BE LEAN / STRENGTH TRAINING OR YOU’LL FOREVER BE SKINNYFAT
YOU HAVE TO REPEAT THE SAME WORKOUT ALWAYS OR YOU’LL NEVER PROGRESS / IF YOU DON’T CONFUSE YOUR BODY CONSTANTLY IT WILL ADAPT TOO FAST AND NEVER GROW
It’s almost as if it’s impossible that (gasp) moderation, balance, and variety have their place, and that people can train with specificity but also for enjoyment’s sake?
I’m a huge fan of doing whatever it is you actually enjoy doing — you’re way more likely to stick to it in that case, and while I personally happen to enjoy it, I do also think almost everyone could benefit from some sort of resistance training: whether you’re an Olympic weightlifter, ultramarathoner, or everyday Joe just trying to prevent Early Onset of Dadbod.
Another polarised view that I’ve noticed in recent years, as strength training has become more mainstream (yay!), is that people also seem to think that the only way to strength train is via either Olympic weightlifting or powerlifting movements. That’s certainly one way to do it, and while I’m not the biggest fan of the Smith machine, I’ve also seen a worrying trend of people thinking that if they don’t have access to barbells then there’s no point training at all.
Which is downright stupid. (If this is you, I’m not calling you stupid, it’s whoever wrote the dumb article that gave you that idea who’s the idiot.) Think about it this way: if you’re a distance runner, incorporating something like hill sprints into your weekly training is you carrying a load (your body, against gravity) for reps. Sounds a lot like resistance training to me, and probably will include a lot more specificity to your goals than learning a movement that’s highly taxing on your central nervous system but unrelated to your actual goals, like the clean and jerk.
And, while multi-joint free weights movements are incredibly efficient and useful tools, there are also arguments to be made for single-joint movements and gym machines. Let’s take a look at three of the biggest reasons why I personally include these in my training.
Training Around Injuries
For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard me whining about my hip in recent weeks. (I’m in the process of rehabbing a hip flexor strain.) In the past few years, I’ve also had 4 torn ligaments in my right ankle, 2 torn ligaments in my left knee, and stitches in my right thumb and left pinky. (Note: none of these injuries were as a result of lifting — just me living my best klutzy life.)
I never had to completely stop training for more than a couple of days, mostly because I (and my coach) aren’t afraid of using machines. The stitches in my fingers were actually the worst, because they meant I had zero grip (even using straps wouldn’t have been feasible for some time), so being able to rest the base of my palm against a machine chest press, or flop over a lying hamstring curl machine, meant that I could — at the very least — keep stimulating those muscles and maintain my strength whilst I waited to restart my regular programming (and not risk popping the wounds back open). Likewise, there was no way I’d be able to squat with a barbell on my back while hobbling around on crutches, but resting the ankle pad a little higher up on my shin meant I could still work my quads while keeping my ankle safe and sound, and not be limited to non-load-bearing upper-body work.
NB: if you’re currently recovering from an injury, please make sure you clear whatever exercises you’d like to try and do with your physician and/or physiotherapist.
Addressing Strength Imbalances
Multi-joint movements are part of our everyday life: standing up from your desk at work, tossing a skillet full of pasta in its sauce if you’re all chef-like in the kitchen, or competing in an athletic event in which your performance depends on the overall force required in that specific (multi-joint) movement. However, structural/anatomical considerations aside, your execution of that movement is going to be limited by the weakest muscles in that chain, and whether or not they are able to make a sufficient contribution to allow the movement to be completed correctly and safely.
If you’ve realised that your gait happens to be very quad-dominant (as I did recently), chances are you’ll benefit from adding some glute-specific strengthening movements to your training. Or if you seem to have hit a strength plateau in your low-bar back squat, performing some isolation movements can often be a useful tool to uncover relative muscular weaknesses (and a great way to go about addressing them).
NB: For any beginners to strength training out there, don’t worry about strength imbalances just yet — spend a good 6 to 12 months just training the basics and developing good form, greasing those movement patterns, and gaining overall strength to begin with.
Because Biceps
If your goal is to increase the number of pull-ups you can do, you need to do more pull-ups. No two ways around that. However, if your raison d’être is to grow biceps bigger than your face, increasing volume of work sets on the actual muscle group you’re trying to grow will lead to increased hypertrophy.
NB: This isn’t a call for you to do 200 sets of calf raises weekly, since the general guideline is to do the minimum amount of volume that allows you to see progress (to avoid accumulation of too much fatigue, to protect your joints and connective tissue, and to leave room for modulation of volume), but if you’ve been crying about being on #TeamNoCalves but you’re doggedly sticking to squats and deadlifts because COMPOUND LIFTS ARE LYF, you might wanna consider adding in calf-specific isolation work twice a week.