Is Isolation or Compound Lifting Better?

There is a debate, which type of weight lifting technique is better: isolation, or compound. On both sides there are good points, but which one rules supreme? Well, it all matters what you are looking to achieve. On the side of isolation, we find exercises that do exactly as the term sounds. It isolates a certain muscle and works solely that. Think of lateral shoulder raises, or even bicep curls. These exercises are incredibly efficient for building a certain muscle and getting ripped. They are most preferred for body builders, looking to shape each muscle individually into a piece of human art.

Compound on the other hand, works several muscle as once. Bench press, rows, and dumbbell presses are great examples. While the muscle share the load and do not grow as large individually as with isolation, each muscle does get a work out. These are great for lifters looking to make their entire body look fit and trim, and are less concerned with competitions.

Now, the downfalls of each.

Isolation only targets the one muscle. Meaning, that to work each muscle will take much more time. Now, as many lifters know, working too long (aptly named overworking or over lifting) promotes muscle atrophy. Working a muscle is great, but when the duration is too long and the stress too much, the body needs extra energy to continue lifting.

Cortisol, released during times of overworking, along when not eating properly, puts the body in a catabolic state. What that means is that it eats the most energy taxing tissue in your body, the muscles. So if you work too long, which is very possible if you want to do full body isolation exercises, you risk actually going back instead of forward.

Now, what is the downfall of compound exercises? While they do work several muscles at a time (usually around two to five) the load is shared, so as I said before the work done by each is lessened. Thereby, the muscles will not grow quite as quickly. If you are looking to get fit, compound is great. If you are looking to get huge though, you should use compound lifting sparingly.

Most people believe compound is best. It works many more muscles at once, decreases the amount of time you need to lift to work all your muscles, and decreases the risk of releasing cortisol. It all depends on what you are looking to achieve. So think of your priorities, and work accordingly.