Isolate To Be Small and Weak!

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day regarding what really works for muscle building. I related a story about a girl I was training with years ago for a bodybuilding show who had an advisor that had been a top level amateur bodybuilder. He did know his stuff about diet, but he was following the trend of "isolation movements" for bodybuilding and  tiny little movements that needed you to twist a pinkie here or a pinkie there, or leg extensions with your feet pointed in at a precise angle and abs that targeted your lower quadrant or some bleeping stuff. He never did this stuff when he competed, but now he changed his philosophy, and wanted us to follow along. I was looking at him and thinking, yup, okay, you got it, no problem. He was saying how we could shape the muscles and squats make your butt too big and your hips too wide and I was thinking that genetics give you the shape of your muscles and that, damn, I want thighs like Tom Platz who squatted like a madman.

                                          Tom Platz

                                          

So what did we decide to do? We did Sheiko. Two squat workouts in one day, presses, inclines, rack deads, deads, pushups, deadlifts from a box. We did curls 2x a week. Some calves. No cables, no dumbells, no machines. VOLUME, and TONNAGE. And we grew like crazy. He never knew. He was like, "Wow, the outside sweep of your quads is really coming in! It must be the leg presses with feet touching with light weight and constant tension!"  We were nodding our heads, isolation is the key!

It doesn't work, you can't isolate anything, anytime. And if you could, why would you want to? Its boring as hell to sit on a machine and train. No challenge. Why not go for some bang for your buck exercises that make you massive as hell and then let the diet do the rest? Its all HUGE, tension filled exercise and proper diet that works anyway. Think about the most massive people EVER, Coleman, Yates, Cutler, Kaz, Kirk, Arnold, Franco, Marius...squats, deadlifts. presses, rows.

And for the women? same stuff. On simplyshredded.com, IFBB Figure Pro Erin Stern lists her favorite exercises as-

1. Squats
2. Deadlifts
3. Cleans

Those are some compound movements! C'mon, Erin, you need to ISOLATE!!!

Here is a picture of Erin-

 IFBB Figure Pro Jodie Minear(simplyshredded.com), lists these 3 exercises as her favorites:

1. Squats: They build your leg muscles, increase your jump, strengthen your back and burn heaps of calories.
2. Lunges: These along with squats are amazing for your lower body, and they also do wonders for your butt.
3. Push Up Jump Squats: A great exercise to burn fat and build muscle from head to toe. Make sure to try this in an interval style for an extra challenge.

Basically, she uses 3 types of squats. And those squats haven't hurt her at all physique-wise. She is training smart. Less crap, more results.

Don't fall for the myths that the magazines put out there. Don't fall for the gurus with their special exercises that isolate your sartorious and your hips and blah, blah, blah. Go against the grain and do the Big Three peppered in with some curls and calves and you will be just fine.