bicep + tricep isolations

J

jonny100

0
I'm doing 3 days a week full body workouts, and currently I am doing bicep isolations at the end of my workouts (after all the compounds).
Once I've done 2 weeks of all the exercises that I currently do, I plan on changing them to keep things fresh. Should I change the bicep isolations to tricep for the following 2 weeks?
Or should I be doing both tricep AND bicep isolations to avoid imbalance, and just changing their specific movements every now and then?
Which way would be most beneficial?
 
What are biceps isolation? remeber you cant isolate a single muscle but you can target. Wouldnt you already be doing biceps in your fullbody workout? And if you wanted to change things up try changing the intensity, reps or weightload.
 
by bicep isolations I mean things like barbell curls, hammer curls etc. I believe isolation is the term for exercises like that, which focus on 1 muscle group.

I don't think my biceps get hit in the compound lifts (or at least it doesn't feel as if they are). Only really in pull-ups, which are soon to be changed to military presses once my 2 weeks are done.

I already change up the weightload, intensity and reps every workout, but with the programme I'm following from T-Nation it also suggests changing the exercises every 2 weeks.
 
Since no one is answering your question...

You can change things up. But really it won't have a huge impact. The biceps are a small muscle group and don't require a lot of extra stimulation. It's always good to rotate in and out movements to keep us from getting bored.
 
betsie2k said:
Bent over dumbell Tricep Extentions FTW!
Click to expand...

Ugh...you mean 'kickbacks'? lose em.

bicep curls are fine for isolation...just rotate between dumbbell curls, barbell curls, preachers, hammers....mix it up a little.

That said, I got more growth outta my biceps when I almost quit all isolation, and instead did heavier compound back exercises: pullups, deadlifts, bent over rows, cable rows, chins, etc.

you may not experience the same thing...but remember how tiny the biceps really are, and work them proportionally to the larger back muscles.
 
Hahaha!!!

I'm with malkore, I never do isolations, and even when I was cutting my biceps got stronger. It's all in the compounds, baby!!!
 
i agree with the above. isolation is unneccisary. i see the most growth when i hit chinups and pullups with heavy rows. deadlifts help a bunch too; they work the whole body. dont neglect squats either
 
lol I can't be bothered to look for a stupid photo :D


So you guys never do isolations then?

Is it not even worth doing isolations once a week?
 
betsie2k said:
lol I can't be bothered to look for a stupid photo :D


So you guys never do isolations then?

Is it not even worth doing isolations once a week?
Click to expand...

I don't think it's necessary to cut out isolations completely. I just think it's over kill when you're worrying about which bicep or tricep motion to use when your arms are in the 12-17" area. Hit your compounds hard and heavy, throw in a couple sets of bicep or tricep movements 1-2 times a week and call it a day.

Besides, there's other ways to hit the biceps than through just bicep movements. Mreik said one of the best movements that got his biceps growing was isometric paused chins and slower eccentric pulling motions.
 
I do arm iso once a week.

I do all compounds (except squats) twice a week.

I do lunges,single legged squats and dumbell step ups instead because the squat rack is kinda crappy.

My arms are 12" :D

Pull ups FTW for bicep development!

They were a lot smaller than that before I started working out lol
 
i dont think isolation exercises help me grow at all. i see no difference when i took them out of my routines
 
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