Stop Doing Isolation Exercises Like This! (3 BIG MISTAKES)

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Isolation Exercise Mistakes: In today's video we're covering 3 common misconceptions when it comes to compound vs. isolation exercises. Whether it's chest isolation exercises, back isolation exercises, arm isolation exercises etc. these are three errors to avoid if you want to build muscle optimally from your bodybuilding workouts. These isolation vs. compound exercise mistakes relate to the topics of progressive overload, rest between sets and mind-muscle connection. More specifically to the idea that compound exercises are where you should focus on progressive overload whereas during isolation lifts you should just focus on the pump/"feeling the muscle"... that very short rest times are fine for isolation exercises... and that the mind muscle connection is more important on isolation exercises vs. compound exercises. Get all 3 of these muscle building mistakes corrected and you'll definitely see an improvement in your muscle growth. Related Tag: best isolation exercises

[@Sean_Nalewanyj]

💪 Important Reminders: 1) Get your free custom fitness program at www.SeanNal.com/custom 2) Use discount code KZbin15 to save 15% off your first order at www.RealScienceAthletics.com 3) Follow over on IG for more helpful fitness tips and strategies: @sean_nalewanyj P.S. If you signed up for a program and didn't receive it, make sure to check your junk/bulk folder. If it didn't show up there either then contact info[at]seannal[dot]com to have it re-sent.

[@MarioTomicOfficial]

The last mistake was spot on and mastering this becomes super important the more advanced you get.

[@conscious_competence3703]

I like your channel.

[@mindfuldrone]

I like the massive smashing sound at about 7:40 when Sean says "doing curls like s complete idiot"...

[@vegetasfitnesschannel446]

As the great Dom Mazetti said "Lateral raises are probably the lightest exercise you'll do..... SO GO AS HEAVY AS POSSIBLE!"

[@SirAlexanderdeLarge]

The Brofessor! 🤓

[@gyurmethlodroe1774]

i.e heavy as possible without cheating, without losing form

[@soonerborn7603]

“Get cut, get butt” - Dom Mazetti

[@aucata268]

I started working out 5 months ago ,working on progressive overload on every exercise and have improved alot but lateral raises ,i still do them with the same small dumbbells as my first time and i still fail at 10,11th rep and cant do 4th set

[@soonerborn7603]

@@aucata268 I wouldn’t be too concerned about that. It’s normal to progress very slowly with that exercise.

[@ealtamushkharal84]

Man The bicep scene was hilarious 😂😂😂😂 Thoroughly enjoyed it Agreed with all u said.

[@SchuyFit]

0:55 Focusing more on feel than load 3:15 Shorter rest times each set 5:35 Feeling the muscle is more important That last one is such an interesting perspective. Thanks for this great info!

[@kaganas_edits7551]

Thx!

[@dimitris90schild92]

Thanks mannn

[@InayaNanban]

Thanks. San blabbering this video

[@centreman5]

I disagree with all these points on a number of levels. Sean is very robotic and doesn’t seem to know that people are different in many ways and tailoring techniques is important. He speaks as if what he is saying is a rule for all. Very fixed mindset.

[@Askellad101]

@@centreman5 You can’t just disagree with biology, dude. Every humans beings muscle building mechanisms work exactly the same.

[@robnichol5344]

The mind-muscle connection point is spot on. I always found it hard to get it with the chest and spent a few weeks stressing about it. Then I decided I'd just focus on the progressive overload element with bench pressing and full contraction with crossovers, even though I still couldn't feel it with some reps. A month or so later I noticed my chest was growing, months down the line it's still growing and I woke up with DOMS in my chest this morning so the muscle has obviously been worked. Take home: don't sweat the MMC too much and focus on if your lifts are progressing; the latter is a better indication you're growing.

[@fangzhi_zhao]

Today I realized that the background is actually a still image. I always thought the recents videos were actually shot in a gym. Nice camera and video work Sean!

[@Jonathan_Knight]

I always struggle with "am I doing this right" I don't have a spotter, always go by myself...so, these video's help ALOT. Yes, I DID download the Custom Training & Nutrition Plan.

[@TheDanimal91]

It's always the people who switch up their workouts all the time to "shock" the muscle who have made zero progress and have looked the same for 5 years.

[@kendunn366]

Sure dude, except Arnold Schwarzenegger of course who highly recommends it 😂😂

[@jasonhughes6896]

@@kendunn366 I guarantee Arnold was already big before changing up all his exercises. I guarantee he used all the Staples, all compound movements to get to his size.

[@MrClassicmetal]

@@jasonhughes6896 Yes, you're right. During his first few years Arnold used a 5×5 program, similar to the one used by his idol Reg Park.

[@CountBeetle]

@@MrClassicmetal steroid program

[@MrClassicmetal]

@@CountBeetle ?

[@Ethereal184]

Ever since I started working out a couple of months ago, I’m happy I’ve been following most of the advice Sean and other KZbinrs I trust and follow. I’ve seen much progress in my workouts and have come to further appreciate the amount these great KZbinrs have saved me

[@dataflowc]

Hi Anthony, just to say that everyone makes great gains in the first few months whatever they do. My advice is forget the KZbinrs and just stick to the basics for now and only make changes in a year or so when the gains slow up. And DON'T go too heavy or you will get injured and put back. We have all been there believe me.

[@Ethereal184]

@@dataflowc well the advice advice you’re giving here is the exact advice Sean and other KZbinrs I follow also give. Hopefully more people can come to understand those points as it leads to most of the muscle growth besides nutrition

[@GUITARTIME2024]

Mind Pump too

[@wcc4269]

Tbf, During your first few months you could literally make gains by randomly swinging a 10ib dumbbell around.. lol

[@NEXTLEVELHEALTHwithTim]

Totally agree. If you’re doing an entire lift with cheating your form then you need to lower the weight. But if the last couple reps of the set require a little bit of form cheating within reason then I always want to get closer to true failure and that’s the way to do it!

[@YeaNo.]

Thank you for telling us to rest as long as needed because people will have us out here close to death because you're panting and tired and you don't need to push yourself to hop into that next set after 30 seconds.

[@FitLabb]

100% spot on with all points! My workouts all typically include a combo of compound & isolation exercises, pushing to within 0-3 RIR for all working sets, sometimes going for a few cheat reps on isolations past failure 💪

[@Moose92411]

"If you don’t curl like a complete idiot…." Clearly Sean hasn’t watched people curl at commercial gyms recently 😂

[@ManiacFitness]

I dont have a commercial gym in my area bc I live in the sticks but even at a small local gym most have no clue what they are doing. They look the same the last 2 years and made no progress in physique or strength. Or fat loss for that matter. They notice my prprogress and ask me what I fo and after I tell them they make excuses that they are still bulking as if that's the reason they build no muscle and have zero discipline when it comes to nutrition

[@Moose92411]

@@ManiacFitness I've learned, over the years of being asked for advice and feedback, to gauge whether the person asking actually wants advice, or whether they want to hear that what they're doing is correct by some measure or other.

[@blueo8672]

"I think that actually limits muscular overload in the long term" 8:41 Spot on! in my early training months i used to be this robot 😂 and that is sooo true what you said about the muscular overload regression!

[@RedfishCarolina]

He's spot on about the mind-muscle connection on compounds. It took me MONTHS to figure out how to actually work my lats on lat pulls. Just yanking the bar down doesn't do it. That just fries the biceps

[@douglasgrilletto1522]

Thank you for all the sound advice.

[@Moose92411]

I’ve only recently started giving myself more than 50-60 seconds to recover from my isolation sets. I was definitely cutting my rests short for ages, because I train hard. Glad you’re giving good, underdiscussed information!

[@GUITARTIME2024]

2-3 minutes for compounds

[@chilldoc9638]

@@GUITARTIME2024no

[@mitcht6289]

8:00 - THIS! THANK YOU! I see a lot of people lifting like this and they think they're these perfect fucking fitness guru's or something because they do everything with "flawless form". The thing is, how is that remotely challenging them? They're almost never progressing in weight. Like you said, it can actually hold back your gains in the long run. Facts 💯

[@morgankombat22]

Thanks Sean. I noticed that I didnt train as hard today because of number 3 and you saved me once again. Blessings! ☮️

[@s1l3nt30]

Athlean-X title: ISOLATION EXERCISES ARE KILLING YOUR GAINS!!

[@12106445]

But he also says the best muscle building exercise for triceps is the tricep extension which is an isolation exercise. LOL!

[@SK-ix8jb]

@@12106445 he loves using clickbait titles

[@tayedwards600]

Stretching is killing your gains!!!

[@12106445]

@@tayedwards600 If you dont do it Jeff’s way its killing your gains

[@your_source_network_media]

"Ok guysJesse is going to DEMenstrate what I have just explained to you..watch as he does the overload

[@akatsukicloak]

Great video! Been following you for 10 years and you were one of the first guys who motivated me to get ripped and clean my diet back then. Will be watching your videos to get back in the game.

[@Salamaleikum80]

Aight have rewatched the video and this is what I got from it: You shouldn't treat isolation exercises as pump exercises and instead focus on progressive overload on isolation exercises as well. I disagree, Isolation exercises are not the best for progressive overload because of multiple reasons. First it's difficult to continue overloading, you will get close to a limit pretty quickly. Second PO on Isolations is more risky, just think of always increasing the weight on leg extensions and the effect on the knee joints. I don't say it will definitly destroy your knees but it just might. Third, Isolation exercises have merit especially with pump work. They are the perfect tool for metabolic stress and sarcolasmic hypertrophy. While compounds are horrible for that(imagine doing dropsets or myo reps on squats or deadlifts, your cardio would give up before your muscles do, also the risk of injury would dramatically increase because you would fatique stabilisation muscles.) So jeah, there is a reason why people treat isolation exercises as "Pump" exercises, because they are perfect for that. And if you want to have progressive overload on specific muscle groups you would get that from compound exercises(e.g doing chinups and overloading it for biceps growth). That is why they work so well together and complement each other so well. Then the part with the resting periods. Sure you could rest 5 minutes on isolation exercises, if you treat them as a source for heavy mechanical stress(but why not do that with the compound exercises instead?). But when you use them for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy or to create metabolic stress then resting too long is conflicting with the goal of the training method. Another problem: The research you showed from Shonenfeld is limited. First it was all performed with 8-12 reps. So they didn't compare different training methods, e.g metabolic stress methods to standard sets. So it's difficult to say now just dump all the metabolic stress methods(e.g doing only small rest periods or something like drop sets) because it was shown that longer rest periods help grow muscle in that limited study with a limited time frame, limited parameters and so on. That is the main problem with fitness advice nowadays. Then the Mind Muscle Connection Part: Yes the mind muscle connection is more important for isolation exercises than it is for compound lifts. Don't remember the study anymore and who the author was, maybe Shonenfeld maybe Bret Contreras probably the latter. Just watched a podcast about that topic. And it's better to focus on external cues with compound exercises while internal cues are better for isolation exercises.(I think they talked about it in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2aciImHaKyeY5o) One thing i have to agree with is that focusing only on mind muscle contraction and now allowing for a bit of cheating might be a problem. Even tho that is just speculation on your end.

[@koyoteval4338]

Finally someone talked about the time between sets. If I go hard and always try to progressively overload, it's almost always impossible for me to rest for less than 2 minutes. I wonder how some people rest for only 60-90', but I think we all know the answer :p

[@josuegarduno7154]

Mmmm... PEDs...?

[@jmca_power]

Myoreps?

[@koyoteval4338]

Either PEDs or being lazy, that’s what I was going for. Myoreps are a good technique that the average joe in the gym probably has not heard of.

[@ArtbyPaulPetro]

all these points are spot on! I've learned these myself over the years by trial and error. a this point my own mindset is to train every exercise with equal focus, use good form but not so ultra strict that i stall because of it, and rest long enough to give my all for each set. Avoiding injury is a huge factor at 54 years old as well so after several weeks of running a certain program i vary the rep range for the next several weeks (while still sticking to the core basic movements). this has been a huge benefit for avoiding chronic achy joints. great vid Sean, thanks!

[@SelectiveSocial401]

7:28 had me dying...especially that second rep!

[@omarrreyes9230]

Live your vids bro, but if I wait 1 and a half to 2 minutes in between sets, I’ll end up in the gym for 2 plus hours.

[@NeoAutodroid]

Resting is important but I get so annoyed when one person is just sitting on the equipment browsing their phone. I usually leave the equipment and lap around the gym to give others a chance to use the equipment. If everyone cycled through like this then nobody has to wait on somebody else

[@supertes24]

This is the type of information that needs to be up there! When I was new to lifting I kept hearing a bunch of BS that I wish I never heard! This stuff is gold!

[@xnj_]

7:30 I laughed pretty hard at this

[@danielleaf2171]

Really glad I got a video recommended from you a few months ago. It's really helped with how I approach my workouts nowadays. Thank you 👊🏽

[@darren_mcgarvey]

Started your custom training and nutrition program yesterday. Simple but challenging. Just what I need right now.

[@12106445]

Just signed up for mine about an hour ago. Hope to get it by tomorrow or the next day

[@queenb9668]

Great video. 7:27 made me Spit out my water LMAO 🤣

[@D.O.Gmentality]

Man gained so much knowladge from your vids ı am litterally evolved in training styles and frequencies thanks for all of the things you mension ı now think its necesarry to get help from a coach or smth .

[@jacobbrummett6570]

I personally feel like working on your mind muscle is extremely important (of course it depends on the body part & the exercise). I always made it a goal to have good form when doing my exercises but it wasn't until I actually started focusing on that mind muscle connection that I saw bigger gains in certain muscle groups. Regardless of focusing the muscle or not you're gonna get a good workout as long as you have proper form & what not but I've definitely seen better improvement with my gains with taking the extra emphasis on squeezing my muscle & really feeling it. One good example of this is when I do incline cable flies I make sure that once I get the cables in front of my chest with my arms extended to not just stop there but to really squeeze my chest & push my arms out that 1cm more or whatever. Little things like that help fatigue you better & really help with progressing I've found. I also don't really focus on strength gains but more so hypertrophy & body building in general, for other people I can definitely see how this isn't so effective for strength gains.

[@Andrew-ig2dk]

One thing that makes you stand out is your honest and wise with your information. Don't loose that thanks and all for free

[@D3RHiRO]

Idk how many great videos more this guy needs to do before his channel finally blows up….

[@dankeglock]

Sean, I really appreciate the effort you put into your content. I’m in my 50s and I’m getting into a strength training program. It would be great to see a series that uses cable machines to get a proper workout for muscle building. I don’t have access to free weights and frankly I can’t run the risk of injury lifting with free weights on my own.

[@jimmy5634]

They’re all over the internet. Do a search.

[@nyanity]

There actually is a pretty good reason for that first advice: focusing on the "feel" in isolation exercises can help engage those muscles more accurately in compound movements, hence progressing faster and developing a better form

[@JAV619]

One of the best advise videos so far, Sean. Thanks!

[@twistedbarbell3950]

Great points as always! Hopefully some of the internet's form police will take note and stop critiquing everyone all the time.

[@UltraCasualPenguin]

But bicep curls are easiest at top and by moving elbow forward you place forearm in vertical position sooner which means you get weight sooner to position where holding that weight requires 0% effort. When weight goes through your forearm bicep is not in play which is exact same thing when you let weight to go all the way down without any bend in elbow. You seem to do that too + you don't control negatives. You do know that to build muscle means that you have to damage it first.

[@danstafford5977]

A compound exercise is a multi-joint exercise... with or without synergistically stabilizers via exercise selection.... isolation exercise or single joint exercise with or without synergistically stabilizer muscles via the exercise selection!

[@mcd949sm]

Absolutely the best of KZbin fitness. Straightforward, experience based training knowledge. I use more of his techniques than any other.

[@hypnotard69]

very interesting video Sean! I usually take 2 hours in the morning to complete my 30 sets of resistance training (age 50) every other fitness video tells me im not making gains if I rest anymore than 30 seconds between sets. I like to do a set, relax for 5 minute or so then go hard again

[@kpkdhar3674]

Ur right on taking rest, i keep upto my breath goes normal but until body starts cool down. Overdoing reps just makes more body pains.

[@JamFlexx]

PureForm is great ! I took 3 scoops and can see through walls. Broke my bench PR and even grew an extra leg, thanks Shawn !

[@552porotogym]

😂 What

[@UncleDanBand64]

Bravo sir! The mind-muscle connection is way overdone. Everybody spewing it. Unless you are magic you will not move the weight without using muscles. Very refreshing sir 👍

[@victorizer1984]

You should have more subscribers! I discovered your channel a few days ago and have watched a lot of your videos! Also, I unsubscribed from a lot of channels that you have called out! Keep up the good work and I hope that a lot of people find your channel!

[@nickvoelker7180]

#2 Phones have timers, use them. It's a good way to get a feel for appropriate rest periods, and also gives some kind of standard to gauge your recovery against. There's a decent body of research on rest periods, and probably worth the time to review if you're planning on taking your training seriously.

[@BasedChadman]

Sean - putting tne strength back in science. Good video, man. People get so caught up in the nuances of training that they forget training hard is 90% of the equation.

[@BaldOmniMan]

Jujimufu’s shoulders exploded from doing the side lateral machine with progressive overload. This vid was spot on

[@fit_man_cam1713]

And here I thought it was the trembologna sandwiches 🤷‍♂️

[@donknotts85]

Sean… I subscribed you your channel a few days ago because I was impressed by your approach to your videos. No fluff and real advice with attainable goals. Thank you for the content my friend.

[@robwhitaker8534]

Sean, that last point is absolutely spot on and very rarely referenced or considered. Thanks... again!

[@J-W_Grimbeek]

9:00 i think this part can kinda be compared to a dropset. If your biceps fail on the last extremely strict rep, those looser more natural reps *do* relieve a bit of the stress on the biceps, but barely different from the way a dropset would do it, so it *is* still beneficial (afaik)

[@maxstarn3299]

7:29 sean videos will be serious and informative then have a clip like this thrown in

[@malek9643]

regarding the rest period thing, i feel ya but i just don't want to have to pay rent at the gym too...

[@adamqjsmith]

i find its easier to get a mind muscle connection on isolation exercises and use that was a tool to help me learn how cultivate mind muscle connection into compound lifts

[@lawschoolpro]

Man This guy has spot on info.

[@darietto75]

Excellent points! I think that rather than focus on muscles connection people should focus on correct form and technique, this way everything else comes together by itself.

[@thefirmamentalist9922]

This is going help me push harder effectively instead of being so mentally exhausted focusing on perfect form.

[@TheeSherminator]

This is The best trainingchannel out there, Great info!

[@davidkymdell452]

His face on those DBell curls, omg I'm dead!

[@danstafford5977]

Isolation exercise is a relative term it just means you're doing a single joint exercise... it Target's a muscle... synergistically other muscles come in to play for stabilizing.

[@dogish83]

I’ve been body sculpting for years, in fact I have a physique similar to yours just a few pounds lighter though. You give great advice as a sponge I soak in the good and squeeze out the bad information.BTW i’m doing all of this with MS heart disease with a pacemaker implant.

[@henryy4]

Ok cool

[@jd1408]

Great content as always, Sean! I really like how you point out basic fundamentals and applying current research. Cheers man!

[@MamaSwole]

*sean's bicep veins staring at me the entire video* 👁👄👁

[@ne0ven0m]

The more of your videos I watch, the more I learn about how logic can be twisted with some of dogmatic advice. My mind was blown when you compared some body English to a forced set. Always good to have a new perspective.

[@AdamScottfit]

i completely agree, some people end up doing conditioning with isolation exercises rather than stimulating growth.

[@Sean180morris]

Rest meaning, rest the muscles you were targeting during the lift. You really don't need to be standing doing absolutely nothing between sets.

[@henryburch7079]

Can you review the optimum nutrition supplements? Like the standard whey, pre-workout, and amino energy.

[@anormalhickgamer5782]

Yes please! Using gold standard whey, would really like to hear his opinion on those products

[@caleblawler7636]

The pre is pretty under dosed and I personally dislike the protein flavors and quality. Amino energy is tasty but I like Allmax's A-Cuts for the same lil bit of caffeine and their Allwhey Gold for protein. It has a higher % of protein and tastes better imo. I'm obv not Sean but I worked in sports nutrition for a year and tried a lot of different stuff lol

[@ministert5836]

Waste of time. Steroids are the answer buddy and cheaper

[@ariaz7071]

@@ministert5836 lmfao, have fun with small balls, hair loss, and anger issues

[@ariaz7071]

He's probably not going to review it since he has his own line of supplements

[@TexasRider41]

Sean.. Keeping it Real! Thanks.

[@tuleofitness5378]

i think you should put subtitles for people around world who have better access . thanks

[@dannyliftsweights2125]

curling to failure on heavy sets got me bigger biceps even with swining here and there .simple as

[@1Onsokumaru1]

I was watching this during work with headphones in and those bicep curls had me rolling, lmao

[@danstafford5977]

A quote from Lee Haney stimulate don't annihilate!

[@vishva.vanshanatha]

Very valuable information Sean. Appreciate it. ❤💪

[@larsekman1928]

Hi Sean, you seems to be legit, i got your free program for starters, been training for 2 months. I am 56 years old and one of the excercises was pull ups :). You lost me there. But thanks for the program.

[@CoachJoeyHernandez]

Thanks for education. I was one of those who felt I had to do all reps with perfect form.

[@Hosein_Persian]

The Best as always 💪🏻👍🏻

[@brianbergmusic5288]

Well said. The "loosening up on form" might be compared to a dropset in a much smaller margin.

[@j10ul27]

For 2nd point, it's okay I'm doing myoreps and I'm loving it. 😎

[@Avogadros_number]

Yeah Sean don’t know wtf he talking about sometimes but it’s annoying because he’s always convinced he’s right. It made sense him reading his posts from when he was a kid because he’s the same way now just dialed down a little

[@leecourtney1225]

I get the rest period argument and to be totally optimal you may be correct but for me anything more than 2 minutes resting in the gym with a busy life is a no no. This is why I will generally rest very little with warm up sets maybe 1 minute then throw in intensity techniques like rest/pause, drop sets to failure or even giant sets to get my arse working hard in the gym but still not exceeding an hour and a half. Again this is because I favour full body as it fits in with my lifestyle (not saying in any way it superior) and with 3-4 minute rests to get a good full body workout you could be looking at 2 or even 3 hours in the gym. May I add just a guy who is trying to build some decent muscle and leanness and have made some good gains in around a year.

[@maypalmer]

Intro is BOMB, Sean!! Love it!!

[@Alexor715]

#1 has originated from the thing that compounds are easier (and more suitable) to progressive overload since you can easily add just 5lbs to the total barbell load. Whereas at isolated stuff (mostly with dumbbells) next step is some 5lbs increase to ONE dumbbell, which is usually too big sudden leap.

[@harlock321]

Lolol the clip of you doing curls like a madman and than falling forward had me dying laughing bro 🤣 love your content mate! You give great no bullshit info while still having some humor mixed in! Much love man keep up the great work!

[@sascha9530]

Do your 5-12 reps per set and eat proper and you will get the gains you want. You don't need to make a science out of it unless you do it competetive in my opinion.

[@WolfStreak]

Well, by saying that, you are sort of belittling personal trainers and coaches who train the general population. But to address your point, you actually need to be increasingly more "scientific" and strategic once you are no longer a beginner. Once you're intermediate, you need to be smarter about your volume, fatigue management, exercise selection, etc bc you are pushing more weight. So yes, you i suppose you can ignore "science" as a newbie, but if you'll hit a wall and stop progressing if you don't at least pay some attention to your individual needs (and that's what a good program has: it's customized for the client) then you won't progress.

[@sascha9530]

@@WolfStreak youre 100%right

[@Sean_Nalewanyj]

I agree that most people way over complicate things but there’s still a lot more to it than “do 5-12 reps and eat proper” if you actually want to make serious progress.

[@yaboyjdubs]

Such amazing and underrated content as usual Sean. Love the vid

[@AntstrengthUnlimited]

I've been training with low rest times for years, and now when I try to rest longer I just get impatient, I feel like I trained my body to recover faster in between sets, and I have to consciously try to NOT go to failure every set, I just crave to hit that failure, so what I do is usually start with maybe 1 set before failure, then as the program progresses ill go to 0 RIR, then failure, then toward the end of my training cycle is when I will utilize advanced techniques to help me go past failure 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@giganticitalianbodybuildin1584]

For isolation be sure to use your active range of motion and from then progressively overload.

[@johngalt4124]

Great point!

[@giganticitalianbodybuildin1584]

@@johngalt4124 I got that from Ben Pakulski, check him out.

[@zackfozzy7506]

@@giganticitalianbodybuildin1584 good source. He's a legend

[@giganticitalianbodybuildin1584]

@@zackfozzy7506 One thing that I like about him is that he always takes the blame for what he wasn't able to achieve (good back or arms) and doesn't blame genetics even if he could.

[@johngalt4124]

@@giganticitalianbodybuildin1584 ok, I will. Thanks, Alessandro.

[@JackJones-ke8mo]

Oh yeah dude 😎 great post 📯 You are so inspiring, informative and clear. Thanks 👍

[@shreyasraman8137]

I agree that we should treat isolations the same as compounds in terms of going close to failure, however, i think it's harder to track progressive overload nonetheless. For example, i usually do lat pulldowns(aim for 10-15reps) after weighted pull-ups(aim for 3-5 reps) on my upper body days for extra lat volume. But if i manage to do better on my weighted pullup, my fatigue level esp on the lats goes up by a lot and in general the fatigue after weighted pull-ups are quite uneven. So, it becomes quite hard to actually consistently increase the weight or reps on the lat pulldowns that come after, even tho i go close to failure on them.

[@welennelew9866]

I think just stop doing isolation all together if you are just a beginner or novice What you really need are compound exercises

[@Mdchannel2002]

7:28 is GOATED acting. 👍🏼😁

[@lionroaring7021]

Agreed. Technical rigidity could kill the fun of working out.

[@muscleguyphilippines]

So excited everytime sean has a new vid, another high quality stuff💯👌

[@Avogadros_number]

His advice is trash. Refer to Team 3D Alpha

[@2011persol]

hey sean, it seems to me tht u have memberships in at least 5 diff gym's, cos i observed tht u use different dumbbells from clip to clip.....(i love those dumbbells)

[@prvtthd401]

There is a rational basis for the first point from a pure physics point of view. In a compound lift you distribute tension over a bigger amount of muscle fibers than isolated. This means that isolated movements are more likely to "snap" or "tear" under greater load. I would advice againse one rep maxing biceps curls for example. I think we all seen that video.

[@andrewpayne5093]

I have terrible mind muscle connection but I’m still progressing every workout either in reps or weights and progressive overload is what drives muscle growth.. MMC is total bullshit and an excuse for people to lift lighter weights to ‘feel the muscles’ and get a pump which means nothing when coming to growth… With proper form your muscles are still being worked and being under stress and keep progressing they will have a reason to grow..

[@linusk9181]

I've always been a bit confused by the idea that "in order to get results in the gym you have to apply progressive overload". For that to make sense as training advice, "progressive overload" has to refer to something I have direct control over and can consciously decide to do or not to do. For example, I can increase the weight on the bar without expecting to be able to do the same amount of reps as before, or I can decide to add more sets to my workout. Hopefully this would then lead indirectly to better results. But if "progressive overload" is used to mean things like doing the same number of reps but with a higher load or doing more reps with the same weight, then it's just synonymous to _getting_ results. Then it's like saying that "in order to get results in the gym you have to get results in the gym", which isn't very useful advice.

[@UltimateHibz]

I never seen so much text say so little. I'm actually more confused by the end.

[@linusk9181]

@@jazzwilliams7040 Thanks for the reply. Yes, I usually interpret it as saying that the weight, reps, etc. has to increase over time in order for me to see improvements. But my point is that that's basically the _definition_ of improvements, so it's not really saying much. When you say that I can consciously decide to do harder sets, I would say it depends on what "harder" means. As I said, I can increase the weight, for example, but I might not able to do as many reps as before. Then the set is harder in one respect (the weight), but easier in another respect (the number of reps). I can't simply "decide" to be able to do the same number of reps (although of course one's mindset can affect this to _some_ extent). Let's say I change my program from 5x5 @ 135 lbs to 5x5 @ 140 lbs. If I'm able to complete all 5 sets of 5 reps at 140 lbs, then wouldn't that mean that my previous program of 5x5 @ 135 lbs actually worked, because now I'm stronger? So that means I didn't need progressive overload to get improvements? Or would this actually be an _instance_ of progressive overload? This is what confuses me. I might be a bit too anal about this, but whenever I see a training program where I'm supposed to increase the weight/reps by so and so much every week, I'm wondering if the program is simply stipulating that I _should_ get stronger every week? It seems strange to have the results built in to the program in this way, when results are what you'd expect to _get out_ of the program. And then when I don't get stronger I feel discouraged because it feels like I failed the program, or I start to become sloppy with my form just to hit the number of reps that it says I should.

[@jazzwilliams7040]

That was pretty long lol; the long and short is 'progressive overload' applies to a wide range of factors but is most apparent in weight, reps, and sets. By attempting to do a harder (more overloading) workout by increasing any of these three you're using the principle of progressive overload to get stronger. It is a continuous process where you do have 'results' of being stronger, but you got stronger by increasing the challenge in a smart, progressive way. You wouldn't do 5x5 @135 one day and expect to do 5x5 @305 the next, but you can climb to that point