Exercises to Isolate Muscles

An isolation exercise is one that mainly works a single joint at a time. A common example of this is the good ol' biceps curl. Your goal is to bend only your elbows during this exercise, thus classifying it as an isolation exercise. There are plenty of these types of movements you can take advantage of to work particular muscles of your body that you wish to strengthen and build up. Do these exercises at the end of your workouts, after you do the multi-joint exercises, which require more effort than their isolation counterparts.

  1. Chest and Shoulders

    • Bench presses are not the only exercises for your chest. In fact, they are a multi-joint exercise, so they heavily work other muscles as well. So, if you want to emphasize the work done by your chest, opt for chest flyes. Start by standing in between a cable-pulley system holding a cable handle at shoulder height with your arms straight. Then, bring your arms across your chest in a hugging motion. If you want to isolate your shoulders rather than your chest, do cable side raises. Stay in between the two cable pulleys but set each side to the lowest position. Hold the left handle with the right hand and the right handle with the left hand. Stand upright with your hands down and then raise your arms out to your sides until they are close to parallel. Then lower your arms back down.

    Back and Arms

    • Now onto your back and arms, two other muscle regions of your torso. For your back, set the cable pulleys to the highest position, but this time, hold each handle in a non-opposite grip, or more simply, a regular grip. Stand in between the two cable pulleys to begin and lower your arms towards your sides. Hold for a second and then raise your arms back up to the beginning position. To isolate your arm muscles, do biceps curls and triceps pushdowns. For biceps curls, hold a single cable handle from a low cable pulley, stand upright and start with your arms straight. Then, bend your elbows as much as possible to contract your biceps. For triceps pushdowns, do the opposite movement. Hold a single cable handle from a high cable pulley and start with your arms bent close to 90 degrees. Then, extend your elbows until your arms are fully straightened to contract your triceps.

    Abs

    • Your abs are probably the easiest muscle to train. To isolate the main ab muscle, called your rectus abdominis, lie face-up on the ground with your knees bent and then raise only your upper back off the ground by rounding your upper spine. The key here is to keep your lower back on the ground to maintain the work on your rectus abdominis.

    Legs

    • Similar to your biceps and triceps, your upper-leg muscles -- quadriceps and hamstrings -- work in direct opposition. To work your quadriceps, do leg extensions. Sit on the end of a bench with your knees bent and a dumbbell between your feet. Straighten your legs fully by extending your knees. To work the other main leg muscle, your hamstrings, lie face-down on the flat bench, again with a dumbbell between your legs. Start this movement with your legs straight and keep your lower legs hanging off the bench. Now bring the dumbbell towards your buttocks by bending your knees as much as possible and then lower your lower legs back down.