Everything Is Connected: Or One More Reason So Many Bodybuilders Are Idiots

by Jeremy Markum

Got your attention? Good. I can get away with making fun of our posing, flexing, and stiff-strutting brethren because I USED TO consider myself a bodybuilder. And I got no problem laughing at myself. It's healthy. But there's something I see just about every bodybuilder doing wrong that's not healthy. And it's not funny. In fact, it can be down right harmful...

Isolation Exercises

The body just wasn't designed to work that way people! Everything in the body is "connected" to everything else in the body.

Case in point: Last week this highschool football player sees me doing some obviously perplexing exercise he'd never seen anyone do before (I think it was 1-leg / 1-arm squat presses), and asks: "what muscle does that work?"

I catch my breath and ask: "What position do you play?" He says, "Defensive end." I say, "You know how when a running-back gets the pitch on a sweep, and it's your job to knock his freakin' head off before he rounds the corner and goes up the sideline for a touchdown?"

"Yeah," he says. "What muscle do you use when you tackle him?" I ask.

The kid just kinda stares at me for a second, caught in some sort of a do-loop.

I tell him, "this exercise works the same muscle."

One main problem with isolation exercises is that there are far more muscles involved in even the simplest real world movement than you could realalistically target in your allotted hour of workout time. Which means you'll be neglecting certain muscle groups while you focus on others (usually those big pretty ones you can see easily in the mirror). Which means you'll be developing muscle imbalances. Which means, ultimately, you WILL get injured. It may take awhile--arthritis takes years to form after all--but it'll happen. Bank on it.

Something else to consider: Do you really want to develop a muscle that's only good at flexing? I don't know about you, but I'd rather develop speed, power, explosiveness, flexibility, agility, balance, endurance, AND SIZE in the muscles I train. And it would be really nice to help move a couch, or play some sand volleyball, or go mountain biking without throwing your back out or tearing a rotator cuff, wouldn't it? Most bodybuilders I know can barely wipe their ass the day after a workout (true story). When you ask them to play a game of flag football, they get this worried look in their eye because they know everyone on the field will suddenly know just how useless their extra muscle is. They'll be limping off the field in about two plays with a pulled groin or hamstring.

It doesn't have to be this way. You can still develop impressive levels of muscle mass without isolation exercises. And really, you don't even have to eliminate isolation exercises altogether--they should just be limited to no more than 10% of your total training.

Instead, do multi-joint, compound exercises that involve as many muscle groups as possible from head to toe. "Target" different areas of the body by simply changing exercises according to the angle and leverage on particular limbs and the torso. Choose exercises that imitate REAL LIFE movements. NOT activities that require the "Hammer Strength Iso-Lateral Pinky Finger Bicep Isolation Machine" to perform, or any of its cousins.

And be creative. Stop being so dependent on Arnold's Encyclopeodia for your exercise regimen. Break the mold. Need ideas? Take a trip to the zoo and go watch the monkeys. Within five minutes you'll get ideas for all sorts of exercises you can do that will work your entire body from head to tail--uh, I mean "toe."

It's not just "functional strength" I'm talking about either (although that's as good a reason as any)--it's just plain more efficient to structure your workouts around full-body movements. You don't have to train so long, and you can pretty much skip out on most of your cardio sessions, because this kind of training makes you breathe HARD.

I'll leave you with three exercises to try that fit the approach I'm advocating. Try these for a week and stay the heck away from bicep curls, tricep extensions, dumbbell flies, and leg extensions for awhile. BONUS: you don't even need a gym for these!

1) Jumping Lunges: Start on 1 knee, both legs bent at about a 90-degree angle, jump straight up and land in the opposite stance. Repeat and try not to hesitate between jumps.

2) Rock carrying: Go out in your yard. Find the biggest rock you can and pick it up. Hold it close to your stomach and walk laps around your yard until you can't walk any more. Repeat in the opposite direction. If you don't have a rock, try your spouse, or dog, or a couple logs. For even more difficulty, first press the rock over your head. Hold it there while you do laps.

3) Pullup and crunch: Find a suitable tree limb that can you can reach, hold on to, and that will support your weight (or if you must, use a chin-up bar at the gym). Do a standard palms-out pullup. When you get back to the bottom position, however, hoist your feet up over the bar, grab the bar with the backs of your knees, and then let go with your hands so that you hang upside down. Now crunch yourself up to the top. At the top, hold the crunch and grab the bar again with your hands, and return your feet to the starting position of the pullup. Repeat as many times as you can.

Be Profoundly Fit,
~Jeremy Markum

"The Fitness Sage"

Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week by Doug McGuff and John Little

Tags: arthritis balance cardio exercise flexibility foot health muscle rowing running squat strength tea training