What is the necessity for isolation exercises?

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http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mike-oh ... ogram.html

I feel as if this routine has heavy enough "3 major lifts" so that your supporting muscles get hit pretty hard as well.

Why not skip "arms" (which is useless as tris and bi's require different directions of movement) and incorporate shoulders into chest or, more sparingly of energy, back day...make room for hitting the major stuff more than...once a week only? Really? Perhaps 1x a week is common though. IDK

That is a very specific bulking program. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are a veteran bodybuilder. You should get a minimum of 48 hours between exercising the same muscle group, but this is a little much unless you going to do competitive body building.

Also you spend more energy working your back than your chest. Your back includes more and larger muscle groups.

This all depends on your goals and how many times you plan on exercising per week.

I'm not a veteran...I've been lifting since Feb/Marc 2012 @160lb 115 Bench 80lb squat lol and 100lb deadlift

August 2012 140lb 140 bench 200~ squat 215 DL -just turning 16

March 2013- 140lb 170 bench 230 squat 240 DL- 16.5 years

kicked out of gym till may, did occasional maintenance at other areas till August, when i got a new membership...no time though so I only still did maintenance...till like 3 months ago.


Right now at 150lb I can do like 215 DL (WTF?) 174 bench 205 squat (apparently, as i used a calculator)

So it's more like I went down I guess...but I'm not a total noob.


Also for the most part I'm going for neuromuscular connection rather than getting big...but I like this routine with both goals.

While you shouldn't implement countless obscure isolation exercises in your program, they have their place nevertheless. Isolation exercises should be used as a supplement for base lifts. Let's say you want to get better at pull-ups and the last 4 inches before you get your chin above the bar is your weak spot. In this case, biceps curls are an excellent tool.

Implementing a few isolation exercises in your program, will make you get results quicker.

I'd agree with Kurgan, in that isolations help for your compounds if you can pinpoint a specific weakness in your compounds. For example, bicep curls will help if you have trouble lowering the bar under control in a bench press. Good mornings (not quite as isolation) will help keep your back from rounding out in squats and bring your deadlift up a bit. So it's more just finding the exercise to help your purpose.

For aesthetic purposes, I have less ideas, but everyone I know that does bodybuilding usually does a shitton of isolation exercises, and they don't weaken you or anything. For example, the strongest person I know in the overhead press in real life is actually a guy who trained mostly for bodybuilding, and presses 275 at 210 or 215. He'd do barbell standing overhead presses, then a bunch of dumbbell Arnold presses, then do a "finisher" of like a combined hundred or more reps of side and front raises with a 10lb plate. That's obviously quite a bit different of a training style than the "compounds4lyfe" type people say to do, but it works for him.

Isolation exercises are easier than compound movements. Consequently, lots of beginning lifters gravitate towards isolation movements when they would be better served by the more difficult but ultimately more rewarding compound lifts.