Q: The consensus has always been to do heavy compound exercises, like squats and rows, for mass. Do you not believe that? Your focus seems to be on isolation exercises. Don’t you think you would be bigger going heavy on the big exercises?
A: Even if I did think that heavy compound exercises built more mass, which I don’t, I would not emphasize them at this point. I’m 64 years old…
It’s not worth it from a cost-benefit perspective. The possibility of injury with compound exercises is large. And I think you get the same or better target-muscle mass stimulation with isolation…
I still do compound moves, but in most cases I do the compound AFTER the ideal exercises, which are usually isolation. Back is a good example…
You mentioned rows, a big compound exercise for back. I will train scapulae retractions first, which is more isolated…
I’ll usually end back work with dumbbell incline under-grip rows, which train both the lats and the mid-back.
It’s like pre-exhaustion—isolation before compound. As 8-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney said when talking about leg training…
If you can get your leg to think you’re using 8 million pounds and you’re only using 500 or 300, that’s great. Because the leg doesn’t recognize how much weigh you’re using; it only recognizes the feel. And if it feels heavy, then the response is going to be growth. So with pre-exhaust, like leg extensions before squats, guess what: You don’t have to use 8 million pounds. It saves your knees, your hips and your back. So you fool your legs into thinking you’re using 400 pounds, but you’re only using 200. So I still use that same training principle. I have no knee problem, no joint pain, none of that. And I still have nice development to my legs.
Muscles don’t know poundage, only effort. The goal is to get the target muscle to engage maximally and optimally without the danger of injury.
By the way, Lee Haney is still training hard and looking great in his 60s. And as he said, he has zero pain or injuries from his training.
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Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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