When you do exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once (like rowing), you get better at other multi-joint movements. When you do exercises that only work one joint (like bicep curls), you mainly get better at single-joint movements.

37

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

37

Community contributions welcome

37

Single-Joint Exercise Results in Higher Hypertrophy of Elbow Flexors Than Multijoint Exercise

Cohort Study

Human

2021 Oct 1

The study shows that when people did dumbbell rows (multi-joint), they got stronger at doing dumbbell rows. When they did bicep curls (single-joint), they got stronger at doing bicep curls. This proves the claim is correct - strength gains are specific to the exercise you perform.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

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Source Study

Single-Joint Exercise Results in Higher Hypertrophy of Elbow Flexors Than Multijoint Exercise

Score: 37

DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003234

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When you train one specific exercise, you get stronger mainly at that exact exercise - doing bicep curls doesn't make you much better at doing dumbbell rows, and vice versa.

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When untrained adults want bigger biceps, doing simple curl exercises works better than doing rows that use multiple muscles at once.

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