Adding Arm Isolation Exercises Didn't Make Women Stronger
Influence of Adding Single-Joint Exercise to a Multijoint Resistance Training Program in Untrained Young Women.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two groups of women did different arm workouts for 8 weeks. One group did only big compound moves, the other added isolated arm exercises. Both got stronger and their arms looked a bit more toned, but the extra arm exercises didn't help them lift more weight.
Surprising Findings
Adding single-joint exercises led to no additional improvement in muscle strength despite increased training volume.
Common fitness advice says isolation exercises ‘finish off’ muscles and boost gains — but here, even with extra work, strength didn’t improve beyond compound lifts alone.
Practical Takeaways
If you're new to lifting, focus on compound movements like squats, presses, and rows — you don't need to add arm curls to get stronger.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two groups of women did different arm workouts for 8 weeks. One group did only big compound moves, the other added isolated arm exercises. Both got stronger and their arms looked a bit more toned, but the extra arm exercises didn't help them lift more weight.
Surprising Findings
Adding single-joint exercises led to no additional improvement in muscle strength despite increased training volume.
Common fitness advice says isolation exercises ‘finish off’ muscles and boost gains — but here, even with extra work, strength didn’t improve beyond compound lifts alone.
Practical Takeaways
If you're new to lifting, focus on compound movements like squats, presses, and rows — you don't need to add arm curls to get stronger.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2020
Authors
Matheus Barbalho, P. Gentil, Rodolfo Raiol, J. Fisher, J. Steele, V. Coswig
Related Content
Claims (4)
Muscles that cross two joints (biarticular muscles) exhibit preferential hypertrophy with isolation exercises that target a single joint action, due to mechanical disadvantage during multi-joint movements.
If you're new to lifting, doing big lifts like presses and squats is just as good for getting stronger as doing those plus extra isolated arm exercises.
Doing extra arm exercises along with big compound lifts like squats and presses makes arms a little bigger, but doesn’t make you stronger than doing just the big lifts alone.
Whether you do just compound lifts or add arm isolation moves, both ways help reduce arm fat a little bit — and neither is better than the other.