Isolating muscle groups

Isolating muscle groups is one of the most important things when weight training.  As a personal trainer I instruct my clients on the best ways to isolate muscle groups so they can really work parts of that muscle they have never felt worked before.  Many bodybuilders for years never isolated muscle groups correctly and 99% of people in gyms think they are isolating muscle groups but are nowhere near the isolation I am talking about.  Below are examples of how to isolate different muscle groups through different isolation exercises.

Tricep over head extension

Standing with one arm raised in the air vertically holding a dumbell, lower the weight down behind your head keeping the top half of your arm vertical, push up to full extension at the top.  To isolate this muscle group in the best way get your personal trainer or spotter to push directly on your top half of your arm keeping it vertical.  Make sure you stand up straight and don’t swing the body to lift the weight.

Bicep curls

Stand holding a barbell hip width apart, perform a bicep curl from resting position to bring the bar 6 inches from your chest and then lower to resting position.  To isolate the bicep the best always after each rep return to resting position and at the top clench the bicep as if you were posing your bicep in front of a friend.  By returning to a relaxed position after each rep the arm has to go through the full contraction, if you keep it tensed you are only performing part of the rep.  Its the same as doing pull ups, it easy to come half way down and pull yourself back up but coming to the relaxed position at the bottom of the rep and pull yourself back up, much harder.