Isolation exercise

How it is used

Used in fitness programming to add focused muscle work, often after compound lifts. Common with biceps curls, leg extensions, and lateral raises.

Example sentences

1. He added an isolation exercise for his calves at the end of leg day because squats were not enough for that area.

   Here the term highlights a movement chosen to focus on one area that was not getting enough direct work.

2. In the rehab session, the physio preferred an isolation exercise for the hamstring before returning the player to full drills.

   In this example, it means a controlled single-muscle movement used before more demanding, whole-body training tasks.

Common collocations

• add an isolation exercise
• upper-body isolation exercise
• isolation exercise for biceps
• single-joint isolation exercise

Related terms

• strength trainingExercise in which muscles work against resistance, such as weights, machines, bands or body weight, in order to become stronger.
• repShort for repetition: one complete performance of an exercise, such as lifting and lowering a weight once or doing one push-up.

More terms: Exercises & Technique

• squat
• push-up
• stretch
• deadlift
• bench press
• plank
• lunge
• pull-up
• form
• bodyweight exercise
• compound exercise
• eccentric phase