The body is an incredibly complex, finely tuned machine which consists of muscles working in unison to produce movement. Our muscles are governed by our intricate nervous system of trillions of nerves which communicate with our brain to create movement. If “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, and is applicable to the human body (which it is), then it should prompt us to look at whole movement instead of looking at a specific body part.
This means we should also train movements instead of targeting specific muscle groups. You will see many people at the gym on the leg extension machine trying to bulk up their quads or doing heavy bicep curls to make their biceps pop which is not wrong, but we cannot assume that exercising a muscle or group of muscles in isolation is going to make our movement better. You may have made that particular muscle stronger, but it is unlikely to be integrated into your movement pattern.
Movement patterns are multi-joint movements involved in activities such as the lunge, squat, push, pull etc. which we all engage in every day life in a multitude of different ways, even without realising it. The basis of improving these patterns is for our bodies to express higher levels of neuromuscular control while improving our physical condition whether it be in sports or in our occupations. This coordination and control is unachievable through isolated stretching and strengthening which currently dominate a lot of our exercise routines and rehabilitation.
Another problem with using isolation exercises to enhance a movement pattern is that we often make assumptions. For example, people may assumed they can’t do a push up because they do not have the upper body strength i.e. their triceps are too “weak” and they may start doing a lot of upper body, tricep workouts. However, in addition to needing the upper body strength to do one, you also need: adequate core stability, scapula stabilisation and hip and thoracic spine mobility. If you are lacking any of these factors, you are unlikely to be able to do a clean push up. No amount of tricep extensions is going to help if your core can’t stabilise under extension stress.
To further understand the concept that the brain only recognises patterns of movement, imagine you are listening to an orchestra being led by a conductor. Initially it sounds very melodic and suddenly you hear an unpleasant set of notes. Is it likely that the instruments are out of tune or a musician played the wrong note? More likely the musicians are playing beautifully, individually, and it is the conductor who is to blame. This is because it is their role to interpret the score of the music and convey it to the musicians so they can produce a unified vision of the music to the audience. If the conductor is like our Nervous System, and the musicians are like our muscles then even if muscles are strong individually, if the signals from our brain to our muscles aren’t coordinating well there is likely to be an output of poor, compensated movement.
Take Glute bridges as another example, a popular exercise for building glutes strength. Many claim it “activates your glutes” which leads to the belief that this exercise will ensure your glutes will be engaged in any activity you pursue. This is not true however, because the body works in patterns and in order for an exercise to carry over to a specific activity, you need to train the pattern functionally. An exercise is considered functional by what movement it produces, not by what it looks like. Therefore train the body functionally, not the muscles, and you will get better results in overall movement. If you wanted to enhance hip extension in your running, for example, a single leg single arm deadlift or single leg stance with core engagement would reap better results in running as it is a single leg movement requiring sufficient mobility and stability. Although glute bridges are a valuable exercise for beginning to train hip extension, it is important to build upon the pattern through functional exercises until it is incorporated into your every day movements.
Training muscles in isolation definitely has a place in our exercise routines as long as you know what it does and does not achieve. Most of us do want to move better and more safely so it is crucial to prioritise improving our movement patterns so we can move safely in day-to-day life, sports and the gym.