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Bowflex Exercises - “Which Exercises are the Most Effective?”
With so many exercise choices it can be difficult deciding which ones to use. To help, here are some guidelines .
Isolation Movements
Isolation movements are exercises that stress your body across a single joint. Examples would be the chest fly, leg extension, and shoulder raise. Isolation movements are less effective than compound exercises because they use less of your body.
For example- If you would do a chest fly, you would primarily be exercising the pectoral muscles, with only minor help from the shoulders.
In contrast, if you did a bench press to exercise your chest you would not only be exercising your pectoral muscles, but your shoulders and triceps as well.
Isolation exercises can be beneficial if you are interested in shaping a certain muscle group. However, for overall fitness, weight loss, or muscle toning, having a majority of your Bowflex exercises as compound movements is a wise choice.
Bowflex Exercises - Compound Movements
Compound exercises stress your body across multiple joints at once. Examples would be the squat, back row, and bench press.
Example of a workout using compound exercises
Chest- bench press, incline press.
Back- back rows, pull downs.
Thighs- squats, leg press.
Shoulders- shoulder press, upright row.
Calves- standing calf raises.
Biceps- biceps curls.
Triceps- triceps extensions.
Abs- crunches.
Versus a workout using isolation exercises
Chest- chest fly, pull overs.
Back- pull overs, back fly.
Thighs- leg extensions, leg curls.
Shoulders- front raises, side lateral raises.
Calves- standing calf raises.
Biceps- biceps curls.
Triceps- triceps extension, kickbacks.
Abs- crunches.
As you can see above, compound movements work for most muscle
groups, but for calves, biceps, triceps, and Abs, isolation movements are a good choice.
The principle of compound and isolation exercises is simple, but yet is profound. By choosing to do a majority of your Bowflex exercises as compound movements you can enhance the overall effectiveness of your workouts while using less time.