Jump Higher With Isolation Movements. Isolation vs Kinetic Chain

If you are looking for exercises to jump higher you will soon feel overwhelmed.  There are literally hundreds of exercises to choose from, and only a limited amount of training time and energy.   Choosing the most effective exercises to fit into your time is called “training economy.”  You just can’t do it all.  You have to be smart, and sometimes you even have to sacrifice for the greater training benefit.  Here we will discuss when and if you should ever use isolation movements.

The kinetic chain refers to all the muscles that are involved in coordinating a specific movement, like a vertical jump.  Kinetic chain exercises attempt to train and overload the muscle-tendon complex and nervous system while activating the system in the most sports specific manner possible.  It’s not hard to realize that exercises focusing on the kinetic chain have great carry over to the sport specific movement.  Kinetic chain movements are also referred to as “compound” movements in many cases.

Examples of kinetic chain exercises would be squat jumps, traveling lunges, and really any exercises that “looks” like the movement it trains and involves overload.  Heck I’d say we can even call practicing the movement itself the very epitome of sport specific kinetic chain movements.

Some trainers are very purists about the specificity of a training movement.  They believe that ANYTHING that is not activating the entire kinetic chain for the desired movements, is basically worthless, leads to injury, and just all-around inferior.  This would mean, that isolation movements would be omitted from all training regimes.

However, I believe isolation movements do have a place in a training program.  Here is why…

An “isolation” exercise is an exercise that attempts to isolate one muscle group in order to overload and strengthen that muscle.

This can be valuable for several reasons.

1. You are only as strong (or explosive) as your weakest link.  Strengthening your weakest link, in isolation will strengthen the entire chain.

Compound movements rely on multiple muscle groups to create the movement, and thus the movement can only be as strong as the “weakest link” or weakest muscle group.

To give a simple example.  The bench press relies mainly on the delts, pectorals, and triceps.  If your pecs could handle 300 pounds, but your triceps can only handle 250, guess how much you are going to bench?  250 pounds, as dictated by your weak point.

In this example your weak point (triceps) would benefit from additional isolation.  Proper isolation of the triceps WILL allow it to perform better during the compound movement.

Of course if you only train your triceps and neglect the other muscles in the movement chain, you might create a muscle imbalance, but keep in mind that you ALREADY have a muscle imbalance.

2. Isolating a muscle allows you to apply greater muscle tension.

It’s hard to place maximal tensions on a muscle during a complex compound movement.  Even if you have mastered the form.

I know few lifters who can squat with the proper form to REALLY activate the glutes.  I’m talkin’ blast the glutes.  Even those lifters would appreciate amazing activation from an isolation movement such as the reverse hyper extension.

Glute isolation via the reverse hyperextension.  Hard to mess this up.

This movement allows you to really focus in on the glutes and maximally “turn on” an enormous amount of muscle fiber AND if you train it in cooperation with sports specific movements you will get carryover from the strength!

3. Rehabilitation and muscle activation.

Isolation movements are often the best choice for rehabilitation of a very specific muscle group.  Sometimes you simply need to pinpoint the injury during a rehabilitation phase to properly strengthen and activate the muscle before placing it in part of a movement which might put premature stress on the muscle.

Glutes are another great example of a muscle people don’t know how to use.  Ask your average Joe to squat, and you will see him squat with his knees waaaaaaaay over his toes, and rely almost soley on his quads.  Ask him to sit back on his heels, and he’ll probably fall over.

Glute bridges and variation can allow trainees to activate a muscle group to create a desired movement (hop extension) without the complexity or stress of a compound movement such as a squat.

When I came to India I noticed all the weight lifters, and track and field athletes had HUGE quads.  As soon as I watched them squat it was no surprise that it was a completely quad dominant movement.  First line of business was bridges, and box squats; 2 great glute activation and training exercises.  I’m about to rant about box squats being improperly executed in 99% of all the vides I have ever seen, but… another post maybe.

A few final words on isolation training.

Choose wisely

Isolation training should not be the primary function of your training.  It should compliment your training, and serve as an “accessory” to your superior compound and kinetic chain movements.

Choose lifts that target your weaknesses, and vary your exercises and choice.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS train the movement in cooperation with any isolation movement

You’re not a bodybuilder so remember your reason for isolation muscle groups; to make the entire chain more explosive.  You always need to include the exact movement in your training.  If you do more isolation work then the actual movement your coordination may suffer, and performance may drop.

So although you will hear on forums everywhere that anything other than a compound or kinetic chain movement makes you a loser, you can rest assured that proper inclusion of isolation movements can aid in creating a stronger kinetic chain and more explosive and injury resistant athlete.