Podcast 19

Multi-Joint vs. Single-Joint Strength Movements – Is One Better Than the Other?

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SHOW NOTES

Discover the secret to amplifying your total-body fitness results while also spending less time at  the gym. Find out why multi-joint movements can have a serious positive impact on your strength and physical fitness while taking less time to perform, as well as which exercise is the most effective movement in The Exercise Coach program.

• The aim of The Exercise Coach is to design workouts that are total body focused, safe, and effective while also maximizing workout motivation and consistent adherence.
• All exercise can be broken down into two kinds of human movements. These are multi-joint movements, also known as compound movements, and single-joint movements, also known as isolation movements.
• Chin-ups are the classic example of a compound movement whereas a bicep curl is an isolation movement. No matter how you move, it will always fall into one of those two categories.
• The Exercise Coach prioritizes compound movements due to their effectiveness and efficiency. They give you more of the results you want from an exercise program in the shortest amount of time possible.
• Researchers studied the effects of compound movements and found significant differences when compared to isolation movements because of their hormonal effects on the body.
• The leg press is perhaps the most important exercise within The Exercise Coach fitness program because of the way it delivers a total-body systemic effect.
• The Exercise Coach allows you to maximize results and minimize time, while providing safe and comfortable exercises to perform, which is why so many clients are able to stick to the program for the long term.
• Adding in compound movements to your exercise program releases a hormonal effect that will amplify the results you are looking for in other areas of the body.

We’re trying to address the things that get in people’s way, like they’re busy and they don’t want to get hurt. And so total body effectiveness and workouts that are safe and really time efficient. This is our goal.

Welcome to the Strength Changes Everything podcast. Thanks for joining us today. I’m exercise coach franchisee, Amy Hudson, here with my co -host, Brian Sagan, co -founder and CEO of The Exercise Coach. Did you know that when it comes to resistance strength training, there are multiple types of movements we can perform that lead to different outcomes in our physical fitness? Today, we’re going to talk about multi -joint versus single joint strength movements. And is one better than the other?

So hello, Brian, how are you?

I’m doing well, Amy.

Awesome.

We’re going to talk about these single joint movements versus multi joint movements. So what are your thoughts in the difference between these two movements and how do we choose what types of movements to perform when we work out in our exercise coach studios?

First of all, I guess I would just want to frame out what our aim is, and that is to design workouts that are total body workouts that are as safe and as efficient as possible. And we want to design them in a manner that maximizes workout motivation, and then also longer term consistent adherence. So in the design of our workouts, down to what movements are we performing, these are really the aims that we have in mind. And then from there, I would say, like you have said, there are really only two kinds of movements. Sometimes I think it can be confusing for people. and they look and they see that in this magazine there’s

different exercises performed in a certain workout. The reality is there’s two kinds of human movements and you just named them. And I’m going to give some other synonyms. So you called them multi joint and single joint movements. We like to call multi joint movements, compound movements. That’s another name for them.

Another name for single joint movements would be. a isolation movement or a rotary movement, as opposed to a linear movement, which would be the compound or multi -joint movement. So maybe an example, what are these movements? So if you think about it this way, just if you let your arms just kind of hang at your side and then you bend your elbow, you use your bicep, right? And you just bend your elbow. That is a simple single joint movement.

It’s kind of like doing a bicep curl. That’s what’s known as an isolation movement for the biceps. Now, if instead we looked at like a chin up movement, you’re going to bend your elbow and you’re going to use your bicep, but you’re not going to do so in an isolated fashion or a simple fashion. That’s a compound movement. Your upper arm is moving around your shoulder joint and you’re using your back muscles in addition to your bicep to lift you up to that chin up bar. That’s a compound movement.

So hopefully that helps. That makes sense in terms of what the movements are. Any movement that you choose is really going to be one of these types of movements, either compound or simple.

To me, that totally makes sense, Brian. So in the bicep curl example, the single joint that’s really moving is the elbow. And really the main muscle being activated there is the bicep. But contrasting to your chin up example, we have multiple muscle groups activating at the same time and multiple joints moving. Would that be a fair way to sum that up?

That’s exactly it.

You bet.

Perfect.

So then would one be considered better than the other as far as physical fitness outcomes?

Great question. We do definitely prioritize one over the other, I would say. And we prioritize compound movements at the exercise coach for their effectiveness. And just to demonstrate how powerfully effective compound movements are, and really, I think how necessary they are in a workout, I’m going to share a study. Now, again, when I say necessary in a workout, I mean, based on our aims. again, thinking about how we want to approach things.

We’re trying to address the things that get in people’s way, like they’re busy and they don’t want to get hurt. And so total body effectiveness and workouts that are safe and really time efficient. This is our goal. And then also, again, workout motivation and consistent adherence. And that comes back again to the efficiency of the workout. Can we get all the results we want in the least amount of time possible?

And when we look at research, I believe that we see that compound movements are so powerful that they really should be prioritized if our aims are those aims that we’ve stated. And so I’m going to share a little bit from a study. This was in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. This study is called the effect of short -term strength training on human skeletal muscle. The importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels. So what these researchers did is they looked at young, untrained individuals, they put them

into a couple groups. In one group, they performed isolation arm exercise on one arm and then they looked at the other arm as well as a control group. They didn’t exercise that one and they studied how much stronger it got not exercising. And in the other group, they did the single arm exercise and they added leg training. and then of course also had that arm that they didn’t exercise as a control group. Now what’s fascinating is here’s the results.

In the group where they added the leg training, the exercised arm got stronger by 37 % and the non -exercised arm got stronger by 10 % and then in the group that didn’t add the leg training, the exercised arm got stronger by 9 % So not nearly as much of an increase in strength as the group that added the leg training and then the non exercised arm only got stronger by 2%. So there was just a significant difference in terms of the results that occurred to the arm muscle. when significant lower body training was added and what this study is really highlighting is again the hormonal effects and the systemic adaptations that take place when we perform movements that involve large amounts of muscle at one time and so This is definitely one of the reasons why we prioritize compound movements, because they involve a lot of muscle mass and have a powerful total body systemic effect.

That is really fascinating. And actually we’ve mentioned in the past that leg press exercise. I know I’ve heard you say, Brian, that the leg press, which is a compound movement. exerbotics machine at the exercise coach. Is that why I’ve heard you say then that the leg press is the most important exercise we do at the exercise coach studios?

Exactly. It just involves the most muscle mass of any movement that we do at the exercise coach and therefore has the greatest impact on one’s individual physiology overall. And as we saw in this study, you know, it highlights that the results that we want from exercise are largely driven by the total body hormonal impact of the workout that we’re doing.

Yes.

So when it comes to exercise, that compound movement really does seem like the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to people sticking with an exercise program, being confident, seeing continued progress and results and getting stronger measurably. These compound movements really do lead to a lot of motivation and a lot of success for our clients. And I know we have clients. in our studios in Minnesota. And I know in your studios, Brian, in Illinois and all over the country who have succeeded with sticking with this exercise program three years, five years, 15 years, 20 years, and clients all the time impress themselves and actually wow themselves with how long they’ve been able to stick with it. And we love to see that.

Exactly, yes.

The approach just allows us to maximize results, minimize time, perform movements that are safe and comfortable for people to perform, and they just see continued progress as they stick to it.

And Brian, the other thing I think of sometimes is we have clients that we work with that want to work on specific areas of the body, and they may ask their coach, can you design an exercise program for me, a routine for me that really focuses on my arms, let’s say. And having this knowledge really makes the case for, yes, as that coach they’re going to understand that the client wants to work on their arms, but they’re still going to include multiple compound movements in that client’s workout, including most likely that concentrated cardio at the end of the workout, knowing that the whole exercise together, including those other muscle groups, is going to release that hormonal effect that will really amplify the results that that client gets in that upper body in their arms that they’re going for. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, Amy, I would agree. That’s an amazing insight.

Well, thanks, Brian, for breaking this down for us today. It really helps. If you are interested in engaging in an exercise program that really delivers the best bang for your buck when it comes to your physical fitness. We really do encourage you to check out an Exercise Coach location near you to experience the powerful approach that we have to deliver the maximum results in the minimum amount of time. Visit exercisecoach . com and register for two free sessions at a studio near you.

And we look forward to introducing you to our program and meeting with you. Have a great rest of your day. And remember, strength changes everything.