Training guide
Compound exercises, such as squats, presses, rows and pull-ups, move two or more joints and train several muscles at once. Isolation exercises, such as curls, leg extensions and lateral raises, move one joint and aim at one muscle group. Most good programmes use both: compound lifts as the base, with a few isolation moves added.
Which kind builds more muscle is less settled than many articles suggest: the trials are small and point different ways. What's clearer is that they train different muscles. After 12 weeks, leg presses grew the rectus femoris, the front-thigh muscle that also lifts your thigh at the hip, by about 1%, against 13% for leg extensions, while only the leg press grew the glutes.
This guide covers what each kind does, what the research shows, which muscles compound lifts miss, which to do first and how to count your sets, with lists of both kinds and a 3D demo of every move.
Compound (multi-joint) exercises move two or more joints, so several muscle groups share the work: a squat bends the hips, knees and ankles. Isolation (single-joint) exercises move one joint: a curl bends only the elbow. Both come as free-weight, machine, cable and bodyweight versions.
Pooled trials found about the same whole-muscle growth either way, but most were small studies of the arms. One trial found curls grew the biceps twice as much as rows; another found pulldowns matched curls. The 2026 overview of reviews by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) couldn't say either way.
A squat or leg press, an upper-body push and an upper-body pull train most of the major muscles. In two small trials, adding curls and triceps work to presses and pulldowns added no measurable arm size or strength over 8 to 10 weeks.
Leg presses barely grew the rectus femoris, and 10 weeks of squats didn't grow it or the hamstrings at all. Leg extensions and leg curls fill those gaps: seated leg curls grew the hamstrings by 14% in 12 weeks.
Strength rose most in whichever exercises came first in a session, while muscle growth was the same in either order. For most people that means compound lifts first and isolation moves last.
The largest analysis of training dose found that counting sets that work a muscle only indirectly, such as rows for the biceps, as half a set predicted results best. Add isolation sets where a muscle falls short of your weekly target.
Source 13
Two or more joints move and several muscle groups work together, which lets you lift heavier weights: squats, deadlifts, lunges, presses, rows, pull-ups and dips. Machines can be compound too, such as the leg press, chest press and lat pulldown.
Source 1
One joint moves, aiming the work at the muscles that move it: biceps curls (elbow), leg extensions and leg curls (knee), lateral raises (shoulder) and calf raises (ankle). Free weights can be isolation too, such as a dumbbell curl.
Source 1
The hip thrust mainly straightens the hip, the Nordic curl mainly bends the knee, and the straight-arm pulldown mainly moves the shoulder. Count them by the joint that does most of the work (our editorial reading).
A compound set is a superset term: two exercises for the same muscle done back to back. Our supersets guide covers it; this page is about the exercises themselves.
A 2023 meta-analysis pooled 7 randomised studies (10 comparisons) of the arm and leg muscles. Whole-muscle growth was about the same with single-joint or multi-joint training; adding isolation moves to compound lifts made no difference on average, and neither did matching the number of sets. Its authors suggest isolation moves may help grow particular parts of a muscle, an idea they call understudied.
We could read only its abstract, so we couldn't check which trials it included. Two trials on this question were later retracted, and we don't know whether they were among them. A 2026 study points out that most of the included trials were of the arms and often used crude measures such as arm circumference. The ACSM 2026 overview found too little evidence to decide.
In 29 untrained men over 10 weeks, adding biceps curls and triceps extensions to lat pulldowns and bench presses didn't add arm size (muscle thickness rose 6.5% without them and 7.0% with them) or strength (10.4% and 12.9%); neither difference was significant. In 20 trained men over 8 weeks, the result was the same. A 2017 review of 23 studies reached the same conclusion for the upper body. All were small, short trials in young men.
In 29 untrained men, 10 weeks of lat pulldowns alone grew the muscles that bend the elbow as much as biceps curls alone (6.1% against 5.8%). But in 10 untrained men who trained one arm with curls and the other with one-arm dumbbell rows for 8 weeks, the curl arm grew about twice as much (11.1% against 5.2%), and each arm got stronger at its own exercise.
Strength is partly a skill, so you get best at what you train. Leg-extension training raised leg-extension strength by 22.4 kg, against 8.5 kg with leg presses, and leg-press training raised leg-press strength by 69.7 kg, against 35.7 kg with leg extensions. At equal volume, 8 weeks of compound-only training raised squat and bench-press maximums more than isolation-only training in 36 amateur footballers new to lifting, and in 10 adults who trained one leg each way, the leg press beat isolation moves on every strength test.
But in 16 trained men who tried each approach for 6 weeks, compound-only and isolation-only training raised bench-press and squat maximums about equally. Compound lifts probably help general strength most, but by how much is uncertain.
In the same 8-week trial in footballers, compound-only training raised VO2 max (the most oxygen your body can use, a measure of aerobic fitness) by 12.5%, against 5.1% for isolation-only training; the authors suggest more muscle at work demands more oxygen. The players were also in pre-season football training, which may have affected the results.
Source 14
A review of time-efficient training recommends putting compound moves first in your plans: at least a leg press or squat, an upper-body pull and an upper-body push, and at least 4 hard sets per muscle a week. It judged isolation moves unlikely to add much for most people, especially those new to training. The ACSM 2026 authors' view is that pushes and pulls for the upper and lower body are enough to train the major muscles.
Big compound sessions raise growth hormone and testosterone for a short while, but that rise didn't add muscle. In 12 men who trained one arm on its own and the other just before a hard leg workout for 15 weeks, the arms grew about the same (12% on its own, 10% with the leg workout). In 56 men, the size of the hormone rise didn't predict their gains in lean mass or strength.
In 10 men, 5 sets of 10 on the leg press used about 90 kcal, against about 50 kcal for chest flys, with a bigger afterburn. A difference of about 40 kcal is small next to a day's energy use (our reading).
Source 19
The rectus femoris is the only one of the four quadriceps muscles that crosses the hip as well as the knee. In a squat or leg press, the hip straightens while the knee straightens; the rectus femoris would pull the hip the other way, so the body turns it down. On the leg press it worked about 40% less hard than on the leg extension (21.7% against 38.0% of its maximum, measured with EMG, sensors that pick up muscle activity, at a moderate weight).
In 17 untrained adults over 12 weeks, measured with MRI scans, it grew 13.2% with leg extensions and 1.1% with leg presses, while the other three quads grew 4 to 7% with either. Leg-extension training also grew the rectus femoris more than the other quads in an earlier 12-week study of 11 men.
Ten weeks of full or half squats grew the other quads, the adductors and the glutes in 17 men, but not the hamstrings or the rectus femoris. In the leg-press trial, the hamstrings grew only 1.5 to 5.3% with either machine, much less than the 12 to 19% its authors cite for leg-curl training.
In 20 adults who trained one leg each way for 12 weeks, seated leg curls grew the hamstrings by 14%, against 9% for lying leg curls.
Only the leg press grew the gluteus maximus (15.4%) and the adductor magnus (6.2%), big muscles at the back and inside of the hip, so it built more lower-body muscle overall than leg extensions did. Full squats grew the adductors and glutes more than half squats.
Presses work mostly the front of the shoulder, and no big lift trains the calves directly. Lateral raises, calf raises, curls and triceps extensions are the usual way to add work there (our editorial reading).
Each compound lift is followed by the isolation move that fills its gap, at our plans' doses: compound lifts 3 sets of 5 to 12 with 2 to 3 reps in reserve (RIR: how many more reps you could have done), isolation moves 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 20 with the last set 0 to 2 reps short of failure.
3D demoBarbell back squatAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoLeg pressBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoLeg extensionBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoSeated leg curlBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoBarbell bench pressIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoCable flyIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoLat pulldownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoStraight-arm pulldownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoStanding overhead pressIntermediate · A barbell + A dumbbell
3D demoDumbbell lateral raiseBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoChin-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoDumbbell biceps curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoParallel bar dipAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoOverhead cable triceps extensionIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoSingle-leg calf raise from a stepIntermediate · A step + A wallIn 11 studies of good to excellent quality, strength rose most in whichever exercises came first: compound lifts gained more when done first, and isolation moves gained more when they came first. Muscle growth was the same in either order. The ACSM 2026 overview agrees, and its 2009 position stand advised compound before isolation exercises and large muscle groups before small ones.
Doing an isolation move straight before a compound lift for the same muscle, with no rest between, is called pre-exhaustion, a superset method with its own trials. Our supersets guide covers it.
The largest analysis of training dose (67 studies, 2,058 people, mostly young men) compared three ways of counting sets that work a muscle indirectly: as a full set, as half a set, or not at all. Counting them as half predicted growth and strength best. So a row counts as a full set for your back and about half a set for your biceps (our example of the method). Our sets and reps guide has weekly targets.
Source 13
Structure from a review of time-efficient training (Iversen 2021) and the ACSM 2026 overview; rest times from our plans' shared notes; the example day is our editorial starting point.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Dumbbell goblet squat
Most have machine, dumbbell or bodyweight versions, and each move's page lists easier and harder options.
3D demoBarbell back squatAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbell3D demoLeg pressBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoBarbell deadliftAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoTrap bar (hex bar) deadliftIntermediate · Other / check instructions3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoReverse lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoRear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)Intermediate · A bench or box
3D demoStep-upBeginner · A step3D demoBarbell bench pressIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell bench pressIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoPush-upIntermediate · No equipment3D demoStanding overhead pressIntermediate · A barbell + A dumbbell3D demoParallel bar dipAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoPull-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar3D demoChin-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar3D demoLat pulldownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoSeated cable rowBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoSupported single-arm dumbbell rowIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoBent-over barbell rowAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoKettlebell swingIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoFarmer's carryBeginner · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoTurkish get-upAdvanced · A kettlebell + A dumbbellUse them after your compound lifts; the Nordic curl is a hard lowering move, so start with a few reps and build up.
3D demoLeg extensionBeginner · Strength machine3D demoSeated leg curlBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoMachine leg curlBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoNordic curlAdvanced · An anchor point
3D demoHip abduction machineBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoGlute kickback (quadruped hip extension)Beginner · No equipment3D demoSingle-leg calf raise from a stepIntermediate · A step + A wall3D demoCable flyIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoMachine chest fly (pec deck)Beginner · Strength machine3D demoDumbbell lateral raiseBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoBent-over reverse flyIntermediate · A dumbbell3D demoStraight-arm pulldownBeginner · A cable machine3D demoDumbbell biceps curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoHammer curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoTriceps pushdownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoDumbbell skull crusher (lying triceps extension)Intermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box3D demoOverhead cable triceps extensionIntermediate · A cable machineThe barbell, 20-minute and dumbbell workouts use only or mostly compound moves; the upper-body and leg-day workouts add isolation moves; the arm workout is mostly isolation.
Barbell strength workout A: back squats and bench presses in sets of five, plus rows. Workout B (squat, overhead press, deadlift) is a separate session.
40 minBeginner6 movesA band, A barbellA 20-minute full-body dumbbell workout: two supersets of squats, rows, Romanian deadlifts and push-ups. Twice a week covers the minimum dose.
20 minBeginner8 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 35-minute full-body strength workout with dumbbells: goblet squats, presses, rows, Romanian deadlifts and carries.
35 minIntermediate9 movesA band, A dumbbellA gym upper body workout for chest, back, shoulders and arms: bench press, rows, presses, pulldowns, raises, curls and pushdowns.
50 minIntermediate13 movesA band, A barbellA gym leg day: back squats, leg press, leg curls, Bulgarian split squats, leg extensions and calf raises.
55 minIntermediate9 movesA wall, A barbellBiceps, triceps and forearms: curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, pushdowns, concentration curls and dips.
35 minBeginner7 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxEach plan builds its sessions around compound lifts and adds isolation moves where they fill gaps.
A beginner gym plan: three full-body sessions a week, alternating workouts A and B, with sets, reps, rest and an 8-week progression.
3 training days45 minBeginner4 days a weekA 4-day upper/lower split: two upper body and two lower body gym days, each muscle trained twice a week, with sets, reps and progression.
4 training days50 minIntermediate3 days a weekFor after about 8 weeks of a beginner plan: three full-body sessions a week, one heavy, one moderate and one light, in a gym or at home, for 12 weeks.
3 training days50 minIntermediateStraining and holding your breath under a heavy lift can make you light-headed, and fainting during or within seconds of a lift has been reported. Breathe out on the effort rather than holding your breath, especially if you have high blood pressure (our high blood pressure guide has more). Sit down if you feel dizzy, and see a GP if you faint.
Stop and call 999 (don't drive yourself to A&E) for:
Stop straight away if you feel pain or become unwell, and contact NHS 111 if a symptom worries you or doesn't go away. A joint pain that is sharp, gets worse during a set, lingers into the next day or changes how you move is a reason to use the move's easier option, and to see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening (the rule in our plans). Muscle soreness for a day or two after something new is normal.
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Compound lifts train the rectus femoris and hamstrings little: 1% rectus femoris growth after 12 weeks of leg presses, against 13% with leg extensions, and no rectus femoris or hamstring growth after 10 weeks of squats. Leg curls grow the hamstrings, and in one trial curls grew the biceps more than rows. Isolation moves also let you train around an injury.
The hormone rise after a big session is brief and didn't add growth: arms trained just before a hard leg workout grew no more than arms trained on their own, and in 56 men the size of the rise didn't predict gains in lean mass or strength.
Not the rectus femoris or the hamstrings, which didn't grow after 10 weeks of squats. Squats and leg presses are excellent for the other quads, the glutes and the adductors.
Order matters for strength in whichever lift comes first, but muscle growth was the same in either order. Doing an isolation move earlier in the session is fine if that muscle is your priority.
The leg press, chest press and lat pulldown are compound machines, and the dumbbell curl is a free-weight isolation move. Compound and isolation describe how many joints move, not the equipment.
Source 1
A widely quoted trial in recreational bodybuilders that said so was retracted by its journal in 2022. The remaining trials are small and short: adding arm isolation work added nothing measurable in 20 trained men over 8 weeks, but nobody has tested longer programmes or lifters chasing a particular muscle.
Compound exercises move two or more joints and work several muscle groups at once, like squats, presses, rows and pull-ups. Isolation exercises move one joint to aim at one muscle group, like curls, leg extensions and lateral raises. Both come as machine, free-weight and bodyweight versions.
The trials are small and mixed: pooled studies found similar whole-muscle growth, but one trial found curls grew the biceps twice as much as rows. The clearer difference is which muscles grow: leg presses grew the glutes and inner thighs but barely touched the rectus femoris, which leg extensions grew by 13%. Most people do best with mostly compound moves plus a few isolation moves for the gaps.
For health and general strength, yes: a squat or leg press, a hip hinge, a push and a pull train most major muscles. They leave a few muscles under-trained, notably the rectus femoris and the hamstrings, so add leg extensions and leg curls if leg size or strength matters to you.
Not for most goals, but they're useful. They fill the gaps compound lifts leave, add sets for a muscle you want to grow, and let you train around an injury. In short trials, adding curls and triceps work to presses and pulldowns didn't add arm size.
Usually compound first: strength rose most in whichever exercises came first, and muscle growth was the same in either order. If you most want to grow one muscle, doing its isolation move earlier in the session is fine. Doing it straight before the compound lift for the same muscle is pre-exhaustion, which our supersets guide covers.
Not necessarily: in one trial, lat pulldowns alone grew the biceps as much as curls. In another, curls grew them about twice as much as rows. If bigger arms matter to you, two or three sets of curls a week are cheap insurance.
Barely. After 10 weeks of squats, the hamstrings and the rectus femoris didn't grow, while the other quads, the adductors and the glutes did. Leg curls train the hamstrings directly, and seated curls grew them more than lying curls in a trial.
They use more energy per set than small moves: in one study, 5 sets on the leg press used about 90 kcal against about 50 for chest flys. That's a small part of a day, so what you eat and your total activity matter far more. Our weight-loss guide has the detail.
Three to five, covering a squat or leg press, a hip hinge, a push and a pull, is enough for most sessions, with 1 to 3 isolation moves after, as in our gym workouts. Weekly sets per muscle matter more than the number of exercises; our sets and reps guide has the numbers.
Count a full set for the muscle the move mainly targets, and about half a set for muscles it works indirectly, such as the biceps in a row. The largest analysis of training dose found this predicted results best.
They load one joint at a time with lighter weights, which is why physiotherapists use moves like the leg extension to rebuild knees, but they aren't proven safer overall. Choose the moves you can do without pain, and use an easier option if a joint complains.
They raise it for a short while, but that rise didn't add muscle in a 15-week trial, and in 56 men the size of the rise didn't predict their gains. Compound lifts are worth doing because they train a lot of muscle at once, not because of hormones.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
