Whether you use anabolic steroids or not, adding single-joint exercises to a training routine with basic exercises adds nothing

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

12.05.2019

Whether you use anabolic steroids or not, adding single-joint exercises to a training routine with basic exercises adds nothing
If bodybuilders already target a muscle with a multi-joint exercise, then it makes little sense to also train this muscle with a single-joint exercise. This also applies to bodybuilders who have been training with weights for years, and also to bodybuilders who use anabolics, report Brazilian sports scientists in the Journal European Journal of Sport Science.

Study
The Brazilians experimented for 8 weeks with thirty male recreational bodybuilders, who had been training with weights for at least three years. The bodybuilders consumed 2.5-3 grams of protein per kilo of body weight daily.

The researchers divided the bodybuilders into four groups. The first group trained their main muscle groups with some basic multi-joint exercises [MJ], the second group added a few single joint exercises to those basic multi-joint exercises [MJ + SJ]. These two groups did not use anabolic steroids.

More information about the training schedules that the Brazilians used can be found here.

A third group of test subjects also trained exclusively with multi-joint exercises, and a fourth group of test subjects trained with multi-joint plus single-joint exercises. These two groups combined the strength training with the use of 600 milligrams of testosterone cantantate and 200 milligrams of stanozolol per week [AAS].

Results
Adding single-joint exercises to a training routine with multi-joint exercises did not cause the test subjects to become stronger.

For example, the bodybuilders with triceps extensions in their training program had just as much progress in terms of strength as the bodybuilders without triceps extensions. This applied to the subjects' bench press strength, but also to their triceps extension strength.

Whether you use anabolic steroids or not, adding single-joint exercises to a training routine with basic exercises adds nothing

One factor that did weigh in was the use of anabolic steroids. That is not surprising of course. More remarkable is that the addition of single-joint exercises to the training program did not add anything in the group of steroids users either.

Using clippers and measuring tapes, the researchers determined the effect of the training regimes on muscle mass and fat mass. But here too the single-joint exercises proved to add nothing.

Whether you use anabolic steroids or not, adding single-joint exercises to a training routine with basic exercises adds nothing

Conclusion

"Our study shows that the addition of single-joint exercises to a resistance training programme that already contains multi-joint exercises brings no additional benefit in terms of muscle performance and anthropometric changes in trained men, whether they are using anabolic steroids or not", write the Brazilians.

"These results might help to design more time-efficient resistance training programmes, since it suggests that trained men can save time not including single-joint exercises in their routines and still achieve optimal results."

"For those interested in bodybuilding recreationally who, unlike professionals, may be unable to dedicate considerable time to the pursuit these findings are potentially valuable."

Source:
Eur J Sport Sci. 2019 May 9:1-8. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2019.1611932. [Epub ahead of print].

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