. An important distinction needs to be made between machines that lock you
into a fixed groove, and those that involve cables which allow some freedom
of movement. A lat machine, for example, allows plenty of individual free-
dom of motion and positioning, but a pullover machine offers much less.. As far as barbells go, there are “exercise” bars that are the same diameter
(usually a tad over an inch) over the whole length and can be as short as
about feet, or as long as about feet. ere are Olympic and power bars
that have revolving sleeves of about -inch diameter at their ends. ese bars
are about inches long, depending on the manufacturer. All these bars are
straight. en there is the cambered squat bar (bent like a yoke), the Trap
Bar® [and shrug bar, see page ], and thick bars.Compound and isolation exercises
. Exercises come in two basic types: compound (i.e., multiple-joint move-
ments), or isolation (i.e., single-joint ones).. e squat is a multiple-joint exercise because it involves movement at more
than one joint, and hence involves a lot of musculature—primarily of the
quads, glutes and erectors.. e leg extension—straightening your leg while seated—is a single-joint
exercise because it involves movement at only one joint (the knee). e leg
extension primarily targets the quads.. To train the whole body using only isolation work means you need a lot of
different exercises. But most of the body can be trained using a mere handful
of compound movements.Core exercises
. Compound movements are usually tagged “basic exercises,” though some
people include a few single-joint exercises under that description. e term
“basic exercise” does not have a standard definition. is inconsistency leads
to confusion.. e most important exercises are the core movements, i.e., squat, bent-
legged deadlift (usually referred to as “the deadlift”), sumo deadlift (arms
held between the legs), stiff-legged deadlift, leg press, bench press (flat,
incline and decline), parallel bar dip, shrug variations, pulldown, row varia-