I had started an alternate 2 day whole body split where day 1 is either the compound exercise or isolations and day 2 is vice versa. Example being: Day 1: Incline Press and Day 2 consisting of isolations for Incline Press: Incline Front Raises (IFR), Pec Decs, and Tricep Pushdowns. Before I started doing this split, I was mostly doing isolations to boost the results of the compound lifts. In retrospect, I don’t advise that for 3 reasons, not training the supportive muscles associated with the heavy compound lifts for injury prevention purposes, motor skill aspect, and having to target all of the muscles or else the muscle that is overlooked becomes a potential weak-point resulting in a disappointing assessment of the compound exercise. The 2 compound lifts that I was focusing on is the Pull-ups and Incline Press with the isolation exercises to complement it on the alternate days. I had a minor setback that turned out to be an accidental catalyst for valuable intel. I had to postpone my pull-ups from 11/16 to 11/19 due to new acute injury on upper traps, more-so on collarbone. On the 19th where I had planned on doing my isolations for pull-ups, I decided to do them anyway after my pull-ups and turned out to be very useful information which is displayed in the data section of this post.
Data #1 – My Accidental Way to Reveal Sticking Points in My Pull-ups
November 10, 2025
Pull-ups: bodyweight for 14 reps
November 13, 2025
Isolations for Pull-ups:
- Preacher Hammer Curl: 40lbs for 6 reps (left side) / 9 reps (right side); 46.5 / 51.3 – 1 rep max
- Cable Pullovers: 90lbs for 12 reps; 126.9 1 rep max
November 16, 2025
I had planned on doing Pull-ups that day, but I had some mild acute sharp pain in my left traps and decided to play it safe and let it heal a bit more. No Data.
November 19, 2025
I felt ready to do pull-ups again, but I also didn’t like the fact that I’ll have to wait another week for continuity purposes to do isolations. I rely on isolations to strengthen my muscles since it’s more direct. Compound exercises as I’ve stated in previous posts that it is only as strong as the weakest muscle. I had a gut feeling after doing my set of pull-ups that I has still going to have the same performance in the cable pullovers since my lats were not the weakest point and instead it was the hammer curls; it could also be the support grip or lower traps.
Pull-ups: bodyweight x 15 reps (+1 rep)
Expected for Pullup-related Isolations
Cable Pullovers: 90lbs x 13 reps
Preacher Hammer Curls: 40lbs x 7 reps (left)/ 10 reps (right)
Isolation Performance Post-Pullups
Cable Pullovers: 90lbs x 13 reps ( 0 )
Preacher Hammer Curls: 40lbs x 3 reps (both sides) ( -4 / -7 )
So I didn’t meet the expectation for the preacher hammer curls indicating that my brachioradialis (outer forearm) was the weak point in that point in time.
Data #2 – Decided to Try it Incline Press to Confirm Theory
November 10, 2025
Incline Press: 177.5lbs x 7 reps; 213.9lb – 1 rep max
November 13, 2025
Isolations for Incline Press:
- Tricep Pushdowns: 90lbs for 10 reps; 120lb – 1 rep max
- IFR (Incline Front Raises): 40lbs x 8 reps (left) / void (right)
- One Arm Pec Decs: 225lbs x 11 reps (left) / 15 reps (right); 308.2lbs (left side) – 1 rep max
November 20, 2025
Incline Press: 185lbs x 6 reps; 215.1lbs
Expected for Pullup-related Isolations
Tricep Pushdowns: 90lbs x 11 reps
IFR: 40lbs x 9 reps / 11 reps
Pec Decs: 230lbs x 11 reps?
Isolation Performance Post-Incline Press
Tricep Pushdowns: 90lbs x 5 reps (-6 ; weakpoint)
IFR: 40lbs x 9 reps / 11 reps ( 0 )
Pec Decs: 230lbs x 15 reps
Because I was 6 reps short in the Tricep Pushdowns, this indicates that my lateral head of my triceps are the weakpoint in the incline press and I do tend to have trouble at or slightly past midpoint. I still don’t know why I my pec decs got better overnight, but I’ll take it.
Practical usage
The most common way to figure out the sticking points in a compound lift like squats is the observe where in the lift you tend to get stuck, this is a way to confirm the suspicion that a certain muscle is the weak point. The way to isolate and confirm the weak point is to have one day of isolations relating to the targeted compound exercise. Then have a day where you do the compound exercise first, then after 1-2 non-related exercises, begin doing all the isolation exercises to spot the one that can’t match last session or better. Example: After a day of shoulder press isolations, about 2 – 4 days later depending on individual, shoulder press would be performed first, then do some legs, pulls, or abs, etc to allow rest, then do a long head of triceps exercise, front delts, side delts, and upper chest to figure out which one can’t keep up. If stuck below halfway, then front delts will probably have a subpar performance. If stuck at mid or above halfway, then it will probably be the long head of triceps exercise.
Closing
I hope this has been a useful insight and as much as I am a fan of isolations, I definitely encourage you to do both and have a strength goal for the compound exercise that can help maintain the muscle mass and/or strength of the isolation exercises as it’s more time efficient to maintain it.