5 reps on lateral raises?

By Sean Nalewanyj

Community Score: 50% | 328.8K views | 2mo

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As long as your form stays solid and your joints feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with low rep isolation work. 5 reps on a biceps curl, 6 reps on a leg extension, 7 reps on a lateral raise... I personally even hit 4 reps sometimes and don’t have any issues with it. The idea that “compound exercises are about heavy weight and progressive overload” while “isolation exercises are about squeezing and feeling the muscle” has no physiological basis behind it. The underlying hypertrophy principles don’t magically change based on whether it’s a multi or single-joint movement. There’s also no reason why your technique needs to fall apart simply because you’re doing lower reps. If anything, heavy single joint movements should be easier to maintain form on compared to compounds since they’re mechanically simpler. Unless you're straight up ego lifting, you should be perfectly capable of executing a set of 6 rep triceps pushdowns close to failure (as one example) without any form breakdown.

Tags: bodybuilding, fitness, build muscle, gym, workout, hypertrophy, muscle building, muscle growth, fat loss, burn fat, weight loss, fat burning, diet, nutrition