Compound vs. Isolation Exercises When Doing Push Pull Legs

If the first exercise you do on chest day is cable flies, or you kick off leg day with leg extensions, you are leaving gains on the table. The order that you do your exercises matters more than you might think, and getting it wrong means you are not making the best use of your time in the gym or seeing the results that you want.

In this article, I am going to cover the difference between compound and isolation movements, the four reasons why one of them should always come first, and I will walk you through how to order your exercises on push day, pull day, and leg day so you never have to guess again.

In Summary:

To get the most out of a Push Pull Legs workout, always do compound exercises before isolation exercises.
Compound movements like bench press, squats, and pull ups work multiple muscle groups at once and should come first when your energy is highest.
Isolation movements like cable flies, bicep curls, and leg extensions target a single muscle and work best at the end of your session.
A good rule of thumb: make your first three to four exercises compound, and your last two to three isolation. This order maximizes muscle growth, builds more strength, and makes the most of your time in the gym.

What Are Compound and Isolation Exercises?

Compound Movements

Compound movements involve more than one muscle group and more than one joint at a time. An example is bench press. You hit your chest, shoulders, and triceps at the same time. If you look at the movement, you will notice that your shoulder and elbow joints move together to move the weight. That is a compound movement.

Another example is the squat, which pretty much hits your entire lower body. Quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and even your core is brought into it. That is a lot of muscle being hit all at the same time. Multiple joints moving as you perform a squat. That is a compound movement.

Isolation Movements

Isolation movements involve just one muscle and one joint at a time. An example is chest flies or cable flies. All of the work is isolated on your chest because only one joint moves. Notice how it is just your shoulders. Your elbows do not come into it the same way that they do for a bench press.

Another example is bicep curls. Same thing. One muscle, one joint moving at a time.

Compound and isolation movements both have a place in your program. It is just a question of what you are going to prioritize and how you are going to order the exercises for the most effective workout.

Four Reasons to Prioritize Compound Movements

There are some good reasons why I think you should prioritize compound movements and always do them at the start of the workout.

1. They Save You Time

It is more efficient to hit more than one muscle at a time. If you do bench press, you are targeting chest, shoulders, and triceps at once. That is three muscle groups in a single exercise, as opposed to needing one exercise for chest, another for shoulders, and a third for triceps. If you only have 45 minutes to train, compound lifts give you the most coverage in the shortest amount of time.

2. They Build More Strength

There is a good reason why the powerlifting big three are bench, squat, and deadlift. These movements allow for maximum loads and increase your strength potential. If you do compound movements on the regular, naturally you are going to build strength over time. Think about how much weight you can bench press compared to what you can do on a tricep extension. Compound lifts allow you to move significantly heavier loads, and that means a much higher potential for strength gains.

3. They Recruit More Muscle Fibers

That is sort of the name of the game. If you are trying to build muscle, you need to recruit the maximum amount of muscle fibers to create the stimulus for growth. Compound movements do this better than anything else. A barbell squat activates more total muscle tissue than a leg extension ever will. If your goal is to build muscle, that matters.

4. They Demand More Energy

Compound movements are harder. They require more effort and coordination with multiple muscles working at once, which means you burn more calories doing them. Even if your goal is to lose weight and not just to build muscle, it is still a good idea to prioritize compound movements.

Why They Should Come First

You want to start your workout with compound movements because that is when you have the most mental focus, muscle glycogen, and energy available to do those big lifts. If you exhaust yourself with isolation movements first and then try to do compound movements, you are not going to be able to lift as heavy. You are going to be tired, and you are not going to get the most bang for your buck.

The "Dinner & Dessert" Analogy

Here is how I like to look at it: doing your isolation movements before your compound movements is like eating dessert before the main course.

Let’s say you’re having steak and potatoes, and for dessert, chocolate cake. You would never eat the cake before your steak because you would spoil your appetite. The steak and potatoes is where you get the bulk of your nutrition. That is the focus of the meal.

The same thing goes for the gym. Compound movements are like the main course of your workout. They are the foundation. Dessert is a great way to finish the meal, just like isolation movements are a great way to finish the workout. They are very satisfying to do. They are a bit easier to stomach. But you should not do them first.

How to Order Your Exercises on Each Day

Here is what I do. I take the total number of exercises that I plan on doing. Half of those should be compound movements and they should be done first. For example, if I plan to do six exercises total, three should be compound movements done at the start and then three isolation movements at the end.

Push Day Exercises

Exercise	Sets * Reps
DB Bench Press	3 * 12
DB Shoulder Press	3 * 12
Dips	3 * 12
DB Lateral Raises	2 * 12
Cable Tricep Extensions	2 * 12
Chest Fly	2 * 12

I will always start with some type of bench press or shoulder press, depending on if it is a chest focused push day or a shoulders focused push day.

Let’s say I start with bench press, whether that is flat, incline, barbell, or dumbbell. It does not really matter.

After that exercise, I move on to shoulder press. Shoulder press is a compound movement because it also brings your triceps into it. More than one joint moving. If you want to make the shoulder press a bit more demanding, you can do standing presses with dumbbells. Word of caution, though, you do need a baseline level of core strength. If you are not quite there yet, I would use caution going too heavy on standing shoulder press. Seated presses allow for more stability so you can push more weight.

Next, I move back to doing some type of chest movement, either dips or a decline plate machine. If you do not have that, you can go back to doing a variation of bench. Let’s say you started with incline. This time do flat, and vice versa. If you started with flat, this time do incline or decline. Those are my three compound movements.

Then I do three isolation exercises on push day. One for chest, like chest flies or cable flies. One for shoulders, typically lateral raises with dumbbells. And then tricep extensions, whether you do that with cables or an overhead tricep extension with a dumbbell.

Pull Day Exercises

Exercise	Sets * Reps
Pull Ups (or Lat Pulldown)	3 * 12
Barbell Rows	3 * 12
Seated Cable Rows	3 * 12
DB Shrugs	2 * 12
Rear Delt Fly	2 * 12
DB Bicep Curls	2 * 12

Do not start with bicep curls. What I always do is start with pull ups.

The reason is that pull ups are a good way to gauge my strength relative to my weight. If you think about a pull up, all you are doing is pulling your body weight. So it is an easy way to track your back strength from workout to workout. Let’s say last time I only did eight reps on my first set, and then today I was able to do 10 reps on my first set. If my weight stayed the same, then I know that I got stronger. That is a little nuance of the reason why I start with pull ups.

After that, I do bent over rows with either a barbell or dumbbells. Then I hop on one of the cable machines and do cable rows or lat pulldowns. Those are my three compound movements.

My three isolation exercises are going to target my rear delts, my traps, and my biceps. I do rear delt flies with dumbbells or cable. Shoulder shrugs with dumbbells usually. And bicep curls are the perfect way to end the workout.

If you were to start your back day with bicep curls, they would already be a little bit exhausted. You would not be able to gauge your strength on pull ups because you are already tired, and you would not be able to lift as heavy on bent over rows if you had already exhausted your biceps. That is the rationale for ordering your exercises a certain way.

Leg Day Exercises

Exercise	Sets * Reps
Barbell Squats	3 * 12
Romanian Deadlift	3 * 12
Leg Press Machine	3 * 12
Leg Extension Machine	2 * 12
Leg Curls	2 * 12
Calf Raises	2 * 12

Do not start with leg extensions or leg curls.

Leg day has a lot of options for compound movements. I do some type of squat, whether it is barbell, dumbbell front squat, or goblet squat. Then walking lunges with dumbbells, split squats with dumbbells, or the leg press machine with different foot positions to target different parts of either your quads or your hamstrings.

For leg day, I do about 90 percent compound movements. But I might finish with some isolation work like calf raises, leg extensions, or leg curls at the end.

This structure ensures you are putting your energy into where it matters most. Compound lifts get priority because they build the most muscle and strength. Isolation exercises come after to target specific muscles that need extra attention.

Isolation Movements are Still Good to do

I am not saying isolation movements are bad or that you should never do them. If you have an injury that prevents you from doing squats, then do not do squats. You know your body better than anyone. In that case, leg extensions might be the better option for you. And if you have a dedicated arm day, that entire workout is going to be isolation movements, and that is perfectly fine.

The point is that when you are doing a full push, pull, or leg day, your compound lifts should come first. That is the foundation. Everything else builds on top of it.

Wrapping Up

I have been lifting for nearly 20 years and I still do the same basic compound lifts every time I step into the gym. They work. Do not overthink it.

Structure your workouts with compound movements first and isolation movements at the end. Train with intention. Put your energy where it gives you the biggest return, and finish off with targeted isolation work to round out the session.

If you follow a Push Pull Legs split and want to learn how to schedule your workouts and pick the right exercises for each day, check out this post on how to schedule Push Pull Legs.

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