Thread by @AJA_Cortes

HOW TO WORKOUT IF YOUR BODY IS A WRECK:

You could make an endless list of joint issues that inhibit exercise

But if you still want to train, how do you train around them?

The Isolation based methodology of Doug Brignole is one you need to know about and apply...

Doug Brignole passed away last year (RIP), but in the final years of his life, he made a major impact on the fitness industry

Doug was a veteran bodybuilder and won multiple AAU titles,

He developed a training methodology grounded in physics and pure biomechanics...

The basic premise of Dougs method was that ISOLATION exercises were more efficient for musclebuilding than compound movements

This is heretical to mainstream fitness, which constantly preaches squat bench deadlift press

But Doug did not care about Dogma, he was hyper logical...

Dougs premise was simple:

For compound movements, the mechanical loading is always distributed across multiple muscles

This allows you to move big weights, but it also makes it the most inefficient way to train if specific muscle growth is the goal

its also RISKY

How many people hurt themselves bench pressing?

Or squatting?

Or Deadlifting?

I was fortunate to meet Doug in 2021, and he described growing up around bodybuilders, and how so many of them were in chronic pain as they age, and lost function

he did not want that to be him

Doug started experimenting with using mostly isolation exercises early on his bodybuilding career

IT WORKED

he developed a preference for isolation movements, and it was obvious to him that the belief of isolation exercises dont build muscle, it was false

Doug had a mathematical brain, and over the years he taught himself Biomechanics, he would eventually publish a book

"The Physics of Resistance Exercise"

I read it cover to cover

It is a textbook on Biomechanics, and when it was published it caused massive controversy

Fitness Industry was FURIOUS that someone would question the superiority of compound movements

but Doug did not care about being hardcore or how much he could lift

He wanted to be exceptionally muscular, but also PAIN FREE

By his estimation, if you could do safe, optimal movements that led to muscle growth, with practically zero injury risk...why not do them?

You could argue that isolation training was not efficient time wise, but you could not say that it did not work muscle wise, IT DOES

Doug described his preferred exercises for every single major muscle group

This became known as the BRIG-20

These were not exercises he invented, rather he was highlighting isolation movements that produced fantastic muscle growth due to their biomechanical profile

BRIG -20
The 20 Best Resistance Exercises for Physique Development
by: Doug Brignole
________________________________________________
For Pecs
1 – Semi Decline Dumbbell Press or Semi Decline Cable Press ✅
For Upper Back (middle Trapezius)
2 – Seated Scapular Retraction w/… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Some of these exercises you might have heard of, others might be head scratchers

I produced a 20 part video series on ALL of them, which I published to IG

instagram.com/reel/CddC5W1DN…

Twitter cut off my thread

I’m posting ALL the executes in this one

https://twitter.com/aja_cortes/status/1655010916524515329

I use all of these exercises (as well as others) with my Longevity coaching clients

Check it out if you are banged up but still dedicated and wanting to improve

ajac.co/program/