The benefits of compound exercises …

There’s a way to be efficient with your time and physical energy for exercising and also improve on your workout outcomes, and that is by including in your strength training program different compound exercises.

Compound exercises are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. For example, a squat is an excellent compound exercise; this simple movement engages your core, quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, and calf muscles.

Contrast that with isolation exercises, which are exercises that work a single muscle group at a time. For example, a bicep curl is an isolation exercise meant to strengthen biceps.

When it comes to your fitness, it’s not an “either/or” regarding compound or isolation exercises, both are beneficial. Isolation exercises are especially helpful in physical therapy, but sometimes you may want or need to focus on developing a specific muscle group. However, there can be a larger benefit by at least incorporating some compound exercises in your personal exercise program; most well-rounded fitness regimens are made up of a combination of compound and isolation exercises. But there is an underlying philosophy of valuing compound exercises among many Personal Trainers that is something like this:

“Compound exercises should form the base of your strength routine. Compound exercises treat your body like the complex system of interconnected muscles, joints, and nerves it really is.”

BENEFITS OF COMPOUND EXERCISES
In addition to the obvious “plus” of using your time to exercise more efficiently, there are several other benefits of incorporating compound exercises into your workout routines. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has identified the following five benefits of compound exercises:

• • Compound exercises burn more calories.
  • Compound exercises improve intramuscular coordination.
  • Compound exercises elevate heart rate and provide a cardiovascular training benefit.
  • Compound exercises are a form of dynamic flexibility. Pete McCall, health and fitness expert, explains for ACE: “When most people think of flexibility they picture static stretching. While holding a muscle in a lengthened position can be effective for reducing tension in a muscle, it also reduces neurologic activity, which is not recommended prior to dynamic activity. Any exercise that involves an active range of motion can be considered a form of dynamic stretching, which involves moving a joint through a range of motion to lengthen the surrounding tissue. As muscles on one side of a joint contract, the muscles on the opposite side have to lengthen to allow contraction to occur. Over the course of a number of repetitions, the contractions and activity in the involved muscles elevate the temperature and inhibit activity, which reduces tension and improves length.”
  • Compound exercises improve movement efficiency.

And, of course, along with those benefits are the basic benefits of also building muscle mass and increasing strength.

EXAMPLES OF COMPOUND EXERCISES
There are MANY different compound exercises you can incorporate into your exercise program. Below is a list, in random order, of just 20 different compound exercises, all of which you can find examples of how to do with correct form and technique by searching on YouTube or Google:

• • Rowing machine.

  

  • Squats (different variations).
  • Deadlifts.
  • Bent over barbell rows.
  • Lunge (different variations).
  • Barbell bench press.
  • Dips.
  • Pull ups.
  • Push ups.
  • Box or bench step ups.
  • Loaded (weighted) walk.
  • Dumbbell shoulder press on stability ball.
  • Wall sits.
  • Kettlebell swings.
  • Power cleans.
  • Lat pull downs.
  • Plank variations.
  • Ab wheel rollouts.
  • Standing T-bar rows.
  • Captain’s chair leg raises.

Scotty