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The Power of Compound Lifts

When someone starts lifting weights for the first time, it’s pretty predictable what they will do. It’s almost always chest and arms, with (maybe) some back and shoulders thrown in for good measure. You might see some leg work, but not anything serious. The short of it is most newbies focus on their favorite muscles and work them with isolation exercises.

It’s been proven by professional trainers and strength coaches that lifter at any level of experience can see more results by using compound exercises. In fact, if you are looking to get bigger and stronger, training muscles in isolation is the long way around.

What are compound exercises?

Compound exercises are exercises that involve more than one joint. Probably the best example is squat. Ask most people and they’ tell you the squat is a leg exercise, but the truth is that the squat works your entire body. Legs (both front and back), calves for balance, buttocks, lower back, upper back and shoulders (to support the bar), and abdominals (to stabilize the trunk).

The next time you go to the gym, pay attention to what the big guys are doing. You see a lot of squats, dead lifts, bench press, military press, bent over rows…. All these are compound lifts. Not only do compound lifts train more than one muscle at once, they allow you to use more weight. More weight puts more stress on your muscles which is essential for muscle hypertrophy, or getting bigger.

Why should you use compound exercises?

If you’re looking for the shortest path to putting on size and strength, compound exercises should be the foundation of your training. Compound movements best imitate how you use your body in real life.

That’s not to say you can’t throw in a set of curls every now and then, but the truth of it is that it’s pointless to worry about shaping the clay until you have some clay to work with. Isolation exercises are a great way to focus on individual muscles for optimal muscle balance. That’s why you see bodybuilders doing isolation exercises. Once they have the mass they want, they focus on developing individual muscles.

What are the best compound exercises?

When I name them, you’ll know them:

Legs: Squat, Dead lift, Lunges
Back: Rows, Pull-ups, Lat pull downs
Chest: Bench Press, Incline Press, Dumbbell Press, Dips
Arms: Chin-ups, Dumbbell Curl to Press, Close-grip Bench Press
Shoulders: Military Press, Clean and Press, Clean and Jerk

If you want to get bigger and stronger, compound exercises are they way to go. You’ll be moving more weight with fewer exercises in less time and end up seeing greater results than you would get with isolation exercises alone.

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