Getting the Most Bang for Your Exercise Buck: Try Compound Exercises When You’re Crunched for Time

What is a compound exercise? A compound exercise is any exercise that uses multiple joints and trains many muscle groups at the same time.

Advantages of training using compound exercises

• Efficient Training Process: Training multiple muscle groups at the same time means spending less time in the gym for the same effort.
• Requires greater work effort: the exercises are more challenging and improve strength levels dramatically.
• Improves Coordination:  A compound exercise requires more coordination than an isolation exercise (single-joint exercise)
• Mimics Functional Movements:  Compound exercises have greater translation to functional activities you do every day.

My Top 5 Picks For Compound Exercises And Muscles Trained

1. Power Clean / Power Snatch – Trains the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, lower back, upper back, deltoids, triceps, biceps
2. Squat – Trains quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, calves, ankles
3. Dead-lift – Trains hamstrings, Glutes, Erector spinae of the lower back, trapezius, forearms
4. Bench Press – Trains pectoralis major, triceps, anterior deltoids, serratus anterior
5. Pull-ups / Chin-Ups – Latissimus dorsi, trapezius, teres minor, rhomboids, deltoids, biceps, brachioradialis

The alternative to doing compound exercises is doing isolation exercises (single joint movements such as bicep curls). If you have all the time in the world to do your strength training workouts, a program that isolates each muscle group (think body-builder workout) is feasible.

Isolation training is very popular with body-builders who are trying to bring up lagging muscles. You have to remember that most body-builders have spent years in weight training to develop their muscles, and that many of these years have been spent working with compound exercises.