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If you've ever watched or participated in a powerlifting competition, you're aware that athletes compete in three events: deadlift, squat, and bench press. Even if you've never seen those strong competitors move mind-boggling amounts of iron, chances are those very same exercises—or variations of them—are the foundation of your training regimen. Sure, your workouts contain a plethora of other moves, but the one you do first in each workout while your muscles are still warm is most likely one of the “big three.”
That's great news. Compound (multi-muscle, multi-joint) movements provide significantly more bang for your strength-training buck than isolation exercises like the biceps curl, dumbbell fly, and calf raise, which target a single muscle group and move a single joint. Compound exercises can help you build more lean mass by recruiting and engaging more lean mass.
But all of that recruiting and engaging comes at a cost: these exercises necessitate the cooperation of several muscle groups spanning at least two joints. If even one of them isn't up to the task (for example, because it's tired or isn't yet strong enough to pull its own weight), the rest of the team (read: your body) suffers, resulting in sub-par performance and results.
Benefits of Compound Exercises
The most obvious advantage of compound exercises is that they make good use of your time. If you only have a limited amount of time to exercise, focusing on compound exercises will allow you to work more muscles and build more strength.
Other advantages include:
- consuming more calories
- strengthening intramuscular coordination
- increasing heart rate
- boost flexibility
- enhancing strength
- increasing muscle mass
Compound Exercises for Muscle Building
Skew the balance of your workouts toward compound exercises, performing the most heavily loaded ones (e.g., the big three mentioned above) and those that place a premium on relative strength (e.g., pullup, chinup) at the start of your workouts. This ensures that every muscle involved can work to its full potential.
But don't dismiss the importance of isolation exercises. Sometimes zeroing in on a single muscle group is all that's needed to break through a plateau, kickstart hypertrophy, or strengthen a weak link that's been holding you back in a compound move.
Back Squat
The squat works the strongest muscle groups (quads and glutes) to create a strong foundation of support for the entire body's advancement. It is without a doubt one of the best compound lifts for glutes.
Furthermore, the barbell squat is extremely systemic because the force required to squat heavy weights exerts tremendous pressure on the lower back spinal erector muscles, arms, waist, upper back, shoulders, chest, and even the arms, so if you're looking for compound lifts for arms, do the barbell back squat.
Pull Up
Looking for biceps compound lifts? Pull-ups work not only the biceps but also the lats, core, traps, rhomboids, and delts. Pull-ups are one of the most effective ways to strengthen your back and biceps while also improving your functional fitness. Furthermore, they are excellent for increasing grip strength.
In addition, unlike chin-ups, pull-ups have the palms facing away from the body, shifting the emphasis to the back rather than the biceps.
Bench Press
The bench press, dubbed the “King of Upper Body Exercises,” builds muscle in the shoulders, chest, triceps, and back, making it one of the most sought-after compound lifts for the back.
The best way to fully benefit from this movement is to emphasize the lowering stage; stretch as many muscle fibers as possible on the descent in a slow, controlled manner. While all movements must be controlled from top to bottom, many people ‘drop' the bar when benching. This may help you get more reps in, but it effectively negates half of the rep and jeopardizes your mass-building gains.
Barbell Deadlift
The bench press, dubbed the “King of Upper Body Exercises,” builds muscle in the shoulders, chest, triceps, and back, making it one of the most sought-after compound lifts for the back.
The best way to fully benefit from this movement is to emphasize the lowering stage; stretch as many muscle fibers as possible on the descent in a slow, controlled manner. While all movements must be controlled from top to bottom, many people ‘drop' the bar when benching. This may help you get more reps in, but it effectively negates half of the rep and jeopardizes your mass-building gains.
Squat
The squat is an excellent movement for developing leg strength by engaging the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and thighs, as well as the core and back. Back squats, front squats, box squats, overhead squats, and all weighted variations with kettlebells, barbells, and dumbbells, for example, are all examples of squats.
Keep your head up and lower back slightly arched as you squat gradually to a position where your thighs are just below parallel to the floor to get the most out of your squatting set.
Lunge
Lunge movements can be used to improve lower body strength and leg muscle growth. It works almost every lower-body muscle, including the glutes, quads, hips, calves, and hamstrings. They are more difficult than squats because the split stance puts you in an unstable stance that tests your balance.
Lunging exercises include, but are not limited to, bulgarian split squats, walking lunges, split squats, and other variations involving dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight, and kettlebells, among others.
Dips
The dip is one of the oldest compound movements, performed for the triceps and chest. The dip is a forgotten weapon in the war for a densely muscled upper body, responsible for building more shoulders, triceps, and chest than any other compound lift. As an added bonus, the dip forces you to work harder in order to overcome more resistance (both the weight, which is added, and bodyweight).
Dips, while obviously a tricep exercise, are also an excellent way to work out your core and lose some belly fat.
Wrapping Up
Compound exercises and lifts are a safe and effective way to increase your gains. The best way to do so is to change up your workout routine every few weeks and incorporate a few of these incredible exercises and lifts. Changing up your routine can help you work more muscle groups, avoid plateauing, and avoid boredom.
If you're unsure how to perform a compound lift correctly, consult with your trainer or a fitness professional. They can demonstrate proper technique to avoid injury and burnout. Nothing can stop you once you've mastered the proper technique.
