Compound exercises need no introduction, at least not to fitness freaks. However, even if you don’t know them, you might be including these exercises in your daily routine without realizing. So, for those, who are not aware of or familiar with this terminology or, more importantly, these types of exercises, fret not. We are here to help you! Before we proceed to share different types of compound movement exercises, let us first understand what are compound exercises exactly.
What Are Compound Exercises?
Basically, compound exercises are moves in which you tend to work multiple muscle groups simultaneously. For instance, if you are doing push-ups, you have to move your elbow joints as well as shoulders, and even during squats, you need to work your quadriceps, calves and glutes. Moreover, you can also mix two isolation exercises to make more muscles work. You ask how? Well, for instance, you can do lunges with bicep curls. So, if you are short on time but want a complete body workout, compound movement exercises are just the right option for you! With this, we now have a fair idea about compound exercises, so let’s have a look at the types of exercises that fall into this specific category.
List of Compound Exercises
If you are wondering what all types of exercises can be categorised into compound movement exercises, the following list is for you:
- Squats
- Chest press/bench press
- Overhead press
- Deadlifts
- Pull-ups
- Lunges with bicep curls
- Forward lunges with twists
- Shoulder press
- Bent-over row
Benefits of Compound Exercises
This is no unknown fact that including any type of exercise in our everyday routine has countless benefits, and compound movement exercises are no different. Moreover, they are known to offer more benefits in less time. This is because these multi-joint moves not only engage your muscle groups but also target multiple joints in one go. So, this training style can help you build strength more quickly as compared to other types of workouts, like isolation exercises. That being said, let’s delve further into this topic and learn more about the benefits of compound exercises.
Time saviour: When you are targeting multiple muscles in one go, you can achieve more in less time. Compound movement exercises help you achieve a full-body workout in a shorter time frame, thus making them ideal for those with tight schedules.
Burn additional calories: The best compound exercises help in burning extra calories simply because you are engaging several muscle groups simultaneously.
Boosts heart rate: If you want to increase your cardiovascular fitness, look no further than compound movement exercises. These exercises improve the heart’s ability to pump blood, thereby augmenting cardiovascular endurance.
Improvement in functional fitness: If you look closely, some of the compound exercises are simply the activities which we perform daily, like pushing, lifting, and pulling. Hence, these exercises help boost functional strength to carry out real-life activities easily.
Augmentation in strength: Some of the best compound exercises help in building strength at a faster pace as compared to other exercises. This is because these exercises tend to train multiple muscle groups at the same time.
Improved balance and coordination: Involving movement of a wide variety of muscle groups, compound exercises help improve intermuscular coordination, and joint mobility and stability.
Strengthens core: Some compound movement exercises, including deadlifts and squats, require core stability, thereby helping strengthen the abdominal as well as lower back muscles.
Seeing multiple benefits, if you are wondering how you can reap maximum benefits by including these exercises in your daily routine, then fret not. Including compound exercises in your workout plan is fairly simple and you can maximise the benefits of compound movement exercises by considering the following tips:
- Don’t forget to warm up so that your joints and muscles are well-prepared.
- Initially, perform these exercises two or three times a week for body to adapt them gradually.
- Focus on different muscle groups and give a break of 48 hours between each strength session so that your muscles can rest and recover adequately.
- Gradually increase the weight to promote muscle growth.
- Make sure to maintain the correct form to avoid the risk of injuries.
- If you feel dizzy or unwell at any point in time, don’t continue the workout.
Conclusion
Indulging in compound exercises is a power-packed way to gain muscle mass, increase functional strength, and build overall strength. By including these multi-joint moves into your workout regime, you can reap multiple benefits as seen above. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, these compound exercises are sure to yield considerable results over a period of time.
Last but not least, make sure to prioritise proper form and technique, and gradually increase resistance, to reap the complete benefits of these exercises.
