What Are Compound Movements?

If increasing strength or improving your overall fitness is your goal then you need to include compound movements in your workout.

So, this basically means most of the population should be doing compound exercises. Compound movements are exercises that use several muscles at once and are known as multi-joint movements. The most common compound movements include -

• Squat

• Deadlift

• Row

• Bench Press

• Push Press

However, compound movements aren’t just limited to these, there are several others and many variations of these exercises. Another great thing about compound movements is that you can mix up the equipment you use, it doesn’t have to be big weights and barbells. Some of the items you can use for compound movements are -

• Barbells

• Dumbbells

• Kettlebells

• Resistance Bands

• Weight Plates

In contrast, there are isolated movements that also can be useful exercises to add to your workout. These are single-joint movements that only focus on one muscle group. This could be an exercise such as sissy squats to focus on the quadriceps. Both types of movement are useful in training depending on your goals, however compound movements provide more benefits overall for most people.

What are the benefits of compound movements?

Burns More Calories Than Other Movements

The beauty of weight training is that not only does it help you build muscle, but it’s also an effective way to burn fat. Because you are using several muscle groups when performing a compound movement, it requires more effort and therefore more calories are burnt as opposed to doing smaller, single-joint movements. Your heart-rate will increase and you’ll feel as though you’ve just done a sprint on the treadmill.

Improve Mobility

First let’s quickly clear up what we mean by mobility, because it isn’t the same as flexibility. Mobility is your active range of motion. Flexibility is passive. When you perform compound movements, you are taking your muscles to their end range of motion in a controlled manner. By choosing technique over the amount of weight you lift, you will be able to increase your range of motion so that you can move better. This is essential for being able to move well in day-to-day life.

Lift Heavy

When performing single-joint movements, because you are restricted to one muscle group you can only lift so heavy. With multi-joint movements you aren’t restricted in the same way. You are using large muscle groups and lots of them, so you can push, pull and squat a lot more.

Compound Movement Training Plan

You can plan a whole workout using compound movements, or use a mix of compound and isolated movements. This depends on your goals and your training preferences. Here is an example of a full body compound workout, that includes some supersets.

Warm Up

• Speed rope (2 minutes)

• Bodyweight squats (15)

• Bodyweight lunges (8 each side)

Workout

• Barbell / goblet squats (4x8)

• Dumbbell bench press (4x8)

• A1 - seated cable row (3x12)

• A2 - push ups (3x10)

• B1 - dumbbell Romanian deadlifts (3x10)

• B2 - dumbbell walking lunges (3x10)

But the fun doesn’t stop there with compound movements. There are hundreds of variations of the above exercises that you can incorporate into your training routine. You’ll never have a boring gym session again and you’ll be getting stronger each time.

You can read our ultimate guide to power racks here

Written by guest author Eryn Barber.

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Workout