A compound exercise is a multi-joint movement that work many muscle groups at the same time. The opposite of these movements are isolation exercises which typically focus (or isolate) a single muscle group at a time. So why should we focus on compound movements?
Because compound movements focus on multiple muscle groups at the same time we are able to not only target the large muscles, but some of the smaller ones as well. When we do this all at the same time we can keep our workouts shorter (because our lives are busy right) and we are able to better train our bodies for real-life situations. When we are doing movement in our day-to-day life we are not typically using only the bicep to complete that movement, there is usually more involved than that. Let’s use an example to help this make sense. Let’s say you are lifting a heavy grocery bag out of the trunk of your car. You may mimic a bicep curl movement to lift that bag yes…but think about this. You are probably leaning over the trunk using your lower back, hips and glutes. Then you are going to walk that bag into the house and odds are you aren’t going to be perfectly balanced on both sides, which means you will be activating your core to help keep you upright. As you walk to the door you are also using your hips, glutes, calves, ect to execute the walking movement. The point of all this is to show that while it may have started looking like a simple movement that uses the bicep muscle, it’s actually so much more than that, and compound movements can help train our bodies for this!
Let’s talk about some of the most common compound exercises that can give you a full-body workout quickly and efficiently.
Squat
Ensure that the J hooks of the squat rack are positioned around your armpit height and step under the bar. Place the bar across your trap muscles and lift the bar out of the hooks by standing up tall. Take a step back from the rack to ensure that you have enough room to complete the movement. Start by reaching your hips backwards like you are reaching your butt back towards an imaginary chair behind you. Keep your weight evenly distributed throughout your feet. Aim to get your thighs parallel with the floor or a 90 degree bend at the knee (not everyone will be able to get this initially and that’s okay, if you don’t have it yet just ensure you are focusing on range of motion when you practice your squatting movements). Ensure that you keep your chest high as you drop down into position. At the bottom of the movement, drive through your feet evenly and stand back up to your start position.
Bench Press
Lying on a bench ensure that you have positioned the safety bars appropriately. If you rest the barbell on the safety bar it should not be crushing your chest (this is the best way to set up your bench press when you don’t have anyone to spot you). You can also leave the clips off the bar of you need to bail out of the lift. Lying under the bar reach up and grasp the bar at a comfortable distance (typically outside of shoulder width). Lift the bar off the J hooks and position it straight over your chest. Bending at the elbows lower the bar towards your chest keeping your elbows from flaring wide out to the side. At the bottom of the movement push the barbell away from your chest to the start position with full extension of the elbows (you don’t need to lock your elbows at the top).
Deadlift
Begin by setting up the barbell on the floor ensuring that you are using bumper plates if you have access (if you don’t have access you can try elevating the bar slightly with small boxes or from safety arms to give yourself a little more height). Ideally you want the bar positioned at about mid-shin. Position your feet about hip width apart. Your spine should stay neutral throughout the movement. With your hands positioned on the bar outside of your legs draw the shoulder blades down and back and pull the slack out of the bar to activate your lats. Keep the bar close to you as you stand up moving through the knees and hips at the same time. At the top of the movement begin your hip hinge backwards to lower the bar back towards the floor maintaining a neutral spine the whole time. Repeat the movement for desired reps.
Barbell Overhead Press
Begin with the barbell in front of you at the level of your collar bones. Keep your core tight and avoid arching in the lower back throughout the movement. Push the barbell overhead taking it out in front of your face and finish with the barbell straight over top of your head (the barbell path will look like a slight arch around your face). Return to the start position in a controlled manner. Ensure that your core stays tight throughout this movement and that the spine stays neutral.
Barbell Hip Thrust
On a bench ensure that you position just under your shoulder blades on a bench behind you. Ensure that you are using 45 lbs plates or bumper plates for this movement so that you are able to easily roll the bar over your legs to your hips. Position your feet in a position so that when your hips are fully extended your knees are over top of your hips. Beginning from the bottom of the movement your butt will be close to the floor. Squeeze through the glues and extend through the hips to generate a table top position at the top of the movement. Keep your feet flat on the floor throughout the movement. At the top of the movement squeeze the glutes and then slowly lower your hips back to the start position in a controlled manner.
Which compound exercise are you trying first? Putting a couple of these exercises together can give you a full-body workout without having to do 10 exercises. If you aren’t incorporating compound exercises today, let me know what’s stopping you!
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