What are compound exercises?
Weight lifting exercises can be separated into two broad categories: compound movements and isolation movements.
Isolation exercises are different from compound exercises
Isolation exercises are those which move a single joint through its range of motion. Examples include:
- Bicep concentration curls (elbow joint)
- Triceps kickbacks (elbow joint)
- Leg extension machine (quadriceps muscle and knee joint)
- Calf raises (ankle joint)
These moves are called “isolation” exercises because they put major stress on a single, isolated muscle.
A strongman performing an overhead press
For example, the squat involves both ankles, knees, and hips. And it puts major training stress on the quads, hamstrings, glutes, back and core, and a host of small, stabilizing muscles. Even though it’s a single strength training exercise, it works many parts of the body.
With a half-dozen compound exercises, you get a full-body workout. This style of strength training quickly builds muscle mass and overall fitness and it strengthens the body as a whole. Plus, it builds athleticism.
Training for speed versus training for strength
Although it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, you can generally divide compound exercises into two main types:
- Olympic lifts, such as the clean and jerk or the snatch. These movements develop power and speed.
- Power lifts like the bench press, deadlift, and powerlifting squat. They’re deceptively named because they don’t actually build power. They develop pure max strength.
Compound exercises are more suitable for skinny guys who want to bulk up than isolation exercises will ever be
Devotees of either style of lifting will undoubtedly argue the minutiae of the distinction I draw between Olympic lifts and powerlifting. But the point to take away from it all is that there are two different schools of thought about which compound exercises are best. Let me explain:
Some athletes use weight training as a tool to improve their sports performance. These guys tend towards the Olympic-style lifts.
Other folks view weight training as an end in and of itself. They gravitate towards powerlifting.
Both styles have their good and bad points, but one thing is clear: compound exercises of any stripe are more suitable for skinny guys who want to bulk up than isolation exercises will ever be.
Compound exercises for bulking up
Adding significant muscle mass is not a trivial task.
To put on good quality muscle, you must work out very hard. And you also have to steadily increase your body weight. Furthermore, your joints and connective tissue must strengthen and adapt in concert with your muscles.
Just like you wouldn’t put a high-performance engine into a compact car with a puny power-train, you can’t put 10 kilos of muscle on a frame that’s weak and unprepared for the additional stress that comes with being bigger and more powerful.
This is where compound exercises come in.
Olympic-style lifts are compound movements
They develop the body as a whole rather than as a collection of seemingly-unrelated parts.
Make no mistake about it: the body is not a collection of unrelated parts. If you train like it is, you will eventually injure yourself. Compound movements find the weak link in your power train and put maximum stress right there where it will do the most good. Your muscles won’t get stronger unless and until your joints can handle the additional power. This is a good thing.
Bodybuilders and others who incorporate isolation exercises into their workouts are training for hypertrophy, not absolute strength. Anyone who relies solely on isolation movements will inevitably develop weak spots. These areas of weakness will eventually give way when they’re subjected to enough stress.
Why do people perform isolation movements?
Large 200-pound and above bodybuilders know they can get an extra inch or so out of their arms by doing curls and tricep isolation exercises. They want the extra size, regardless of whether it translates into real strength.
But don’t be fooled. These big fellows didn’t get huge by ignoring the compound lifts. The huge guys in any bodybuilding gym paid their dues with compound moves when they were developing, just like every other successful weight lifter.
Smaller lifters do isolation exercises because they don’t know any better.
Yes, it’s true that smaller guys can pump up a bit with isolation movements. But this is a Faustian bargain. When these guys stop working out, the size goes away quickly. And if they ever get stressed to the max, the weak links fail because of the lack of athleticism.
Aside from bodybuilders who are already big, the people who use isolation exercises while supposedly bulking up do so because these movements are easier than heavy compound lifts like squats, overhead presses, or pullups. They would rather “feel the burn” in their biceps than feel like they were just hit by a freight-train after doing a set of squats. Compound exercises are hard, but there is no substitute for the effect they have on your body. Nobody said bulking up wasn’t hard work.
Which weight lifting exercises are the best?
There is a classic combination of compound weight lifting exercises that most successful lifters used to bulk up. It’s known as the “golden five”. When most people talk about doing a “whole-body routine”, this is what they are referring to.
| Exercise Name | Major Muscle Groups | Minor Muscle Groups |
| Squats | Quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back | Lower legs, upper back, core stabilizing muscles, hip complex |
| Deadlifts | Grip, lower back, hamstrings, traps, back of shoulders | Lower legs, core, upper legs, isometric work for biceps, and virtually everything else |
| Bench press | Pecs, triceps, front of the shoulders | Serratus muscles at side of ribs, side of shouders, neck |
| Pullups (or rows) | Lats and upper back, biceps, grip | Core, neck |
| Overhead pressing | Shoulders, triceps | Core stabilizing muscles, neck |
These movements will stress your entire body and cause it to grow as a unit, with no weak links. Other than that, all you need is a bit of running or other high-rep work for your calves. Heavy squats and deadlifts will stress the soleus muscles of your calf complex, but calves are probably not suitable for direct, low-rep isolation work while you’re also trying to bulk up.
Compound lifts for building muscle mass
Lots of people don’t like compound lifts for these reasons:
- It takes time and effort to learn proper technique.
- It takes time to build up the degree of flexibility needed to take compound exercises through a full range of motion.
- Compound exercises are hard and exhausting. A set of pullups is an ordeal; a set of bicep curls is something you can do while talking on the phone.
- Free weight barbells are intimidating. Dumbells suitable for isolation exercises are less scary.
Barbells are perfect for use with compound movements
Play around with isolation exercises if you are bored, but don’t wear yourself out. The real work should go into the compound movements during your regular workout. While isolation exercises are good to know, especially if you are nursing an injury and you can’t perform a full range of motion compound exercise, they don’t take the place of a proper weight training workout.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Mass Phase ? What other phases are there? What do they consist of? How long is each phase? What do the exercise routines look like. I work Full time And drive home 3.5 hours on a daily basis. Thanks Kindly
Hi Michael:
During a mass-building workout, you are gaining weight and muscle by eating an excess of calories and lifting with a high level of intensity. Your body can’t withstand this intensity year-round. A typical mass phase might be three months at the most. After that, you probably need a period of rest and recovery.
Other than mass-building workouts, you can do sports-specific strength workouts, general fitness and strength-maintenance workouts, rehab workouts, etc. Basically, if you are gaining weight you are in a mass phase, but if not, you are doing something else.
I am hesitant to recommend a one size fits all workout here on this website, but you can see some of the thinking that goes into program design in this article: designing a bodybuilding workout.
The length of a typical routine depends on your level of proficiency with weight training. As long as the gains keep coming, don’t change what’s working. When your results begin to plateau, then you are no longer a beginner and you will need an intermediate or adanced routine.
Many people on the web use and recommend the routines found in these places:
Strength Mill Forum
Sherdog strength and power FAQ
If you like books, here is a good one at amazon.com: Starting Strength (2nd edition)
How does weight training for the abdominal come into all this? Why are abdominal exercises not included in the golden five?
Hi Ken:
Virtually all compound exercises involve the core (or abdominals). If you add separate ab work, you will probably limit your ability to make progress in the main compound lifts.
You can bulk up with a full body compound exercise routine, or you can isolate the abdominals and build a six-pack, but unless you are genetically gifted and a bit lucky, you can’t do both at the same time.
Just as the arms get a lot of (indirect) work from bench presses, pull-ups, and other compound exercises, so do the abdominals. If your abs (or any other part of your core) are the weak link, compound exercises will strengthen them up just fine.
Hey there,
Just wondering about the rep range. Can mass still be put on by using a maximal strength workout (i.e. approx 5 reps/set) rather than a traditional hypertrophy program (8-12 reps)??
thanks
I believe it’s easy to gain mass at 5 reps per set, especially for guys who are skinny or underweight. I think 5 sets of 5 is a great program for strength or hypertrophy. The only thing to worry about is that at 5 reps, the intensity is very high and this can lead to injury if your form isn’t perfect. At 10 reps, intensity is lower and technique isn’t quite as important.
My theory is: if you’re going 5 reps to failure in the squat, you’d better have good technique and proper flexibility. If you have bad squatting technique or flexibility problems on that last rep, you’re going to cause trouble for yourself. But at 10 reps to failure, things are a lot more forgiving: you can squat your way into shape and work on technique at the higher rep ranges.
I am 40 years old and had three back surgeries (disc problems) years ago. My last back surgery was at age 38. I was dead lifting about 275 and “pop”. I have been working out with weights for a few years since but have recently started light weight squats and dead lifts. I have been trying higher reps but have no clue how many sets or reps to shoot for. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hi Joseph:
I am not qualified to give you any advice about training with a surgically-reconstructed back. What I do know is that if a person has had back or knee surgery, they’re never going to be as capable as someone who has avoided injury, and they’re going to have to face up to the fact that certain activities will forever be off-limits.
There comes a point in lots of peoples’ lives when their youthful dreams of immortality suddenly disappear with a “pop“. After that, training is best geared towards injury prevention, joint mobility, and quality of life.
Although there are plenty of anecdotes on the ‘web demonstrating how someone was able to deadlift heavy weights after disc surgery, I’m not prepared to ever recommend deadlifting to someone with back problems. I have absolutely no experience in the matter, one way or the other.
Weight lifting — even for young, healthy, athletic people — is implicated in tens of thousands of back injuries every year. According to the US Government’s Consumer Products Safety Commission, in the year 2009 there were 14,734 emergency-room visits just in the United States because of lower-back injury during weight lifting. That figure doesn’t include emergency-room visits by people who hurt their back lifting things other than weights.
Heavy deadlifting should be done only after a thorough warmup, and then only if your flexibility is sufficient to allow you to keep your back/spine oriented properly, and then only once per week. Anyone who is unsure whether they are flexible enough to deadlift heavy weights should read Mark Ripptoe’s Starting Strength. A lot of the weight-training advice on some well-regarded internet sites is simply re-written directly from Ripptoe’s book. In lieu of that, perhaps get some advice from an experienced trainer who has a degree in something like kinesiology or exercise physiology and is a member of a professional organization like the NSCA. For those who want more reading, Krista gives some useful info on how to choose a personal trainer.
Good luck!
I have been working out for 4 months now and I don’t see any difference in my body I wonder if me working 12 hours at work could be the problem with me not bulking up because I’m still stuck at 185 pounds and I would like to be 200 pounds
Working out doesn’t make you bigger; eating does. Everything starts with your nutrition. Frankly, if you’re 185, you’re already pretty big unless you’re carrying a lot of body fat. To get up to 200 pounds ripped is very difficult. On the other hand, getting to 200 pounds and 20% body fat is easy (that means you have 40 pounds of fat).
I’d suggest this:
I forgot to mention that I’m 5’11 and 185 pounds I lift as heavy as I can doing 5 sets of 5 – 7 reps mainly with squats and bench I really do believe that I could get up to 200 pounds if I could get my bird legs to grow, but it really is very difficult with lack of rest because of my 7 p.m. – 7 a.m. work schedule. Sometimes I’m drained please give me a workout schedule that I could do on my days off which is 3 days one week and 4 the next. I’d really appreciate it Thomas.
now i m away from gym for last 2 years coz i was fail to get mass. Now i m again trying to start using only 5 major compound exercises. i m 6.3 ft tall and only 80kg. I lived in Pakistan where mostly weather is hot. I tried with heavy lifting with 8 reps max with 4 sets but no gains. i did one body part once in 5 days. I also use mage mass gainer etc suppliments for 6 months but got some weight like 2 to 3 kg. i want to be 96kg atleast. Someone told me to do compound one. i.e for chest only do bench press. some one help me.
just tell me for chest, should i do only bench press and for shoulders should i do only over head press and for back only pull ups. or i must do inclines bench press too?
Please send tips on my email eddress.
Hi.
Just about to start a programme using compound moves for the first time in an attempt to bulk up. Your site has offered loads of good advice, many thanks! One question: once I reach the three month mark and take a rest, what can I do to prevent dropping the weight that I will hopefully have added? Thanks for a reply.
There’s no need to take a rest unless your body demands it. Unfortunately, it takes experience to know if your body is in need of rest.
The cruel fact is: when you stop (or slow down) your workouts, you will lose strength. Even the best pro athletes reach a “peak” when they’re at their best. But they can’t peak continuously; they have to back off at some point.
If you want to back off a bit, try working out at 50% to 80% for a while. Doing that, you’ll probably avoid losing strength and mass.
I advise you to avoid getting obsessed with maximums and constant progress. True success past a certain point requires long-term thinking and injury prevention.
Good luck; I wish I could offer a more satisfying answer but I don’t want to pretend I know things that I don’t.
hey there hi i loved your article but i have a huge problem you look like professional so i hope you can help me out , i m skinny and i need help increasing the width of my arms i m pretty satisfied with my side view but when i see my front view they are so thin that elblw is seen out of my arms like this ,
shoulder—–>======( )===3^<— my fingers please help me i really need help
Hi. It’s very difficult to increase the size of your arms unless you also add muscle to your torso. I wrote some more about this in compound exercises for biceps and triceps.
If you want to stick to typical isolation exercises for the arms, concentrate on your triceps since they are naturally larger than the biceps. You might also add some hammer curls to your arm workouts; some people claim hammer curls target the brachioradialis muscles which sort of stick out the side of your arm near the elbow.
But mainly, I think you shouldn’t worry too much about what you see in the mirror. Once you add 10 to 15 pounds of overall muscle mass, your arms won’t look as skinny. Good luck and don’t worry about the mirror!
can you recommend any exercises for bulking up your torso?
I’ve mostly read in my life that to grow bigger, one must do low reps/heavy weights (plus nutrition), and that high reps/lighter weights come in the “cutting ” part of the season.
Your website seems to suggest the opposite? I’m trying to bulk up. Help me out here.
When I Joined the Coast Guard I weighed in at 165 at 6′ 0″. I had minimal body fat, but I wanted to gain more lean muscle mass. I started reading Brooks Kubik’s book, Dinosaur Training, and started to implement some of his suggestions in my workouts. I cut out all isolation exercises and only do heavy compound exercises now. I usually do a push/pull/legs split routine, very basic and it gives me time to rest and recooperate after training. Bench press, overhead press/ pullups, barbell rows, deadlifts/ squats, lunges, sled pulls. I have gained 40 lbs of lean muscle since then and I can now squat 365, deadlift 405, bench press 315, and overhead press 225. In my opinion there is no substitute for a balanced healthy diet and honest hard work with the compounds. Hope this helps!
Hi Coastie:
Thanks for the comment. It’s great to hear about your lifting success.
Brooks Kubik — via his Dinosaur Training books and videos — was an inspiration to a generation of web-savvy weight lifters. He was the first guy on the internet who showed how conventional wisdom about weight lifting (bodybuilding-style workouts) wasn’t right for everyone. His back to basics style appealed to a lot of guys who wanted to get as strong as possible. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for the lessons he taught us in an era where marketing hype often seemed to trump common sense.
But he has his detractors too. His ultra-hardcore lifting style is very hard on the body; many folks complain that Dinosaur-style training isn’t sustainable over the long-term. In fact, Brooks acknowledges that he made mistakes in his younger years. His shoulder joints are very unhealthy now, and I think I heard him mention that he also has back problems. Last I heard, he now trains mainly with bodyweight exercises.
Brooks was (and still is) a talented weight lifter and an intelligent, articulate teacher. But he was a lawyer, not an athletic trainer. Unlike someone like Ripptoe, Kubik didn’t watch hundreds of different kids get stronger and more powerful over a period of several years. Kubik’s lifting philosophy was shaped by what worked for him in the moment. He erred when he assumed everyone was just like him. Furthermore, he erred when he assumed that his body would last forever under a workload that would kill an ordinary man.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is: everything in moderation. We can’t go 100% all the time. When designing a program, rest, recovery, and an off-season should be given just as much attention as diet and lifting. In his early days, Brooks Kubik de-emphasized rest and recovery while over-emphasizing year-round ultra-intense heavy lifting.
I’ve devoured all of Brooks’ books and vids and I loved every word of them. They’re very inspirational. But I wouldn’t give them to a kid that was just starting out.
I agree, his training philosophy is not for year round training. But when applied to a consistent lifter’s regimen for short cycles it can be very effective in producing both gains in lean mass and in strength. Of course proper warmups and prehab are necessary, without it one would certainly increase the chances of sustaining an injury.
hello
I was wondering if you could give me some advice in how to get bigger legs. You see i have skinny legs that look out of proportion with the rest of my body and for a few months i ate a lot thinking that it would help get them bigger but I gained weight everywere but nearly nothing on my legs and arms. Will doing heavy squats and deadlifts really help my legs get bigger? thanks
I am 19 years old, and I think it’s getting me harder to gain weight. Eating on time, more foods. But, there’s no changes. What should I do?
hi there
i just wanted to know if u can use all those compound movements in one workout three times a week. please help many thanks.
I just wanted to see if you could create a successful bulking up routine of pure compound exercises (such as your golden five) using dumbbells rather than barbells?
Thanks, David
Dumbbells won’t work very well for you. You need heavy weights. Yes, heavy dumbbells exist, but it’s hard to get them in position.
(On the other hand, dumbbells can be useful for developing power. One-handed DB snatches are fantastic for this sort of thing.)
I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff regarding compound movements and how they affect a teenagers growth. I just wanted to know what weight lifting exercises I should be doing. I’m 15 years old, 5’11 and 175 lbs.
Hi
I just wanted to know, by doing these compound movements in my bulking stage will I see a growth with regards to my chest. Coz I really want a huge ‘arnold’ chest.
hey my name is james i work out and born very lean but cant gain mass,i was reading up bout compound movements and just wondering do i do the same rountine mon,wed,fri,,thanks alot,,,
It’s virtually impossible to perform heavy deadlifts 3 times per week. It’s too hard on the body. I suggest getting a good strength training book and following one of the programs therein.
Hi thomas I’m a senoir in high school and am trying to put on some mass for wrestling right now I’m about 125 do u think I would gain more weight from 3 sets of 5 reps or 3 sets of 8 reps
Ey there
I’m 20, fair fit, been doing a little bit of gym work
I wanna bulk up bit still keep it lean. I’m 75 kgs and want to bulk up to 80-85. What sort of rep and set numbers should I follow?
my body was lean my workout going last 1/5 yr continue .
1-is it possible doing biceps & then triceps .{same priod}
and tell me how can get bulkey body.
wht am doing double body part or single body part.which of best ?
Hi,
Thanks for this wonderful column, I am sold on compound exercises and have switched my workouts routines to now focus on compound exercises.
I have a question on diet front. I am a lanky 5’ 11, 155-160 lbs, a lifelong vegetarian that can only eat eggs in sparing intervals and dislike tofu. I have been looking get up to 170 lbs but have been unable to do so by working out for past two years (mainly focusing on isolations) and taking in protein shakes along with steady meals.
I am wondering if you are for or against the use of creatine to supplement muscle growth. Any other tips and suggestions are also welcomed.
I’m not against creatine, per se, but I don’t think it will benefit you very much, if at all. I will write an ‘intro to creatine’ article at some point. Your best bet is to track your nutrition and your body weight (and your body composition, if possible) while making changes or additions to your nutrition that cause you to gain weight at a slow but steady rate. Good luck!
PS – There have been some successful vegetarian bodybuilders (‘though they used anabolics), so it’s possible to gain significant amounts of muscle mass without using large quantities of animal proteins.
Thanks for your response Thomas. I hope see gains with continued focus on compound exercise. Having done so in the last 3 weeks is already showing some promise.
Hi,
Many thanks for this great article. I will definitely do more compound exercises .
I have a question. I was 215lbs (lots of body fat and out of shape) I started exercising 7 months ago, doing cardio and basic weight. I have advanced in my cardo and weights. Initially I dropped down to 196 lbs then when i progressed with weights I got to 202lb. I still have fat, especially around the belly area (although it went down). I really want to get my weight (fat) down while gaining muscles as well. I am getting confused, I feel I am stuck at this weigh for 2 months now. I go to the gym 3 times a week, 30 mins cardio and 50 mins weights. and 2 days a week i do 45 mins cardio. What do you think would be the most effective way to lose all the fat and bulk up on muscles?
Thanks!
Most bodybuilding experts — who are expert at manipulating their body composition — say it’s best to first lose the fat and get “cut”, then start eating and lifting heavy.
I won’t promise that you can lose the belly fat while also adding muscle mass. Some athletically-gifted people may be able to do that, but most folks can only reach one of those goals at a time. Good luck!
Hello, Im 22, 6 feet tall and weight 136 lbs, I just started working out at the gym and the trainer put me doing isolation exercises with low weight, 1 exercise per muscle per training.
I wonder, would it be better if I did compound exercises with low weight?
What should I do at the very begginning, I never trained before. I will need 3-4 weeks just to adapt, what exercises are best for this “adaptation phase”? And what after?
Thanks.
Hey read your article, Needed a little help and advice.. I started gymming abt 5 months now . I am 5’11 tall . My weight was 46 when i started now its 51 . But now its not gaining .. I read what you wrote abt compund exercise . But can u give me schedule which i can do for a month . Means monday to saturday . IT would be a great help . I really need to put on weight . As i know i am underweight according to height . And to add to it i really want to wear T-shirts as i cant wear them right now .. lolz.. if can please help..
Hi Steve,
Im just begining a hardgainer 3 day workout with coumpound exercises. My question is, should i wait until the soreness from my last workout doing squats is completely gone bfore working my quads again? At what point are your muscles, lets say “rebuilt” and ready to be torn doun again?
Thanks: Mike
Just squat 3 times per week; don’t try to delay until the soreness goes away. After a few weeks of lifting regularly, you won’t feel sore after a workout. Most of the soreness experienced by beginners is the result of stretching, rather than muscular fatigue. Good luck, and remember to constantly think about maintaining proper squat form as you squat your way into shape.
Hi Thomas, I want to increase my upper body size but not my lower body( ive always had a good lower body and with the addition of all the sports i played it really helped me develop my lower body even more), how would i get the benefits of squats and deads without gaining the size, if thats possible?
what would be a good compound movement to work your calves ?? I’ve been looking for one but all i could find were isolation movements like the calve raise ??
Hey Thomas, thanks a lot this has really helped me understand how to workout and not waste energy. My question is if you can recommend any routine? I heard that I should workout three time a week and each day should be different but im not sure what is the “correct routine”