Bench press

Compound Exercises

What are compound exercises?

Weight lifting exercises can be separated into two broad categories: compound movements and isolation movements.

Isolation exercises are those which move a single joint through its range of motion. Examples include the bicep concentration curl or the tricep kickback which both involve the elbow, the leg extension involving the knee, or calf raises which involve the ankle. They’re called “isolation” exercises because they put major stress on a single, isolated muscle.

A strongman performing an overhead press

A strongman performing an overhead press

Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that rely on the coordinated actions of several muscle groups to move two or more joints through a range of motion. The squat, for instance, involves both ankles, knees and hips and puts major stress on the quads, hamstrings, glutes, back and core, and a host of small, stabilizing muscles.

With a half-dozen compound exercises, you can get a full-body workout that will quickly build muscle mass and overall fitness while strengthening the body as a whole.

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, develop power and speed. The deceptively-named power lifts – the bench press, deadlift, and powerlifting squat – rely on 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 on which compound exercises are best. Athletes who use weight training as a tool to improve their sports performance tend towards the Olympic-style lifts, while folks who view weight training as an end in and of itself 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. Not only must you work out very hard to put on good quality muscle while increasing your body weight, but 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

Olympic-style lifts are compound movements

Compound exercises stress not only your muscles, but your joints, ligaments, and tendons. 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. If they rely solely on isolation movements, they will inevitably develop weak spots that 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. Smaller lifters do isolation exercises because they don’t know any better. Yes, it’s true that you can pump up a bit with isolation movements, but it’s a Faustian bargain: the size will go away quickly if you stop working out, and if you ever get stressed to the max, your weak links will fail.

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” and 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:

  1. It takes time and effort to learn proper technique.
  2. It takes time to build up the degree of flexibility needed to take compound exercises through a full range of motion.
  3. 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.
  4. Free weight barbells are intimidating. Dumbells suitable for isolation exercises are less scary.

Barbells are perfect for use with compound movements

Barbells are perfect for use with compound movements

Stick to compound exercises while you are in your mass-building phase.

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.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Michael November 3, 2009 at 6:03 pm

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

Reply

Thomas November 3, 2009 at 6:58 pm

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
StrongLifts 5×5 program
Sherdog strength and power FAQ

If you like books, here is a good one at amazon.com: Starting Strength (2nd edition)

Reply

Ken D'Aquila March 3, 2010 at 1:56 pm

How does weight training for the abdominal come into all this? Why are abdominal exercises not included in the golden five?

Reply

Thomas March 4, 2010 at 8:47 am

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.

Reply

danny May 5, 2010 at 3:12 pm

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

Reply

Thomas May 21, 2010 at 1:56 am

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.

Reply

joseph June 3, 2010 at 11:11 pm

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.

Reply

Thomas June 6, 2010 at 6:15 am

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!

Reply

Charles Hines August 4, 2010 at 2:08 am

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

Reply

Thomas August 5, 2010 at 6:46 am

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:

  • Figure out your body composition
  • Create an eating plan that causes you to gain a pound of body weight per week (unless you’re carrying too much fat already)
  • Add a bit of weight to the bar each time you lift

Reply

Charles Hines August 5, 2010 at 8:09 am

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.

Reply

Z.N khan August 17, 2010 at 2:58 pm

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.

Reply

SteveD August 29, 2010 at 12:45 pm

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.

Reply

Leave a Comment