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.

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Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Begin A New Strength Training Program « Get the Perfect Body
March 10, 2010 at 8:54 am

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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

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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)

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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?

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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.

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