Battling New Year's Gym Crowds? These 10 Compound Exercises Save Time, Maximize Gains

In the world of weightlifting, isolation movements certainly have their place—especially if you're trying to sculpt individual muscles. Hammering each on its own is essential for getting the elite-level pump bodybuilders covet (think hamstring exercises, biceps exercises, and calf exercises). While isolation moves like biceps curls and calf raises can undoubtedly help your muscles grow, they aren't nearly as valuable as compound exercises.

What Are Compound Exercises?

"A compound exercise is a movement that involves multiple joints working at the same time," says fitness expert and certified personal trainer Lee Boyce. "This will allow plenty of muscles to contract together and help with joint health and have the added benefit of better strength building and more calorie burning per set."

Because compound exercises generally require more balance and coordination, allow for the use of heavier weight, involve multiple muscle groups, and work the body in a more “functional” manner, they're key for building both size and strength.

While most people think of the big three—squats, benches, and deadlifts—as the holy grail of compound movements, they aren't the only noteworthy options. Other movements, like the ones listed below, can help you grow just the same. 

Best Compound Exercises

The following 10 compound movements will make sure you will get the most out of every rep. 

Upper Body Compound Exercises

Barbell Bench Press

Muscles Worked

Chest, anterior deltoids, triceps

How to Do It

1. Lie back on a bench and grasp the bar with hands just outside shoulder width, to start.
2. Arch your back and tighten your glutes and abs.
3. Plant your feet firmly.
4. Pull the bar out of the rack and lower it to your sternum.
5. Push your feet into the floor as you press the bar back up.
6. After you’re warmed up, choose a weight that would allow you to do about 8 reps but perform only 5 per set.

Pro Tip

Keep your rib cage high, your lower back arched, and your shoulders down and back for maximal pectoral recruitment.

Dip

Muscles Worked

Chest, anterior deltoids, triceps

How to Do It

1. Suspend your body from parallel bars, to start.
2. Lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor and then press back up.
3. That's 1 rep.
4. Hold the top of each rep for 5 seconds.

Pro Tip

To focus more on the chest, lean your torso forward about 45 degrees throughout the set. For more triceps recruitment, keep your torso straight. Make sure you execute a full range of motion in this exercise.

Bentover Row

Muscles Worked

Lats, traps, rhomboid, lower back

How to Do It

1. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip at shoulder width and let it hang in front of your thighs, to start.
2. Bend at the hips and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor.
3. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the bar to your belly.
4. That's 1 rep.

Pro Tip

Keep the knees slightly bent to help support the low back. Bend the torso at about an 80-degree angle. Pull the bar to the belly button to activate the lats to a greater degree, and closer to the chest to hit more of the mid/upper back musculature.

Pullup

Muscles Worked

Lats, traps, rhomboid

How to Do It

1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder width and palms facing away from you, to start.
2. Pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar.
3. That's 1 rep.

Pro Tip

Change the width of your grip workout to workout to stimulate different parts of the back. You can also experiment with pulling to the upper, mid, or lower chest for even greater variation.

Overhead Press

Muscles Worked

Anterior deltoids, upper pectorals, triceps

How to Do It

1. Place a barbell on a rack set to shoulder height, to start.
2. Grasp the bar with hands at shoulder width and take it off the rack.
3. Press the bar overhead, pushing your head forward as the bar clears your face so it ends up directly overhead.
4. That's 1 rep.

Pro Tip

Guys who want to focus on building total-body strength should perform this movement while standing at least every other workout. Make sure not to lean back too far or this exercise will become more of an “incline” press than a military press.

Shrug

Muscles Worked

Traps, forearms

How to Do It

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with hands shoulder-width apart, resting against the top of your thighs, to start.
2. Shrug your shoulders as high as you can.
3. That's 1 rep.

Pro Tip

Done with a barbell, machine, or dumbbells, this is an excellent movement for building “holding power/strength.” If you want to emphasize the forearms, do this movement without the use of lifting straps. However, if you want enormous traps, then make use of straps so that you can focus purely on shrugging big weight.

Close-Grip Bench Press

Muscles Worked

Triceps, anterior delts, pectorals

How to Do It

1. To start, lie back on a bench and grasp the bar with your index fingers on the inside edge of the knurling (the rough part of the bar).
2. Arch your back and pull the bar off the rack.
3. Lower it to your sternum, tucking your elbows about 45 degrees from your sides.
4. When the bar touches your body, drive your feet hard into the floor and press the bar directly above you.

Pro Tip

Along with dips, this is one of the best exercises for building strong and thick triceps. Close-grip bench presses can be done with a free bar or Smith Machine, both of which have their advantages. Use a grip set about 6-8 inches apart and lower the bar to about nipple level.

Related: Trainers Reveal the Best Posterior Chain Exercise You're Probably Not Doing

Lower Body Compound Exercises

Deadlift

Muscles Worked

Quadriceps, hamstrings, lower back, traps, forearms

How to Do It

1. With a barbell in front of you, stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Roll the barbell up to your shins, to start.
3. Bend down to grasp it outside your knees.
4. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, push through your heels and extend your hips until you’re standing with the bar in front of your thighs.
5. Make sure to keep the bar close to your body throughout the movement.
6. Perform several warmup sets, increasing the weight gradually until you reach the heaviest load you can handle for 10 reps.

Pro Tip

Rather than rebounding the bar off the floor or rack pins on each rep, come to a dead stop instead, which will remove momentum and force more muscular action.

Stepups

Muscles Worked

Thighs, hamstrings, glutes

How to Do It

1. Find a box, ledge, or step that's about 6 to 12 inches tall, to start.
2. Place one foot on the step and rise up, keeping your shoulders back and chest up.
3. Step down and repeat with the other leg.

Pro Tip

Make sure to keep your head up, lower back slightly arched, and the bar set on the upper traps as you squat slowly to a position where the thighs drop just below parallel to the ground.

Barbell Back Squat

Muscles Worked

Thighs, hamstrings, glutes

How to Do It

1. In a squat rack step under the barbell and place it high on your trap muscle across the top of your shoulders, to start.
2. Place your hands a few inches outside shoulder-width to keep the bar stable.
3. Step back and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly outward.
4. Take a deep breath then bend your hips and knees to lower your body as if you were going to sit down in a chair.
5. Aim for your butt to go lower than knee level while maintaining a tall, upright posture with your upper body.
6. Extend your hips to come back up, continuing to push your knees outward.

Pro Tip

Make sure to keep your head up, lower back slightly arched, and the bar set on the upper traps as you squat slowly to a position where the thighs drop just below parallel to the ground. When done correctly barbell squats are one of the best compound leg exercises for building size and strength. 

Related: 15 Best Exercises for Love Handles That Burn Belly and Back Fat

Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

For newbie lifters, the terms compound and isolation might sound like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but there's a good chance you've already used both in your workout routines without even knowing it.

While compound movements utilize multiple muscle groups at once, isolation exercises use only one muscle or muscle group and one joint. Both types of exercises have their place in a workout and can help you build a well-rounded physique. 

Benefits of Compound Exercises

Increases Fast-Twitch Muscle Fibers 

Heavy bars placed on the body light up the nervous system to recruit more of its high threshold motor units, which are responsible for fast-twitch muscle fibers, or at least make the ones that are firing work even harder. 

Spurs the Release of Optimal Hormones

Compound exercises are taxing and cause the body to release more hormones that are essential to burning fat and building muscle, during and after the workout.

Rev Metabolism

To shed pounds, you need to ratchet up your metabolism so you’re naturally burning more calories all day long, not just when you’re working out. That means putting demands on the muscular and cardiovascular systems that they haven’t experienced before, says trainer David Otey.  “Grouping these multi-joint exercises together not only saves time, it turns up the intensity a few notches,” Otey says. 

Increases Core Strength

Big, multi-joint movements are often performed standing, which creates a much greater dependency on the abs and lower back. Not being confined to a seat means a hell of a lot more stability work for the core. Other than injuries being avoided due to lack of spine stability or support, it means you’ll also burn more calories for every rep and every set, which is just what the doctor ordered for leaning out and getting shredded.

Saves Time

If your workouts consist solely of isolation exercises, there's a good chance you spend hours in the gym. If you want to cut your gym time, opt for compound lifts like squats and deadlifts that work multiple muscles at once.

Trains Your Body for Everyday Life

There's a reason most functional strength training programs are mostly made up of compound movements. Because compound exercises mimic movements like carrying in your groceries and picking up your kids, you'll move better in everyday life.

Related: Master the 5x5 Workout to Build Strength, Muscle, and Power