5 compound exercises for building muscle

Are you looking to build muscle and improve your overall fitness? Incorporating compound exercises into your workout routine can improve your overall physique and fitness level.

Unlike isolation exercises that target only one muscle group, compound exercises strengthen multiple muscle groups at once, making them a highly efficient and effective way to build strength and muscle mass. 

Benefits of compound exercises

Compound exercises involve the use of multiple muscle groups and joints. Here are five benefits of incorporating compound exercises into your workout routine:

Time saver

Compound exercises allow you to use your time at the gym more effectively since they engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Your workout routine should consist primarily of compound exercises if you have limited time to exercise.

Burn more calories

Compound exercises require more effort and energy than isolated exercises, they can help you burn more calories during your workout.

Improve core strength

Many of the movements require stabilization of your core muscles, which in time will help improve your core strength

Improve functional strength

Compound exercises mimic movements that we use in everyday life, such as lifting, pushing, and pulling. By improving your strength in these movements, you can improve your overall functional fitness and make daily activities easier.

Get your heart rate up

Compound exercises help to elevate your heart rate since they make you work harder. These exercises can be combined to form circuits, giving you an intense cardio workout.

Here are five of the best compound exercises for building muscle.

Hip hinge or Deadlift

This compound movement targets the forearms, lats, glutes, hamstrings, core stabilizers and lower back. It’s a great exercise for your whole posterior chain. 

• Stand with feet about hip-width apart behind the bar.
• Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than your feet
• As you lower the bar, drive your hips back. Keep the bar close to your legs.
• Brace your core, keep tension in the lats and the knees soft as you push your heels into the floor.
• As the bar approaches the knees, think about pressing your hips into the bar.
• Finish in a tall stand while clenching your glutes. 

Variations: Romanian deadlift, Single-leg deadlift, Stiff-leg deadlift

Benefits of incorporating deadlift

Deadlifts are a compound exercise that primarily works the back, glutes, and hamstrings. They provide numerous benefits, such as building overall body strength, improving posture and increasing overall functional fitness. Deadlifts can be performed with different variations and modifications to target different muscle groups. 

By incorporating deadlifts into your workout routine, you can improve your overall strength while also reducing the risk of injury in your lower back.

Squat

This exercise enhances mobility in the hips and ankles, and challenges core stabilizers, posterior chain and your lower body, including glutes and quads. 

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the standard barbell resting on your traps.
• Your arms should make right angles as you grip the bar.
• Keeping your core tight, lower into squat position while keeping your upper body upright
• When reaching the lower part of your squat, push through your heels and return to the starting position

Variations: Bodyweight squat, Back squats, Front squat, Zercher squat, Sumo squat

Benefits of incorporating squats

Squats are an exercise for building strength and muscle mass in the lower body. 

Squats mimic movements we use in everyday life, such as sitting down and standing up, improving your overall functional fitness and making daily activities easier.

Loaded Carries

This exercise targets your grip strength, shoulders, back, core stabilizers, arms and legs. You can perform loaded carries with dumbbells or kettlebells. You also can do this with a trap bar. 

Brace your core and bend down and grab two of the heavy pieces of equipment you will be using and walk as far as you can. Rest and then do it again.

Benefits of incorporating loaded carries

Incorporating loaded carries into your workout routine can provide numerous benefits, such as improving your grip strength, building core stability and promoting overall functional strength. 

Pull ups

This exercise targets your back, shoulders, grip strength and core. 

To start, arms should be fully extended. True pull-ups work through a full range of motion. Retract the scapula, stabilize the girdle and initiate the work or muscular contractions by pulling your body up until your chin is over the bar. Lower the body in a very controlled manner until your arms are fully extended. 

Benefits of incorporating of pull ups

Pull-ups are a compound exercise that primarily works the back, shoulders and arms. They provide numerous benefits, such as building upper body strength and muscle mass, improving grip strength and posture, and increasing overall functional fitness. 

Pull-ups can be performed with different variations and equipment, such as a pull-up bar or resistance bands. By incorporating pull-ups into your workout routine, you can improve your overall upper body strength.

Push-ups

Your arms, shoulders, serratus, core stabilizers and pectoral muscles, along with the legs, glutes and lats are all engaged to help you maintain a zipped-up line. 

• Place your hands on the floor directly under the shoulders with your fingers spread wide.
• Squeeze the glutes and press the heels away.
• Keep your head in line with your body and bend the elbows to lower the chest with control toward the floor.
• There should be no sagging anywhere in your body.
• Keep your legs, glutes and shoulders engaged as you press back up to the starting position.

Variations: Incline push ups, decline push ups

Benefits of push up

Push-ups primarily work the chest, triceps and shoulders. They provide numerous benefits, such as building upper body strength and muscle mass, improving core stability and promoting overall functional fitness.

More workouts with compound movements

Take the compound movements and put them together in a workout. Try one of these at home or in the gym.

You can do this Full body medicine ball workout inside or outside of the gym. All you need is a weighted medicine ball or basketball.

Short on time? This 8 minute total body workout includes compound movements. Grab a pair of dumbbells for this workout that will hit your upper body and lower body.