This One Variation Makes Exercises Twice As Effective — Here's How

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October 23, 2021 — 10:22 AM

"Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at the same time rather than just one," explains Sydney Miller, founder of HOUSEWORK. Compound exercises are also called multi-joint movements because they involve more than one joint. When you do a movement that involves multiple joints, you're recruiting all of the muscles that help to flex that joint.

If you've taken a HIIT, strength, Pilates, or yoga class, you've done compound movements before. Traditional exercises like squats, which involve flexion at the hip, knee, and ankle joints and work several muscles including your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and abdominals are considered compound movements as well as more complicated movements, like a beast crawl or a kettlebell swing. 

"Often, compound exercises can mimic everyday movements we typically undertake in everyday life such as lifting heavy items, reaching up to higher shelves, or carrying groceries," says Scott Thompson, athletics director at F45 Training.

Isolation exercises are the opposite of compound exercises—they involve only one joint. You're likely used to seeing both types of movements in your workouts. "For example, a triceps kickback is a very common isolation exercise that involves only the triceps—the arm is bending and extending at the elbow and the tricep flexes," explains Miller. 

But you can work your triceps and other muscles at the same time by doing a compound exercise like a triceps pushup. "Not only are you working your triceps as you bend and extend at the elbow to lower and lift yourself, but you are also working shoulders, back, abs, and even biceps." 

As Thompson explains, "Compound exercises are great for a holistic training program, while isolation exercises can be executed to grow specific muscle groups."

If you've ever biceps-curled into oblivion, you can already see the appeal of compound movements. "The variety can be fun, engaging, and keep workouts interesting, leading to an increase in motivation and consistency, which in turn leads to sustainable fitness goals long term," says Thompson.

But aside from being more interesting to perform, there are several physical benefits of compound movements to pique your interest.

"Compound exercises tend to be more efficient than an isolation exercise because essentially you are getting more bang for your buck and working different parts of your body at the same time," says Miller. This means you can spend less time working out while still getting the benefits of exercise. 

"This type of training is becoming more and more trendy for people with busy schedules. You don't need to spend hours on end at the gym," explains Thompson.

If you're looking to improve strength, compound movements are the way to go. "Compound movements like a squat, bench press, or deadlift provide the foundation for future training," says Thompson. "Compound movements engage more muscles, which means that under tension there is more mechanical damage to muscle fibers resulting in an increase of muscle mass and strength."

In one study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, people were split into two groups—one that completed a workout routine with only compound exercises and one that did only isolation exercises. Both groups did the routines three days a week for eight weeks and performed the same total work volume, or reps multiplied by sets and load. While both groups improved their strength, the people who did compound movements improved their strength to a greater extent, meaning their workouts were more efficient. 

"Compound movements will typically spike your heart rate, compared to their single-joint counterpart," says Donavanik. While compound movements won't give you the standard steady-state cardio that you'll get with running, biking, or swimming, depending on the moves you choose and the way your workout is programmed, you can definitely get a dose of anaerobic exercise, he explains, which uses your fast-twitch muscle fibers.

"Compound movements are not just for resistance training," agrees Thompson. He points to everyone's love-to-hate move, the burpee, which works multiple muscle groups and elevates your heart rate.

Miller also loves compound moves like pushups into shoulder taps, squat pulses with a hop at the top, and army crawls.

"Online workouts and classes are a great place to start to learn compound movements," recommends Donavanik. It's also a way to find compound movements you enjoy and want to add to your arsenal. 

Look for workouts that focus on things like strength, HIIT, and Pilates, advises Miller, all of which are sure to include compound exercises. (Check out our mbg moves or head over to our YouTube c series for a variety of great workouts!)

Of course, this doesn't mean you need to completely abandon your favorite isolation exercises.  

"Isolation exercises will help strengthen the muscles you use during compound movements. They work in tandem," says Donavanik. Specifically, they can be very effective at strengthening and sculpting specific muscle groups like biceps, triceps, calves, quads, and glutes, he explains. Varying your training using multiple movement modalities is always a great way to keep your fitness well-rounded.