The Importance of Compound Lifts

When it comes to strength training, most people have a few specific areas they’d like to focus on. They are looking for exercises to make their arms, abs, butt, etc. look better or more “toned”. They generally will find and perform exercises that are isolation movements for that particular area they’d like to work on. Very often, they completely overlook compound movements.

Compound movements are movements that work a large amount of muscle mass all at once. Isolation movements typically focus on just one specific muscle. Therefore, compound movements give you the most bang for your buck. These movements include squats, overhead press, deadlifts, bent over rows, push-ups…the list goes on. The problem, and a big reason people tend to avoid these exercises, is that they’re hard. They are more taxing and more difficult to learn how to perform properly compared to isolation movements. It is not uncommon for people to attempt compound movements but become discouraged due to injuring themselves or just opting for easier isolation movements/machines over time.

Compound movements are great and typically superior to isolation movements because they force multiple muscle groups to work together synergistically to perform a particular movement. This has a number of benefits, including higher demand placed upon the body. This means that you can actually do fewer exercises, therefore spending less time working out and attain more results. Who doesn’t want that? This means that while spending less time working out, you will actually build more muscle. You’ll be training much more efficiently. The only downside, and this is not to be understated, the time you are spending working out will be much, much harder. This is why so many people neglect compound movements. Due to the higher amount of muscle stimulation and larger number of muscle groups recruited, compound movements burn more calories than isolation movements.

If the information above hasn’t sold you yet. Maybe you have different goals, and building muscle and burning more calories isn’t one of them. Compound lifts also help develop coordination and improve flexibility. Starting with coordination, you are forced to really think about how to move your body properly by synergistically engaging a large amount of muscles at once. This develops stronger neural pathways between your brain and different muscles throughout the body. Thus, improving coordination, in turn, can help you develop into a better athlete. In terms of flexibility, the main benefit comes from performing a full range of motion. Within any movement there is a portion where the muscles are being stretched. This part of the movement is called the negative or eccentric portion. A great example of this is in the squat. To properly squat all the way down, you must have adequate flexibility in your knee and hip joints. If you’re limited in either of these areas, getting into a full, deep squat is going to be nearly impossible without some sort of compensation. Therefore, the more you practice the squat with correct form, the more flexibility your knees and hips will acquire due to repetitively reaching their end ranges of motion over time.

The final selling point for compound lifts is their ability to help prevent injuries. By performing them regularly and increasing the load over time, your body becomes more and more resilient and resistant to injury. Therefore, next time you go to move furniture or some other demanding task in your day-to-day life, your body has already built up a tolerance to much heavier loads and higher demand. Isolation movements just don’t carry over the same way to daily life. They may build superficial muscles and help you to look better. But they won’t help provide functions the same way the compound lifts will. Some examples of the compound lifts include the squat, bench press, deadlift, pull up, row, and overhead press. It is essential that you treat these movements like skills and practice them regularly before adding any significant load. This ensures you have proper techniques and will help prevent injury. There will be times when isolation movements will be important to help fix imbalances or underactive muscle groups. But the foundation should ultimately come back to the compound lifts. If you’re not sure where to start, getting a trainer is one of the best steps you can take to build a solid foundation.