What on earth are compound exercises? It might sound complicated, but the term ‘compound exercises’ simply refers to any exercise that works for multiple muscle groups at the same time. A great example of a compound exercise is the squat. A bodyweight squat simultaneously engages your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and core muscles. A squat might be considered a simpler compound movement, whereas some compound exercises combine 2 different exercises to target even more muscle groups.
Compound exercises are the perfect addition to your home or gym workout. Because they engage different muscle groups concurrently, compound exercises have several health benefits.
5 Benefits of Compound Exercises
- Working for more muscle groups automatically burns more calories.
- Combining 2 or more exercises helps improve your intramuscular coordination.
- Incorporating different exercises typically elevates your heart rate and increases your cardiovascular output.
- Adding compound exercises to your workout routine is a great way to increase your strength and flexibility.
- Working multiple muscles at the same time saves time and makes your workout more efficient.
By now, adding some compound exercises to your regular fitness routine probably sounds like a no-brainer. To get you started, we have shared 4 impactful compound exercises for you to try. To make this workout more challenging, we incorporated some light dumbbells into the exercises. If you do not have dumbbells at home, try using water bottles or soup cans. Of course, you can also go through these exercises using only your body weight, without any added resistance.
1. Squat with Upright Row
Begin in an upright standing position with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed slightly outward. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your body. Engage your core. Bend your knees and hinge from your hips to lower your seat into a squat position. Straighten your legs to rise back up to a standing position. At the top position, pull your elbows upward in a rowing motion, bringing your hands to shoulder height. Lower your arms to the starting position and repeat the sequence of movements.
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Start with 1 set of 10 repetitions.
2. Front Raise to Lateral Raise
Begin in an upright standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your body. Engage your core and focus on good posture, maintaining good alignment with your head, shoulders, hips, and legs. Keeping your elbows straight, raise both arms in front of your body to approximately shoulder height. Lower your arms down to the starting position. Raise both arms out at your sides, again stopping at shoulder height. Lower your arms to the starting position and repeat the sequence of movements.
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Start with 1 set of 10 repetitions.
3. Renegade Push Up to Overhead Press
Begin in an upright standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Hinge from your hips to bend your upper body forward, lowering the dumbbells to the ground. Hold onto the handles of the dumbbells as you hop back with both feet, moving into a straight-arm plank position. Maintain good alignment in your head, shoulders, hips, and feet. Bend your arms to lower your body towards the ground. Straighten your arms to complete a push-up movement. Hop forward with both feet, then raise to a standing position. From the standing position, press the dumbbells overhead. Lower your arms to the starting position and repeat the sequence of movements.
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Start with 1 set of 10 repetitions.
4. Bicep Curl to Overhead Press
Begin in an upright standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing outward. Maintain good alignment in your head, shoulders, hips, and legs. Bend your elbows to bring your hands to shoulder height, then press both arms overhead. Lower your arms to the starting position, then repeat the sequence of movements.
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Start with 1 set of 10 repetitions.
5. Lunge with Twist
Begin in an upright standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold one dumbbell with both hands with your arms extended in front of your body at shoulder height. Take a big step forward with one foot, then bend your knees to lower your back knee towards the ground, stopping when both knees are at 90-degree angles. At the bottom position, rotate your upper body to the side, keeping your arms extended at shoulder height. Rotate your upper body back to the center position, then step back to the standing position. Repeat the sequence of movements on the opposite side.
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Start with 1 set of 5 repetitions on each side.
The exercises that we have shared today are considered more complex compound exercises as+ they combine 2 or more distinct movement patterns. If you find these combinations too challenging, try some simpler compound exercises instead. For example, you might have heard people refer to the ‘Big 5’ of compound exercises. The Big 5 compound exercises are the deadlift, bench press, squat, shoulder press, and pull up. Adding any of these exercises to your regular fitness routine is a great way to challenge multiple muscle groups at the same time, making your workout far more impactful.
Sometimes it can be difficult to find the time to exercise. If so, try these exercises that can easily be done from your office chair.
