Strength in Unity: The Power of Compound Lifts

As you explore the gym community while on your fitness journey, you will often hear a lot of new terms that you aren't used to. Compound Lifts are one of these terms.

A compound lift is a certain type of muscle building exercise that acts as a multi-muscle and multi-joint exercise, more about what a compound lift is later in the article.

If you are looking to build some lean muscle mass and gain some brute strength, then you should definitely implement compound lifts into your workout routine as it is most definitely a fundamental lift that you should be doing.

In today's article we will be discussing the benefits of compound lifts/exercises, what they actually are and we will give some specific examples of the best compound lifts available to do.

What are Compound Lifts

You must have clicked on this article either wondering what compound lifts are or you have heard the term and are wondering what these types of lifts actually are. Well look no further, we are provided you a full, in depth explanation of what compound lifts are.

A compound lift is a type of exercise that is known as a compound-exercise or a multi-joint exercise. This type of exercise requires you to use multiple joints and multiple muscle groups to hit a specific part of your body unlike isolation exercises.

They are unique as they require the body to use multiple joints and muscle groups to coordinate with each other to develop the strength and muscle mass of a certain part of your body.

They build joint stability as well as build mass when done with a high degree of intensity along with good form and technique.

More on the benefits of compound lifts below.

Benefits of Compound Lifts

You now know what compound lifts are, now lets tell you why they are so crucial to include in your fitness routine.

Compound lifts are great for strength training, since they work multiple joints and muscle groups, they are perfect for low rep, high intensity strength training as they contribute to the development of the whole muscle group in muscle mass and strength, thus providing great total body strength.
They also provide greater joint stability when done regularly, since multiple joints are being worked, they are trained to be stronger and more stable.
Furthermore, they are time efficient exercises, since they work many other muscle groups at the same time, compound lifts allow you to not have to do so much exercise after the compound exercise is over.

Overall, they contribute a lot to your body's athletic performance and your body's overall functional health. They are truly amazing for building lean muscle mass and functional body strength.

Best Compound Exercises

BENCH PRESS

The Bench Press is by far the most common and popular exercise in the gym, it is a compound lift as it targets 4 different joints in your body. For the muscle groups, it not only targets the chest, but it also works the front deltoid in your shoulder as well as your triceps.

Three muscle groups AND four joints, this exercise is a must have in your fitness routine.

Furthermore, the bench press is a classic mass building exercise, it is known to add on lean muscle mass (with proper technique, form and nutrition) and will also make you much stronger.

How do you use this compound exercise? It's actually super simple, all you have to do is make sure you are progressive overloading (doing more than last time) with this exercise just like you would do with any other compound exercise. Make sure you keeping up the intensity and either add more reps or weight.

You can use this exercise to train for strength AND to train for hypertrophy as this versatile lift can cater to both effectively. For strength, you can focus on heavy and high intensity sets for a low rep range. For hypertrophy, you can focus on higher rep ranges with slightly lower weight. Both ways will make you gain strength and muscle.

NOTE: Use a spotter as much as you can while doing this exercise, they help prevent injury.

Variations: When you think of a traditional bench press you will be thinking of a barbell press on a flat bench, however there are a few more variations of bench press that hit certain parts of the chest more efficiently than others. (Disclaimer: A bench press variation will work the entire chest, its just that some variations are focused more on a specific part of the chest)

Here are the variations (look them up for form and technique):

Barbell Bench Press (Middle Chest Dominant)

Dumbbell Bench Press (Middle Chest Dominant)

Incline Barbell Bench Press (Upper Chest Dominant)

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press (Upper Chest Dominant)

Decline Barbell Bench Press (Lower Chest Dominant)

Man performing bench press — It's a Classic!

SQUAT

The Squat, often the most common exercise associated with building great legs. There is a reason for that, you see, the squat is an exercise that can and will build the muscles in your entire leg.

As a compound lift, it targets almost every single joint in your entire leg used to help you move it. For muscle groups it targets the quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes and even the abs. Since you have to do brace in the core while doing squats, it works the abs as well. Thus making the squat also become a great exercise for core engagement.

A weighted squat is often regarded as one of the best, if the THE BEST exercise you can do for legs as it is an exercise that will improve the overall joint and muscle strength in your legs and it will help you pack on a lot of lean muscle mass. It is DEFINITELY a fundamental lift.

This exercise works best when you progressive overload it; performing more weight/reps than you did the previous time will not only keep your workout intense, but it will also ensure you have stronger and bigger legs.

You can use the weighted squat as a strength training and hypertrophy training exercise.

Variations: There are numerous variations of the squat, most of the different variations will target the quads as it is the most dominant and most trained part of the leg. However it does NOT mean these different variations will not work the other parts of the leg.

Here are the variations (look these up for form and technique):

Barbell Squat (Full Leg Based)

Kang Squat (Hamstring Based)

Bulgarian Split Squats (Quad Based)

Heel Elevated Squat (Quad Based)

Sissy Squats (Quad Based)

Man performing a barbell squat — Even though it's hard, it's a GREAT exercise!

THE ROW

For those of you who do not know, the row is a compound exercise for the back. Many people might not have heard it but it is the most used compound exercise mainly for the back.

A traditional bent over row is where you grab a barbell with the back side of your hands facing you, then you stand up with the bar similar to a deadlift, then you bend over about 30-45 degrees and start pulling the barbell up to your belly button area.

This exercise works numerous joints in your arms and your shoulders, as well as works your biceps, rear deltoids, lats and upper back. The lower back can also be worked depending on the variations.

This is a great exercise if you want to develop your overall back as it it builds strength and lean muscle mass. It also engages your core as you must brace to get the bar in position and when you are bent over. It is a fundamental lift when looking to train for overall back strength and to add muscle mass to your back.

By progressive overloading this exercise you will add a lot of muscle mass to your back since you are doing more weight/reps than last time. We recommend that you use this exercise mainly for hypertrophy as doing heavier weight for lower reps can increase injury due to the nature of the exercises form.

Variations: There are MANY variations of this exercise that dominantly target different parts of your body as well as work the other parts as well!

Here are some variations (look them up for form and technique):

Bent Over Barbell Row (Overall Back Based)

Reverse Grip Bent Over Row (Biceps and Lats Based)

Incline Chest Supported Row (Upper Back)

Single Arm Supported Bent Over Row (Lats Based)

Wide Grip Bent Over Row (Upper Back Based)

Woman performing a barbell row — It's by far one of the best back exercises!

Conclusion

Overall, compound lifts are fundamental lifts that you MUST add to your fitness routine. Consider the ones mentioned above! It is important that you do compound lifts as much as possible! They are the key to your gym goals!

However do not count out isolation lifts, they are important too!

You know what? I might write something about them too.

Stay Tuned!

Chase your dreams!

Just a young man trying to bring fitness to the world!