Whether you are a beginner or an advanced lifter, incorporating compound exercises in your daily training will reap you several benefits. Some of these benefits include,the strengthening of the core, release of hormones and improve muscle balance.
Benefits of Compound Exercises
It is recommended that to increase your muscle strength and to reap the most from your training program you should make compound exercises a part of your workout regime.
Here are the benefits of compound exercises:
1. Improve Intermuscular Coordination
During compound exercises such as squats, lunges or bench presses your hips will move in all three planes. This will improve the coordination of muscles. In these exercises, large muscle groups will do the hardest part of the work while supported by secondary muscle groups. For instance, in the bench press, the pectoral muscle is the target. However, the triceps and anterior deltoid muscles are also strengthening to some extent.
2. Improve Core Strength
Building muscles is important. But, having good core stabilising muscles is equally important. You cannot do any form of movement if your core muscles are not strong. For example, when doing a squat or deadlift, it’s the muscles in the core that will stabilise your trunk. So, while your butt, hips, and thighs are working during these exercises, your core is also strengthening.
3. Burn More Calories
The fact that compound exercises use some of the biggest body muscles means that these big muscle groups need more energy to continue working. For instance, a deadlift and a hamstring curl target your hamstrings. But the deadlift will also activate your glutes, back, biceps, forearms, core, and shoulders. During these compound exercises, the muscles will require blood flow that will increase your heart rate and help to burn calories.
4. Assist with the Release of Hormones
Compound exercises use more muscle fibres than isolation exercises. Because of this, while doing your compound exercises, your body will release greater levels of growth hormones such as testosterone. This is good because these hormones help you to increase muscle mass and to get stronger. For example, when training legs,the hormones that are released during these sessions will result in greater body changes.
Wrapping It Up
Compound exercises are multi-joint movements, like squats and bench presses, that work several muscle groups at once.
Compared to smaller isolated movements that focus only on one muscle group, compound exercises target more muscle groups and help the body to burn more calories and fat.
In fact, Frontiers in Physiology published a study that compared exercisers that used compound exercises and isolation exercises throughout eight weeks of workout. The result revealed that the group that focused on compound exercises gained more strength than those that were focused on isolation exercises.
Morestudies have also shown that “movements that work more groups of large muscle mass, such as compound exercises, will result in a greater burn.”
For example, pull-ups. This is an upper-body exercise that will work the lats. But as shown below, when doing pull-ups, the shoulder and scapular stabilisers and other muscles are also strengthening.
Studies at Tufts University reveals that one of the best ways to fight weakness and fragility is through strength training. If done regularly, muscle strength training will preserve independence and energy.
Therefore, by working several joints and your muscles at the same time you will burn more calories because you will be using up more energy. Moreover, the multiple movements that occur during compound exercises will allow you to lift more loads and complete your daily tasks with ease.
You can add compound exercises to your routine today, we have created a list of compound exercises you can browse by muscle groups check them out –
Conclusion
Compound exercises allow you to get a total body work out in little or no time, burn more calories, release hormones, and improve core and muscular strength for everyday living.
With all these benefits, it is important that you execute the movements of compound exercises properlyand focus on good technique to prevent injury and to get the most out of your compound exercise workout.