The 5 Best Compound Exercises
Following on from my blog last week about compound vs isolation exercises I want to shine the light on compound lifts. Compound lifts are the exercises that work through multiple joints and therefore work more muscle groups per unit of work. So if you are looking for the “biggest bang for your buck” then look no further.
The main thing to appreciate around compound movements is there's a greater skill aspect than isolation exercises and any complex move that is new to you needs to be learnt and mastered. When you are first learning a movement it’s hard to load it very heavy to be able to really push the exercise. There needs to be an appreciation of taking the time to pattern the movement. I hear it all the time when people say “I know how to squat/deadlift/shoulder press”. But the truth is knowing how to do the exercise and then knowing how to manage your body under load through that exercise are very different.
It’s also worth noting that not all compound movements will be as complex in nature. Take the back squat and the leg press for example, both of these are compound movements but a barbell back squat, for the most part, is going to be a much more demanding exercise, because of the need to stabilise the spine under load. And just because an exercise is a compound move doesn’t instantly mean it’s the right one to use. A standing barbell overhead press (military press) is a huge compound movement but if you are not used to managing load overhead while standing it becomes a dangerous exercise to jump to.
Learning the movement kneeling with 1 arm loaded and then kneeling with 2 arm loaded before attempting to stand and perform the motion would be a more sensible progression . There has to be an appreciation of putting in some ground work prior to selecting an exercise. Now I’ve got that out the way, let’s get down to business, to give you a balanced view point. I’m going to give you one compound movement for each of the primary movements of the body:
1. Top-down Deadlift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_tDLz95Sv0I love this version as most deadlifts start and finish from the floor which adds a layer of complexity to this compound exercise. If you are not used to the movement under load from the top and going down then starting on the ground is setting yourself up for failure. Also if you want to build a strong body you want to keep the load on your muscles all the time and not bounce it off the ground each rep. The top-down version puts you under constant load and makes you work from the top meaning you are under tension from the very start.
2. Front Foot Elevated (FFE) Split Squat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hslhe0bm4S8I’m a big fan of unilateral (single-limb) exercise and for squatting I place even more bias on them. Split squats are a great way to get super strong on 1 leg and by elevating your front foot onto a deficit you can take the front, through a greater range of motion. The split squat also gives you the option to choose to forward lean to make it more glute focussed or put through the forefoot (front of your foot) and stay more upright to work more quad (thigh). What I love more than anything is you don't need to use a barbell to make this one hard, which means it is much more spine friendly than back squats and other variations.
3. Landmine Shoulder Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZPyA7FVesUThe landmine set up, for me, makes the barbell the most versatile bit of kit out there. The landmine shoulder press is a very joint-friendly way to press and the exercise can be loaded quite heavy, with that load on one side of the body. It means the exercise turns into a massive core workout. Which then reduces the need to do a lot of isolated core work in your training. Making it one of the most time-efficient ways to lift.
4. Meadow Row
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3opmJmU2PICreated by the famous bodybuilder John Meadows, the Meadow row is another lift that uses the barbell in the landmine set up (are you noticing a theme yet). I guess you might be wondering why the upper body heavy weight “chin ups” are not listed here. Firstly, not everyone can do them, so if you are learning chin ups then it falls more into the skill and max strength end of training and overhead pulling is tough on the shoulder joint. I like to think of training to boost the longevity of a person, and with that in mind, row patterns are a much more sustainable way to training the pulling movements, they are better for posture and are much easier to vary, progress and regress.
5. Chaos Pallof Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL-J0N61-PIThis is an “anti-rotation” exercise, meaning it stops rotation vs creating rotation. I chose this style of movement rather than a regular rotation-based exercise because our core muscles spend the majority of the time working like shock absorbers to stop impact and movements of the spine as we walk, run, jump and land we are constantly “stopping” excessive motion to the spine so it makes sense to train the core muscles that way.There are lots of other great compound exercises, these are just a few of my favourites.
If you're interested in adding these to a bespoke workout programme, get in touch about my online personal training.
