COMPOUND EXERCISES - THE FACTS

 

 

WHAT ARE COMPOUND EXERCISES?

 

Compound exercises are exercises where one or more, or multiple muscle groups are working cohesively.  For instance in strength training if you were isolating the biceps and using only that muscle then you’d be performing an isolation exercise, but if you were adding in some lunges, so utilising the upper and lower body together you’d have changed up to compound moves. 

 

Ok, so we know what they are, so let’s look at the benefits in more detail. 

 

Compound and functional exercises have cardio benefits as they assist in elevating the heart rate.  To work multiple muscle groups makes it necessary for the heart to work harder, this is particularly true when legs are brought into the equation.  The muscle groups in the legs are larger than the muscle groups in the upper body, so working these large muscles always necessitates the heart pounding harder and faster, thereby increasing the cardiovascular element of your workout.  In fact most of the day to day chores we perform activate a variety of muscle groups working together, for instance, carrying shopping, pushing the hoover, mowing the lawn and washing the car all engaging effective fluidity of movement, so it makes sense to exercise this way.   

 

Obviously there’s a time saving element to moving through your exercise routine more efficiently by incorporating functional movements.  In fact you could accomplish the same performance in half the time as you would if you isolated muscle groups and these exercises also have positive benefits from the point of view of muscle development, which in turns aids fat burning as, as more muscles are called into play more energy is then required to power assist these actions.  

 

Better yet, activating groups of muscles together, requires more strength, so inevitably, burns more calories.  That’s a simple scientific fact, but there’s more good news.  As the body also activates more hormones, including testosterone the metabolism becomes elevated, then, a lot like the effects of High Intensity Interval Training (HiiT), fat burning hormones are activated which actually keeps the body burning fat throughout the day.  In fact because of this raised metabolism you will continue to burn fat not only during your exercise session but also long after you’ve finishing exercising.  This is known as the ‘Afterburn Effect’.

 

Why doesn’t everyone use only compound exercises in that case?  Well that’s because professional and competitive body builders need to isolate certain groups to recruit maximum muscle fibres in order for them to develop to their optimum peak.  Also for regular gym users, the resistance machines provided are only set to work one muscle group at a time.  For the rest of us, the benefits of compound and functional movements are obvious. 

 

For a simple functional exercise that’s familiar to everyone, try press ups.  Many women feel that they lack the upper body strength required to perform a press up but strength and technique will improve with endurance and regular practise.   

 

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