Learn Your Compounds!

I remember when I was in Junior High School and my parents bought me my first set of weights for Christmas. The set was a beige-coloured, plastic, concrete-filled set of dumbells and a barbell that, even when handled properly, would pinch your hands and give you blood blisters.

Once I got this weight-set, I decided that I better buy an exercise book to learn how to use the weights. I went to Northlands Mall and bought the biggest, cheapest exercise book that I could find. It was $5 and it had a picture of a "well supplemented" man in short-shorts, white tube socks, and a purple sleeveless shirt. Despite it's provocative front cover, it actually turned out to be one of the best $5 dollar purchases that I have ever made.

While, initially, I had really interesting interpretations of the exercises and programming suggestions, there was one piece of advice in the book that I stuck to. Following this advice allowed me to get pretty strong for my size and age.

Fast forward twenty years later and I believe that piece of advice to be just as true today as it was then. The advice is quite simple: "Prioritize COMPOUND weight training exercises and spend less time performing ISOLATION exercises." To give you an option to read the long and the short of this article, especially if you're new to weight training, here is what will follow: I'll provide definitions and examples of compound and isolation exercises, benefits to prioritizing compound movements, and lastly some pictures of 4 compound and 4 isolation exercises.

Before I get to all of that, if you want the "Coles notes" of this article, here they are: try to make sure that 75% or more of the exercises you choose in a workout are compound. You can scroll down to see some pictures of 4 of my favourite compound exercises, or enlist the help of google, AskJeeves, and Youtube, to expand your repertoire.

So here we go: compound exercises are defined as exercises that involve the movement of more than one joint at a time. This in turn means that all compound movements utilize 2 or more muscles to lift the weight. Examples of compound exercises include: push-ups, lat pulldown, lunges, and leg presses.

Isolation exercises are defined as exercises that only involve the movement of one joint at a time. This means that isolation exercises only utilize one muscle to lift the weight. Examples of isolation exercises include: biceps curls, leg extensions, triceps extensions, and laying leg abductions.

3 major benefits of prioritizing COMPOUND exercises are:

1) Increase full-body strength: Because compound exercises utilize more than one muscle at a time, your bigger muscles are involved in the movements, which allows you to lift heavier loads. Lifting heavier loads with your bigger muscles is the best way to get your entire body strong.

2) Increase body's ability to burn fat: Compound exercises have a greater oxygen and energy demand on the body. If you are going through a "fat burning" weight training program that focuses more on compound than isolation, you will have a much higher EPOC (also known as the "After-Burn"). The higher the EPOC, the greater the demand on the body for stored fats to be utilized post-workout to replenish sugar/glycogen that was expended during the workout.

3) Improve day-to-day life: If you get stronger at compound exercises, you will find day-to-day tasks easier. Get better at deadlifts (compound) and you will be able to pick heavy objects up off of the floor with more ease and less risk of injury. Get better at squats (compound) and you will be able to jump up off of the toilet like a spring chicken. Get better at biceps curls (isolation) and you will be able to bring that mug of beer to your face with no effort at all!

We are all bombarded with the latest fad workouts and information overload in the fitness industry today. In light of this, I'm happy to know that some very simple workout advice that I got more than 20 years ago is just as valid now as it was back then. Below you'll find a few examples of isolation vs. compound exercises. If you'd like to learn how to incorporate more compound exercises into your routine, drop me a line at innerimagept@gmail.com  

COMPOUND vs. ISOLATION (pictures)