You’ve probably been doing compound exercises for a long time without even realizing that that’s what they are, especially if you’re a fan of full-body workouts. Compound exercises are moves that work multiple large muscle groups. You can do compound movements that target muscles all over your body — compound exercises for legs, back, arms, you name it — but the one thing they have in common is they’ll hit different muscle groups at the same time, giving you more bang for your buck. So if you’re one of those people who’s always pressed for time during your workouts, compound exercises are the moves for you.
Compound exercises come with a lot of potential benefits, including weight loss and muscle gain, so you might be wondering right about now what the best compound movements are. We’ll get to that in a second; first, let’s talk more about what compound exercises are and why they’re so effective.
Experts Featured in This Article
Pratik Patel, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS, is the director of performance nutrition and assistant strength and conditioning coach for the New York Giants.
Rondel King, MS, CSCS, was formerly an exercise physiologist at NYU Langone’s Sports Performance Center and is currently the founder and CEO of WorkRate, an app to help athletic performance.
What Are Compound Exercises?
Compound exercises are also called “multijoint” moves because they require you to move more than one of your joints. (Think about how you bend at your hips and knees during a squat, or how you move both your shoulder and elbow joints when you do a push-up.)
You can think of compound exercises as being super efficient, since they target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, which saves you time in your workout. If your goal is weight loss or to get your heart pumping harder, compound exercises are a good choice as well, because they elicit a greater energy expenditure compared to smaller, isolated movements like a bicep curl, Pratik Patel, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS, tells PS. Translation: your body has to work a lot harder to get these exercises done.
Compound exercises are useful if you’re trying to build muscle, too. Rondel King, MS, CSCS, tells PS that in order to build more muscle, you must first make sure your workouts focus on muscle hypertrophy (maximal muscle growth). That means your rep and set scheme should be between three and five sets of 12 and 15 reps for every exercise in your program. According to King, “You can also do heavy lifting . . . like compound lifts, [such as] squats and deadlifts, where you can do a little more weight.”
Now that you know why compound exercises are integral to any workout routine, here’s a list of compound exercises you can use for reference or for building your own workouts. (If you aren’t sure how to create your own workout, here’s a strength-training workout to get you started.) There are so many compound movements out there, so this list is far from exhaustive; however, it’s a great place to start. For the record, you can do many of these moves with added weight or with just your body weight — either way, they’re still compound exercises.
List of Compound Exercises
Here, 13 fantastic compound exercises to include in your routine. Keep reading for detailed instructions on how to do each one.
- Goblet Squat
- Romanian Deadlift
- Hip Thrust
- Step Up
- Dumbbell Walking Lunge
- Split Squat With Overhead Press
- Split Squat
- Upright Row
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Burpee
- Overhead Shoulder Press
- Bent-Over Row
- Push Up
— Additional reporting by Maggie Ryan, Lauren Mazzo, and Mirel Zaman
- Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart, holding one dumbbell vertically close to your chest, beneath your chin, with both hands.
- Slowly bend your knees as if you were going to sit in a chair, keeping all the weight in your heels. Don’t let your knees move beyond your toes, and don’t let the knees roll out or in. Squat down as low as you can, keeping your head and chest lifted, your spine long, and your shoulders relaxed.
- Press through your heels and slowly straighten your legs to stand up, completing one rep.
- Stand holding a pair of medium-weight dumbbells in each hand, arms at your sides, with your knees slightly bent.
- Keeping your arms straight and knees slightly bent, slowly bend at your hip joint (not your waist) and lower the weights as far as possible without rounding your back, which should remain straight.
- Now squeeze your glutes to slowly pull yourself up (don’t use your back). This counts as one rep.
- Sitting on the floor with your legs extended, rest your back against a stable bench.
- Place a towel or shoulder cushion on the bar for comfort (optional). Hold a dumbbell in each hand over your thighs, so the bars are directly above your hip joints.
- Brace your core. As you drive your heels into the ground, squeeze your glutes, lifting your hips up to full extension, meaning your hips are even with your knees.
- With control, lower back down to the ground.
- This is one repetition.
- Find a step or a bench that, when you place your foot squarely on it, your knee is at roughly a 90-degree angle. A step deck or exercise bench works great.
- Step up with the right foot, then the left, bringing both feet completely onto the surface.
- To return to the starting position, lead with the right foot to step down to the floor, then the left, until ending with both feet on the ground.
- Stand upright, feet together, with 10-pound dumbbells at your side. Take a controlled step forward with your left leg, lowering your hips toward the floor by bending both knees to 90-degree angles. Your back knee should point toward but not touch the ground, and your front knee should be directly over your ankle.
- Press your left heel into the ground, and push off with your right foot to bring your right leg forward, stepping with control into a lunge on the other side. This completes one repetition.
- Holding a dumbbell in each hand, step one leg roughly three feet behind the other.
- Press your weights up to the ceiling.
- Bend your knees to roughly 90 degrees, and at the same time lower your weights to your shoulders.
- Pushing through your feet, straighten your legs to standing as you press your arms overhead. This is one rep.
- Begin by placing the toes of your left foot on a bench, box, stair, or chair, with your right leg straight.
- Make sure your right foot is out far enough so that when you lower your hips, your knee stays directly over your ankle.
- Bend your right knee, squeeze your left glute, and lower your pelvis toward the ground.
- Press your right heel into the ground to straighten your right knee. This completes one repetition.
- Grab a pair of dumbbells.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Let the dumbbells rest in front of you on your thighs with your palms facing inward (toward your thighs).
- Begin raising the dumbbells up to your shoulders. Your elbows will bend out to the sides. Keep the weights close to your body throughout the movement.
- Slowly lower the weights back down to starting position.
- Grab a set of dumbbells, and sit on a flat workout bench.
- With one dumbbell in each hand resting on your thighs, lie back onto the bench.
- Hold the dumbbells above your chest, shoulder-width apart, creating a 90-degree angle between your upper arm and forearm. Palms should be facing forward.
- Exhale as you push the dumbbells up, fully extending your arms. Hold for one second.
- Inhale and lower the dumbbells to the sides of your chest with control.
- This counts as one rep.
- Lower into a crouching squat with your hands on the floor.
- Do a squat thrust by jumping your feet back into a plank position.
- Do one basic push-up, bending the elbows and then straightening back to a plank.
- Jump the feet forward to the hands, and come into a squat.
- Do an explosive jump straight up, getting as much height as you can.
- Start in a standing or seated position, making sure to brace your core.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand just above your shoulders, palms facing in.
- Straighten your arms above you.
- Bend your elbows, coming back to the starting position to complete one rep.
- Lean forward and bend both knees, remembering to keep a flat back.
- Extend your arms so they are straight. Lift the dumbbells straight up to chest level, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you do. Be sure to keep your elbows in and pointed upward. Don’t arch your back.
- Slowly lower the weights back to the starting position to complete one rep.
- Start in a plank position, with palms spread out evenly and your shoulders over your wrists and legs out behind you. Pull your belly button in, and keep your back straight.
- As you lower and exhale, bend your elbows outward to the sides. Hold at the bottom before you raise back up to complete one rep.
Tamara Pridgett was an associate editor with PS Fitness. She’s a NASM-certified personal trainer and Precision Nutrition level 1 coach, and was a Division 1 All-American sprinter.
Maggie Ryan was an assistant editor at PS. A longtime runner and athlete, Maggie has nearly four years of experience covering topics in the wellness space, specializing in fitness, sports, nutrition, and mental health.
Lauren Mazzo was the senior fitness editor at PS. She is a certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist through the American Council on Exercise. Prior to joining PS, she worked for six years as a writer and editor for Shape Magazine covering health, fitness, nutrition, mental health, sex and relationships, beauty, and astrology.
Mirel Zaman is the wellness director at PS. She has nearly 15 years of experience working in the health and wellness space, writing and editing articles about fitness, general health, mental health, relationships and sex, food and nutrition, astrology, spirituality, family and parenting, culture, and news.
