Compound Exercises

You want to build muscle—and you want to build it fast!

There are hundreds of different workouts for each muscle group you could spend your valuable time doing, but not all of these exercises are going to maximize your muscle growth.

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If you want to put on muscle and build serious functional strength, the exercises on this list is all you will ever need. These compound exercises should be the foundation of any fitness routine. Get to work!

This handy-dandy list of compound exercises contains the 50 best muscle-building exercises to efficiently work each muscle group.

If you spend your time doing these workouts, you’ll see results much quicker.

Let’s dive in.

The Complete List of Compound Exercises

Compound Chest Exercises

Barbell Bench Press

Incline Barbell Bench Press

Dumbbell Bench Press

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

Weighted Dips for Chest

Decline Bench Press

Compound Back Exercises

Barbell Deadlift
Bent-Over Barbell Row
Weighted Pull-ups
Wide-Grip Pull-up
Standing T-Bar Row
Wide-Grip Pulldown
Close-Grip Pulldown
Seated Cable Row

Compound Ab Exercises

Cable Crunch
Hanging Dumbbell Knee Raise
Landmine
Captain’s Chair Leg Raise
Ab-Wheel Rollout
Plank
Weighted Decline Sit-up
Bicycle
Flag

Compound Shoulder Exercises

Standing Barbell Overhead Press
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
Arnold Shoulder Press
Bent-Over Reverse Fly
Lateral Raise
Front Dumbbell Raise
Handstand Push-ups

Compound Leg Exercises

Barbell Squat
Standing Calf Raise
Calf Press
Romanian Deadlift
Leg Press
Hack Squat
Dumbbell Lunge

Compound Bicep Exercises

Seated Hammer Curl
Standing Barbell Curl
Inverted Rows
Zottman Curl
Weighted Chin-ups
Incline-Bench Curl
Preacher EZ-Bar Curl
Standing Cable Curl

Compound Tricep Exercises

Close-Grip Bench Press

Skullcrusher

Weighted Dips

Cable Push-Down

Dumbbell Kickback

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Extension

Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

Exercises are categorized as either compound (involving more than one muscle group) or isolation (involving a single muscle group).

The difference is clear when you compare two exercises—take the squat and the calf raise, for example. When you do a squat, you’re engaging your core, glutes, quads, hamstrings, and even other small muscles. When you do a calf raise, you’re only engaging your calves.

This is why compound weight-lifting exercises are more efficient. Just 5-7 compound weight lifting exercises can stimulate all the major muscles in a single workout! With isolation exercises, you’d have to do 15-20 isolation exercises to stimulate the same muscles. So, if you have 3-4 hours to workout each day, by all means, do isolation exercises.

But isolation exercises aren’t all bad! They’re great for recovery, target toning, and correcting muscle imbalances. They have a rightful place in every workout!

Compound Exercises Definition | What Are Compound Exercises?

There’s a little more to “compound exercises” than involving multiple muscle groups. So what are compound exercises?

Compound Exercises Definition: An exercise engaging 2+ different joints to stimulate entire muscle groups and multiple muscles.

Besides giving you a more effective workout in less time, there are a ton of other benefits to compound exercises. Here are a few based on scientific research:

Produce greater increases in both testosterone and growth hormones (study)
Improve muscle strength and maximal oxygen consumption (study)
Increase fat burn (study)
Make more fat-free mass gains (study)
Allow you to lift more volume per muscle (study)

In addition, there are several more benefits you could assume based on reasonable logic:

Decrease in injury due to greater strengthIncrease ability to perform functional movementsImprove coordination and balance

Why These Muscle Building Exercises?

If you only have 45-60 minutes in the gym, don’t you want to spend that time doing the best exercises?

Forget the machines and most isolation exercises—they focus too much on a narrow range of motion and impractical strength.

The best compound exercises incorporate free weights. Dumbbell and barbells workouts allow your body the full range of motion it needs to naturally grow.

This produces practical strength.

What is Practical Strength?

The strength to lift yourself up, strength to lift boxes and furniture, strength to sit up, strength to perform everyday activities with ease.

Practical strength comes from free movement exercises.

Take the squat, for example.

During the barbell squat, you have to practice balance by using your leg muscles, your core, and even your back.

Switch to a smith machine or leg extension machine and now you’re going straight up and down—denying your body the chance to strengthen balancing muscles, core muscles, and other subsidiary muscles.

Don’t waste your time doing ineffective workouts!

This list of compound exercises gives you plenty variety if you like to frequently change things up.

The Best Overall Compound Weight-Lifting Exercises:

The Deadlift
The Squat
The Push-Up
The Overhead Press

Remember: it’s not all about sweat and pain. Train smarter, not harder.

Compound Exercises with Dumbbells

Here’s a separate list for those who only have access to dumbbells.

Even if you do have a gym with a variety of equipment, there are still plenty of reasons to focus on 

compound exercises with dumbbells:

Dumbbell exercises help to improve your balance and coordination. You have to activate more muscles (in different ways) to balance the separate weights.Dumbbells can help correct any muscle imbalances you have. Take your barbell bench press for example—if you’re feeling weak on your left side, just add an additional 1-2 reps to your left arm during your dumbbell press. After a few weeks, your left side should catch up.Safety first. You can go to failure on any set with dumbbells and just drop them when you’re finished—no getting stuck!Dumbbells are way more affordable when building a home gym.Even when the gym is crowded, you’ll likely still have access to dumbbells. The benches get taken pretty quickly, so you may have to do dumbbell floor press, but it’s better than nothing.

Compound Exercises with Dumbbells:

Dumbbell Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Weighted Pull-ups
Hanging Dumbbell Knee Raise
Weighted Decline Sit-up
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
Arnold Shoulder Press
Bent-Over Reverse Fly
Lateral Raise
Front Dumbbell Raise
Seated Hammer Curl
Zottman Curl
Dumbbell Lunge
Skullcrusher
Weighted Dips
Dumbbell Kickback
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Extension

A Little Assistance

Going heavy on these compound exercises sometimes requires a little assistance.

A spotter, wrist wraps, belt – you name it!

New PBs require new levels of effort, so don’t be afraid to invest.

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