Based on my answer to the Quora question “How do compound exercises help burn more calories?”

Two of the biggest fitness goals for many people are to lose weight, gain muscle, or gain strength, often all three. Yet more often than not new lifters, and some of their personal trainers, focus on less efficient isolation movements over the bigger compound moves. Today let’s define some terms, then point out why you probably want to focus on compound movements for most of your workout, even if you do include some isolation moves as ‘assistance’.

Definitions

First, let’s define those terms.

  • Isolation exercise – a movement that focuses the majority of the work on one joint and/muscle group. Examples include the biceps curls and leg extension
  • Compound exercise – a movement that utilizes multiple joints and muscle groups. Examples include the squat and pullup.

Fundamentally, compound movements have a few benefits over isolation moves:

  • Working more muscles at once is more time-efficient
  • Most of these moves also work important smaller muscles that stabilize and help prevent injury
  • There is a greater caloric burn
  • There is a greater hormonal response

A place for isolation movements

That’s not to say that isolation moves don’t have a place. If your goal is bigger arms, a compound workout with 2-3 sets of biceps curls and triceps pushdowns at the end will help you reach that goal. Aesthetics are an important reason that people work out, and isolation moves help us reach the aesthetic goals we desire.

They are also great rehab movements. If you have an injury or a target area that bothers you consistently, working light weight isolation moves for that area can work as rehab and prehab, specifically working the area that needs help.

As you can see, there’s still a place for these movements. It just depends on your goal, but if calorie burn is your focus, prioritize the compound moves!

Why Compound?

We’ve talked about compound as the focus, and thrown a bone to the isolation moves, but why are the compound movements such an important part of a balanced and successful weight loss program?

Reason 1 – Tissue Volume Recruited

First, calorie burn is a function of the volume of tissue involved in the movement. If you compare the muscle in your thumb to the muscle in your hamstring, you’ll note the latter has a far greater volume of muscle tissue. The more muscle you activate at once in a given movement the higher the caloric burn.

This is the most fundamental reason – muscle recruitment. Imagine a dumbbell bicep curl, where the body is held in a static position except for one hand holding a weight, and the arm is flexed at the elbow until the weight is brought up to the shoulder, and then extended back down until the arm is straight again. This greatly limits the amount of muscle used.

Now compare that to, for example, an inverted row, where you hang from a bar or rings with your body flat and roughly parallel to the ground, feet on the ground. When you perform this movement both hands are gripping, both forearms are working, both biceps flex, the back retracts and tightens, the abs and lower back stiffen to brace the body… you are working a large volume of muscle in one movement.

Reason 2 – Hormonal Effect and Additional Muscle Mass

Next is the hormonal effect. When muscles are worked testosterone is released. Working a larger muscle or total volume of muscle results in a greater overall release of testosterone. Testosterone impacts metabolic rate and thus the amount of calories burned over time. Note that while supposed ‘testosterone boosters’ have not been shown to have this effect, actual testosterone released by the body does. Additionally, for women while this might sound scary, the amount released is enough to help build some muscle (which again increases your resting metabolic rate / caloric burn) and increase your burn, but is perfectly safe. This natural testosterone release is perfectly normal and will not lead to effects you might see from steroid use.

Closing down

Just remember, a compound movement program doesn’t have to be complex or even use weights, but it will get you more bang for your workout buck. At the very least incorporate a few compound moves at the beginning of your workout to reap the hormonal rewards.

Check out a quick bodyweight workout below, and please comment with your thoughts and experiences. Happy lifting!

Sample Compound-Only Workout

Perform as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

  • 10 Push Ups
  • 10 Air Squats
  • 10 Leg Lifts
  • 10 Inverted Rows (*)
  • 10 High Burpees (up and down but no push up at bottom)

(*)If you have something to hang from (a swing, tire swing, edge of a deck, picnic table), add the inverted rows in order to include a pulling movement.

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