Get more muscle for your moves when exercising!

Try compound movements which you might also hear referred to as functional training. CrossFit is a brand that licenses workouts based on this concept. It involves kettleballs, medicine balls, jump rope and various "compound" moves. 

Compound movements are different than your typical isolated strength training exercise. A perfect example of an isolation movement in strength training is a biceps curl.  Elbow stays at waist, shoulder doesn't move as it stabilizes your arm, next you bend your elbow allowing the biceps only to lift the weight up.  You're really isolating your biceps when you do this move. No other muscles are involved in lifting the weight.  

Compound movements are just as they imply. They involve more than one joint and muscle group.  A couple of classic compound movements is the push up and the squat. Think about it.  A push up requires many muscles to be engaged in order to properly do this exercise.  It works your chest, shoulders, triceps back and core.  A properly executed squat works your core, quads, glutes, and hamstrings and involves your ankle, knee and hip joint.  

There are benefits to isolating a muscle and obvious benefits to doing a compound movement that works many muscles.  Let's look at benefits of compound movements first:

• simulates real-world exercises and activities
• allows you to get a full body workout faster
• improves coordination, reaction time and balance
• improves joint stability and improves muscle balance across a joint
• decreases the risk of injury during sports
• keeps your heart rate up and provides cardiovascular benefits
• allows you to exercise longer with less muscle fatigue
• allows you to lift heavier loads and build more strength
• burns more calories during exercise

My last series of exercise posts were primarily isolated moves requiring you to spread your workout over 3 or 4 days to hit every muscle group.  Starting tomorrow we'll look at compound moves that you can do at home with little equipment and allows you to do a full body workout in one day. I'm all for that!