If there’s one thing that everyone has less of these days; it’s time. A lot of my clients are busy professionals who just don’t seem to have much time. They come to me for one major reason; to give them the biggest bang for their buck with the 30-45 minutes of workout time they can muster from their busy lifestyle.

You see before they come to me, their workouts consist mainly of bicep curls, leg curls, leg adduction, sit ups etc. These are all great exercises; if you have a lot of time to workout. However, due to the single joint nature of these exercises they do not provide for efficiency in terms of value for the time invested as they generally work only one muscle group rather than multiple muscle groups.

Single joint exercises (such as bicep curls, leg curls, tricep extensions, leg extensions, peck deck etc) are limited in the following areas:

Hormonal response – less amount of growth hormone released – less fat burnt.

Calorie expenditure – lower amount of calories burnt – thus less fat burnt.

Functional Strength – Don’t increase your ability to perform everyday activities such as lifting boxes, gardening, climbing stairs etc.

So when these busy individuals come to me, the first thing I do is set up a workout routine consisting of mainly compound exercises. Compound exercises work more than one muscle group at a time. For e.g. the shoulder press works the shoulders and the triceps at the same time; therefore working multiple muscles in one go. This saves times as it cuts down on the time involved in working the shoulders and the triceps separately; therefore allowing my clients to get more productivity, whether that is fat loss, muscle building or improved athletic performance in less time.

Compound exercises are also the benchmark in quick fat loss, muscle building, athletic performance for the following reasons:

Hormonal response – Compound exercises have the greatest anabolic hormonal response. Compound exercises lead to a much higher growth hormone release as compared to isolative, single joint exercises. Growth hormone promotes lean body mass which in turn burns fat.

Calorie expenditure – Compound exercises lead to more work done as compared to isolation exercises. This means a greater calorie expenditure which in turn increases your fat loss.

Abdominal Development – Compound exercises lead to a greater activation of the core – leading to stimulation of the abdominal muscles which in turn gives you a tight waist and a set of sexy six pack abs much faster than most abs exercises.

Functional Strength – Compound exercises mimic natural and everyday movements. This means that your ability to perform everyday movements such as lifting, climbing stairs, gardening etc is improved significantly leading to a reduced chance of injury and back pain.

Now that you understand the power of compound exercises lets look at some of the best compound exercises.

Squats – Squats are by far the best exercise for working your thighs, gluteus (butt) and the core in the fastest time possible.

Dead lifts – I have never seen a more powerful exercise when it comes to working your hamstrings, gluteus, lower back, upper back and grip strength at the same time.

Chip ups – Chin ups are very powerful in working your back as well as your biceps (arms) as well as your core.

Lat pull downs – if you are not strong enough to perform chin ups then the lat pull downs are a good alternative. They are very similar to the chin up except that they don’t recruit as many muscle fibers and therefore do not allow for the highest stimulation of the back muscles.

Bent over barbell rows – This is by far the most important and powerful exercise when it comes to working the middle back.

Shoulder Press & Bench Press; are both excellent exercises when it comes to working the chest, shoulders and triceps.

To recap, Compound exercises are of vital importance to anyone who’s short on time or wants to cut their workout time by using only the most powerful exercises in their workout. So if you want to lose fat faster, gain more muscle in less time or improve functional strength then substitute your current workout program for one that consists of mainly compound exercises and then watch your results skyrocket.