Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
An effective workout program will focus on compound exercises. Compound exercises should be the foundation of your training plan because they are what build the foundation of your overall strength and muscle mass.
On that note, we've compiled the 8 best compound exercises that every strength and hypertrophy workout plan needs. These should be your main compound lifts and exercises, or in other words, the staples of your workout routine.
Table of Contents:
- What Are Compound Lifts & Exercises?
- 8 Main Compound Lifts And Exercises
- Best Bodyweight Compound Lifts
- Benefits Of Compound Lifts
- Can You Only Do Compound Exercises?
- Compound Exercise vs Isolation Exercise
- Best Assistance Lifts & Isolation Movements
- Compound Lifts Workout Examples
WHAT ARE COMPOUND LIFTS & EXERCISES?
Before we dive into our list, understanding the differences between compound lifts and exercises and what they are is important. If you want to get right to the best exercises list, keep scrolling.
A compound exercise is a multi-joint movement that works multiple muscle groups at the same time.
A compound lift has the same meaning, but it refers specifically to exercises done with free weights (typically barbells). The term compound exercise and compound lift is interchangeable when it comes to free weights.
To give you a better idea of what a compound exercise is let’s look at the squat. A squat targets your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, hip flexors, and erector spinae, and it acts on your hip, knee and ankle joints. It is a multi-joint movement that allows you to target multiple muscle groups. Moreover, it involves a more complex movement pattern.
Now consider an exercise like a bicep curl. The bicep curl is a movement that occurs only at your elbow joint, and as the name suggests, it mainly targets your biceps. It is a single joint exercise, more commonly referred to as an isolation movement.
While both compound lifts and isolation exercises have their place in a strength program and hypertrophy program, compound exercises should always take precedence.
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THE 8 MAIN COMPOUND LIFTS & EXERCISES FOR YOUR WORKOUTS
While there are many effective compound lifts, certain exercises should take precedence in a strength and hypertrophy training program because they are bigger compound lifts that put several muscles and multiple joints through a large range of motion. They are compound lifts that allow you to lift the heaviest weights, making them the most effective for building more muscle mass and strength.
The 8 best main compound exercises and lifts to include in your routine are:
- Barbell Back Squat
- Barbell Deadlifts
- Barbell Bench Press
- Military Press
- Pull Ups
- Bent Over Barbell Row
- Barbell Hip Thrust
- Planks
This list of best compound exercises and lifts is based this on actual research. Fitness data shows these 8 compound exercises provide the most activation for their respective targeted muscle groups.
Most of these big compound lifts can also be done for 1 rep max without compromising from, as a way to build absolute strength. This is part of what separates them from other smaller compound lifts.
Your main lifts should be prioritized, whereas the smaller compound lifts (and accessory exercises) should be supplemental to your training.
Finally, as these are your main compound lifts, you'll most frequently be using a barbell and plates. A barbell will allow you to lift heavier loads. Dumbbells and machines are best for smaller compound exercises and isolation exercises, with the exception being beginners who will likely benefit the most from dumbbells, or intermediate to advanced lifters who use machine and dumbbell compound lifts for muscle building purposes (or whatever other reason specific to their training goals).
1. Barbell Back Squat:
The barbell back squat is one of the kings of exercises. It gives you an incredible bang for your buck, which is why it is considered the best compound lift for legs.
Barbell back squats build serious muscle mass and strength in three of your biggest muscle groups:
- Quad
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
Barbell back squats also build lower back and core strength, body awareness and coordination, and injury resiliency through the strengthening of joints, ligaments and tendons around your knees and hips.
There are two types of barbell back squats: The high bar and low bar back squat. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, such as the low bar back squat typically allows for more weight due to the center of gravity, and the high bar typically allows for more squat depth as you can stand with your feet hip width apart.
What about front squats? Front squats are great, but they won’t allow you to lift as heavy (as you need to make sure you don't let the weight fall forward), and they don’t put as much emphasis on the posterior side.
Because of this, they are better used as an assistance lift rather than your main compound movement for the legs. The same goes for all the other squat variations.
2. Barbell Deadlifts:
Out of all the compound movements you can do, the deadlift allows you to lift the heaviest weight. It should be your strongest lift, without question.
Deadlifts will build big time muscle mass and strength in both your lower body and upper body, which is why it's one of our favorite barbell exercises.
The deadlift is a total body posterior chain exercise, but the main muscle target is your:
- Quads
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Back
Of course, it also builds powerful forearms and grip strength (as you have to hold onto the barbell) and stronger bones.
Like squats, deadlifts will produce the largest increases in anabolic hormones. Moreover, deadlifts create neurological strength adaptions that carry over to other upper and lower body compound lifts like barbell bench press and squats. The stronger your deadlift, the stronger every lift will become. It is the ultimate power builder.
If for whatever reason you can't do deadlifts (lower back pain when deadlifting is common - it's a high-risk-high-reward kind of exercise), there are deadlift alternatives to consider.
3. Barbell Bench Press:
The barbell bench press is to your upper body what squats are to your lower body.
This will be your strongest upper body exercise and the best compound lift for chest.
As the barbell bench press is an horizontal pushing exercise, you will build mass and strength in your chest. With your chest being one of the largest muscle groups in your body, this is obviously a best-bang-for-your-buck kind of lift.
It will move your chest through a large range of motion as you push your arms straight and lower them back down. This will both strengthen and stretch your chest, which is essential for building muscle, as well as improving posture and the strength of your back as well!
Like all big compound lifts, the bench press also works other muscles. Here's a full list of the muscles the bench press works:
- Pecs
- Anterior deltoids
- Triceps
- Lats
- Core
Furthermore, certain bench press grip variations will alter the stimulus placed on your muscles. All in all, the bench press is one of the best upper body exercises you can do, as is the next exercise on this list.
Eager to improve your bench press strength? Check out our Best Bench Press Program!
4. Military Press:
The military press, aka strict press, is the main variation of the overhead shoulder press. It is the last of what strength and powerlifters consider "The Big Four" (the other three being the aforementioned compound movements). It is another exercise that you can do with heavy weight for 1 rep max lifts.
The military press is a vertical pushing exercise that builds boulder-like shoulders. It is one of the hardest exercise you will do, and also the best compound lift for arms. You can do it standing or seated.
These aren't the only muscles it works, either. A full list of muscles worked during the military press include:
- Shoulders
- Upper Chest
- Triceps
- Biceps
- Lats
- Core
- Glutes
This is a very important exercise for athletes as it helps build an extreme amount of starting strength and power. It will give you the ability to generate force without momentum prior to the movement.
The military press is kind of like the deadlift in reverse. It is a total body exercise. And all the muscles missed by the deadlift are hit by the military press.
All in all, the military press is a very hard exercise and it ranks with equal importance as the barbell squat, deadlift, and bench press for building overall strength and muscle mass. With all four, you have the complete strength training package.
That said, while the above four exercise are enough for powerlifters, there are other compound exercises that are a must for those who want to do a more well-rounded hypertrophy and strength training plan.
5. Pull Ups:
The Big Four could really be The Big Five, because benefit-packed pull ups need to be included. Pull Ups are essential, no matter if you are a powerlifter, weightlifter, bodybuilder, Crossfitter, or a Mom with a full time job. In essence, without pull ups, you are missing an important piece of the puzzle, yet some powerlifters don’t bother with it because it doesn’t relate to absolute strength.
Pull ups focus on relative strength, which is your ability to lift your own bodyweight (if you can't do pull ups, start our pull up progression plan).
Be that as it may, pull ups are hard and they build strength and muscle like no other bodyweight exercise (plus you can add weight to pull ups as a method of progressive overload).
Pull ups are must because they primarily target the lats and biceps, which are two muscles groups that have yet to be the primary target. And not only do they target them, pull ups (and the variations of pull ups, i.e. chin ups and neutral grip pull ups) are the most effective at it.
What’s more, like all of our main compound exercises, pull ups target more than just two muscle groups. The full list of muscles worked during pull ups include:
- Lats
- Biceps
- Deltoids
- Rhomboids
- Traps
- Core
So, be sure to get to that pull up bar next time you train back!
6. Bent Over Barbell Row:
The bent over barbell row is to your posterior upper body as bench press is to your anterior upper body. Like pressing, rowing (or pulling) is a foundational movement and the barbell bent over row is the best pulling compound lift there is.
The bent over barbell row is a mass and strength builder for the following muscles:
- Traps
- Lats
- Rhomboids (the muscles between your shoulder blades
- Teres Major
- Teres Minor
- Rear Delt
- Infraspinatus
It also works your spinal erectors, glutes and abdominals isometrically. Furthermore, as it is a pulling movement, your biceps will play an important role in powering the movement and your forearms are needed for grip strength.
A bent over barbell row and the bench press are direct opposites. Together, they create the balance you need for strength and good posture. Not to mention, good aesthetics.
Now, you might be wondering why such a powerful compound lift is not part of the Big Four in powerlifting. So, let us answer this question as a lot of people who want to do a pure strength program like the 5/3/1 program don’t understand why this compound lift is not usually included.
Why aren't bent over rows part of the main lifts in powerlifting programs?
While the bent over row is one of the best compound lifts for back muscles, it isn't always programmed into powerlifting programs because of technique breakdown.
It’s very hard to row a true 1 rep max without cheating or compromising form.
For example, shortening the range of motion, standing up with the bar as you pull, or just using momentum and jerky movements would make the bent over row ineffective.
With squats, deadlifts, bench press and overhead presses, this is not the case. You either get the lift up from the starting position or you don’t. And while there can still be some slight issues with form, there really is no way to cheat.
All in all, it’s just hard to keep strict form and train for absolute strength with a row, and powerlifting’s main goal is absolute strength. As such, rows are simply considered an assistance lifts to help improve deadlifts, which is the real back movement in a powerlifting program.
All that said, if you are training for training for hypertrophy and strength, like the vast majority of people who go to gym, then the bent over row should be included as your main lift because it targets the mid-upper back with more focus and range of motion than a deadlift.
It’s an especially important lift for the development of your back muscles from an aesthetic standpoint, and there are other variations of bent over rows that can help too.
7. Barbell Hip Thrusts:
Now we are getting into the territory of “is this a main lift or an assistance and accessory lift?” Nevertheless, we’d like to add the barbell hip thrust to our list because it’s one of the best glute mass building exercise you can do, especially for those who feel their glutes aren’t getting enough attention with squats and deadlifts and for those who simply want a really nice, strong booty.
Another reason we’d like to add this as a main lift is it complements squats and deadlifts, but doesn't repeat them. The hip thrust is a horizontal hip hinge exercise, where deadlifts and squats involve a vertical hip hinge.
Furthermore, your gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in your body and your gluteal muscles as a whole are one of the largest muscle groups, so an exercise that hones in on this area is essential for overall hypertrophy.
In terms of muscles worked, as it is a hip hinging movement, the following muscles are worked:
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Core
- Quads
The reason the barbell hip thrust is so great for your glutes is because it provides the greatest degree of contraction tension. No other exercise can compare. The only downfall is that there is minimal stretching tension with a barbell hip thrust.
So, while it is better for contraction tension than the squat, the squat is better for stretching tension. Thus, both are necessary movements and equally as effective for the glutes (which reminds us, if you want to get the most glute activation from your back squats, go deep!).
If for whatever reason you can't do barbell hip thrusts or don't want to, check out these barbell hip thrust alternatives.
8. Planks:
We don’t care what any other lists about the best compound exercises say, the plank is a must for everyone. It’s the best exercise you can do for core strength, and your core is the glue that holds your upper body and lower body together. We’d go as far as to say it should be includes as a main lift in powerlifting, thus making The Big Four (or wait The Big Five with pull ups), The Big Six.
Planks are like a “jack-of-all-trade” kind of exercise. It carries over into all of your big lifts and you can do them anywhere at anytime. Moreover, they are not just good for your abs!
Planks work the following muscle groups:
- Core (which includes you abs, obliques, spinal erectors, glutes and all the deep muscles in your trunk)
- Quads
- Shoulders
- Triceps
- Chest
These are all worked via isometric contraction, which means contraction without lengthening or shortening muscles.
Planks are essential for a typical strength training & bodybuilding program. They will make you stronger in your other lifts, they will make you more injury resilient, more stable, and they help promote good posture.
It’s simply one of the best bodyweight compound exercises there is.
By the way, don’t forget about side planks and all the plank variations! They are all great.
What are the best compound lifts?
To summarize the above, here are the following best compound exercises and lifts:
- Quad Dominant Compound Lift: Barbell Back Squat
- Vertical Hip Hinge Compound Lift: Barbell Deadlift
- Vertical Pushing Compound Lift: Military Press
- Horizontal Pushing Compound Lift: Bench Press
- Vertical Pulling Compound Exercise: Pull Up
- Horizontal Pulling Compound Lift: Barbell Bent Over Row
- Horizontal Hip Hinge Compound Lift: Barbell Hip Thrust
- Core Compound Movement: Plank
With these, your entire body is covered!
BEST BODYWEIGHT COMPOUND EXERCISES:
If all you want to do is bodyweight training and calisthenics, these will be your main compound exercises (in no particular order):
- Air Squats
- Push Ups (also a great main exercise for beginners to weightlifting)
- Pull Ups & Chin Ups
- Inverted Rows
- Parallel Dips (this could even be included as a Main Compound Exercise above)
- Pike Push Ups
- Hand Stands
- Glute Bridges (as well as single leg glute bridges and elevated glute bridges)
- Planks (and all variations)
- Hanging Leg Raises
- Lunge Movements (and all variations, such as side lunges, curtsy lunges, reverse lunges, etc.)
If you are a beginner, you may need to start with some of these exercises even if you workout at the gym with weights.
For example, a lot of beginners will do best with push ups instead of bench press and bodyweight squats instead of back squats. Once you’ve developed good movement patterning and strength, you can move on to using barbells, or even dumbbells or kettlebells for exercises like goblet squats and dumbbell presses first, then barbells.
If you're interested in focusing on calisthenics only, be sure to check out this calisthenics legs workout to get you started!
BENEFITS OF COMPOUND EXERCISES
Some people who are new to fitness may think that isolation movements suffice as long as each muscle group is targeted, but this is not a smart approach to building muscle and strength.
An effective workout program is built around compound exercises, with isolation exercises being an accessory to those compound exercises. This applies to beginners right on up to the most elite athletes and weightlifters.
In fact, even though isolation exercises are easier and less taxing, healthy beginners should place more importance on compound lifting. If you're a beginner, compound exercises should make up around 80-90% of your training.
As surprising as it may sound, isolation exercises are more important for those who are at an advanced stage of body training as they can help perfect the trainees aesthetics and strength imbalances. Beginners will get incredible results in terms of both strength and aesthetics simply from compound exercises. It’s called newbie gains, and no gains are as fast and prominent as newbie gains.
Once a trainee has a solid foundation of strength and mass, then isolation exercises really start to have their advantages, even though compound lifts will always reign supreme.
We will get more into this, but first let’s go over why compound exercises are so important:
- Train More Muscle Groups At Once: Complex lifts, which compound exercises are, improve workout efficiency, but that’s not even the main point. By training multiple muscle groups simultaneously, you can lift heavier weights, which improves both your overall muscle mass and strength. It’s a lot easier to pack on muscle mass and build strength with most compound lifts. Compound lifting is the true definition of functional fitness.
- Easier To Progressive Overload: As a beginner or even intermediate lifter, you will be able to increase the weight of compound strength exercises at a much faster rate than you can with isolation exercises, which means you can grow your muscles faster too! The ceiling for compound lifts is much higher.
- Raise Testosterone & Growth Hormone: Research shows that compound lifts produce much larger increases in anabolic hormones (testosterone and growth hormone) than isolation exercises1. Needless to say, that is another reason they are superior for building muscle.
- Stronger, Denser Bones: It’s not just your muscles that will benefit from lifting heavier loads, your bones will too. As your muscle tissue and strength increases, your bones will become stronger and denser thanks to compound lifts. This is how you build true total body strength.
- Improves Intermuscular Coordination: Compound exercises involve more complex lifting techniques, which teaches your muscles and joints to train as one unit, rather than like a robot. They work together to produce and control force. With that, you will see big improvements in your coordination, balance, and movement efficiency. This is especially valuable if you want to be more athletic. But even if you don’t care about athleticism, compound exercises are functional movements, meaning they prepare you for the real world, which all of us partake in.
- Burn More Calories: Compound exercises involve a bigger movement pattern, and thus have a much higher net energy expenditure than isolation exercises, so they will burn far more calories. If fat loss is important to you, compound exercises are the way to go. Plus, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn when resting. That’s a double whammy to burn fat.
- Improves Flexibility & Mobility: Not a lot of people realize that while doing compound lifts, they are actually doing a form of dynamic stretching. Compound lifts that move you through a large range of motion are lengthening and contracting your muscles with every rep, this naturally improves flexibility and it optimizes your joint mobility (test your mobility).
All in all, compound lifts give you the best bang for you bucks for strength, size, endurance, fat loss, athleticism, and aesthetics. What's more, compound lifts build abs and core strength so there's no need for endless ab exercises! If you weren’t convinced before, we are sure you are now.
SHOULD YOU ONLY DO COMPOUND EXERCISES?
Although compound exercises are the most important and are ideal for most individuals, a workout program with only compound lifts is not usually the best way of programming for people with well-rounded fitness goals (i.e. hypertrophy, strength, fat loss, endurance).
Thus, isolation exercises most certainly have their place.
Here’s several examples of why doing only compound lifts might not be ideal.
Certain muscles groups may not be effectively targeted with heavy compound movements because larger muscle groups are powering the gross movement patterning. It’s hard to address specific weaknesses and muscle imbalances with compound lifts because the stars of the show take over.
For example, you may be quad dominant during back squats and hamstring dominant during deadlifts so your glutes will need additional attention.
It’s also possible that certain muscles during compound lifts fatigue before other muscles being worked. For example, your low back muscles may fatigue before your legs do, in which case you’d want to isolate your low back with hyper extensions to get it stronger so that it doesn’t fatigue before your legs and glutes. You may also need to do more isolated leg movements like leg presses to hone in on your quads.
You may also find that certain muscles need more attention simply because the compound lifts aren’t challenging them enough for full development OR they aren’t moving the muscle through a full range of motion, which is essential for hypertrophy.
For example, you may find bent over rows aren’t enough for your biceps, or bench press and overhead press aren’t enough for your triceps and side/rear delts. Isolation exercises for these small muscle groups are needed for aesthetics and muscle development.
You can have strong shoulders from only doing overhead press, but that doesn’t mean you will have those good looking broad shoulders that pop, because it's mainly your anterior delts and upper chest powering the movement, thus leaving your side delts underdeveloped.
Another big reason why isolation exercises are useful is that you can target specific muscles without impacting other muscles that need rest. This will help you avoid underworking or overworking specific muscle groups. Moreover, it will allow you to get the right volume needed for each specific muscle group.
Finally, isolation exercises are important for those who are recovering from an injury. You can isolate a specific muscle and joint with an appropriate weight to help it regain its strength in a safe manner.
In summary, compound lift exercises are the foundation of your program. They are done to directly train and overload your major muscle groups. They are what help you gain overall size and strength. Isolated exercises will help you further develop specific muscles or muscle groups that need more attention. They are there to help you with lagging muscles, strength imbalances, and overall aesthetics.
COMPOUND EXERCISES VS ASSISTANCE EXERCISES VS ACCESSORY EXERCISES
While exercises can be categorized simply by compound exercises and isolation exercises, a more strategic approach to weightlifting will break exercises down into three categories: Main Compound Exercises, Assistance Exercises, and Accessory Exercises.
What are compound exercises?
Compound exercises are the staples of your program. These are the exercises that you are going to do each and every week, without fail. Compound exercises are your big strength and mass builders.
Examples of main compound lifts and exercises are:
- Back Squats
- Deadlifts
- Bench Press
- Overhead Press
- Barbell Rows
- Pull Ups
- Chin Ups
What are assistance exercises?
Assistance exercises are kind of like the middle ground between big compound lifts and isolation exercises.
Assistance exercises target specific muscle groups and should be used to hone in on each muscle group to further develop the muscles or as a strengthening exercise to boost your main compound lifts.
Assistance exercises are important for hypertrophy and strength training as they will allow you to build up muscle and strength for muscles that need more attention, they can fix muscle imbalances, and improve movement skills.
Note: In powerlifting, assistance exercises are used specifically to help improve the main lifts, whereas with a typical hypertrophy and strength training program, they are more for aesthetics and specific strength.
For hypertrophy training, certain assistance exercises may be done each week, while others you mix in to keep things fresh. It really depends on your program. Typically, you will have a few assistance exercises for each muscle group that you do each week for a training cycle, then you switch things up on the next training cycle (i.e. every 8-12 weeks).
Examples of assistance exercises are:
- RDLs
- Dumbbell Incline Bench
- Shrugs
- Arnold Presses
- Lunges
What are accessory exercises?
Accessory exercises are your isolation exercises, used to target specific muscles, usually smaller muscles, that aren’t being developed well enough with both your main exercises and assistance exercises. Typically, you'll use light weight.
Isolation exercises are important for aesthetic purposes, as you can be strong without accessory exercises. That said, in some cases, accessory exercises will improve your heavy compound lifts. For example, targeting your lower back with an isometric exercise can help your low back not fatigue as quickly during squats or deadlifts.
Examples of accessory exercises are:
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises
- Bicep Curls
- Dumbbell Tricep Extensions
- Crunches
- Leg Curls
- Leg Extensions
Below is a list of the best assistance and accessory exercises.
Best Assistance lifts:
| PUSHING MUSCLES: |
| Incline Bench Press (can also be a main lift) |
| Parallel Dips |
| Dumbbell Bench Press |
| Close Grip Bench Press |
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press |
| Push Ups (all variations) |
| Arnold Press |
| PULLING MUSCLES: |
| Rack Pull |
| Farmer's Walk |
| Shrugs (BB, DB, Trap Bar) |
| Dumbbell Row |
| Machine High Row |
| Kroc Row |
| T-Bar Row (all grips) |
| Meadows Row |
| Chest Supported Row (i.e. Seal Rows) |
| Seated Row (all grips) |
| Lat Pulldown (all variations) |
| LOWER BODY MUSCLES: |
| Front Squat |
| Split Squat |
| Bulgarian Split Squat |
| Lunges (all variations) |
| RDL & Stiff-Leg Deadlifts |
| Good Mornings |
| Single Leg Deadlift |
| Sumo Deadlift |
| Hack Squat & Reverse Hack Squat |
Best isolation exercises (aka accessory lifts):
| Chest: DB Fly (all angles), Pec Deck, Cable Fly (all angles) |
| Back: Straight Arm Lat Pulldown, Pullover, Hyperextensions (low back) |
| Shoulders: Lateral Raise, Y-Raise, Front Raise, Rear Delt Fly, Face Pull |
| Biceps: BB Curl, Hammer Curl, Concentration Curl, Preacher Curl |
| Triceps: Overhead Triceps Extensions, Pressdown, Kickback, Skullcrushers |
| Quads: Leg Extension Machine, Leg Press, Heel Elevated Squat |
| Hamstrings: Nordic Ham Curl, Lying Leg Curl Machine, Seated Leg Curl |
| Glutes: Kickbacks, Hip Adduction, Hip Abduction |
| Calves: Standing Calf Raise, Seated Calf Raise, Donkey Kick |
For more information on how to properly program the different types of exercises, head to our article: How Many Exercises, Sets, and Reps Per Muscle Group and Workout?
HIERARCHY OF EXERCISES DURING WORKOUTS
Your workouts should go in this order:
- Main compound lift (or main lifts, some workout plans may call for two main lifts in a workout)
- Assistance lifts
- Isolation Exercises
After you warm up, start with your main compound lifts. This is because you will have the highest strength and energy levels, which are need for these big compound movements.
Note: Always warm up to your working weight with warm up sets. Your warm up sets should gradual work up to the first set’s working weight and they should not be high repetition or bring you anywhere near failure.
When you finish your main lifts, you will do your assistance lifts. Then, depending on the workout, you can do isolation exercises. Some days you may not even do isolation exercises, or you may just do one or two. It depends on the muscle group and your split.
For example, if you do lower body workouts and you feel your legs are being worked enough, you may not do isolation exercises, or maybe you do just isolation calf exercises because you calves need work. Again, it depends, mostly on your goals.
REPS, WEIGHT LOAD & VOLUME
Here are the rep ranges, weight load, and total volume that will give you the best results.
1. Main Compound Lifts:
First of all, it should be noted that with big compound lifts, you can build pure size in any rep range. Yes, even 1 rep. The point is, if your sets bring you to near failure, then you will build muscle mass.
The best rep range for your main compound lifts will be low. For compound lifts, 1-8 reps is ideal. With that, you need an appropriate weight load. For 1-8 reps to be effective, you need the weight load to be around 80-90% of your 1RM.
Now, you might be thinking this is more of a strength training rep scheme, but we promise with the above, you'll be building muscle mass big time. This is especially true when you are also doing assistance lifts.
Rest time between sets: 90-120+ seconds
Note: Women will do better in the 6-10 rep range.
2. Assistance Exercises:
For your assistance exercises, you are going to be increasing the reps and dropping the weight load a little.
For your assistance exercises, stick with 6-15 reps using a weight load of 60-85%. Perform exercises with a wide rep range as it will help you build strength, size, and endurance in the specific muscle groups you are targeting.
To do this, you can do higher reps one workout and lower reps on another, or your can decrease the reps and increase the weight with each working set. In any case, you will have a good crossover of both strength and hypertrophy with any reps between 6-15.
Again, you can build muscle in any rep range if the weight load is appropriate, and you will have strength improvements as your muscles grow. Overall, the goal is to work in the 6-15 rep range with a weight load that brings you to near failure (meaning you have one or two reps left in the tank) each set (this means your reps may decrease with each set).
As for total volume, aim to do 60-180 sets per major muscle group per week. This can be included with your main lifts.
Rest time between sets: 60-90 seconds.
3. Accessory Exercises:
With most isolation exercises, it will be hard to lift heavy and a 1RM max kind of becomes irrelevant. The goal is to work in a 8-20 rep range with a load that bring you to near failure. This may take some testing, but you will figure it out quickly enough.
The total volume will depend on your goals and how fatigued you are. Once you reach full exhaustion for your muscles, there’s no need to do more that workout.
WORKOUT PROGRAM EXAMPLE THAT INCLUDES MAIN COMPOUND EXERCISES, ASSISTANCE EXERCISES, AND ACCESSORY EXERCISES
This will be an example of a push pull leg split.
There are many ways to structure a push pull leg split. For example, a push pull legs split can be organized by 3, 5, or 6 workouts per week.
Here are some common examples....
| Beginner to Intermediate (3 Day Split): | Intermediate to Advanced (5 Day Split): |
| Day 1: Push | Day 1: Push |
| Day 2: Rest | Day 2: Pull |
| Day 3: Pull | Day 3: Legs |
| Day 4: Rest | Day 4: Push |
| Day 5: Legs | Day 5: Pull |
| Day 6: Rest | Day 6: Rest |
| Day 7: Rest | Day 7: Rest |
| Note: Rest days can be used for cardio or HIIT, if you feel good. | Note: The following week: Legs, Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Rest, Rest...(continue this pattern). |
Your training plan should last 8-12 week before you take a rest or deload week and/or switch up your routine.
If you run a 3 day PPL, it's best to keep the same workouts each week. However, if you run a 5 or 6 day PPL, you can have two sets of workouts that you alternate between (i.e. Push A Workout, Pull A Workout, Legs A Workout, Push B Workout, Pull B Workout, Legs B Workout).
Here are examples of effective push, pull, and leg workouts that emphasize compound lifts:
PUSH WORKOUT
| Exercise: | Sets: | Reps: |
| Bench Press | 5 | 5 |
| Military Press | 5 | 5-8 |
| Incline Dumbbell Bench Press | 3 | 8-12 |
| Chest Fly | 3 | 8-12 |
| Lateral Raise | 3 | 10-15 |
| Skull Crushers | 3 | 10-20 |
PULL WORKOUT:
| Exercise: | Sets: | Reps: |
| Deadlift | 5 | 5 |
| Bent Over Barbell Row | 4 | 6-12 |
| Pull Ups | 4 | near max |
| Shrugs | 3 | 8-15 |
| Rear Delt Fly | 4 | 10-20 |
| Planks | 4 | 30 sec holds |
LEG WORKOUT:
| Exercises: | Sets: | Reps: |
| Back Squat | 5 | 6-8 |
| Split Squats | 3 | 10 each side |
| Romanian Deadlift | 4 | 8-12 |
| Good Mornings | 3 | 8-12 |
| Leg Extension x Leg Curl (superset) | 3 | 10-12 |
| Calf Raises | 4 | 12-15 |
After 8-12 weeks, you can change up your workout routine. This doesn’t mean you have to change the split (although you can), but you can change up the order of your exercises (i.e. do military press then bench press) and you can change up your assistance lifts and accessory lifts.
You can also alter the reps and sets.
HOW TO CONTINUE PROGRESSING WITH COMPOUND LIFTING
Besides eating right, sleeping right, and hydrating, the two ways to continue progressing over time are periodization and progressive overload.
We’ve already discussed periodization. This basically just means you make a training cycle, stick with it for 8-12 weeks (although it can be as little as 4 weeks) then take a rest week or two and start up again, altering your plan if you’d like or feel you need. Be sure to measure your progress as this will help you see where you need improvement and what’s working. It will also help you spot plateaus.
As for progressive overload, each training cycle, focus on increasing weight load, increasing reps, and potentially decreasing rest time. Also, work on optimizing your range of motion. Stick to your progressive overload over the course of your training cycle. The progress will be gradual, but that’s all it takes for muscle growth and strength gains.
After your training cycle, you can progressive overload by adding volume to your next training cycle and even progression exercises (for example, if you are a beginner and you have been doing goblet squats rather than back squats, maybe its time to start doing barbell back squats).
When your new training cycle begins, stick with increasing weight load, increasing reps, and if possible, decreasing rest time.
Maximizing range of motion > increasing reps > increasing weight load
Before you increase your reps, make sure you are moving through a full range of motion. After that, you can progress by increasing your reps. For example, if your plan calls for 6-10 reps, once you get up to 10 reps and it’s not bringing you near failure, increase the weight load a little, then you most likely will drop down in reps and can progress with that weight load by increasing reps again.
If you have any questions about compound lifts, or programming workout plans, please feel free to reach out to us. We are always happy to help.
For more great workout programs featuring compound lifts, check out our Upper Lower Split, Push Pull Split, and Bro Split!
Prepare to maximize your strength with our exclusive 13-week strength training program. 3, 4, and 5 day per week programming options.
References:
- Hansen S, Kvorning T, Kjaer M, Sjøgaard G. The effect of short-term strength training on human skeletal muscle: the importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2001;11(6):347-354. doi:https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0838.2001.110606.x
Garett Reid
Author