The Best Compound Exercises for Total-Body Strength and Metabolic Efficiency

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At GOOD IDEA we talk a lot about nutrition, metabolic health, and strategies to help you live your healthiest life. One of those strategies is exercise. It occupies a unique spot in our metabolic health toolbox since it’s accessible to all and it works for everyone. There are many different ways to work exercise into your day (see our previous blogs for our after-work workout, resistance training at home, and workout for metabolic health tips). Resistance training is one way that is often overlooked but has huge advantages for our health.

If you are new to the gym, don’t know how to work half of the machines at your local gym, or simply don’t know where to start… you aren’t alone. The gym can be overwhelming and when you are crunched for time you don’t want to spend those valuable minutes trying to figure out what you’re doing. This is where something called compound exercises are valuable.  

Compound movements are exercises that recruit multiple muscle groups at once. This increases your calorie burn, glucose uptake, and muscle activation… all in less time. This is a win-win-win and allows you to have the most efficient workout possible (because we all have other things to accomplish in our day). As a bonus, compound movements are usually very applicable to everyday movement, which is great if we are trying to improve longevity and make sure we are strong enough to do our favorite activities, whether that’s play with your kids, pick up the grandkids, run a marathon, or hike with friends.

Why Compound Exercises Matter for Blood Sugar

When large muscle groups contract, they pull glucose out of the bloodstream independently of insulin. This means that exercise can help to control our blood sugar while we are exercising. As a bonus, resistance training continues to improve our blood sugar regulation even after our workouts are done by improving our insulin sensitivity. This makes strength training a powerful metabolic tool.

This complements strategies we often talk about at GOOD IDEA, like:

• Moving after meals
• Pairing protein and fats with carbohydrates
• Reducing the size of post-meal glucose spikes

What are the Best Compound Exercises?

1. Lunges

Lunges are a highly effective unilateral compound movement that challenge strength, balance, and coordination. Unilateral exercises are great since they help to address muscle imbalances and improve our movement efficiency.

What muscles are used in the lunge? Quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core

2. Pull-Ups

Pull-ups develop upper-body pulling strength while reinforcing shoulder stability. Upper-body pulling movements play an important role in posture and shoulder health. If you can’t do a pull-up on your own, start with hanging from the bar, then progress to an assisted pull-up.

What muscles are used in a pull-up? Lats, rhomboids, upper back, biceps, forearms

3. Deadlifts

Deadlifts are incredibly applicable to daily life. It’s how we pick up our Amazon packages and lift heavy things. They train the posterior chain (aka the back of your body from your heels through your spine) a key driver of power, posture, and injury resilience. The key is to focus on form and lift with your legs.  Properly coached deadlifts are associated with strength gains without increased injury risk. Here’s a quick video explaining proper deadlift form in less than 35 seconds.

What muscles are used in a deadlift? Hamstrings, glutes, lower back, quads, core, upper back

4. Squats

Squats are one of the most transferable movement patterns for sport and daily life. It’s how we get out of bed, off the toilet, and out of our car. So, it should come as no surprise that squat strength is highly correlated with functional movement patterns.

What muscles are worked in a squat? Quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, core

5. Bench Press

The bench press builds pressing strength while requiring stabilization. The muscles worked in a bench press help to improve efficiency and reduce shoulder strain.

What muscles are worked in a bench press? Chest, shoulders, triceps, core, upper back

How to Pair Exercise With Nutrition

Strength training increases glucose uptake, and pairing workouts with smart nutrition choices can further smooth post-meal glucose curves. To learn more about how exercise impacts blood sugar, check out our previous GOOD IDEA blog. Also, if you’re wearing a CGM be sure to check out our blog that breaks down what you can expect to see in your continuous glucose monitor during your workout (hint: you can usually expect an increase in blood sugar during exercise and that is okay).

Bottom Line

Compound exercises allow you to make the most of your workout time while also performing exercises that are applicable to daily life. Lunges, pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, and bench press movements should be staples in nearly any training program. Have a great workout!

Author: Dr. Colleen Gulick, Ph.D. (ExPhys), MS (ExPhys), BS (BioE), EIT (ME), CSCS

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