If you have a very specific area of the body you would like to work on, you may be doing isolation exercises to target it. Isolation exercises are when you focus on a particular muscle with the movement. For example, if you’re trying to strengthen your biceps, you might be doing barbell curls till you’re blue in the face. While this will certainly strengthen your biceps, it isn’t the best use of your time if you’re looking to improve your overall fitness. With compound exercises, meaning exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once, you are maximizing not only the strength benefits of exercise but also improving your flexibility and cardiovascular health. At Inspire Seattle, we offer Lagree Fitness classes, which work all the muscle groups in the body in just 40 minutes!
To fully understand why compound exercises are so beneficial, we have compiled a list of reasons why they are the best way to get the most out of your workout.
If weight loss is one of your goals, isolation exercises are a waste of your precious time. Compound exercises simply burn more calories, improving your overall fitness. This is because to consume one liter of oxygen, your body burns five calories. The more muscle tissue involved, the more oxygen is required, which increases the overall expenditure of energy by the body. It’s basic math: if you’re working more muscles, you’re using more oxygen, which is burning more calories.
Compound exercises also work to optimize the coordination between your muscles. When you work multiple muscles at once, it helps them to work together for better control over the force of a movement. For example, if you are doing a compound exercise such as a squat, you are using the whole gluteal complex (including the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus), which controls the movement of your hips.
Cardiovascular exercise helps your heart function better. There are many cardiovascular exercises you can do, such as running, swimming, or biking, but you can also gain cardiovascular benefits by doing exercises that involve all multiple muscles. The more muscle tissue that is involved in your workout, the more your heart must work to send blood to the muscles, which enhances the cardiovascular advantages provided by your workout.
Many people think that working on your flexibility means static stretching. While this can be effective in reducing muscle tension, it is not the best method for stretching prior to exercise. Dynamic stretching is better for tapping into all the benefits of stretching. Dynamic stretching fits seamlessly into many compound exercises, including the Lagree Method.
The Lagree Fitness workout is one of the most efficient and effective fitness programs you can use to achieve full-body results. In just 40 minutes, this innovative workout works all of your muscle groups, ensuring that you are maximizing the benefits of bodyweight strength training. If you’re ready to sculpt your body with a convenient and efficient workout, come into our fitness studio in Seattle and give Lagree Fitness a try!