Compound Lifts (Vs) Isolation Lifts

Let’s start by looking at common weight training exercises broken down into either 

• Compound lifts (multi-joint movements) or 
• Isolation lifts (single joint movements).

 Compound lifts works several large musculature , wheras isolation exercise focusses on only some particular muscle group.And one more important thing is while doing compound lifts the stabiliser muscles also come into play leading to an effective workout.

However, the general concept is that you get better overall body responses from multi-joint movements. By working a larger amount of muscle, compound lifts burn more calories, stimulate a greater release of fat-burning and muscle-building hormones, and are also more useful to everyday activities and sports. Everyday activities and sports rarely replicate single joint movements. In fact, single joint exercises are mostly viewed in athletic training these days to be totally useless or even potentially detrimental for athletes. So if you happen to see a trainer at your gym that is training an athlete with leg extensions, machine leg curls, and other single joint movements, you can pretty much rest assured that they are not a very educated trainer.

Examples of multi-joint movements include 

squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, swings, snatches, bench presses, incline presses, shoulder presses, seated or bent over rows, lat pulls, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, push-ups, high pulls, clean and presses, etc. 

Examples of single joint exercises include 

barbell or dumbbell curls, triceps extensions or pressdowns, shoulder lateral raises, pectoral flyes, leg extensions, leg curls, etc. 

While there can be some occasional benefits to single joint exercises , the majority of your routines should be comprised of multi-joint exercises in order to develop a lean, strong, functional body.