Ask the Strength Coach
By Mark Philippi
Philippi Sports Institute
If you only had a little time to workout what exercises would you do?
Many times when I am training at PSI I only have a limited time to workout. This is when I choose compound exercises. They give me the most bang for my buck. By this I mean I want to stimulate the most muscle fiber in the shortest amount of time. Compound exercises combine different multiple joint movements and are great for creating adaptive responses in the body.
The first exercise that comes to mind is the DB deadlift curl and press. Grab a moderate db weight and place them at your side on the ground. Grab a hold of the db’s keeping your chest, head, and eyes forward. Set your core by pulling your bellybutton to your spine. As you stand up lift the db’s up to your sides. Then curl the weights up your chest. Take a deep breath, hold it in and press the weights overhead. Bring the weights down under control to the chest and then the ground and perform another lift. The DB deadlift is a great exercise to develop strength, and work capacity. I suggest between six and ten reps per set and 3 to 4 sets with 2 to 3 minutes between sets. the more muscle you can get working the more muscle you can form and the more fat you will burn. This exercise gets the whole body involved: legs, arms back, and shoulders.
Another good exercise to maximize your time benefit in the gym is another compound movement, the squat and press/ good morning. Place the bar on the shoulders in squatting position. Descend into a full back squat (thighs parallel the ground). Use the momentum of the concentric (upward) portion of the squat to then press the bar overhead from behind the neck. Lower the bar to the shoulders and then perform a good morning. A good morning is a hip extension exercise that stresses the low back and hamstring muscle groups. Keeping the body in the same squatting position, slightly break the knees and push the hips backward. This will place a stretch on the hamstrings. Keep the back flat, core set, and eyes forward. Descend until you can’t lower the bar without rounding the back. When you reach this point lift the bar back to the starting body position and begin another rep of the whole compound exercise.
Both of these exercises are examples of compound exercises that stimulate a large number of muscle fibers, burn a lot of calories in short period of time, and are effective at stimulating natural hormonal releases in the body. The number of different combinations of exercises that can be performed in this manner is endless. If you only have a limited time in the gym these are the types of exercises you will want to select.