Mastering Compound Exercises to Defeat Boredom in Your Workouts

Are you tired of the monotony of your workout routine? Discover how to reignite your passion for fitness. We will explore the art of keeping workouts fresh and engaging and uncover innovative strategies to shake up your routine by simply flipping the order of exercises, leaving your body pleasantly confused and engaged AND using compound exercises to spice up your workouts.  Whether you're at the start of your fitness journey or a seasoned athlete, these strategies can help to inject excitement back into your sessions.

Compound exercises are the Swiss army knife of the fitness world. These powerhouse movements target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, making your workouts more time-efficient and effective. Through relatable examples like combining squats, bicep curls, and overhead presses into one fluid motion, learn how to upgrade your fitness regimen. Prepare to embrace a more dynamic approach and elevate your workouts to new heights, all while keeping both your mind and body on their toes.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Sisters in Service podcast. Most of you know me as a strong advocate for women veterans in being recognized not only as veterans but also as women who are changing the world through our passion of serving even after service. This podcast is my passion by telling all the stories of military brats, military spouses, active duty and veterans, not to forget the veteran service organizations that help us along our transition journey. I want to thank you in advance for listening. I hope that you will join me. Every week, a new podcast and episode comes out every Tuesday, so I hope that you will join and I hope that you enjoy. This podcast is brought to you by Small Space Pilates. Are you ready to get fit and fabulous from the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Small Space Pilates. With live online Pilates and strength training classes, a video library and a-allowed policy, you can achieve your fitness goals without ever leaving your house. Click on the link for your complimentary week and start your journey to feeling fabulous today. Hello everyone and welcome to the latest episode of why Not? Wellness. I'm Kat Corchato, your movement specialist, and today I want to talk a little bit about compound movements. So I tend to talk to a lot of beginners, because I feel like beginners kind of get left behind. But let's say that you have been starting. You not have been starting. You have started your fitness journey. You're working out on a daily basis, or maybe you have your own routine, whatever those days and times are. But now you're a little ugh bored. Okay, so we're getting towards the end of the month. Maybe you've been working out for a month, maybe you've been working out longer, and you're kind of tired already or bored with your workout. And rightfully so, because you get, you're doing great, you're lifting the weights, you're doing the thing, and you think and I've thought this if I have to do the same exercises in the same order, I'm going to scream. So here's one thing you can do Take your whole workout for the day and flip it, so at the end of the day it's cardio or abs. Do that first and work up. That's a really, really quick way of changing up your routine, because your body doesn't know. Your body's like oh, they starting with chest, and then it's this and then it's this. Your body's like oh, they starting with chest, and then it's this and then it's this. But if you start bottom to top, your body goes hey, what is this? So it starts to pay attention.

Speaker 1: 3:12

The other thing I want to talk to you about is diving into the world of compound exercises. Now I know what you're thinking. Compound exercises, what the what? Sounds like something from a chemistry class. Well, don't worry, there won't be a pop quiz at the end of this podcast.

Speaker 1: 3:38

So let's start with the basic. What is a compound exercise? Think of compound exercises like a Swiss army knife, only of workouts. So take a regular butter knife and it does. Might do a couple of things, but it does one thing good it spreads butter, it spreads cream cheese. And then you take a cutting knife and it cuts. It cuts meat, it cuts other things. And then maybe you need a bottle opener, because what goes better with steak than wine? Yes, I like wine, but you can only do one thing at a time.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Compound exerciser like that overachiever who can juggle multiple tasks at once. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously. It's like a twofer. I love a twofer, don't you? Buy one, get one, buy two, get one, free things like that. So you're probably thinking okay, that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 4:54

But give me an example. So let's say you were doing squats. Let's say you've been doing bicep curls and then you've been doing an overhead press Okay, but you've been doing them singularly Okay, on the day that you would normally do them. What if you did all of them together in one movement? You bicep curl, I'm sorry, you squat, bicep curl, overhead press. That's a compound movement.

Speaker 1: 5:22

So you're probably thinking why should I be bothered with compound exercises? I know Well. First of all, it alleviates the boredom and it makes it a little more interesting. They also give you a more efficient workout because they mimic real world movements. So squat is a functional movement movements. So squat is a functional movement. Bicep press or bicep curl functional movement because you have to be able to hold stuff here like this which is working here, and your back overhead press, where you press up. You have to reach up over your head. These are all what we call functional movements. They mimic real world. So you'll be lifting those heavy grocery bags and climbing those stairs like a pro.

Speaker 1: 6:16

So I gave you one example. What's another example? Squats. I talked about deadlifts, bench presses. Now squats don't sound as glamorous as a bicep curl, but trust me, your body will thank you for it later. So right now, just take, take a second and think can I get out of the chair that I'm sitting in right now without helping myself up with my hands? Can I sit down without using my hands? Right, these are things to do or to think about when you're working out. Can I do this? So the next time you're in the gym, don't just stick to the isolation exercise and they have their place they do. But give compound exercise to try, because your body will thank you for it and you might find yourself having a little more fun doing your workout.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Remember, this isn't just about looking good. That's part of the package. It's about feeling good. You guys know, or you've heard me say I have. I feel that everyone has the right to feel good in their body, and a lot of people don't resonate with that, and I figured out why we are so used to feeling in our body, because that's what our body's been used to.

Speaker 1: 7:38

How many times do you do this? Do you slump? And there was a time when you do that. Your body goes oh, no here. And you go, go, no here. And finally your body goes okay, this is your new normal now. How attractive is this? How attractive is this? Would you want to speak to someone who's talking like this? Or would you want someone who can stand or even speak or sit like this? So get out of your norm, get out of that. Oh, I'll just do this because it's safe. You're stronger than you think. You're stronger than you know. You just have to give your body a chance to catch up. So if you are starting to work out, if you have been working out, and it's lonely, it can be lonely. Guys, working out can be lonely, just like being an entrepreneur.

Speaker 1: 8:35

Come join me at Small Space Pilates, where we do live workouts. I always show modifications. I'm inviting you because you get it's a free week. You get a free week to try. Remember, I told you I love freebies, I like show modifications. I'm inviting you because it's a free week. You get a free week to try. Remember, I told you I love freebies, I like two-fers.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Come see what our group is about. If you want to, let's chat about your exercise. And even if you decide not to stay with small space Pilates or maybe that's not your thing at all let's chat anyway. Let's figure out how we can make your workouts more efficient, make them more fun and make them make you want to do them more Again. The other thing that I want to say really quick is that I have a I always want to say competition. It's not a competition, it's a challenge. It is the Keep it Moving 11-Minute Fitness Challenge. It starts tomorrow, 6.30 pm Eastern Standard Time. All you have to do is go to smallspacepilatescom backslash challenge to sign up. It only costs you your email. Come, find out what 11 minutes can do. I think you might be pleasantly surprised. So until next time, this is Kat Corchado, your movement specialist, signing off for now and keep it moving. Bye for now, thank you.