As much as going to the gym has countless benefits for your physical and mental health, we should all be aiming to spend as little time in them as we can. I don't mean that you should use what you have just read as an excuse to not go to the gym or half-ass your effort at the gym, but simply be more efficient with your time.

I'm sure that you do not like to waste time in any other area of your life, and just saying "I go to the gym" will not make you fitter. It's all about what you actually do in the gym!

This blog post will evaluate and compare how your choice of exercise has a direct effect on the efficiency of your time in the gym.

Compound VS Isolated Exercises

There are two main types of exercises that you can do, these are compound and isolated. Compound movements are those that require movement at more than one joint. The best example of this is a squat where the ankles, knees, and hips are all flexing and extending to perform the exercise. Isolated movements are those at only require a single movement of a joint. For example, a bicep curl only requires movement at the elbow joint to complete. Below are a few more examples for each type of movement...

Compound
  • Squat - Works Legs
  • Bent Over Row - Primarily works back, secondarily works biceps and grip strength
  • Bench Press - Primarily works chest, secondarily works triceps
  • Shoulder Press - Primarily works shoulders, secondarily works triceps
Isolated
  • Bicep Curl - Works Biceps
  • Leg Extension - Works Quadriceps
  • Leg Curl - Works Hamstrings
  • Chest fly - Works Chest
What should you be doing?

Everything exercise that you do should be in line with your reason WHY. There is no point in spending valuable time doing bicep curls in the gym if your goals are to lose weight, run faster, or move better. On top of that, I'm sure that you don't really want to try balancing an 8-hour workday, family, friends, AND a 2-hour gym session.

I like to include as many compound exercises in my training plan as possible, and I believe that this could also help you too! This is only if your goal is based on overall health, sports performance, or weight loss. If you just want big arms or big quads (meaning your goals are based on how you look), that is also totally fine. You shouldn't be judged for wanting to look good, so including a lot of isolated exercises in your training plan to focus on specific muscles at a time could really benefit you.

With compound exercises, you are able to work a larger amount of muscles in one movement, but they won't be as focused on each muscle group as an isolated movement. I never do exercises such as bicep curls or leg extensions simply because I feel that it is a waste of time for myself when I can do longer and more sets of exercises like Bulgarian Split Squats or Bent Over Rows to work on these muscles secondary in each exercise.