I guess that you probably already know that Compound Exercises are best for building Muscle Mass, that is clear. I appreciate them a lot more than Isolation Exercises and in order to Gain Muscle and also Lose Fat, your Workout Program must contain a lot of Compound Workouts.
With those exercises, all old school bodybuilders made their body so muscular and strong. Strength is very important too to achieve your muscle building goals so lift heavy and with not so many reps and you will see results. Along with good Hypertrophy Meal Plan and great Hypertrophy Workout Plan you must see results.
1. Bench Press
This is my favorite exercise and I always put it as no. 1 in my pushing workouts and my upper body workouts. With Bench Press, you can become more strong and add muscle to your chest primarily and also for your shoulders, triceps, and traps. Muscles that are affected by Bench Press are often most important for most beginners in bodybuilding but you also must give attention to your Upper Back and Lower Back if you want to get the proportional body and also to don't get damaged.
Here is a tutorial on how to do Bench Press correctly and with good form from Buff Dudes YouTube channel:
2. Squat
King of lower body exercises, absolutely. If you want to be big and strong and have the whole body developed you must input Squats in your workout routine. It is good Mass Building exercise, probably the best. What Bench Press is for Upper Body that Squat is for Lower Body. They are both very important.
3. Pull Up / Chin Up
There are many variations of this exercises but the main classification is on Pull Up and Chin Up and the difference between those two is a grip stance, overhand or underhand. Underhand grip, Chin Up, works Biceps significantly more but still is very good for Upper Back. If you can't do many pull ups don't give up, do them on every back workout day in the beginning of training and you will do more and more every time. There is nothing better for big and muscled upper backs and also big biceps than Pull Up or Chin Up.
Jeff from AthleanX channel on YouTube explains the importance of Pull Ups and Chin Ups for back training and difference between those two. Watch this video and learn to do those two exercises properly and why are they different.
Other important compound exercises:
I consider these three exercises as most important for strong and muscled body and I will just mention some others. But with those three exercises only you can build big muscles and be very fit and strong. Use them separately and also add some weights on the belt or between your legs if you can do many pull ups and chin ups.
Other great Mass Building Compound Exercises are:
- Military Press (Overhead Press)
- Dips (For chest or for triceps, also you can add weights)
- Dead Lifts (Become incredibly strong)
- Rows (Bent-Over Row, T-Bar Row, Machine Rows)
- Pull Down Machine (Great for those that can't do any pull up)
- Lunges
