Compound exercises

Always train your big muscle group first.

Some people like to hit their biceps and triceps as their first few sets for their workout. Ideally if you are short of time and your planned workout is only 30-45 minutes, you should train your big muscle groups first for your workout and finish off with smaller muscle groups like biceps and triceps.

What are compound exercises?

They are exercises that will target more than one muscle group. For example, the classic flat bench press will not only target your pectorals (chest muscles), you will actually work out your triceps as well. Therefore if you train your triceps before you do your flat bench press, your triceps might be exhausted and you cannot perform your bench press in good form!

More examples of compound exercises.

Squats - target your gluteals (butt), hamstring and quadtriceps as well as your lower back stabilising muscle.

Clean and Jerk - targets your deltoids (shoulder), triceps, forearm and quadriceps.

Chin ups - lats, shoulder, biceps and forearm

Arnold press - deltoids, triceps