5 Best Compound Exercises for Men Who Want a Flat Stomach

Compound exercises go a long way when it comes to losing weight and building muscle. There are certain compound exercises you need to perform to lose weight.

Are compound exercises automatically going to ensure that you lose weight? No. Weight loss is a simple equation. You eat less than you burn, thereby creating a calorie deficit. This is the only way you can lose weight.

However, compound exercises are the key to weight loss because they engage multiple muscle groups, ensuring that several, if not your entire body, is engaged in the exercise. This means that each muscle is working to lift the weight, resulting in greater calorie expenditure. Voilà, that's your calorie expenditure sorted out.

Now eat less than what you've burnt in the gym, and you'll be in shape in no time. If you feel like the gym isn't doing anything for you, here are 5 great compound exercises to try and inch you closer to your weight loss goals.

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Best Compound Exercises for Fat Loss

1) Deadlifts

Deadlifts. (Image credits: Pexels/ Ketut Subinyato)

Deadlifts are the most important exercise you can add to your training regime. Deadlifts train your entire lower body, including your lower back, glutes, hamstrings, and core. This compound exercise is crucial for fat loss because it targets many muscles and accelerates your heart rate to burn more calories.

Deadlifts may seem intimidating initially, but they aren't that difficult to perform. A good deadlift requires strong and stable hips, so ensure your hips aren't moving too much. It also requires a strong arch to keep your lower back stable. Your core remains engaged too, which keeps your spine safe.

Deadlifting can also strengthen your joints, improve flexibility, and aid in overall body mobility. It requires three joints—the hips, knees, and ankles—to be in unison when performing the movement.

Deadlifts burn a tremendous amount of calories and also build muscle and strength, making them an excellent exercise for your weight loss goals.

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2) Squats

Squats. (Image credits: Pexels/ Li Sun)

Squats are the crown jewel of lower body compound exercises. They target everything from your quadriceps to your gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and even your calves, to an extent. Squats can increase your lower body strength and power while also burning a tremendous amount of calories.

A good squat is an asset to every lifter and a valuable exercise for several reasons. Squats, like deadlifts, require your core to be flexed to keep your upper body stable and your spine safe.

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3) Shoulder Press

Shoulder press. (Image credits: Freepik)

Shoulders are the connectors between the back and the chest. As such, it is incredibly important to train them to be able to lift sustainably. As a joint, the shoulder is rather weak and underdeveloped but overused. To merely protect the shoulders against injury, training them is crucial. However, apart from these health benefits, training shoulders can burn a large number of calories.

The shoulder press is a compound movement that targets your shoulders is the shoulder press. This exercise is excellent for burning calories, employing almost your entire upper body to lift the weight.

You can perform both dumbbell and barbell variations of this exercise. The barbell shoulder press allows you to lift heavier loads, while the dumbbell variant offers significant muscle contraction and is often safer to perform. In addition, you can do this exercise seated or standing.

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4) Bench Press

Bench press. (Image credits: Pexels/ Andrea Piacquadio)

The Bench Press is the best compound exercise to target your pectoral muscles. Targeting your pectoral muscles can contribute to the "burn" while lifting, resulting in calorie expenditure.

Bench pressing primarily targets your chest but also engages your triceps and shoulders.

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5) Romanian Deadlifts

Romanian deadlifts. (Image credits: Freepik)

A Romanian Deadlift is a compound exercise that predominantly works your hamstrings along with your glutes, quadriceps, and lower back. The way it works is similar to a conventional deadlift. However, the knees remain locked and do not bend, emphasizing the load borne by the hamstrings.

Romanian Deadlifts are great for strengthening your hamstrings while also burning a substantial amount of calories like their conventional counterpart. As it employs more than one muscle group, it engages your entire lower body, making it optimal for calorie expenditure.

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Compound exercises use more muscle groups than isolation exercises, making them optimal for overall body engagement. These exercises also offer more functional benefits, as they train muscles that are highly useful in day-to-day life. They can improve your overall physique and aesthetic while helping you accomplish your fat-burning objectives.