Working out with sore joints can be tricky.
Some days it’s just not going to work at all no matter what you try and do,
because everything just hurts too much. But other times, if you choose your activities
wisely, you can get a pretty good workout in.
For me, I like a bit of weight training as
it’s got so many benefits. Having stronger muscles around your joints has to be
a good thing and it’s been shown to help maintain joint flexibility and strengthen
your bones. Weight training also reduces stress and helps you sleep better,
while any more muscle mass that you may gain as a result, means you burn more
calories overall which helps with maintaining a healthy weight.
So where do compound exercises come into the equation?
I suffer sore elbows and wrists most of the
time and as a result, any sort of isolation exercise such as a triceps press or
bicep curl is not really possible. The amount of force that is put on the joint
in those exercises, even with only a moderate weight, causes far too much pain
for me.
The beauty of a compound exercise is that
they of course use multiple joints and muscle groups, so any forces are spread
out and not just focused on the one joint. For me, this can often mean little to
almost no pain sometimes, which allows me to get in a total body workout and
all the benefits that come with that.
Some of the more beneficial compound
exercises, such as the squat and deadlift, don’t even require the flexing of
any of the upper body joints. All the movement is really in the hips and knees,
yet they are both exercises that provide total body benefits.
Another example is doing some sort of bench
press exercise (barbell or dumbbell, incline, decline etc.). Although this does
clearly use the elbow joint and work the triceps muscles in the movement,
because the muscles of both the shoulder and chest also support it, it can
often be pain free for me. I can get similar or even better benefits, than
working any of these muscles on their own.
Some experts go as far as to say that
compound exercises are all you really need to build your physique and that
unless you are an advanced weight lifter or wanting to do competitive body
building, you can leave out any isolation exercises altogether. I don’t really
have a choice in the matter, but its still good to know that sort of thing.
Lots of Benefits
Other benefits of compound exercises are
that they stimulate the release of various hormones throughout your body that
gear it towards both fat mobilization/burning and muscle growth. You are always
going to burn more calories doing compound movements, so even if trimming down
was one of your only goals; they are one of the best options for you.
If you have previously thought that weight
training was not an option for you because of painful joints, hopefully this
has given you some hope and you’re willing to give it a try.
Check out this article for a bit more
information on some of the best compound exercises. Good luck!