10 Helpful Bodyweight Compound Exercises

Working out doesn’t require a big investment. You can train many muscles without equipment with these bodyweight compound exercises.

Compound exercises are movements that work out multiple muscles at the same time. While they do rely on your body weight, not any free weights or heavy gym machines, some of these exercises do require some type of step-up or pull-up bar.

Keep in mind that even though there are upsides, like any type of exercise there is always some risk involved. You may want to talk to your primary care provider before starting a new workout routine.

1. Pushups

Pushups are an extremely popular compound chest exercise you can do with just your body weight. To do a pushup take the following steps:

1. Get into the position where your face is facing the floor with your hand palms on the ground. Your arms stretched, and your knees on the ground.
2. Move your feet back until your body is in a straight line.
3. Slowly fold your arms at your elbows until your face is close to the ground. Your arms should be at an angle of about 45 degrees to your sides. Another way to put it is if someone is looking down at you from above your arms should make an arrow, not a T.
4. Stretch your arms again until you are back in a straight arm plank position.

For many people regular bodyweight pushups are already challenging enough but if you want to keep them bodyweight and make them harder you can do decline pushups. Because your feet are elevated more weight rests on your arms which makes this pushup variation more challenging.

You can also do many pushup variations to focus on slightly different muscles. For example, a close grip pushup focuses more on your tricep muscles.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: shoulders, core, chest, triceps, and lower back.

2. Lunges

Walking lunges are a great bodyweight compound leg exercise since each leg has to carry double the weight compared to usual. To do two walking lunges take the following steps:

1. Stand up straight with your feet at more or less shoulder width.
2. Take a big step forward so that you get into a position where both of your knees are at a 90-degree angle. Your front foot should be flat on the ground, your back foot should only touch the ground with the ball of the foot (front).
3. Move your back foot forward and get into the same position as step 2 but with your other foot in the front.

To build the most leg muscle mass you want to do about 4 sets of 10-40 lunges depending on how advanced you are. Even if you don’t have any fitness equipment you can simply hold a heavy object in your hands or on your body to make lunges more challenging.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: glutes, calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, and core.

3. Pull-ups

The pull-up is a classic bodyweight compound exercise. It is true that you need something to do the pull-up on but even if you currently don’t have something like this, a doorway pull-up bar is relatively inexpensive. To do a pull-up take the following steps:

1. Hang from the pull-up bar with your hands at about shoulder-width with your hand palms facing forward.
2. Pull your body up slowly until your shoulders are the height of the bar.
3. Lower your body again into starting position in a controlled motion.

If this exercise is too challenging yet there are plenty of pull-up alternatives that can help you work up to your first successful pull-up.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: lats, biceps, core, rhomboids, and deltoids.

4. Side plank dips

The theme of this list is bodyweight but you can do this next compound exercise with more resistance by holding any suited external weight on your hip. To do a side plank dip take the following steps:

1. Sit sideways on the ground leaning on one of your lower arms with the upper arm of that arm vertical to support your upper body.
2. Walk away from your upper body with your feet until you can put your body in a straight side plank.
3. Move your hips as far down as comfortable.
4. Move your hips as far up as comfortable.
5. Return your body into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
6. Repeat the same number of repetitions while leaning on your other arm.

If the ground stops you from bending down further you can consider doing side plank dips with your arm on an elevated object like for example a couch or chair.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: abs, obliques, and shoulders.

5. Step-ups

For step-ups you will need a stable object that is strong enough to stand on. A plyo box, a stepper, and even just a strong, stable chair are examples of suited objects for step-ups. If you have one, to do step-up take the following steps:

1. Stand upright in front of the object facing toward it with your feet at shoulder-width.
2. Raise one foot and put it on the surface of the object. Make sure your sole is entirely on the surface.
3. Raise your body by exerting pressure with the leg of the foot that is on the object.
4. Put your second foot next to the other one.
5. Step down with the first foot.
6. Step down with the second foot.
7. Do a repetition with the other foot first.

One potential downside to bodyweight exercises is that it can be harder to challenge your muscles enough to build a lot of muscle. Similar to lunges, step-ups are a great bodyweight exercise to build muscle since your legs have to carry double the weight.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: glutes, calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, and core.

6. Dips

The dip exercise is a bodyweight exercise that engages a variety of muscles. You do preferably have dip bars for this compound exercise although you can also do a ground version with stable chairs or a park bench. To do a lower chest dip take the following steps:

1. Place your hands on the dip bars. Start with your arms in an extended but not locked position. You will likely need to step-ups to get into this position. Your upper body should slightly tilt forward.
2. Slowly lower your body by bending your elbows until these are at a 90-degree angle.
3. Raise yourself back up again into starting position in a controlled motion.

For most people regular dips are already more than challenging enough. That being said at some point you may need to do weighted dips with dumbbells, a dip belt, a weighted vest, or ankle weights to keep building more muscle.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: triceps, lower chest, shoulders, and back.

7. Squats

Squats are one of the, if not the most, popular leg exercises, and for a good reason. They are a great compound exercise with a focus on building leg muscle. To do a squat take the following steps:

1. Stand up straight with your feet at more or less shoulder width.
2. Slowly lower your hips by bending your knees. How far depends on different factors like knee health but at your lowest point you want your hips to be at or lower than your knee height. You will likely have to bend forward for balance but keep your back in a straight line throughout the movement.
3. Push yourself up again into starting position by stretching your legs.

One potential downside of squats is that more experienced exercisers need external weights like dumbbells, a good heavy weighted vest, a barbell, etc. to make this exercise more challenging.

With some of the other bodyweight exercises on this list where your body weight rests on a single leg, this is less necessary.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: quadriceps, calves, glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae, and lower back.

8. Box jumps

For this next exercise, you need an elevated platform that is strong and stable enough to jump on. An example of a suited object is a good plyo box. To do a box jump take the following steps:

1. Stand upright in front of the box with your feet at shoulder width.
2. Bend into about a quarter squat while you swing your arms back.
3. Swing your arms to the front again and at the same time jump forward on top of the box. When landing you want to have your knees more or less at the quarter squat again. If you are squatted lower, this may be a sign the box is too high for your current jump level.

Make sure you pay attention to using the right technique to avoid any injuries. For box jumps it is also smart to start with a low height and build up from there.

Being too optimistic about your capabilities can be especially punishing when doing a few box jumps.

The way you train your muscles influences what fitness component you improve. The bodyweight compound exercises at a slower pace will train either muscle endurance or muscle strength.

Box jumps can be a good alternative if you want to work on your muscle power fitness component.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: quadriceps, calves, glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae, and lower back.

9. Bird dog crunches

The bird dog exercise is an exercise that is mainly done to strengthen core muscles. By doing the crunch alternative you engage core muscles like your obliques even more. To do a bird dog crunch take the following steps:

1. Start with your face facing the floor with your hands on the ground, your arms stretched, and your knees on the ground.
2. Stretch one leg and raise it until it is in a straight line with your body. At the same time stretch the arm of the opposite side and raise it until it is in a straight line with your body. So if you choose your right leg, raise your left arm at the same time.
3. Lower the raised leg and raised arm again and move the elbow and knee toward and past each other as far as comfortable.
4. Lower the raised leg and raised arm again in a controlled motion to starting position.
5. Repeat the same movement with your other leg and other arm.

Individuals more experienced with weight training may need extra weights anyway to make bird dog crunches challenging enough.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: abs, obliques, back muscles, erector spinae, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.

10. Planks

Planks are a type of isometric exercise. In simpler words, this means that you engage your muscles in a more static way, without moving a lot. On the other hand, you have isotonic exercises where you engage your muscles in a dynamic way, by moving.

Isotonic exercises are generally more useful for building muscle. That means that the other isotonic exercises on this list are likely better bodyweight compound exercises than planks for building a lot of muscle.

That being said, to do a plank take the following steps:

1. Start with your face facing the floor on your elbows and knees.
2. Move your feet back until your body is in a straight line. This means that your knees will be off the ground and that you are resting on your feet and elbows.
3. Hold this position for an extended period of time.

Some of the muscles you engage with this bodyweight compound exercise include: abs, obliques, back muscles, erector spinae, glutes, and quadriceps.