How to do combination exercises for best results.

Combining Exercises for Weight Training Impact

Want to get your weight training in, but you’re strapped for time? Brooke, our Queen of Combos, shares her favorite combo exercise to hit your upper and lower body with a single strength move.

Anyone who’s taken Brooke’s sculpt classes in-studio or onDemand knows to expect this one – the Squat/Bicep Curl/Shoulder Press. Let’s break it down for you:

• Start in a Squat with your feet hip-width apart, knees behind your toes, booty back, weights at your side
• Press through your heels to come to standing
• Perform a Bicep Curl
• From the top of the Bicep Curl, press up into a Shoulder Press
• Repeat from the top

Check it out – all in one move, you’re hitting lower AND upper body.

Should you flow the combo all together or keep it slow? That depends. We recommend starting slowly, breaking down each of the 3 exercises in this killer combo move one at a time (one directly after the other), because perfect form is better than fast/high reps. Breaking them down into 3 consecutive movements is also better when you need to modify any component. We want you to stay focused on what your body needs. So when you get started with this move, squat first, then when you’re standing tall with a firm base and soft knees, it’s time for the curl. The curl can then flow into the shoulder press.

Once you’ve got it, you can speed it up so that the three moves flow together. Start your curl as you’re rising from the squat, flowing right into the shoulder press. But hey… fast isn’t for everyone, and you’re still getting a tough workout in at any speed.

Want to switch it up a little? Easy peasy. The squat could be a wide/Sumo squat, the bicep curl can become a hammer curl, and the shoulder press can rotate to a wide press (elbows in goal-post position).

Want some more combo moves with Brooke? Check out this TRX Sculpt class to carve up those muscles in no time. If you don’t have access to play it, get a 7-Day Free Trial with Studio SWEAT onDemand. Ya got nothing to lose but fat!

Combo moves are where it’s at!