Multi-joint exercises are those that require involvement of more than one joints in the exercise. These exercises are also termed as compound exercises and are a good source of getting more muscles in less time. One such example is leg press that involves knee, hip and ankle. Following are the types of these exercises:
1- Linear motion exercises: In these exercises, path of motion follows linear movement. An example of linear motion is chest press performed on a Smith machine.
2- Rotational motion exercises: These are the exercises that are in circular motion around a fixed axis. Many resistance machines provide such type of exercises.
3- Exercises with curvilinear exercise: these exercises involve curvilinear/arching motion due to natural movement of the joints of the body. You can take example of barbbell shoulder press as an example of this movement. These have different types of motions. In singular plane joint motion exercises, the movement remains in one plane of movement which may be perpendicular with combination of exercises. Similarly in dual plane joint exercises, exercise is done in more than 1 planes.
It is important to note that multi-joint exercises are beneficial because they are helpful in getting good muscles as they involve the movement of more than one joints. Compound exercises are also good because they help you make muscle groups instead of focusing on single muscle. This not only saves time but also gives proportional development to our body. If we perform exercises that focus on individual muscles, it may result in improportional development of our body and this may sometimes look funny. So compound exercises give you proportional development, save time, help you to get more muscles developed in less time. So follow compound exercise workouts for getting effective and efficient results.