Barbell Complexes Revisited

Barbell complexes are a component of my training plan for fall/winter this year. I have not done them in a while and I miss them! They were very effective for me. During my first use of them last spring, while working through Afterburn II by Alwyn Cosgrove, I experienced an increase in grip endurance and strength, upper body strength and muscle endurance gains, fat loss and improvement in my balance.

Basically, a barbell complex is a series of barbell exercises completed back to back without putting the barbell down. That phrase alone should tell you a lot. A typical complex might include approximately 6 exercises, ordered in such a way that they flow well, and transitions are smooth. For instance, a hang clean might be performed, then a push press, which is a natural flow, whereas a hang clean followed by a reverse barbell lunge might be a little awkward. The transitions being as smooth as possible allows for quick movement from one exercise to the next without any disruption in the flow. This is important because complexes are to be done fast without compromising form. Although loaded Olympic barbells are obvious to use, I found fixed-weight barbells very convenient. Generally they are sufficient in size but are shorter, which takes up less space in a crowded or small gym. In the barbell complex, every repetition of an exercise is completed before moving on to the next exercise without rest, pause or putting the bar down. You will feel relief in particular body parts when you move to the next exercise, but it will feel brutal way before you finish the last rep of the last exercise. I found myself questioning my sanity and trying to talk myself out of the last couple of exercises every time! You have completed the entire set when you're worked through the last exercise. That's one set! Now you can put the bar down!

Here are a few tips:

• Choose a weight you can handle on your weakest exercise
• Know how to do each exercise with proper form before you attempt a complex
• Find an open spot that gives you plenty of space for all your consecutive movements
• Make sure you're hydrated
• Know exactly which exercises you will do and in what order before you start
• Pre-determine the number of reps for each set, the number of sets, and the amount of time you will rest in between
• Wear a watch or have a wall clock within view for the rest periods
• Wear some gloves to protect your hands

Let's say you decide you're going to do these exercises in this order: bent over rows, hang-cleans, front squats, push presses, good mornings, back squats. Figure out which is your weakest move (mine would be good mornings) and choose your weight based on that move. It may feel light for your squats, but you're going to be fried by the end of your complex anyway. As you improve in stamina and strength you will be able to increase your weight. Check your ego at the door and remember that this is not about brute strength or how much you can lift, so go modest until you know how well you will do. If anyone says a word about a light weight on your barbell challenge them to join you! You can always work on your weakest move during other workouts. A complex will definitely highlight your imbalances. This is a good thing; for instance, a balanced back and chest will help protect your shoulder girdle, so use these to improve your training plan.

After I ordered Afterburn II, it occurred to me that I didn't know how to do some of the power moves, so I had to find some resources to learn them. Which reminds me of the time I decided I was going to make cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving and then I remembered I didn't know how to make cornbread...anyway, I had to learn these on-line because no one in my gym was doing cleans, snatches, high pulls, etc. One site that helped me was Hyperstrike Exercise Lab. You can see animated demonstrations of movement with narration of the instructions. Also, there are some videos on You Tube from reputable sources. Please do not just watch any random dude on You Tube doing a power move. It's a good way to learn something wrong and get hurt. In fact, be very careful about learning exercises from buddies in the gym too. One power lifter I really like at my gym brought someone in to work out with him and stood there letting him do deadlifts from the floor with a rounded back. Not cool. Do your homework on the moves, very important. Go obnoxiously light at first to completely understand the move. Practice it separately so you can continue adding weight. Sometimes a move like a clean is tough to learn until you get enough weight on the bar to actually have to get some power behind it. Once you do and you master it, you'll be ready to add it to your complex. But remember, you'll have to go a lot lighter with your complex weight than you would doing a single exercise. It will feel counterintuitive at first, but after you make it through all the sets of your first full complex it will make complete sense.

Using our six example exercises from above, in that order, I would start with 4 sets of 8 reps and about 90 seconds rest in between sets. You might come up with a couple of different complexes to rotate through over a period of time. You can also increase your number of sets and drop your reps. Do that when you're ready to go heavier in weight. At that time you may also need to bump up your rest to about 2 minutes between sets. Like any other training component your body will adapt in a period of time. That's good, but then you want to alter it to continue challenging your body to respond to a new stimulus.

Reminder: if you're this happy while you're still holding the bar, you're DOING THEM WRONG.

You will also need to determine where in your workout scheme you will place your barbell complexes. I like doing this type of metabolic work on Mondays to get my week revved up. They have worked well at the beginning of my workout, followed by specific push/pull and lower body exercises topped off with a little core stability work. However, you could use them as a finisher at the end of a hard workout. If you do that I'd be mindful of exercise selection, and definitely go lighter, because for some of the moves you need power and you don't want to risk injury.

Turbulence Training has a workout that incorporates a barbell complex called Hard Core Fat Loss. This would also be a good workout to familiarize yourself with complexes. It will not be as intense as Afterburn II.

I will continue to explore good resources for videos, instructions and pre-designed barbell complexes in order to highlight more information via this blog. Please add your own ideas and questions via comment and always feel free to email me.

This post includes affiliate links for Turbulence Training. Please see my disclosure statement.

Related posts:

Barbell Complexes

Complexes for Fat Loss - Part II Sample Complexes

Fat Acceptance

I caught an interesting video from the Today Show regarding fat acceptance. The discussion revolves around whether or not fat acceptance is a cop-out.

Sometimes when complex topics are covered in a short amount of time on a talk or news show it only allows time for the stating of opinions, but not enough time for meaty discussion or education. I guess it is good to bring awareness to the topic, but I'm always a little bummed that there's never enough time to get more helpful information out of it. Whether I'm fat, skinny or somewhere in between I need a takeaway tidbit that points me in a positive direction.

There is a 40-something year old female model included in the clip. She looks energetic, strong and vibrant. She's also carrying extra weight even though she reports that she watches what she eats, and it's pointed out that according to the BMI Chart she's obese. It shows her swimming in a pool, discussing acceptance of herself as being a larger person and encouraging others to do so as well. She says she's thrown away her scales. In sharp contrast it shows a quick clip of runway models.

Let's talk about runway models for second. I find them quite fascinating, sort of in the same way that I'm still fascinated that I can send a piece of paper over a phone line. How do those little bitty legs (probably smaller than my arms) pick up those heavy high-heels and move forward? I think most of us would agree, even if we long to be svelte, that the emaciated look of a runway model is not the goal.

While I'm at it, let me just throw in something about the BMI Chart. According to the BMI chart, my husband is obese at 5' 8" and 180 pounds. He's also a state and national level masters bodybuilder competitor who took home 2 first place trophies this year at 6.4% bodyfat. So that might tell you something about the accuracy of the BMI Chart.

Back to the show. After the clip, several key points are brought out but unfortunately not discussed enough. One is that some research shows you can be fat and fit. I feel a need to see that research for myself, but there are people who are classified as fat that are very active and strong with great endurance and are deemed healthy on physical exam. They also point out that there are skinny people who eat poorly and have little to no activity, which can be detrimental to health, it's not just about the fat. It's also not just about how we look in our jeans. How a person looks may not translate to actual level of health. They touch on the social component of accepting people, fat or not. It's mentioned that a person who is very overweight but thinks she should be a size 4 may feel defeated and never even try, whereas fat acceptance might encourage her toward some positive change. One opinion stated was that our country doesn't have an obesity problem, rather we have an inactivity problem. The conversation was brought around to the fact that physicians fear the message of fat acceptance due to the monumental obesity issue and we cannot deny or ignore the negative health impacts of diabetes, heart disease and cancer that we know is impacted by fat.

I say we should love people and hate fat.

We have to have some meat on our bones if we're going to be strong and energetic. That meat, however, should be predominantly muscle. It's not enough to "watch what we eat". Choosing foods that our bodies can use most efficiently as fuel for energy and supporting our body systems is typically not food that will pack on extra weight in fat, particularly if portions are considered. Weight can be lost without activity, but the loftier goal is to lose fat. Resistance training and well-designed energy systems work promotes the loss of fat. Throwing away the scales can be a good move if we put too much emphasis on an arbitrary number. Throwing away the scales just so you don't have a measurable reminder that you're too heavy isn't truly helpful. The BMI chart, like the scales, is just one measurement in the overall picture. Waist/hip ratio measurements and body fat measurements should also be done and may be more helpful. We may never look the way we'd like to look in our jeans, but we can ask ourselves these questions: do they fit? are they getting tighter or looser? am I consistently buying bigger sizes? does the size I need right now seem right?

Most importantly is that we need to love and support each other. Human nature baffles me in that we don't want to accept people who aren't exactly like us. If we live long enough, we'll all have some battle to overcome. Let's love each other and help each other to overcome this excess weight/fat battle that seems to be taking over our lives. At the same time, we must accept and find joy in who we are, and that means taking care of ourselves. We simply cannot accept gaining unnecessary weight or fat or becoming complacent with it. There are too many negative effects on our joints, hearts, organs and intricate body systems. Most people that I encounter that are too heavy are not like the woman in the video clip. I can tell you I wasn't when I was 30 pounds heavier. (I still am on the warpath to get leaner).

What are you thinking right now? If you find yourself gaining weight, or you are already battling fat, please do not just wave the flag of surrender. You can find the courage, education and support to battle it and win. You are important. It's not about being a cover model, it's about being strong, healthy and fit so you can live your life well, whatever shape or form.

As a person who is actively declaring war on fat, I would be happy to help in any way possible and I always want to hear your thoughts. Comment or contact me. You can view the Today Show video here.

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Training and Nutrition Plans for Fall

Now that summer is drawing to a close, what are your training plans? It seems we have certain times of the year that we tend to think about our fitness. For sure this occurs in January each year, when we feel positive about a fresh start and a little mortified by the damage of poor eating habits. Then another surge occurs when we hit spring, realizing we'll soon be putting on shorts and bathing suits. Sometimes that sharp focus fades as we hit mid to late summer. So what about fall? If you've already been to the beach or other vacation or had your fill of hot weather, you may already be day-dreaming of cool weather and sweaters. I know I am!

Summer has been challenging in terms of my personal fitness and nutrition goals, but the few cool, beautiful days we've had lately have me feeling re-energized. I can either keep plugging along, cover up with my sweaters and head straight into the fourth quarter season without achieving my goals or I can put this surge of energy to good use!

Alwyn Cosgrove (Afterburn and WarpSpeedFatLoss) has said "it doesn't matter what you eat or how you exercise between Christmas and New Year's...but it matters how you eat and exercise between New Year's and Christmas!" Too many times we go into fall and winter with less than optimal habits. We'd like to blame it on the holiday activities and abundance of tasty treats, particularly from about mid December through the New Year's eve bash. The problem is, we probably loosened up on our habits once we wore that bathing suit in front of everyone for the first time this year. We never recovered from our cook-outs, only to head straight into school and work schedules, topped off by shelves of Halloween candy every time we go to the grocery. Can you visualize the snowball from there?

Next thing we know, we're only focused on our fitness and nutrition from January to about mid June! For some reason, this feels like a beginning and an end to our fitness and nutrition each year, when it should look like a continuum of improvement and maintenance. I think dieting and finite exercise programs have greatly contributed to this.

Unlike the beginning and end to a diet, optimal eating should be from meal to meal, day to day, week to week. Every single positive change you make in your eating habits can be sustained, resulting in a cumulative effect that builds over time, regardless of what time of year it is. This is a complete shift in mindset from beginning a diet and then trying to figure out what you're going to do when you get to eat real food again. That's what Cosgrove is talking about when he says that a relaxed week between Christmas and New Year's isn't the problem, it's how we spend all those other weeks.

The same is true of training. Every day offers an opportunity to get up and move. I have a friend who says the cooler weather makes her running easier. In my area we have lots of festivals and fairs, Race for the Cure, and numerous other opportunities to get outside still and be active. Many of us like to use pre-designed fitness programs. That's fine! I have several and complete them as written and use them for reference in putting together my own programs. If you choose a fitness program (I have several good ones recommended on this blog) be sure you're choosing one that matches your current goals. It should progress you on your journey, so that when you accomplish it you're ready for the next level. There is no real end! Think improvement and maintenance.

I'm challenging myself, and I'm challenging you, to decide now on a fitness and nutrition approach for the fall and the last few months of this year. Take positive action! Let's not think yet about what a great year 2010 will be, let's start now!

This post contains an affiliate link for Warp Speed Fat Loss. Please see my disclosure statement.

Related Posts:

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