Bodyweight complexes are one of the most efficient ways to burn fat, build muscle and get a great cardiovascular workout to boot.
What are barbell complexes ?
Barbell complexes are movements that you do back to back in a fluid motion .
The purpose is to increase your heart rate and not to reach muscular fatigue on any individual movement.
Straightforward ?
Well try these 7 workouts and see what you think (Hint- keep a vomit bowl handy!)
What weight should you use?
Use about 30-40 % of your back squat– So if you have a 100 kg max barbell squat, use 30 -40 kg. Increase or decrease based on your current strength levels.
If you have never done barbell complexes before or don’t know your back squat max do your first workout with the empty 20 kg olympic barbell and progress to the recommendations above if it is too easy for your next workout.
If the empty 20 kg barbell is too hard, use smaller barbells with added weight that you can find in any gym.
All exercises are embedded in the article to link for form advice.
Never sacrifice form for speed, especially with high risk exercises such as deadlifts.
Okay let’s get to it…..
MONDAY
- 5 hang clean
- 5 Standing press
- 5 back squat
- 5 bent over row
- 5 romanian deadlift
- Do 5 hang clean, 5 standing press all the way to 5 Romanian deadlift- all 25 reps is 1 complex
- Rest 1 minute
- Repeat complex 3-5 times
TUESDAY
- 6 Romanian deadlift
- 6 Hang clean
- 6 Front squat
- 6 Back squat
- 6 Behind neck push press
- Rest 2 minutes between each complex
- Repeat complex 3-5 times
WEDNESDAY
- 8 Deadlift
- 8 bent over row
- 8 Upright row
- 8 Back squat
- 8 Lunges per leg
- Rest 2 minutes between each complex
- Repeat complex 3 times
THURSDAY
- 10 Lunges per leg
- 10 Bent over row
- 10 Front squats
- 10 Push press
- Rest 2 minutes between each complex
- Repeat complex 3 times
FRIDAY
- 8 High Pulls
- 8 Romanian Deadlifts
- 8 Front Squats
- 8 Standing press
- 8 Back squat
- Rest 2 minutes between each complex
- Repeat complex 3-5 times
SATURDAY
- Set a timer for 20 minutes
- 8 Lunges per leg
- 8 Upright Row
- 8 Backsquat
- 8 Push press
- Put the barbell down
- Drop down and do 15 Burpees
- Do as many complexes as you can within the 20 minutes
SUNDAY
- 50 m Bear Crawl
- 10 Back squat
- 10 Standing press
- 10 romanian deadlift
- 50 m Crab Walk
These workouts are tough. If you get through these kudos to you. Well done!
Make sure you are eating well and sleeping a good 7-8 hours a night.
You can do these workouts over 7 days but if you have other workouts to do, split these up over 2 -3 weeks.
As always if any movement is hurting , stop it and substitute it with any other movement.
Thanks for stopping by
Let me know how you get on in the comments
Phil
