Anyone ever tried Barbell Complexes?

J

joshb12

0
I've been reading a lot about barbell complexes here as of late, and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried them. For those that do not know what they are, you load up a barbell and do the given exercises without putting the barbell down. The weight put on the barbell makes the weakest exercise in the series challenging. An example of this would be:
Deadlifts 8 reps
Hang cleans 6 reps
Push Press 6 reps (the weakest exercise)
Back Squat 8 reps

Once finished with those 4 exercises you are allowed to put the barbell down and rest 2-3 minutes. You would do that complex for three to four sets total before being done.

I had heard that it is a great cardio workout, and it can help build some muscle as well, but I was mostly wondering if anyone here had done anything like them before and what the results were that they got out of them.
 
So, barbell complexes are basically circuit training rebranded so that macho types in the strength crowd will do them.

I've done barbell complexes before. It's not my preferred means of mixing weights with cardio -- in my experience, the loads are generally too low to be of much benefit for strength/hypertrophy, and the relative intensity from exercise to exercise is often too varied to do its job in cardio. If you're not very conditioned, then it's a good start, but I think there are generally better ways to organise the combination of strength and cardio.

If you're going to do a circuit, it pays to be able to put the weights down between exercises and use different weights based on the individual exercise. It also pays to use exercises that are simple enough to be able to do them aggressively under fatigue without dramatically increasing the injury risk. This will actually allow you to load up your muscles better, and get your heart rate higher.

To the crowd barbell complexes are typically marketed towards, it's hard cardio. To a beginner, it's hard cardio and resistance training. To someone who's competent at both lifting and cardio, it's hard to get the loading right to get good cardio or resistance work out of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top