Recently I’ve been adding in more complex types of training supersets into my program to help focus in on building more strength and power.
I’ve also been digging back into some good ol’ trap bar deadlifts! It’s good to get away from different variations of lifts sometimes to change things up to get a new training effect as I do this often. I’ll be sticking with the trap bar deadlift for the next 3 weeks building up my strength on that then I’ll go back to the regular barbell deadlifts where I know I’ll increase my strength with for sure.
Now before I get into some of the videos I posted below, I wanted to talk about COMPLEX TRAINING. If you didn’t know, complex training is basically when you take a heavy resistance type exercise OR plyometric exercise and superset them together to help achieve most explosive strength and power. Aside from that, complex training is fun!
So to explain a little bit about how complex training works, imagine if you were to start with a heavy lift first. You would do your heavy lift and as soon as you completed the reps for that you would then immediately go into a plyometric like explosive lift second.
I have done this doing it the other way around, as if say you were to start with a power movement first, then go into a strength movement second. I have found either way works great.
The whole concept behind this style of training is to help the body dig into more muscle fibers through using different speeds and loading variations together. In turn, the speed at which the body is able to produce more force is improved. All you need to be aware of is that you’ll be more explosive, faster, and stronger.
So, this is what happens…
When you lift heavy, typically the movement is a bit slower but you’ll actually recruit more muscle fibers in order for you body to be able lift the weight. This really serves as a nice “primer” and wakes your muscles up good.
On the other end, when you train explosively fast, a similar instance occurs as your body must recruit more muscle fibers in order to move at a super fast rate of speed. When you perform an explosive, plyometric type movement after a heavy strength movement, your body will react better to the movement as most of your muscle fibers are already activated and ready to go!
What you get in the end is the best of both worlds – STRONGER and more EXPLOSIVE muscles due to adaptation overtime! If you’re an athlete, this is what you want!
I’ve got two different examples in the videos below. Check em out!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6d0Oj5qcvk[/youtube]
Here you see me hitting a heavy deadlift paired up with a box jump. I wasn’t too happy with my trap deads! I’ll definitely be improving these over the next few weeks…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrsM4doRRY[/youtube]
Here you can see I switched the movements around and instead, hit a heavy tire flip first then went into some weighted rope climbs for strength.
The main thing to think about when using complex training in your program is that you must give yourself time to adapt to the training. Just like with any other type of training you must use it correctly.
I like to cycle on and off complex training every 3-4 weeks using different movements each time I switch.
As for reps and sets, with the strength movements, you want to stick around 2-3 reps and then for the explosive movement, you want to stick around 3-6 reps while hitting anywhere from 3-6 sets.
I’ve used complex training with upper body movements and lower body.
I would like to know what type of complex training you have used and what type of results you may have seen? Share in the comments below!
Live Aggressive and Get Strong!