When you train, you have to every now and then break the routine and continue to improve or develop skills, with a little inventiveness and creativity. To make the funnier and more complete workouts, there are the famous complexes.
Now, those who have read us for a while will surely know what we are talking about, but perhaps a neophyte will have some difficulty in fully understanding the meaning.
So let's start from the basics!
Index
What are complexes?
The ABC of training teaches us that the definition of Complex is:
"The complex is a single exercise composed of two or more single movements followed in a concatenated way to give life to a complex athletic gesture."
But what does it mean in layman's terms?
They are several repetitions of a series of several related movements, all performed with the same weight on the barbell.
Benefits of the complex for the athlete
Lo development of force and energy is the basis of every CrossFit® athlete: moving heavy loads creates the ideal training stimulus to build strength and, by moving them fast enough over a predetermined distance, the barbell becomes a tool for building energy.
Learning complex motor skills has a profound effect on muscles and bones, but above all improves learning: this is why through the complex the ability to know how to reduce the reaction times of the body is acquired.
This way they come improved various skills such as coordination, body control and stability.
There are benefits also for the nervous system: knowing how to alter or increase strength, the ability to stimulate the motor units (or neurons) that are part of the nervous system, necessary for a fluid and coordinated movement.
The complexes they also help build a more solid technique: if the load you choose does not allow you to do the entire job without losing execution speed, pinch (made with three fingers) and control, then don't venture into this skill!
The goal is not to finish before the others, but gain confidence and impulsiveness in the different parts that make up the exercise.
Thanks also to the constant work of adaptation, complexes can improve muscles and metabolism of an athlete, increase the overall cardiovascular capacity and calorie burning, mostly thanks to a phenomenon known as COPD (extra oxygen consumption after exercise).
What are the technical efficiency standards and what should we pay attention to?
One of the criteria for evaluating technical efficiency is consider the overlap and repeatability of gestures for a given workload.
Complexes should be used not only to search for their own MRIs, but also to train mixed exercises that produce what we might call complex motor patterns, emphasizing what is known in the jargon as "Motor intelligence".
La understanding when and why to change movement patterns must be key between the first and last repetition, based on maintaining ergonomics and efficiency.
Basic hints + examples
To choose the load for each complex, it is necessary to determine the weight that can be used for the number of repetitions of the weakest exercise.
This will be the weight for the whole complex.
Keep a short rest between exercises (you will have some rest between rounds) and don't drop the bar before completing a full round of the complex.
We suggest below some examples of complex, but keep in mind these variations:
Variant 1
Complete 1 repetition of each exercise 2-3 times without lowering the bar. For example: In complex 1 you perform 1 rep of deadlift, row, clean, thruster and squat, then immediately repeat the 5 movements 2 more times before putting the bar down.
Try doing 4 sets like this.
Variant 2
Complete 4-6 repetitions of each movement before moving on to the next, resting only when you have completed all movements.
In complex 1, this means completing 4 to 6 reps of deadlift, row, clean, thruster and squat before lowering the bar.
Do up to 4 sets.
Variant 3
Change the rest time. Start with 2 minutes of rest between sets and gradually reduce to 60 seconds to increase metabolic burning.
Variant 4
For all complexes (including the fifth), vary the weight. Start with a hollow bar to make sure you know how to do each lift and add weight as you feel comfortable.
complex 1
- deadlift
- Bentover row
- Hang clean
- thrusters
- Overhead squat
complex 2
- Bentover rows
- Squat clean
- Strict press
- Reverse lunges
- back squat
complex 3
- Snatch grip deadlift
- Hang snatch
- Overhead squat
- Behind-the-neck press
- Good morning
complex 4
- Sumo deadlift high pulls
- Hang clean
- Front squat
- Push press
- Overhead lunges
complex 5
Also known as the 'bear complex', this is a favorite in the CrossFit® box, but can also be done alone in the gym.
Perform each movement with the barbell for 1 repetition, 7 times. This is a round. The “complex of the bear” consists in performing 5 series.
- Power clean
- Front squat
- Push press
- Back squat
- Behind-the-neck press