What are barbell complexes?
A barbell complex is a series of different movements done with a barbell that can be done in sequence without a rest, the better barbell complexes flow easily between movements. There are some popular barbell complexes that have their own names, but really anybody can make a barbell complex as long as it flows well between movements and is hard.
Uses of a barbell complex
Barbell complexes are generally full body, and if your short of time can be a great way to get a full body workout in minimal time. There are many types of barbell complexes but personally I believe whatever barbell complex you do you should decide whether you are doing it for conditioning or for strength
Barbell complexes are split into rounds. Here is an example of a complex I made up, this would be 1 round.
If you are wanting to do strength training you would only do a couple of rounds with more of a maximal weight and slowly progress to handling more weight.
If you want to tailor the barbell complex towards conditioning you would drop the weight and do multiple rounds. To progress in a conditioning barbell complex you can either increase the weight, increase the number of rounds, or you can keep the same weight and number of rounds but try and beat the time it took you to do.
One of the most well known complexes is called the Bear complex, although strength is involved this complex is more for conditioning. The Bear Complex consists of...
Here is my attempt at the Bear complex with 70kg
As you can see the more rounds the more the form starts to break from fatigue, so make sure you are still able to perform the exercises to a decent standard without form degrading too much if not terminate the complex.
