Monday, March 25, 2013

Monday 25.3: Barbell complex

Monday. Barbell complex: power clean, hang squat clean, front squat, 2xsplit jerk with increasing load.

Different type of approach for today's workout: barbell complex. Now I believe my upper body has had it and needs some activation in the evening at floorball training. After playing with the bar I did double unders, sit-ups and dips to finish the training. Toni is traveling this week as well so I was at the gym together with Pauliina.

Split jerk

Complex.

  • Power clean
  • (Hang) squat clean
  • Front squat
  • Split jerk x 2, both legs
  • Start from 40kg, increase load with 5kg till failure. Then start all over again.


A barbell complex is when you will do all the reps of one exercise before moving onto the next exercise and yo don't put the bar down until all the reps are complete. That counts as one set. You'll take a brief rest and repeat for the recommended number of sets.

Haven't done many complexes in my life time so I wanted to give it a shot. I enjoy the difficulty of holding on to the bar without letting it drop before completing the whole set of movements. I simply love the feeling of completing a long set of hang cleans and your forearms start to get numb.

I began my workout at 40kg, which is little less than 50% of my max in clean & jerk. I climbed up 5kg after each set. In the beginning I just changed the weights and did another set. After semi-heavy weights I took longer breaks. It would have been smart to set a timeframe in which the set must be completed. Let's say every minute you have to complete one set. The downside would have been that all the rest time would have been used for changing plates.

Example of one set, 50kg

For the first round I finished 75kg as planned but on the 80kg I managed to do only 1 split jerk. I had to modify the hang squat clean a bit on 75 and 80kg. I did those squat cleans from the ground to finish the sets. After ending in a failure after 80kg I cleaned 85kg just to remind my body where my current max is at the moment. I'm satisfied I have been able to clean that 85 for several times now. Maybe soon I'll add the stakes and put new records on the table.

On the second round I finished the first sets from 40kg to 60kg quite rapidly without resting in between sets, just changing the weights and heading off. At this point my elbows and forearms had had enough and it started to feel heavy. I finished the set of 70kg perfectly and then called it quits. I enjoyed this workout 100% and will do more complexes in the future as well. They are simply bad ass =) The number of reps was great. On the first round I finished 9 sets of 5 reps and on the second round I completed 7 sets of 5 reps.

Results

  • First set: 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80kg (only 1 jerk)
  • Second set: 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70kg





Cash out. For quality and minimum rest.

  • 8 x 25 unbroken double unders, then
  • 4 rounds of:
  • 20 sit-ups
  • 10 dips


I made 7 x 25 DU's unbroken and on the eight set only the last 2 reps were left when my shoulders decided to stop moving the jump rope, doup! Well, I had to redo the last set to make it 8 unbroken attempts. Those sit-ups were made on a huge gym ball as I tried to get the feeling of some sort of GHD sit-ups.


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