A Complex Situation

While the traditional method of strength and muscle building requires enough rest between sets to adequately recover, it is also important to realize the benefits of building up your athletic conditioning. Training strictly with long rest periods is a great way to decondition yourself, which isn't a desireable effect of training.  It is important to be able to do more than 30 seconds of work without getting winded and out of breath.  Building up your conditioning will help you power through tough workouts and will have you leaving your athletic opponents in the dust.
In order to build conditioning, you will need to train your body to withstand extended bouts of work.  How can you make this happen?  You can bust out a weapon known as a complex!  A complex is a group of exercises performed in series, with no rest.  In fact, you don't even let go of the weights when moving from one exercise to the next.

Here is a sample complex, which has a "floor to ceiling" flow:
Exercise 1: Barbell Pushup
Exercise 2: Barbell Deadlift
Exercise 3: Barbell Hang Clean
Exercise 4: Barbell Squat
Exercise 5: Barbell Push Press

One thing you should note is that this complex is composed solely of barbell related movements.  This is because you are required to hang onto the weight through the entire complex!  Therefore, all of the movements of a complex are performed using the same amount of pounds as well.  Due to this fact, the weight you can use is limited to the amount of weight you can lift on your weakest lift of the complex. 

Using the example above, for the majority of people, the weakest of those five lifts is going to be the Push Press.  This weight limiting concept is something to consider when putting together effective complexes.  You don't want movements that are extremely far apart in terms of the weight you can use for them. 

Complexes should mainly be performed in the 8-15 rep range, keeping the weight fairly light.  Remember, this is for conditioning purposes, not for high end strength building.

The next time you are looking for something new to try, give your own complex a shot.  Or, if you are feeling lucky, perform my sample complex with 15 reps per exercise.  Go through three rounds with approximately 2 minutes rest between each round.

If you perform mine, be sure to let me know how it goes at ryan@2020-wellness.com or on my forum at http://www.2020-wellness.com/