About The Complex Training Program

You can boost all areas of your muscles by following a 4-week training plan to achieve power, size, and strength following a scientifically proven technique.

Remember that in order to achieve a stronger muscle, you need to have a powerful and a bigger muscle. Combining the 3 elements, such as power, size, and strength into a single workout is what the 4-week complex training program is all about.

Yes, you only need 4 weekly workouts to achieve a physique that will definitely look leaner and more muscular, while performing better at the gym and excel in virtually any sport.

Why complex training is effective

Complex Training is actually a simple process that requires stacking or super setting a couple of exercises back-to-back in order to achieve improved strength and power on the next move.

Improving the second exercise follows the concept of post-activation potentiation (PAP). This concept will charge your nervous system so that you can lift more weights, jump higher or even complete more reps on successive sets.

The complex training program will help you build explosive power first in the lower and upper body within 4 weeks. Then, more weight is required on heavy low rep sets to help you achieve pure strength, as well as improvements in athletic power to be able to carry over into all aspects of life.

In the end, the workout concludes with compound sets and higher rep counts for the purpose of building lean muscle mass.

Scientific explanation of PAP

It is important to note that complex training is a serious business. In fact, the effectiveness of PAP has been supported by different studies over the last 20 years to improve power and strength.

Moreover, a published review of more than 30 studies in 2019 has confirmed that complex training is quite effective to boost 1-rep-max strength and increase power for athletes to sprint faster and jump higher.

Simply put, PAP works by priming the nervous system to be able to achieve more force and power. This can be comparable to the warmup exercises done by a baseball or softball player getting ready to swing the bat.

The athlete will swing the bat several times to add more weight on the bat while preparing on the deck circle. This will actually prime the nervous system and be able to move a heavier bat.

So, as the athlete is going to use a lighter bat for the real event, the nervous system is able to fire with force and power to move the heavier bat. This is due to the stronger nerve impulse causing the athlete to swing the bat using more force than he or she is able to do normally.

However, PAP works the other way around, using light weight before lifting a heavy weight. You can do this by lifting a very light weight before the heavy load as explosively as possible.

A good example is doing a few medicine ball chest throws before doing a heavy set of bench press. The reps when doing the med ball should be fast and explosive, priming the nervous system to have a more explosive power.

Attempting to bench press using a heavier weight will increase your starting strength, which will enable you to bench press even more weight.

 

Rundown on the Complex Training program

There are 3 main goals that you can achieve with the 4-week program. These include power, strength, and muscle building or hypertrophy. Note that all workouts will focus on all 3 areas through the exercise pairs, also known as the ‘complex’. Here are exercise pairings or complexes on each workout routine.

• The power complex (Exercise pair 1). The power complex exercise pairing is one that is done during the start of every workout in the program. In other words, the exercises that you will do and how you are going to do them are engineered to gain explosive power.

The exercise pairing in the workout is important because this is the time when the fast-twitch muscle fibers are at their freshest and strongest. After these muscle group becomes fatigue, they will be unable to produce power. Thus, it is essential to do the power complex first in each major muscle group.

The power complex requires you to pair a strength move with a power move.

• • Workout #1.

The heavy bench press will offer more explosiveness to do the power push up for your chest. This will enable you to explode higher up on every rep.

• • Workout #2.

You are required to pair heavy rows with explosive power rows for your back. When you build more pulling power in your back muscles will result to more pulling strength on pull ups, rows, and lateral pull-downs.

• • Workout #3.

Heavy shoulder presses can also prime the shoulders to explode the weight with more power overhead on the shoulder press throws.

• • Workout #4.

The deadlift will also prime the legs to do jump squats or be able to jump higher.

 

Weight selection

You need to select a weight that will enable you to complete all prescribed reps for all sets on heavy sets. You can do 3 sets of 5 reps on week 1 for the bench press instead of using your true 5-rep max.

You can use your body weight for power exercises, such as push ups and jump squats or around 50% of your 1 rep-max on weighted exercises such as power rows.

Rest periods

You need to rest 30-60 seconds between exercises in each power complex. Then, you can rest about 2 minutes between complexes.

• The strength complex (Exercise pair 2). You need to follow the power complex with a strength complex for every muscle group. You need to do a power move first with the strength complex and then succeeded by a strength move. However, the power complex uses a reverse order, which requires you to do strength move first and then succeeded by the power move.

 

• • Workout #1.

The medicine ball throw will prime your upper body when doing the reps for the chest. This will allow you to have more pushing strength on the bench press. Moreover, it can prime the triceps for more strength when doing the dumbbell overhead extension. The cable woodchopper will also be able to prime the abs for more oblique pushdown strength.

 

• • Workout #2.

 

The dumbbell power row will strengthen the back and will prime the laterals for more strength on the dumbbell bent-over rows. The biceps can be primed with the medicine ball curl for more strength using the barbell curl.

 

• • Workout #3.

 

For the shoulders, the high pull will enable you to gain more strength on upright rows. Moreover, the power shrug will help boost your strength.

 

• • Workout #4.

 

For the legs, the depth jump will enable you to gain more strength on squats.

 

Weight selection

The power moves will require you to pick a weight that is around half your 1-rep max for this particular exercise. With the strength moves, you can pick a weight that will represent your true 5-rep max for week 1, 4-rep max for week 2, 3-rep max for week 3, and 2-rep max for week 4. This is intended so that you can complete as many reps as possible with the same weight on all sets.

Rest periods

You need to rest for 1-2 minutes between exercises in every strength complex. Moreover, you have to rest 2 minutes between complexes.

• The muscle complex (Exercise pair 3). Every muscle group finishes with 1 or 2 exercise pairings in all workouts done as compound sets to drive hypertrophy or muscle building. Compound sets are supersets of 2 exercises for the same muscle group done back-to-back without rest between exercises.

 

• • Workout #1.

 

For the chest, you have to do 2 muscle complex pairings. For the triceps, you can also do 2 pairings because you haven’t done a power complex here. For the abs, only 1 pairing is required for this area.

 

• • Workout #2.

 

The back and biceps require 2 pairings each. After the biceps, you are required to do 1 complex/pairing for the forearms.

 

• • Workout #3.

 

For the shoulders, you have to do 2 muscle complexes. For the traps, you can only do one.

 

• • Workout #4.

 

For the legs, you need to do 2 pairings. Two pairings are also needed for the calves because you haven’t done a strength complex.

 

Weight selection

For every muscle group, this is the finisher. So, you need to intensify your workout. This is intended to complete as many reps as possible until you hit muscle failure.

It is required to hit the prescribed rep range on your first set in every exercise in these complexes. You are only required to complete as many reps as possible on the next 2 sets even if you didn’t hit the prescribed rep range.

Rest periods

You are not allowed to rest between exercises in the pairings because such are compound sets. So, you need to do the second exercise right away when you have done the reps on the first. For compound sets, you are allowed to rest 1-2 minutes in between.

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