CT's Power Complexes

About to start them 4/week so has anybody else incorporated these yet?

Thoughts on them?

I incorporated them in my squat workout last week… But I kindve tweaked it a lil I kept the squat waveloading from HPMass but it was a circuit of that and powerclean from hang and box jumps. I liked the workout alot and will defintely experiment with this.

Where can I find these complexes? details?

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/425

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/428

I agree with pelham32

I’ve been doing this once a week as an addtion to another upper press day:

A.Seated BB shoulder press from pins just above the head - 3 reps (ramp up to MTW to activate the nervous system)
B. Seated BB shoulder press - 3-5 reps
C. Push press - 3-5 reps
D. Med ball throw from chest 8-10 reps
E - plyo push-ups 5- 8 reps.
I rest 45 - 60 sec between excercises and 60-120 secs between rounds - Just enough not to inhibit performance

I ramp up B and C until I reach my MTW during the firat 2-3 rounds. I usually do 6-8 rounds total depending on how I feel. To progress I add a little weight to either A, B or C, or do more rounds.
I finish with 2-3 rhomboid/rear delt excercises for 3-4 sets of 8-12.

I’m in a fat-loss phase and my strength + work capacity is increasing every week. It’s a nice change of pace (It can be brutal) but I’m really enjoying myself, which to me is the most important thing (as well as losing fat and maintaining/gaining muscle of course)
Give it a go. I’m starting Muay Thai 3-4 hours a week after a 4 month lay-off through injury. I may do 2 upper press + 1 lower press days a week in circuit fashion to improve my explosive power and conditioning. I’ll stick with ‘bodybuilding style’ back training 1 day a week, as thats what works for me.

A long post but hope it was mildly informative

moog

i started them monday doing:

mon - mp 531 / mp complex x 4 rounds
tue - bs 531 / bs complex x 3 rounds
wed - some back stuff
thu - bp 531 / bp complex x 4 rounds
fri - dl 531 / dl complex x 3 - 4 rounds (haven’t done it yet)

not sure how the 531 is mixing with the complexes with the same lift being repeated in the complex…might need to play with the lay out a little more but i’ll have the correct wts down by this week

[quote]swans05 wrote:
i started them monday doing:

mon - mp 531 / mp complex x 4 rounds
tue - bs 531 / bs complex x 3 rounds
wed - some back stuff
thu - bp 531 / bp complex x 4 rounds
fri - dl 531 / dl complex x 3 - 4 rounds (haven’t done it yet)

not sure how the 531 is mixing with the complexes with the same lift being repeated in the complex…might need to play with the lay out a little more but i’ll have the correct wts down by this week
[/quote]

I’ve been thinking about how to use these as well and have been reading and rereading those articles. I didn’t notice what % load CT suggested and how many sets. Did I just completley overlooking it?

CT mentioned these were in one of his books and I was thinking about just buying the book, but I didn’t realize he had written so much. Anybody (or maybe CT if you’re reading) know what specific book these are in?

for supra max exercise ramp up to max wt

for heavy exercise do 5 reps at a 6 - 8 rep wt, so hard but not testical splitting hard

explosive/o lift is somewhere between 70 - 80%, it has to be explosive though so it may be lower

[quote]swans05 wrote:
for supra max exercise ramp up to max wt

for heavy exercise do 5 reps at a 6 - 8 rep wt, so hard but not testical splitting hard

explosive/o lift is somewhere between 70 - 80%, it has to be explosive though so it may be lower[/quote]

Okay, cool.

Do you by chance know what book this stuff is in? I’m really curious just to read his full material.

[quote]Jaynick77 wrote:

[quote]swans05 wrote:
for supra max exercise ramp up to max wt

for heavy exercise do 5 reps at a 6 - 8 rep wt, so hard but not testical splitting hard

explosive/o lift is somewhere between 70 - 80%, it has to be explosive though so it may be lower[/quote]

Okay, cool.

Do you by chance know what book this stuff is in? I’m really curious just to read his full material.[/quote]

I think it’s in the “Theory and Application of Modern Strength Training Methods”. At least there’s a section about russian and bulgarian complexes and the Canadian Ascending-Descending program.

I’m going to experiment with complexes as well for my next phase. I’d want to stress a bit more the mass end of the power curve and also try supramaximal holds for the first time.

I was thinking about replacing the partial movement with a supramaximal hold, followed with heavy full range movement for the same pattern and continue there. For example squat pattern:

  1. Supramaximal squat hold, 8 s.
  2. Full squat, 1-3 reps (work up to a near max)
  3. Hang snatch / power clean
  4. Jump squat

Perhaps do the first 2-3 rounds without the hold and then add them for the last heaviest rounds to get the “post-tetanic activation” orwhateveritwascalled -effect and hit some PR’s hopefully…

Don’t know whether it’s a good idea, but we’ll see how it goes…

I’m doing them as close as I can. Unfortunately at my gym, I can’t set up the circuit very often due ot the number of people using equipment. I’ll do each exercise individually with 30 seconds in between sets, one minute between exercises. Since this is how I’ve been doing kettlbell training, it seems to not inhibit performance. So far, it has still been tough, but interesting over the last ten days. I’m still not sure about the split, but I’ll give it the full 6 weeks before I tweek anything.

[quote]swans05 wrote:
About to start them 4/week so has anybody else incorporated these yet?

Thoughts on them?[/quote]

Hey Swan,

I just started to experiment with them yesterday and I’m coming off week 6 of HPM. It’s definitely challenging. I know this is more body comp but I do hope to continue some decent strength improvement with this. If you can do them, they’re worth a try.

Just did the DL day and really hope I can recoup by Monday for squat. Because right now, I’m REAL tired.

[quote]docsrocks wrote:
Just did the DL day and really hope I can recoup by Monday for squat. Because right now, I’m REAL tired.[/quote]

I had hurt my back a couple months ago so all I could do was Leg Press, Hamstring Curls, and Extensions. Coincidentally I’m able to start doing squats and deads again and my legs hurt so bad yesterday. Keep in mind I’ve been doing HPM to the “T” that CT wrote in his article since December and my Shoulders were killing me mid-shoulder complex and my shoulder routine didn’t change with my back injury. My chest held up better surprisingly enough. I love it, now if I could just control my diet better.