Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to get moving and shape up.

My name is Brock Armstrong and I am the Get Fit Guy.

In the fitness world, a complex is several exercises strung together to move your entire body in one non-stop routine. And as you'll find out during this

podcast, when combined with a barbell, this type of training not only benefits your overall muscle

mass, but it also pushes the limits of your endurance, your coordination, your mobility,

athleticism, and general strength.

Now, a fellow named Istvan Javorak is said to be the brains behind Barbell Complex Training,

and it's fabled that he first brought his complex routines to North America back in the 1980s,

after he defected from Romania. Now word has it that he

initially developed this type of training as a way to, and I quote, find an efficient and

aggressive method of performance enhancement that saves time and makes the program more enjoyable.

End quote.

All right, so let's take a look at barbell complexes and see if Istvan hit his mark.

So first of all, a barbell complex is any series of movements that are done back to back using a barbell.

A set number of repetitions or reps is completed for each movement before shifting

immediately onto the next. What makes a barbell complex unique and difficult and also effective

is that the weight never leaves your hands until the entire series is complete. Now, for example, a simple and very common barbell

complex is called the Clean and Press. Now, in this exercise, the ending movement of the

clean, which is pulling the barbell up to your chest, is the starting movement of the press,

which is pressing the barbell over your head and straightening

your arms and legs. Now, one of the biggest reasons people include barbell complexes in their

workout regimen is that they are a great way to include some cardio in your training program

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