I created this program in June 2014.  I used myself several times personally and with people I’ve trained.  It can be rather taxing on your body.  You really need to make sure your nutrition is on point, especially your peri-workout nutrition.  I take in the 65-75% of my daily carbs around the time I train.  Starting 45 minute pre-workout, intra-workout, and final carbs within 30 minutes of completing this workout.

I have trained several people with this routine and nutrition protocol.  The ones who stuck with it gained appreciable muscle mass while staying lean or even losing fat.  I lean up rather well using this routine without having to add any additional cardio work.  I PROMISE YOU, the results are rather dramatic.

Complexes are not a new style of training, nor something I came up with. This is just my spin on using complexes, as they are not complexes in the traditional sense.  This is going to be a 3 day split based on Push/Pull/Leg.  It’s mainly comprised of complexes – a series of exercises performed one after the other with 10-30 seconds taken in between each exercise in order to set up the next exercise.

I refer to one completed round of the complex as a “wave.”  I use pretty straight forward compound movements for the most part.  You will take about 45-90 seconds rest between each “wave”.  If you need more time take it, this is not set in stone.  I have added Youtube clips of exercises in case you do not know what they are.  If you need any other info just ask.  We will do this for the first 4 weeks and see how you are progressing and then make changes from there as needed.

VERY IMPORTANT: FOR ALL EXERCISES make sure you pick weights that are challenging so that you do not easily hit the rep schemes and then move to the next exercise as that will not lead to the best possible conditioning

Day 1 Push

Chest Complex – Start out with 3-4 waves of this and work your way up to 5-6 waves as you can.  Do not try to progress to fast and risk injury or discouragement

1. Heavy DB press – pick a weight that is taxing that you can do for a rep range of 4-7 reps before failing (don’t go completely to failure here)
2. Banded DB Press ( or Incline DB Flyes if you don’t have resistance bands)– pick a weight that is taxing that you can do for a rep range of 8-10 reps before failing (don’t go completely to failure here)
3. Plyo Push ups – you want to be able to get anywhere from 3-10 reps on these before getting to failure. I want you to really focus on exploding off the bench with no pause  at the bottom when your chest is about to touch the bench.  This will allow you to learn how to better use your stretch reflex.  This should be performed with fast and explosive movement   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6Fd-vdB-8
4. Speed DB press – I want you to perform regular flat DB press but in a fast and explosive manner.   Use a weight that is about 50% of your 1 rep max. Do as many reps as you can in a 15-20 second time period.  Really focus on accelerating the weight as fast as you can

Shoulder Complex – Do 3 waves of this

3 sets 8-12 reps per movement (I use 25-30 lb. dumbbell’s for this complex for reference)                         Do these seated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3T5V_Etnc

1. DB Front delt raise
2. Side DB lateral raises
3. DB Shrug, clean, press

Triceps Monster Set – 3 to 6 waves of this, start with 3 –

1. Triceps V bar pushdown – 12-15 reps
2. Triceps kickbacks – 8-10 reps
3. 1 arm overhead DB extension – 6-8 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znaQrmMYEYw

Day 2 Push

Back Complex  – 4 to 6 waves of this, start with 4 .  If you want more volume later we can add some pull-down work

1. Rack pulls – (start bar at knee height and really use your hips to drive the weight up ) 3-7 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCG8NfBcnys
2. Deadlifts from the Floor – 3-5 reps
3. bent over rows – 5-7 reps
4. Hang cleans – 4-7 reps
5. Jump deadlifts – 8-10 reps. This video shows you how these works but you really only need to bring the bar down to your knee. Start light with these like 20% of your max deadlift http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_imsU6O4CAA
6. Speed inverted rows – do as many of these as possible and as fast as possible during a 15-20 second timeframe http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t97EjUsCFNw

 

Biceps Monster set –3 to 6 waves of this, start with 2

1. Supinating DB Curls – 8-10 reps
2. Incline DB curl – 8-10 reps
3. Hammer curls – 5-8 reps

Day 3 Legs

1. Leg curls – 2-3 of 15 just to warm legs up

Leg Complex- 4-6 waves of this, start with 3- 4

1. Squats – 4-6 reps
2. DB Jump Squats – 8-10 reps. Use 10-20% of your max squat so maybe start with a 10-15 lb. DB in each hand to get movement down.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cynl9l0eB4  This example in the video is ok but don’t pause at the bottom like she does, just land, squat and fire right back up into the jump.
3. DB Step Ups– 4-6 reps. Really do these once again in an explosive manner on the (concentric) stepping up movement.  Try to press yourself up onto the stand as quickly as possible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfMlQDGydnk
4. Body weight lunges – 8-10 reps on each leg. Do these lunges very deep and long to active the glutes, hamstrings and VMO (Tear drop muscle around knee).  Do these in a very slow controlled manner, focusing on feeling the movement.

Glutes

1. Weighted Hip thrusters – 5 sets of 8-12 reps. Start out with little to no weight.  Eventually through the weeks/months, work your way up to using more than your body weight.  You start with your weight on your heels.  When you get to the top of the movement really squeeze the glutes and feel them doing the majority of the work.  Here are two videos of different ways to add weight, you could also use a DB.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUG0JfITlFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ru8S6FETg Don’t go as fast as this quick, slower and more controlled

 After 4 weeks I do a deloading week.  I will drop the volume and weights about 30-40%, but stick with the same workout.  Some athletes do not need this type of deloading, but for me its a must.  My body starts to slow down progress and I tend to flare up old injuries if I don’t take a break.  This is me personally, it is important to understand and listen to your body as your progress with your training.