Let me tell you a story:
Once upon a time, I owned and operated a postage stamp-sized personal training gym in a quaint little town on the south coast.
The main “thing” I offered there was so-called semi-private coaching. This basically involved training a handful of people together (my tiny gym could accommodate a maximum of four at a time).
An arrangement like this has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it’s a whole lot cheaper for clients; but on the other, training groups consisting of individuals with sometimes wildly different abilities can result in a bland and ineffective experience – unless the coach possesses a varied “training toolbox” and the skills to use it.
With this in mind, one tool I leaned on heavily to make sure my ladies and gents got what they were paying for was the barbell complex.
This is an exercise protocol I first read about on the T-Nation website, mostly in articles by champion athlete and eminent strength and conditioning coach Dan John.
In simple terms, what you do is take a handful of barbell exercises and complete them for a set number of reps (I only ever use 3s, 5s, and 8s) one after the other without putting the bar down at any point.
In my old gym, after the “main work” for the day was complete, I’d take some coloured chalk and write the complex on the back wall. Then, I’d let clients sort themselves into groups around one of a selection of preloaded barbells (the lightest was an empty ladies olympic bar weighing 15kg and the heaviest was, if memory serves, an 80kg bar that was only ever used by a couple of submariners).
Some hard work followed, usually three sets but sometimes four if I had them do a second complex (they’d do two sets of each).
What’s my point?
Only to say that if you are looking for an efficient, effective way to do a bunch of high quality work that will, executed correctly, make you stronger, leaner, and tougher in general, you’ll struggle to find a better tool than barbell complexes.
However.
While simple in principle, there are many nuances and complexities in practice. Indeed, mishandling some of those little foibles could well neuter your efforts entirely or, if you are unlucky, land in you in a world of hurt with a potentially training-terminating injury.
So I advise you spend some time looking into the “how” if I’ve piqued your interest.
Your options here are broadly twofold:
1) You can waste many hours haunting the internet looking for “Free!” info that only ever tells you half the story, or,
2) You can pony up £120/month (circa £4/day) to become a Phil Tyreman Letter subscriber and have every detail broken down and explained to you (complexes feature in both the book you get as a new subscriber and the forthcoming August issue of the newsletter).
Should you need more than that, you need only ask and I will film you an instructional video so you know exactly what to do and how to do it (I’ll also critique your form if you send me a video of your efforts).
If you want in, go to the link below, read the information on both pages carefully, and subscribe if you feel it’s right:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/information/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman