039 : 008 Complexus V

Session 5

‘Dumbbell Gymnastics’

Breathing ramp up
Warm-up
Then...
Using a single dumbbell or heaviest possible complex of:

2 x Hang snatch

4 x Push press (w/ tempo eccentric)

6 x High pull

8 x Wall supported row

(Repeat on the opposite side)
*eliminate movements from complex the round after you fail to hit prescribed reps Then...

Using the final weight you were able to complete with all movements, work E2MOM performing: one round of dumbbell complex (each side) followed by max cals (on the machine of choice), burpees or 10m shuttle runs in the remainder. Continue in this fashion until you reach your bodyweight in kilograms— or half bodyweight in lbs for my transatlantic brethren— in burpees, calories, or shuttles.

Immediately into...

Walking or seated down-regulation Until you reach a comfortable nasal: 4-6-8-0 breathing cadence.

The Ramp Up

3 rounds of-
5 x Triangle breathing 7:7:7:0 20 x Power breathing 1:0:1:0 1 x Full inhale
1 x Max hold
1 x Full exhale
1 x Max hold

Inhale, focus on filling from the bottom up; use your nose and breathe deep into the bottom of your trunk and lower back, before working your way up into your chest and then your upper back. Your rib cage should expand in all directions. For power breathing execute a quick but full and powerful inhale through your nose, then simply open your mouth wide and ‘dump’ the air out on the exhale. Get into a quick rhythm. After 20 reps perform 1 final full inhale through the nose, filling your trunk, and then hold. Pay attention to air hunger cues— little tremors, swallowing, fidgeting. Before they get too strong, perform a long exhale under control through your nose, completely emptying the tank, then hold until you feel strong air hunger. Return to triangle breathing and repeat for 3 rounds.

The Complex

This is a simple upper body complex that is designed to check enough boxes in terms of stimulus that you can get an effective upper body workout in, using just a single dumbbell (and not necessarily even a particularly heavy one). The movements are designed to cascade down in terms of difficulty, whilst the reps (and fatigue) cascade up. This simple heuristic of working from the most demanding movement, to the least, whilst also raising the reps as you go, is an easy to overlook method for writing efficient complexes (and workouts in general). In fact, many Crossfit workouts tend to work in the opposite direction (think- ‘DT’), which does make for a good test, but I’m unsure if it makes for the best training, especially if equipment and load is limited. Does this make for an optimum upper body workout? Of course not, but I’m not really sure what that would ever look like, devoid of context, anyway. What it does make for is an incredibly effective, simple piece that provides both the right dosage of localised stimulus for upper body push/pull hypertrophy and power-endurance, as well as creating a huge energy demand, centrally.

In short, if you only have a single bell and want to do more than just ‘test your fitness’, this structure is hard to beat.

As with previous weeks— if you have access to a variety of weights— work up in weight one set at a time. As you begin to fail to hit the prescribed reps on individual movements, leave these movements out of the proceeding rounds and continue to add weight. Again, don’t make such large jumps that you quickly find yourself losing half of the complex. Aim for 8-10 rounds, adding weight incrementally. Your aim is maximum work across all sets, not maximum weight as quickly as possible.

Begin with as little hip expression as possible for the snatches, push presses and high pulls; then gradually begin to build in momentum as the weight grows. Even once you’re performing a powerful leg drive to achieve your push presses, control the eccentric over a 2-3 second count to up the stimulus. For the high pulls, hinge at the hips before explosively jumping into triple extension, keep the dumbbell close to your body as you pull your elbow up and to the back of the room; try to actively resist the weight in the drop, slowing down its descent. Once you reach the rows, if possilble, lean on a wall, rack or rig, supporting your weight and getting your torso to as shallow an angle as possible. Allow the dumbbell to pull forwards, slightly in front of your shoulder, lengthening your lat, before pulling it under control, over a long arc, squeezing it into your hips. The arc of the bell should almost look like a pendulum. Try to envisage your lat and the muscles of your upper back moving from a long stretch in the bottom position into tight compression at the top.

Begin with your weaker side. Rest minimally between sides, but don’t be afraid to drop your dumbbell and take 5-10 deep breaths if you think fatigue is going to inhibit your ability to match reps on the opposite side.

Workout ends at the heaviest 8 rows you can muster on each side, or when you run out of weights.

Complex Conditioning

Once you’ve established your heaviest row for the day— rest as necessary and fall back to the heaviest weight you managed a full complex (on both sides) with. Start a running clock and perform a round of the complex at the beginning of every second minute. In the balance of each two-minute window complete as many calories (on a machine of your choice), burpees or 10m shuttle runs as possible, up until the two minute mark, then repeat the complex.

Your goal is to reach your bodyweight (in KG, or 0.5 bodyweight in lbs) in cals/burpees/shuttles in as few rounds as possible.

Choose a conditioning effort relevant to your goals and kit availability.

As ever, focus on your breathing throughout. Inhale/ exhale/ eccentric/ concentric, one breath= one rep. Being mindful of this will help you to keep a handle on your breathing throughout, and not scrambling desperately to ‘catch it’, mid complex. There is no ‘recovery time’ here, so you need to ensure you’re pacing correctly throughout, staying with the breath throughout is the best, and most accessible, way to do this.

Avoid blowing up on the conditioning effort so that you can’t move directly into the complex. This is the beginning of a death spiral. Be ready for that two-minute buzzer and know that the most skilful you can possibly do when it sounds is to PICK UP THE DUMBBELL. Even if it hurts.

Recovery/ Down Regulation

Come into laying or seated position with your hips raised above your knees if you can. If not, simply move slowly and deliberately as you transition into whatever’s next in your day. Wrap your full attention around your breath, observe where it’s at and begin to slowly nudge it downwards with a gentle but deliberate inhale, creating a little bit of space at the top of the breath, before slowly letting it back out under full control. Aim to work towards a breathing cadence of 4-6-8-0 and spend as long here as you can spare.