038 : 016 Complexus II
Session 2
‘Wheels of Fire’
Breathing ramp up
Warm-up
Then...
Using dumbbells or kettlebells work to the heaviest possible complex of:
1 x Front Rack Reverse lunge (each leg) 3 x Front squat
6 x RDL
9 x Deadlift
*eliminate movements from complex the round after you fail to hit prescribed reps Then...
Working EMOM, perform as many round as possible at 70-80% of finishing weight 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
The lifts in this complex will be extremely well complemented by a liberal dose of intra-abdominal pressure, so treat this breathing ramp up as the perfect opportunity to explore using the breath to assist in bracing. Think of the triangle breathing as a place to slowly investigate just how your breath and diaphragm interact with your trunk and its subsequent stability, then think of the power breathing as a place to experiment with quickly filling that same place (and creating that same pressure) before explosively emptying it. How might this carry over to your heavy reps?
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
Use dumbbells, kettlebells or both; whatever you have access to that will allow you to go as heavy as possible. Getting the bells into a front rack position may well prove to be one of the
most challenging parts of the workout, but this shouldn’t come at the expense of the complex itself, so don’t be afraid to ask for help lifting your dumbbells into position, if it comes to that. The fact that you get them up is far more important than how you get them up.
Begin with two strong reverse lunges. Your focus should be on driving through the front leg, to this end, at least on your earlier sets, place your back knee on the ground and attempt to lift your back foot up slightly before you drive forwards and up. This type of ‘no-toe’ lunge will ensure you don’t drive off of the back foot. As the weight starts creeping up however, just do whatever you need to do to get back on your feet. Movements achieved > Muscle groups used. After a single lunge on each leg perform three deep front squats. Focus on a slight pause at the bottom, driving explosively out of the hole, and resetting with a sharp exhale and a reestablishment of a strong, stable upper body at the top of each rep. Purse your lips and think about ‘sipping’ the air in, expanding your trunk in three dimensions and creating a strong internal ‘air bag’ of tension and pressure around your spine. Squats despatched, drop your bells to arms length and double the reps for six RDL’s. Focus on slowly pushing your hips to the back of the room, keeping the dumbbells close to your legs and aiming for a deep stretch through your hamstrings before snapping back up explosively. Once you’re finished with these, finish with nine conventional deadlifts. Don’t overthink these, just move the weights. Focus on the same breathing and bracing mechanics throughout: load it up at the top, get down there, let the pressure out on the way back up. Reset. There are twenty reps in this complex, so no more (or no less) than twenty breaths will help in keeping your attention where it shoulder be— on the process.
Here’s the only slightly convoluted part. If you find that as the weight ascends getting into the front rack position becomes the limiting factor, then eliminate squats but keep the reverse lunges, just perform them holding the weights at your sides. So a complex would look like: 1/1 reverse lunge > 6 RDL > 9 Deadlift. Then once you can no longer perform the lunges, continue with just the two deadlift variations. Ensure you push for the heaviest squats possible before this happens though.
Ideally you’ll finish by discovering the heaviest weights (you have available) that you can dumbbell deadlift; after discovering rep maxes for all the other lifts. “Fun”.
After ample rest, grab a set of bells that are the closest approximation to 60-70% of your finishing weights (ie. if I finished using 45kg bells I might grab a 30kg pair), start a running clock and perform one round of the complex EMOM, until failure. This may only be 3-4 rounds, that’s fine, this isn’t supposed to be a long conditioning piece; more of a backoff piece with a conditioning element. If, during the ‘work to heavy' phase of the complex you were limited by the ‘bells you had available to you, pick a weight that the thought of performing 5 straight minutes with scares you. You should be moving faster on these than in the loading phase, but keep it clean and focus on the same breathing mechanics, albeit with a bit more impetus. Ideally, you’re looking at around forty seconds work, followed by twenty seconds rest. What you do with the rest then becomes incredibly important. Don’t pace around the gym; don’t look at your phone; if you’re going to drink, take one sip, hold it in your mouth and focus on your breathing. Stand still, look inward and bring your breath to heel as quickly as possible, focussing on doing so will slow down time.
Workout ends when you can no longer fit the prescribed reps into sixty seconds, or you quit. Whichever comes first.
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.
