039 : 023 Complexus VII

Session 7

‘Grizzly Bear Complex’

Breathing ramp up

Warm-up

Then...

Work to the heaviest weight possible for three unbroken sets, then continue on to the heaviest single set of following complex:

1 x power clean 2 x push press 3 x front squat 4 x back squat

Then...

At 50% of your finishing weight perform as many rounds of ‘Grizzly Bear’ complex as possible in 10 minutes. Each time you break the complex perform 30 seconds of conscious recovery breathing before immediately resuming.

Immediately...

Half the weight again and perform as many rounds of ‘Grizzly Bear’ complex as possible in 5 minutes. Each time you break the complex perform 20 seconds of conscious recovery breathing before immediately resuming.

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

There’s some treasure to be found here, both for in the early stages of the workout where recovery between each rep and creating intra-abdominal pressure is crucial; but more importantly during the AMRAP’s where your ability to consciously connect to your breathing and optimise it will become pivotal for maximising your recovery during limited rest times. So pay attention.

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 Grizzly Bear Complex

A riff on the legendary ‘Bear complex’. Here we’re utilising a few of the principles that we’ve been exploring in the last few weeks to maximise the stimulus. Descending movement difficulty combined with ascending reps will ensure you’re flying close to the sun throughout, avoiding simply adding movements for the sake of adding movements.

Each ‘round’ has 10 ten reps, so you’re aiming for a total of 30 reps unbroken, initially. Once you’ve established this, add as much weight as you necessary to establish a single, 10 rep, unbroken round.

The Bear complex asks you to perform a full push press between front squats and back squats, I’m going to say ‘do whatever you need to do to get the bar over your head and onto your back’, dip under the bar, don’t worry about full lockout etc. Also, after you’ve completed your back squats, you don’t need to perform another push press. If you can safely do so, drop the bar to the ground, if not— use a rack. Your shoulder strength should not become the limiting factor in this complex.

The Complex Conditioning

After you’ve established your heaviest single complex for the day, rest as necessary and reduce the weight on the bar by 50%. In 10 minutes perform as many unbroken rounds as possible. Each time you have to drop the bar, start a stop watch and rest for 30 seconds, in this time come into stillness and focus your attention on your breathing. Meet the breath where it is and gently attempt to work down the breathing gears, aiming to reach a long, controlled exhale through the nose. You may not make it all of the way, but your aim is to simply get a conscious hold of your breath and maximise your recovery. Avoid nervously pacing, stomping around the gym, looking at your phone etc. Bring your attention to your breath and recovery, and keep it there.

Your score is the number of complete complexes you accrue.

After the 10 minute window, strip the barbell down by a further 50% and complete a 5 minute AMRAP. This time on each break, rest only 20 seconds, hopefully by this point you have the tool of attention firmly in hand and have the concentration necessary to maximise your recovery.

Wrap your attention around the concrete object of attention that is the breath. Keep it there.

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.