Monday 3.6: Back squats, Bear Complex

Monday. Back squats 3x5 (max 120kg). Bear complex (max 50kg).

I started my training week with back squat strength and then a bear complex, which surprised me totally. Definitely a tough workout. Toni did some strength as well in western Finland at a local gym.

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5 (100, 110, 120kg). God damned it was tough, whaaaat!?! I felt good entering this training session but for some reason I didn't have the strength needed for this one. I have been thinking the whole day what it was, what's the reason 120kg back squat felt heavy but haven't found the reason yet. Yesterday was a rest day so should have been ready to pump it up! Well, I'm not gonna think about it too much because there are awesome training days ahead of me.

Back squat, 120kg

Bear complex. Result 40, 45, 50, 50, 40kg

• 5 rounds of 7 sets of:
• Power clean
• Front squat
• Push press
• Back squat
• Push press

Completing the sequence of power cleaning the barbell from ground -> front squatting -> push pressing and landing the barbell in back rack position -> back squatting and finally push pressing the barbell and landing it to front rack position, is considered as 1 rep. The athlete must complete 7 reps (35 movements) before he's allowed to drop the bar and lose grip on it. After completing those 7 reps, he's allowed to rest and then add weights. This is not a timed workout. The result is the heaviest successful 7 rep combination. The 7-rep combo is repeated for a total of 5 rounds (175 reps in total). Today my result was 50kg, didn't try to go higher.

So a total of 5 rounds to be completed. I started with 40kg and as I understood the toughness of the workout I only added 5kg for the next round. On the 3rd and 4th round I kept 50kg on the barbell and didn't try to go further. I could have done some sets with heavier volume but I don't know about the entire 7 reps. I wanted to close this workout as it's meant to be done so I stayed with 50kg. I also haven't been dropping weights to my back from the push press lockout and I wasn't that comfortable dropping it there.

Bear complex definitely put a lot of pressure on the forearms. The tension was huge. The movements themselves weren't hard as you think about the kilos in play. Squats were easy, power clean too. The "toughest" part strength-wise was the push press but hey, it was only 50kg. However, having to keep a grip on the bar continuously was strenuous. I liked the feeling of it.

Round of 50kg bear complex

Toni's workouts. Morning swim, evening strength training.

• Swimming 6 x 25m for breakfast
• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 90, 100, 100, 100kg)
• Clean & jerk 5-5-5-5-5-5 (60kg all sets)

Rob O, key to success: constant variety