Today sees us well over half way into February and all thoughts of the New Year are well and truly eradicated. Your mind might be drifting towards slightly warmer weather and the potential of some summer sun.
Now, if your training has fallen by the wayside, being replaced by work and family life, then to get back on track you are going to need to be extremely efficient with your time. Hour-long workouts don't always work in modern-day life so we need quick, effective and efficient workouts that are going to give us the most bang for our buck.
This is were complexes are a perfect solution. What is a complex, I hear you ask? Put simply, a complex is a series of exercises done back to back with little to no rest in between the exercises. These should flow into each other well and will soon send your heart rate up, increasing your metabolism and fat burning in the process.
However, this type of training is a bit of a misnomer because they are anything but complex as the name would suggest. The true beauty of this type of training is that you can use barbells, kettlebells or dumbbells. It will not only build fat-burning muscle, which is great for shaping up the problem areas we all want to work on, but also is a great alternative to the standard cardiovascular options, and on top of that is a great challenge.
If you are unsure of how to perform any of these exercises correctly, don’t be afraid to ask a member of staff at your local gym or fitness centre the next time you are in.
When executing these complexes, form is paramount. So let's make sure the weight is manageable to perform each exercise with correct technique. It is important to be aware that overhead exercises are amongst the most difficult to lift heavy weights on so don't go too heavy too soon.
Here's how to do it. After a five- to 10-minute warm-up consisting of light cardio and stretches.
Set up a barbell or dumbbells with an appropriate weight you can execute all the repetitions below with then perform the following:
6 x deadlift
6 x bent-over row
6 x push-press
6 x back squat
6 x push-up
Rest for up to three minutes then complete another three rounds, increasing weight if possible.
If you are using a kettlebell, try this on for size:
6 x kettlebell deadlift
6 x kettlebell goblet squat
6 x kettlebell swing
6 x kettlebell farmers walk (2 kettlebells needed)
6 burpees
Rest for up to three minutes
Complete four rounds, increasing weight only if you can maintain good form.
All in all, a complex session will only take around 30 minutes to complete and is fantastic for sculpting that body for the summer. Try incorporating this 30 minute session one or two times a week and I guarantee you will see some great results not only in your physique but your cardiovascular fitness as well.
Post-workout your metabolism will be elevated and your body will be craving nutritious food that it can use for recovery. Try and get a good mixture of protein and carbohydrates after exercising and aim for eight hours sleep so that you'll be able to train again later in the week, feeling recovered and refreshed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here