The Barbell, King of the Weight Room, Part III

Barbell Training By Rob Izsa

Deadlift “The deadlift is unrivaled in its simplicity and impact while unique in its capacity for increasing head to toe strength” states Greg Glassman, founder of CrossFit (2006). With a promotion like this, what else do you need? There is no other exercise that works as many muscle groups, is a primal movement pattern, and is prerequisite to other lifts as is the deadlift. What is more basic than lifting something off the floor?

One-Arm Press The one-arm press, or side press, is a great feat of strength. The bar can be tilted on end, gripped in the center and hoisted to the shoulder. Another method is to perform a reverse grip one-arm clean (similar to an explosive curl). Tighten your midsection, brace your legs against the floor, crush the bar, and push yourself away from the bar. Once the arm is locked out, move under the bar so it is directly overhead. Another simple move that develops pressing strength, midline stabilization, the rotator cuff, grip, coordination, and balance.

Clean and Jerk What is the clean, but an explosive deadlift and heave to the shoulder, again, another primal movement pattern. The jerk allows for more weight to be heaved overhead. Also holding a heavy load overhead strengthens the entire body from the fingers to the toes. Coordination, strength, power, timing, flexibility; what else would you want?

Snatch The snatch is the fastest of all lifts. Speed and strength is required to lift the barbell from the start to a secure overhead position. 5

Overhead Squat The overhead squat is a great full body strength move. Best if performed after a snatch, but can be cleaned to the shoulder then pressed into position (more functional movements). Tremendous flexibility and strength can be developed. The OHS develops great midline stability, hip, shoulder, and ankle flexibility, balance, coordination, and shoulder girdle strength and stability.

Front Squat The front squat is a great movement for training the lower body, midsection, and upper body. If you can clean it, you can front squat it!

Back Squat With just a barbell and no rack, old-time lifters would tilt their bar up, get under it, and then nudge it into position. Maximal weight may not be able to be used, but higher reps with no wrist strain (front squat), can be achieved. The squat is also a great full body exercise requiring many muscle groups across multiple joints with different types of effort within a single repetition. The back squat can be performed heavy for greater strength gains, moderate for hypertrophy development, quickly for explosiveness, and light with high reps for a conditioning effect.

Javorek Complex Once you’ve become sufficient in basic barbell movement patterns, this complex will really test your mettle. Snatch pull x 5, snatch x 5, back squat x 5, push press x 5, good morning x 5, and rows x 5 = 1 set. This is a great warm up when performed with light weight and a great workout for conditioning, strength development, power, and hypertrophy.

The Bear Complex Why not one more combination exercise to kick you’re a**! A power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and another press = 1 rep. Heavy with low reps or light with high reps, pick your punishment – either way you’ll be better for it. Here is a three day effective workout using nothing but a barbell and weights. There are many set and rep schemes that can be used to develop your overall fitness to the fullest, but for me I believe in Less is More and Keep it Simple. So here is a simple, brief, and intense basic workout plan

Day 1 Strength Day Warm Up: Javorek Complex Deadlift (5 x 5) 1-Arm Press (5 x 5 each Arm) 9

Day 2 Speed Strength Day Warm Up: Javorek Complex Clean and Jerk (6 x 2-3) Snatch and OHS (6 x 2-3)

Day 3 Metabolic Challenge Day Warm Up: Javorek Complex Bear Complex (7 x 7)

The purpose of this program is to utilize movement patterns that occur naturally in life; grab something and lift it up. In my opinion these basic full body movements cover the universal movement patterns of the body. By performing them in varying set/rep/intensity variations and including the three energy systems, a high level of overall fitness can be achieved.

Rob Izsa, MA, CSCS, USAW Club Coach President of Intense Training Systems, LLC and CrossFit Morris County located in Denville, NJ Physical Education Teacher Morristown High School http://intensetrainingsystems.com

Blastin’ the Barbell Basics!

By Zach Even – Esh

If I ever forget where I really came from, or where any other REALLY strong man came from, I simply need to be confined to my Dad’s garage again with only a barbell, nothing else! Those days packed strength and muscle on my body faster than ever before!

Lock me up for 4 weeks with a heavy barbell and nothing else and I’ll pack on muscle and strength faster than if I was in a fancy, fully equipped sports performance facility and so will You!

The men from back in the day did it, and we need to remember that this is what still works, in fact, it will ALWAYS work.

Vince Gironda’s gym – plenty of barbells!

I also remember in Arnold’s Book, ‘The Education of a Bodybuilder’, how he and a buddy would go to the woods and pack a barbell and 250 lbs of weights in the trunk and then squat for hours until they couldn’t even stand up anymore.

Why don’t we see this kind of training anymore? I used to help a bodybuilder friend of mine prepare for contests and he always loved my enthusiasm so I would put together crazy workouts for him. His back workouts would end up being 20 minutes of barbell rows for max sets, 20 minutes of deadlifts for max sets and 20 minutes of weighted pull ups for max sets.

This guy would perform barbell rows with 365 lbs! It was sick! His back was so thick, dense and ripped it was shocking! He had that ripped up lower back that looked like a Christmas Tree!

I use barbells for straight up heavy strength work, or, sometimes I perform barbell complexes for endurance work. The barbell complexes FRY your forearms, it’s insane when you perform these complexes how difficult holding the bar becomes.

Here are my top Barbell movements, in no particular order:

- bent leg deadlift: lower body 12

Above, the bent leg deadlift is one of the most effective exercises out there. A few heavy sets for no more than 5 reps will do the trick. Nothing fancy here, grip and rip!

- bent over row (overhand and underhand): upper body

More and more people perform chest supported rows and lat pulldowns in place of the REAL muscle and strength building back exercises. Bent over rowing is the KING for developing a thick and rugged back with monster pulling power. Work these regularly and work these heavily!

- hang clean / power clean: full body

Above, the rack position of the clean. Personally, I can not perform these with the perfect execution, but, I have still received a great benefit in strength and muscle gains from all the aggressive pulling required to pull a barbell upward. This is also why I perform cheat curls. I use a similar pulling movement but the underhand grip allows me to rack the weight comfortably. BOTH are powerful movements!

- clean & press variation: full body - military press variations: upper body

Military Pressing with a thick bar. Overhead presses are awesome for developing the shoulders, triceps and upper back. In addition, the legs work very hard during this movement, even if it is not a push press. There is no part of the body which can relax during the overhead press. When performing any type of military press, I prefer to pull the weight from the ground first, requiring me to power clean the first rep of every set. This is another great way to get added pulling work into your workouts.

- high pulls: full body - floor press: upper body

The Floor Press is phenomenal for developing upper body pushing strength. Without a rack, you’ll need a training partner to deadlift the weight up and hand it to you. I used to do this in my garage with my training partner. The benefit here is the spotter can perform an explosive deadlift every time he lifts the weight. It’s a great way to extra work in!

- Romanian dead lift (RDL): lower body - Shrugs: upper body - Cheat curls: upper body 16

I have encouraged these to many people in the past and they are amazing for upper body strength and power. Load the bar heavy and use your back, shoulders, traps and everything else to get the weight up, then lower as slowly and controlled as possible. This is a great way to finish a workout.

- Lying extensions / JM press: upper body - Back squats: lower body - Lunge variations: lower body - Zercher Squats: lower body

The Zercher Squat was supposedly very popular in prisons as there were no squat racks available so the inmate would lift the weight by squatting under the bar and lifting it or, he would deadlift the bar, sit back and place the bar on the lower thighs, then carefully place one elbow at a time under the bar and begin the lift. Your upper body will work equally hard as your lower body in this amazing lift. Make sure your hands stay high so the bar does not roll down your forearms. Also, if you do not have a thick bar, wrap a towel in the center of the bar until you feel comfortable holding the bar in the crook of your elbows.

Outlined below will be several workouts for you to follow. I suggest giving them a go for at least 4 weeks in a row to test the response. Trying a workout or movement once does not do enough to elicit a response, so be patient.

Workout 1: One Exercise Only

Choose one exercise and give yourself a 45 minute time limit. You will perform ONE exercise for an entire 45 minutes. Choose ANY of the above exercises except for the curls or tricep extensions. 18

Once your first set begins the clock begins. You can perform reps ranging anywhere from 1 – 10 reps. Your last 5 – 10 minutes you can lighten the weights and hit some high rep sets above 10 reps.

I’ve seen guys do this with phenomenal results. But, it takes a lot of discipline to NOT walk away and start doing another exercise. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS! Also, if you find your technique faltering, you can lower the weight and / or lower the reps.

My highest recommendations for the One Exercise Workout would be:

- Deadlift variations - Squat variations - floor press - clean and press - military press - high pulls

Rest periods should be 30 – 60 s between each set, no longer.

Workout 2: Upper Body, Lower Body & Full Body Exercise

Choose 3 movements, one from each category above.

For example:

1) deadlift 2) floor press 3) high pull

Perform each exercise with a 15 minute time limit, once again, working in the 1 – 10 rep range. The order of exercises does not matter much, they can be switched regularly.

This style of training is great for adding strength and muscle. Once again, short rest periods are recommended.

Last, if you want to work on conditioning, lactate tolerance and adding muscle mass, a barbell complex can be exactly what you need. These high reps are awesome for adding muscle and really push the body and mind. I think bodybuilders and powerlifters can benefit from complexes greatly and can be worked in every 7 – 10 days. If your goal is conditioning, then use the complexes more often.

I prefer using a medium weight with 6 – 8 reps per exercise. But, when I performed Randy Couture’s circuit (we have an article here on USC detailing his workout) we did 10 reps per exercises, which came out to 80 reps every set!

Here is the complex we have used with great success at the Underground, 6 - 8 reps per exercise:

1A) hang clean 1B) push press 1C) bent over row 1D) deadlift 1E) high pulls 1F) squats 1G) reverse lunges (6 reps ea. Leg)

You can also break down your complexes into upper or lower body only. These can become quite brutal and for the lower body and you can use some heavier weights than normal for lower body. 20

Upper Body Only Complex, 6 reps per exercise:

1A) hang clean 1B) bent over row 1C) high pull 1D) push press 1E) shrugs

Lower Body Only Complex, 6 reps per exercise:

1A) back squat 1B) good morning 1C) reverse lunge 1D) walking lunge 1E) back squat

** If you are skilled at front squats and overhead squats, by all means mix them into your lower body complex. My personal lower body complex would look exactly like the above, where I start AND finish with the back squat.

On a final note, this 3 part series was inspired after I recollected my days of training with a 300 lb Cap Barbell set that I bought from CostCo. Yes, the barbell was a piece of shit, but man did I have awesome workouts.

I also had a pair of 50 and 100 lb dumbbells, but my training centered around the barbell and my strength soared as did my muscle mass.

Because I wish I knew about this style of training when I was younger, I hope we can pass along this powerful information to those we work with, those we know and most of all, give to yourself.

You owe it to yourself to use the best methods, and even Reg Park said it in what was perhaps his very last interview before his unfortunate passing….Reg said that if he was setting up a gym today, he would have barbells, dumbbells and a chinning bar.

That’s some REALLY basic stuff and can we argue with a man of such enormous strength and magnificent appearance!

Above, The Great Reg Park

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