Tip Overhead Press Star Complexes Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness TrainingVideos Tip Overhead Press Star Complexes Train five different portions of the force-velocity curve in a series of exercises and you' ll build muscle and get strong rapidly Details here by Christian Thibaudeau April 28, 2017April 5, 2021 Tags Exercise Coaching, Overhead Press, Shoulders, Tips Complexes are blocks of exercises performed back to back. The Soviets used originally used two exercises in their complexes – one strength-exercise and one power/explosive exercise to cover both extremes of the strength curve. With star complexes, instead of training only two points on the force-velocity curve, we train five points. (Note: This is part of my 6 Weeks to Superhero program.) Each complex uses five exercises of the same movement pattern. The exercises are performed one after the other, starting with a heavy/slow movement first. Each subsequent exercise will be lighter in resistance than the previous one, but the rep speed will be faster. Here's an example using the overhead press movement pattern: Top-Half Seated Overhead Press, Overload, 2-5 Reps: Start just above the weak point of the movement so you can use a lot of weight while still having enough of a range of motion to stimulate the pressing muscles. Standing Military Press, Strength, 3-5 Reps: I prefer the standing variation over the seated because of its greater postural involvement. Make sure to squeeze the glutes hard during the whole pressing movement. Push Press, Strength-Speed, 2-3 Reps: Make an effort to create a "shoulder shelf" to push from by resting the bar on your delts at the beginning of the movement. Use a slight leg drive to get the bar past the weak zone while driving hard with your arms. Medicine Ball Push-Press Throw Overhead, Speed-Strength, 8-10 Reps: This is a very effective speed-strength exercise for the upper body. Focus on pushing equally with both arms, as most will tend to use only one arm. The motion is similar to a basketball pass, but overhead. Feet Elevated Plyo Push-Up, Explosive, 8-10 Reps: No need to drop your chest all the way down. We want a short and rapid dip and minimal transition time before the projection upward. Stop when you lose your "pop." Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip The Pull-Up That Builds Your Whole Back This exercise might be too tough for you, but even just a few reps will fire up your upper back and lats. Take a look. Tips, Training Ben Bruno September 12 Training The Best 100-Rep Exercise Healthier shoulders? Check. Better posture? Check. Bigger bench press? Check. And you can do it anywhere. Tanner Shuck May 22 Training Smart Training 2 Dr. Ken Kinakin, much like Dr. Mike Leahy, knows your pain. In fact, he's made a living off of it. The doc is one of the best in the world at devising training protocols to help make you injury-proof. Yeah, he likes bodybuilding and powerlifting routines, too, but when it comes to figuring out how to fix what ails ya', he's one of the best. Training Chris Shugart October 22 Training Tip The Smart Way to Lift Twice a Day No, you won't overtrain... if you do it right. And the gains are awesome. Bodybuilding, Tips, Training Michael Warren November 30