Complexes vs. Bears

[erco]

I was doing cardio work yesterday, and sorta did this impromptu complex:

6x BOR
6x (1xClean, 1x OHP)
6x Squat
6x Good Mornings

And I was sorta thinking, what are the benefits and differences between complexes and bears? As you can see, I've kinda got a mixture going in the above, and wasn't quite sure if this was even a good idea. Positive AND negative comments welcome!

[Sonny]

A bear is a single rep of each exercise.

1 clean + 1 front squat + 1 OHP + 1 Back squat + 1 OHP = 1 "rep" and then you lower and repeat.

One isn't necessarily better than the other they're just different, although I do find bears to be more challenging.

[Revok]

The difference, though fairly small, is in localised vs general fatigue. High rep complexes will build the endurance of individual muscle groups, whereas bears disperse the stress over more muscles and so are more of an anaerobic workout.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Revok

The difference, though fairly small, is in localised vs general fatigue. High rep complexes will build the endurance of individual muscle groups, whereas bears disperse the stress over more muscles and so are more of an anaerobic workout.

100 % agree. I find that bears create more of an overall body fatigue.

[erco]

Originally Posted by Revok

The difference, though fairly small, is in localised vs general fatigue. High rep complexes will build the endurance of individual muscle groups, whereas bears disperse the stress over more muscles and so are more of an anaerobic workout.

TY this is what I was looking for.

[Urban]

I thought a bear refered specifically to the complex involving clean + front squat + push press + back squat + BTN push press (as created by john davies)

Seems we may have redefined the term though to mean complexes with one rep of each exercise... interesting.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Urban

I thought a bear refered specifically to the complex involving clean + front squat + push press + back squat + BTN push press (as created by john davies)

Seems we may have redefined the term though to mean complexes with one rep of each exercise... interesting.

That's how I defined it. Didn't I?

*scratches head*

[Urban]

Sorry sonnny, I guess that is how you defined it. But I read your post as meaning "a bear is ANY complex where you do one of each exercise in any complex" not "A bear involves one of each of the following" My bad.

[Urban]

The original bear article http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459657

[XTrainer]

I was in Urb's camp on this. I guess you could say that there is "The Bear" and then there other other exercises structured like the bear.