Strength Sensei Bookshelf: Javorek “Complex” Conditioning

Strengh Sensei Bookshelf

Javorek "Complex" Conditioning

The go-to source for physical and athletic fitness workouts

Charles Poliquin met Istvan Javorek nearly four decades ago during a strength coaching venture. Coach Poliquin has been a fan of his work ever
since, recommending his books to his students.

Javorek was a weightlifting coach from Romania who trained many national team athletes, working out of the Clujana Athletic Club-Cluj. Javorek’s prize student was Dragomir Cioroslan.

Cioroslan was a 10-time national championship and competed in three Olympics, winning bronze in 1984. In 1993, Cioroslan became the head
weightlifting coach at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Cioroslan was named the US Head coach for the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Javorek also trained Istvan Tasnadi, a silver medalist in weightlifting at the 1984 Olympics.

Javorek was a strength and conditioning coach at Texas A&M, but after three years accepted a position as a fitness professor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. He also coached weightlifters and several elite athletes, including the 2005 first-round draft pick in the NBA Wayne Simien 

This accomplished coach shares many of his coaching ideas in Javorek “Complex” Conditioning, filling it with a variety of detailed workout programs for all levels of athletes. Here are a few examples:

Chapter 18: Javorek’s General Fitness Conditioning #1
Chapter 19: Javorek’s 12 Week Dumbbell Bodybuilding #2 Training
Chapter 20: Javorek’s Barbell Body Building #1 Training
Chapter 25: Javorek’s Millennium Elite Athlete “Tremendous Pleasure”
Conditioning Program
Chapter 29: Javorek’s 24 weeks Weightlifting Program
Chapter 30: General Weight Training for Wheelchair Athletes

Javorek’s book is especially relevant in these challenging times, as it
provides total body exercise programs that use only bodyweight or dumbbell exercises. He also likes using explosive drills and abdominal training. Coach Poliquin especially liked the variety of training Javorek provides in his workouts, ensuring structural balance and keeping motivation high.

Just as Coach Poliquin was a fan of supersets, tri-sets, and giant sets, Javorek is a fan of combining exercises into what he calls “complexes.” One example of a complex exercise is a clean and jerk. This exercise combines several exercises into a single rep, such as a deadlift, shoulder shrug, a front squat, and a jerk. Javorek presents many examples of such exercises, using a variety of equipment.

Istvan Javorek put considerable time and effort into developing this valuable resource for anyone interested in improving physical and athletic fitness. Pick up a copy and enjoy!

[You can purchase Javorek “Complex” Conditioning by Istvan Javorek at Amazon.com.]

Lead photo by Miloš Šarčev

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