The Bulgarian Weighlifting System Part 2

     Previously I gave an introduction to the Bulgarian training system. You can find that article here. Today we’re going to go over how to actually design a program based on the Bulgarian methods.

Georgi Gardev

     The first thing you need to know is that this program is very specific. If you want your training to be well rounded and include some hypertrophy training, some endurance training and some strength training, then this is not the program for you. This program is for one thing: maximal strength on a few core lifts. You might be able to throw in some supplementary exercises, but not many.

     Next, you should know that this routine can be very time consuming. This isn’t some HIT program where you just walk in to the gym, warm up, do one balls-to-the-wall set and leave. Depending on your goal, you may be able to organize your workouts in a way that you can be in and out of the gym in an hour. But when I used this program, most of my workouts were 2.5-3.5 hours.
 
     Now, on to the meat of the program. When I first read about this program, sites on the internet were saying that the Bulgarians “work up to a heavy single every workout”.  I (wrongly) interpreted that to mean 1 heavy single. Thus I would try to set a PR (personal record) every time I was in the gym. I tried to work up to my top weight by doing the fewest number of sets possible. So if my PR was 100kg, I knew that today I would attempt 102.5kg. I would work up like this:

        50x3, 70x2-3, 80x1, 87.5x1, 92.5x1, 97.5x1, 102.5x1.

   

     I made good progress with this program. But then the gains ceased. I was stubborn and for years refused to try anything different. I barely made any progress during those years. Eventually I went on a 5x5 type program. I learned a lot on 5x5 and those lessons helped me improve my “Bulgarian” training.

     The most important lesson I learned was that intensity (whether you define that as a percentage of your 1RM max or perceived exertion.) is not the end all be all of training. Volume is a powerful aspect of training. Volume is at least as important as intensity. Most of the time, your training should be a balance between volume and intensity. 10 sets x 1 rep @ 90% is better than 1 set @ 100%. I mean honestly, just look at it. Assuming a max of 100kg, 10x1@90% means that you lifted 90kg ten times. That’s a total tonnage of 900kg. The other method gives you a tonnage of 100kg. So, who do you think is going to make more progress, the guy who lifts 900kg or the guy who lifts 100kg?
   
     There is nothing wrong with using 1 max set. If you are new to this type of training, then feel free to give it a try. You’ll make good progress…for a while. When progress stalls, consider increasing your volume.
 

Milen Dobrev

     One way to increase the volume is do more sets during your warm up. I would get to 90% in as few sets as possible. Weight increases for sets above 90% would be small, 1-2.5kg. Assuming a 100kg max, I might try something like:

        50x3, 70x2-3, 80x1, 85x1, 90x1, 92.5x1, 95x1, 97.5x1, 100x1, 102.5x1.
 
     If I you set a new PR, then adjust your weights in your next session.

 

     Another way of adding volume is to wave load. Basically you work up to a max multiple times in a single session. You can do it in such a way that the top set in each wave is heavier that the top set in the previous wave. So after a warm up wave 1 might be:

        90x1, 95x1, 100x1

        Wave 2:
        92.5x1, 97.5x1, 102.5

     Or you could try to set a new PR on your first wave, with each subsequent wave being lighter.

        Wave 1:
        92.5x1, 97.5x1, 102.5

        Wave 2:
        90x1, 95x1, 100x1

     You could also just work up to a new PR, and then drop to 90% of your new PR and do 3-5 singles. Or after hitting your top weight for the day, you could decrease the weight and try to set a new 3RM. Or you could completely forgo trying to hit a max and instead try to do a lot of sets at 90%. Completing a predetermined number of sets within a predetermined time frame would be a signal to increase your weight in the next session, similar to Charles Staley's Escalating Density Training (by using this affiliate link, you help support this site.) The main theme here is to increase your volume with weights above 90% of your 1 rep maximum,

     If you're looking to increase just max strength, a heavy single program such as this is definitely worth trying. You'll probably set several new PR's. Give it a try and let me know how it works.

     Till next time, gents.

The Bulgarian Weighlifting System Part 1

     So I used to be an Olympic lifter. For those who are unaware, that doesn't mean that I was in the Olympics. I wasn't. I rarely competed. It just means that my training revolved around the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.

     In training for the Olympic lifts, there are basically two systems. There is the Russian System, and there is the Bulgarian System.

     Well, now there is the Chinese system. And judging from what I read on the internet (which is always true) the Chinese system is an amalgamation of the Russian and Bulgarian System.

     It probably isn't that polarized, but from way over here in the United States it seems accurate.

     I've used both systems in my training. They both have advantages and disadvantages.

     Today we'll be talking about the Bulgarian System.

     The system was developed by Ivan Abadjiev. According to Wikipedia, he won Bulgaria's first medal in weightlifting at the 1957 World Championship. In 1968 he became the head coach for the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation. He brought with him his new system of training. It was this new system that transformed Bulgaria into arguably the most successful weightlifting team ever.

Ivan Abadjiev

     The system can basically be boiled down to this; train heavy all the time. For the professional lifters in Bulgaria, training is a full time job. They lift 8-9 hours a day. And that training revolves around the snatch, c&j, back squat and front squat. If they have a light workout (and in this system 80% of your max is considered light.) they may do power snatches and power c&j's instead of the full squat versions. So you have 8-9 hours of training dedicated to only 6 lifts.

     Oh, and did I mention that they train 6-7 days a week? Because they do. Abadjiev believed that taking a day off increased your chance of injury.

     The day's training would be broken in to little mini sessions. So you may start the day with 45 minutes of snatching and work up to the heaviest weight that you can manage. Then after a 15 minute break you would C&J for 45 minutes. Again, you would probably work up to the heaviest weight that you could lift. Then you would take another 15 minute break before moving on to squats. And again you would probably work up to the heaviest weight you can lift.  See the trend yet?

     And that's just what you would do before lunch. After lunch you would come back and repeat the whole process again. A lifter may have as many as 3 snatch sessions, 3 C&J session and 3 squat sessions in the same day.

     This system has produced World and Olympic Champions for Bulgaria, Turkey and Qatar.

     John Broz helped helped bring this system to the awareness of many non-olympic lifting types (people I refer to as sub humans). It was then further popularized by Matt Perryman's website mysosynthesis.com and then his book Squat Every Day (<---You should click that Amazon Affiliate link and buy the book. Doing so helps support the site.)

     Some people say that you can't do this type of training without the use of steroids. I have read on the internet that Abadjiev has admitted this fact. I have also read (but did not confirm) that at least one of the John Broz's lifters failed a drug test. Even though drug free lifters can't follow the exact program of professional athletes, doesn't mean that we can't learn anything from their programming.

Well, that's enough background info. Check out the video below. Next post I'll go over some of the mistakes that I made with this program and show you ways that you can modify Bulgarian training to make it work for you.

3 Things Every Beginner Should Know

     I love lifting. I've loved it ever since my dad bought me my first weight set when I was 17. I would train 3-4 hours per day 5-6 days per week. I didn't get very good results for the first few months. In the first 9 months I only gained 5 pounds. That's what happens when you get all your training info out of a magazine.

     After 9 months of fruitless training I decided to try a powerlifting routine I found on the internet. I gained 10 pounds in 3 months. Not great, but not bad either.

     After that I joined an Olympic lifting team, and that's when things really started to come together for me. Within the first 3 months training with the team, I gained 30 pounds. Now that's good gains. As an OL'er, my coach and I weren't really concerned about adding size to my pecs or arms or any of the typical things that most people in the gym worry about. No, most of that weight went on my thighs with a little left over for my spinal erectors, traps and shoulders. Because those are the muscles that help you Snatch and Clean & Jerk more.

     I still look back at my 18 year old self and think, "How much could I have gained if I had really tried to maximize hypertrophy?" Guess I'll never know.

     I don't look like a bodybuilder, but I do know how to put on muscle.  I've done it. I also got pretty strong while Olympic lifting. I made some mistakes though. I learned, more from those mistakes than I did from successes. But I don't want my successes or my failures to go to waste so here are 3 things that I feel every beginner should know.

Rigert is a freak.

1. Fitness is a business.

     Magazines, DVD's,websites, equipment, books, training programs, consultations. All of them designed to make money. The problem is...well, let's take magazines for example. Every month that company has to come up with new content. The problem is though, training isn't that complicated. Thus the company has an incentive to break training into as many variables as possible and every month publish programs with inane, meaningless differences from previous issues. Same with those infomercial fitness products. How different do you think "Super Muscle Blaster Xtreme Fitness" is from its sequel "Super Muscle Blaster 2 Xtreme"? Not much different.

     Now does that mean that all these products suck? No. Some are good, others not so good. But after you've read a few books and a few magazines, you start noticing that creators are just reusing the same material in different packaging. 

2. Consistency is the most important factor.

     Some exercises are better than others. Some programs are better than others. What matters most is getting in the gym and doing the work. There is a type of training called "instinctive training". Basically it means that you just decide what you're going to do when you get to the gym. I don't like it. The only people that I've seen successfully use this type of training were clearly on steroids. That said, a person who trains instinctively but is in the gym at least 3 days a week will get better results than the person isn't consistent.

3. Progress matters.

     I don't care if you use 5x5, Bulgarian training. Russian training, high frequency, low frequency, Max OT or even HIT. What matter more than any of that is progression. Are you putting more weight on the bar? Are you adding more sets? More reps? You have to make some kind of progress.

You think Franco would be such a beast had he not tried to add weight to the bar?

     Don't misunderstand me and think that I'm saying that you must do more every workout. Quite frankly you can't do that. Don't try, you'll just burn out. Add reps, weight or sets when you can. You will have some periods of training where your lifts go up almost every session. Then you'll go months at a time with no progress. The important thing is staying consistent and making increases over the long haul.

Well, that's it for this post. I know haven't posted anything for a few weeks. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better. Check back in a few days for a new post. See you guys next time.