My high school strength coach/history teacher was on the US Olympic Team in the 80s. He talked about working out with the Bulgarians and how they trained. I made the stupid comment once of 'well they were on steroids.' He looked at me and said 'We were all on steroids. Those guys just knew how to train better.'
I remember how Jeff Michaels(USA) clean and Jerked about 504 lbs. and Snatched a little over 400. These lifts were later removed as American records, on a count of Michael's failing the drug test. Sounds like success as a weightlifter from the 1980's depended on how to beat the drug test. Certainly, back then, the Eastern Block Countries must have known how to mask the use of anabolic steroids better than the Americans.
You have to keep in mind however that you will hurt yourself without the intense drug regiments that allowed these guys to recover and make progress with these programs. Many of these top athletes with years of great training, great coaching, and great drugs still got injuries. Many also died very untimely deaths. These people wanted medals... they weren't into saving body's or low risk longevity shit.
well as a bulgarian i will tell u that we were on many kind of roids and excessive amount for a very long period smt like double what u were ;) but yes all the ppl there are on steroids this is what is needed to be competitive
IskurBlast yes it’s something else! Maybe something in the Bulgarian water! Lols. It’s a great sport and display of strength but sadly not the healthiest with the strain on joints that explosive lifting of weights has on joints over a period of time. Not to mention the abuse of veterinary drugs in the quest to reach the very top. The fact that many lifters don’t get caught out is largely due to the reach of politics into the sport than any specific masking agents.
#1 reason for Bulgarian success: Selecting the best lifters in a nation w/a large population of lifters: Bulgaria values lifting far more than the US. A strong kid who'd play football here'd be a lifter in Bulgaria.
@@xboxgamerhr That doesn't matter. In Bulgaria, EVERY potential champion lifter Is in the lifting program. Way more than your 100-to-1 US comparison, probably more like 1,000-to-1, considering that virtually EVERY strong, athletic male high school student is only lifting to be better at playing football.
America has many options for potential elite athletes. So its spread thinly into weightlifting. A strong guy in the gym is more likely to go into powerlifting than weightlifting in America.
They became the best at a time when the Soviet Union had the biggest pool of elite lifters the world has ever seen. Plucky little Bulgaria equalled or bettered their medals for like 20 years. Now, Bulgaria has basically zero lifters, and they don't train like they used to because they can't get away with that level of intensity and doping. Bozhidar Andreev is their only remaining medal capable lifter. America currently has multiple world medallists and junior world record holders.
@@AfferbeckBeats We don't train like that anymore, because it's not a paid profession anymore. Funds for professional athletes are minimal, something like 50-100$ a month. You need a sponsor to help you train like that and we are not a rich country either, a lot of people here currently barely pay their bills.
Can someone explain this comment to me pls? I think it's in relation to Eric Bugenhagen but nothing more than that, since I haven't watched tonnes of his videos.
I had a Bulgarian coach for a little bit. He had me squat everyday to max. It worked well. I went from Oly lifting to powerlifting and applied the same working up to max everyday with my deadlift. It went well. 2 years of no injuries and no stiffness.
Hey man I have a few questions. When doing deadlifts for Bulgarian Light, do you do any other exercises that day after maxing out like a shoulder workout, arms workout, etc? Would you just not squat for the duration of the bulgarian?
@@george9822because the total volume each day is pretty low. You don’t need to be totally resting to recover, you just need your workload to be lower than your recovery ability. The idea is that you get conditioned to it. The main idea of Bulgarian is to become very comfortable with heavy loads, it’s like building a skill more than building the body. It’s best for people who are already near their peak and don’t need to really grow or develop fundamentals. People who need big improvements and muscle gain should not be training like this. The Bulgarians also used incredible amounts of steroids, like legendary amounts, and most lifters didn’t survive the system, they burned out. People do “Bulgarian” because they want to max out all the time and be hardcore but it’s not right for most people.
In a scientific basis of strength training course I took in college, we always heard about the Bulgarians, and how they’d either get injured or survive and kick total ass. It’s like you said, it’s their entire life.
I gotta say that as a Bulgarian I'm proud that this method of training has gained popularity worldwide, even though it was most successful for Bulgarian lifters several decades ago. Well done with the description and examples!
In that era average weightlifter from USA,Soviet Union was lifting 5 tons per day The Bulgarian lifted around 55-60 tons per day We never gonna see someone like the great Ivan Abadzhiev
Just tired of the elitist 'Wooh look at us, we're REAL Bulgarians, not like you FAKE Bulgarians'. Cultural Appropriation at its finest here. Big Zack here can't even stay in his own country, has to come over to the Great Britain and tell us our tea sucks. He walks around laughing at all us NON 6'5 people as though he's some great overlord. Tired of it bro. Knock it off or I'll book a ticket to Texas.
I think I managed to do something some what similar to Bulgarian lifting without knowing about it. Every lift I did was 1 rep towards hitting my 1 rep daily max fast as possible. Therefore I will do only 4 one rep lifts to reach my 1 rep max. Then when I got comfortable with that I will have two sessions a day doing the same thing. So in the end I will be only doing 5 lifts per session to a total of 10 lifts per day everyday. I improved very fast doing this method. People say it makes you tired but I don't think so. Because the volume is low and the lifts aint many and the sessions spread out through day day. I think I had the ability to do 3 sessions in a day as long as they are spaced out it gives you time for recovery even in a daily setting. There was periods where I stop training like that everyday where I will rest for 3 days as a precaution but it seemed to work well.
people just want an excuse to max out every day without getting called out for ego lifting. “I’m not testing my strength, I’m building strength. It’s called Bulgarian look it up hurrr duurrhh”
High INTENSITY based on previous high VOLUME will give highest competitive results. To get to the so-called Bulgarian method one had to have had at least 8 to 10 years of high-volume weightlifting training.
Then there's me who two years ago thought the entire sport of Olympic weightlifting was literally called "Bulgarian Weightlifting". God I'm dumb sometimes.
Zach- I agree for the most part with the video. HOWEVER the person who wrote the article is a highly respected strength/bodybuilding coach and has been for an extended period of time.In other words he has a great understanding of the human body and training in general. He wrote the article with "modifications" ON PURPOSE! These recommendations are not "random musings. his program WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE A STRICT COPY OF THE BULGARIAN WEIGHTLIFTING METHODOLOGY UNDER ABADJIEV!
With very few exceptions, Americans that trained with Abijaev when he came to California don’t use the system to coach other lifters. John Broz, Steve Gough, and Jim Moser are coaches that come to mind that have produced some pretty decent athletes using a version somewhere between the modified version you described and the actual Bulgarian method.
Jason Blaha does bulgarian though... Non negotiable. If you don't agree your mouth is writing a check that your ass cannot cash. Think about it, just think about it for a moment. 😉
Bulgarian lifting style. Russian Spetsnaz and U.S. Navy Seal and British SAS combat style. He can snipe you from 2000 meters and then complete his morning 1 rep C&J at 250 kilos.
lol "The guy in the article" is just Christian Thibaudeau, when he says "bulgarian training simplified" he is just trying to lay out a program for those less advance lifters, the ones with less time to train or less recoverability capacity (aka normal guy) with a base of the bulgarian system. He is not trying to make it better for the elite lifters. This is a poor example to my opinion.
I agree. Thibaudeau made it very clear what the real Bulgarian method was, and that his variation was NOT that, but aimed to utilize some of the principles for less advanced lifters.
You can find the video somewhere on youtube if you search up "squatting everyday" This person. was a powerlifting and in the video KEPT saying "i have been doing the Bulgarian weightlifting program". The person claimed they have been doing this program for about 3 months, so they are very qualified to tell you how it went. All this person mentioned was squatting everyday. that was it. not maxing, not 3 sessions, not even special supplements. Plus, he is a powerlifter. He turned off the comments and the like to dislike was very positive, i just wish people could be informed like Zack Talenders audience.
Also noticed that you wore the “why be normal” shirt worn by at least one lifter from the Unbelievable Bulgarians video. Not sure if this is on purpose but well played 👍🏻
Don't mix "Bulgaria training" with "Bulgarian -Ivan Abadjiev" training. i am telling you this first hand. Abadjiev was banned out of the Bulgarian federation later in his career and criticized a lot during his prime, because of hi methods, but the truth is that we never had that many champions since he left coaching. His system was criticized as being unhealthy because if the high volume.At that time -70s,80s,9s - the whole Eastern Block and Russia was using higher several reps taring , with a volume of 5-6 metric tons a day. Abadjiev incorporated max 90+ percent training for one rep at only clean and jerk, snatch, front and rear squats only at 50-60 metric tons volume a day. His words were "recovery=adaptation, feeling tired and not recovered means the body is improving and getting stronger. "
Great video. The first time I read the term was in an article that talked about training splits and just mentioned it in passing like this: "upper/lower, push/pull/legs, bulgarian system (squat every day)" and that stuck with me. It seems some don't even point to bulgarian as anything to do with clean and jerk or olympic weightlifting
I mean theres a difference between saying you train 'Bulgarian' as in training with the philosophy of the program of high specificity and maximal loading and saying you train as the Bulgarians did. Saying someone doesn't train Bulgarian because they aren't elite, on steroids, and not pros is like saying you can't train in the Russian/Chinese/Kaz/Colombian/Etc style because you aren't elite, not a pro, and on steroids. Of course, hobbyist or even natural athletes don't train like unnatural pros but from where some people derive their inspiration from can't be ignored even if, IMO, following that programming is stupid. If you asked someone how they trained and they answered you "Daily I take attempts at maximum on both lifts and the front squat" your first thought would be 'Bulgarian' because duh thats the basics of the program. The frequency and quantity of training sessions is only due to professional status and drugs, not anything special that makes the intent behind the program any different.
T C Just doing daily maxes is so unspecific to any „style“ of training you just cant call it Bulgarian nor anything else Its just being a bro Its like saying I train Chinese style bc I wear golden weightlifting shoes and I backsquat a lot
Thats not a comparable analogy in any way shape or form. I didn't say its Bulgarian to train in old Adidas track suits and polos, I said the intent behind the program is high specificity (three lifts) and daily lifting to maximum. The Bulgarian program is the father of that movement at least within weightlifting. You front squat, you snatch, you clean and jerk to your 100% and you keep doing that. No other program calls for that; Russian tends to have lots of variation and most of the work is between70-80%, the Chinese style is highly varied but has lots of accessory work and lifts from different positions, LSUS or the 10-5-3 is a method requiring a lot of GPP, etc. If someone says I do sets of 10 then you don't think 'Bulgarian' and if someone says they hit daily maxes on the lifts you can't think anything else but Bulgarian.
Agreed. Zack is debating semantics here, kinda pointless. This topic of "hurr durr you're totally not doing the B-System correctly, bro" has been beaten to death, and smells of true-scotsman. The unique, novel selling point about the Bulgarian system was it's high specificity driven by a daily max-type of training. The daily maxing is what caught the attention of the lifting world as something never been done before, and most importantly, produced results. A concept never before explored or used until - omg shock and awe - the Bulgarians first established it. Hence people use the term "Bulgarian" rather loosely nowadays to refer to any training methdology or program that implements a daily-max as part of its training regimen. Does that mean said training methodology or program is truly the Bulgarian system? Of course not. Does it produce the same level of results as the original? Well, no, because: a) this is the internet, b) most don't have access to national weightlifting teams, and veen if they did why would they release that lifting data and c) most do not and cannot have the luxury of an on-site pharmaocologist. But where do the origins of these daily-max-type training methods lie and by whom are they clearly inspired? The Bulgarians. I don't think anyone who says they are training using the Bulgarian system/method/whatever truly believe they are employing the exact same method under the exact same conditions as originally used by Abahjeav and the Bulgarian national team. Greg Knuckols discusses this in his Bulgarian Method Manual as one of the criticisms levied by Lyle McDonald on his own rendition of the system.
Beginner lifter in the former Soviet and Bulgarian training is 10-14 years of age, Intermediate 13-17, elite 16+ ..had a former defector tell me “Americans start way to late, by age 14 I was cleaning double body weight”. Bulgarian elite level of heavy athletics (weightlifting), usually ends by the age of 22 due to long lasting injuries, burnout, doping scandals etc.where as the former Soviet elite training was much more methodical and mathematical towards training as the athlete peaked near competition.. Yes they lifted heavy single and double reps.. The former Soviets coaches also understood that training a super heavy is not the same as training a light weight Whereas the Bulgarians collectively trained everyone similar..it’s why everyone looked trashed walking up to the bar in competition!
Have you seen John broz Bulgarian for powerlifting article? Working up to a daily max then a back of set double or triple, squatting and benching 5-6 times per week and deadlifting once
I think it is pointless to talk about whether or not something is "truly" bulgarian or not. It would would have been more informative to talk about the pros and cons of actual variations of lifting weights (like squatting) every day, like the original bulgarian, broz's system, greg knuckol's system, and matt perryman's system, because it leads into a discussion about training tools, fatigue management, etc. rather than semantics
vteam02 Just training every day/ a 6 day week several times a day is done by athletes in pretty much every sport in every country You are talking nonsense boi
Just so you know, the guy on the T-Nation article knows very well how the bulgarian system works. You’re picking an article where he is providing. a training plan to the people that reads T-Nation and wants to build their own program.
It's training at a constant sate of being overtrained driven by heavy androgen useage. Not recovering through androgen use and this program equates to torture.
So basically this program for national level and above or people that perhaps have 6 to 8 hours a day to spend lifting to max ,come back in a few hours do it again and come back a few hours later and do it again correct?
I think something very important to note is that while the intensity for the front squat, snatch, and clean and jerk are 100%, those lifts are not as taxing on the body as a 1rm on the lowbar back squat, or deadlift. This effectively makes recovery for maximal effort several times everyday slightly easier because in a sense it's not the body's absolute limit. I believe this makes trying a true bulgarian system with something as intense as deadlifts and lowbar back squats in the same day nigh impossible. It wouldn't in nature be bulgarian either because that method specifically uses front squats, snatches, and clean and jerks.
It is also relevant that Abijaev coached for like 4 decades and the system changed (very slightly) over time from very specific to even more specific. When guys like Alex Krychev came to America from Bulgaria initially it seemed like they used slightly more variation than solely Front squat and S/C&J. He seemed to use power variation, back squat, and more percentage work. But otherwise same basic ideas.
im sorry but this video is completely one sided. What t-nation is talking about is bulgarian light not bulgarian programing, which is actually a toned down version of the classic bulgarian program for people who have daily jobs other than lifting barbells, but still wanna make great strength gains by putting effort in the gym. The huge downside to bulgarian light is that it is a huge time investment and that can become a problem if you have other issues in your life that need attention (college, family, tough job ). Other than that, if you pay attention to your form and fatigue bulgarian light can help you increase your lifts. Note, the strength gains, while they are easily transitioned to other lfits - are for the most part movement specific which means that you become very strong performing a certain lift .
Zack whats the deal broski, ok how do we get the programming from you? And I'm in Houston could i come to you a couple times a month to analyze my lifts and technique...
I agree with you in most of the things you say, but I have a question? Don't you think that what you are stating about the bulgarian system could be stated about any other program done by pro athletes. I mean, in the end, the average person is not training like a pro no matter what program they are following. But even then, there are some general training principles that seem to work and that can be applyed to anyone. So, don't you think there could be some general principles that could be extracted from the bulgarian system, even if nobody is going to be training the "true bulgarian way". I mean, we still use periodization or peacking phases and they work, even if the average person is not a pro athlete going to the olympics
Zack, you being a coach that successfully merges theory and practice, could you make a video on your favorite books and authors? I am puzzled in which bompa book to buy...thx
John Constantin most coaches don't emphasize half as well as zach does on his technique approaches, most coaches don't appreciate a good book, clearly throughout his vids you know zach is a smart guy, most youtubers just spill stuff out wheter its logical or not, most fitness personas unfortunately have way more viewers and not even 1% of the effort and quality this guy puts in his vids
I think you are overcomplexifying the thing. Saying " Bulgarian " ( or modified Bulgarian, Bulgarian for powerlifting etc ) = maxing out everyday. Of course no one can do the Bulgarian Method to the T, unless they are a juiced to the gills Bulgarian guy training under Abadjiev's supervision. But saying " bulgarian style " is more of a common way of referring to the " doing 1RM extremely often " by opposition to the high level russians ( in example ) who rarely max out, generally 1 time close to maximum in the best case ( or even none staying in the 90-92% range at best ) , who do a lot of reps in the 85-90 range and keep the true maxes for competition... Good content though. Godspeed
Here’s the old school training program, 3-4 weeks phases 1. Compound movements 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps 2. 3-5 sets 8-10 reps 3. 2-4 sets 3-5 reps. Hyper, strength, elite phases. When your doing you first two phases you can add two additional movements like leg extension or tricep pull downs or hammer curls just a different section of the muscle group like your outer and inner biceps. Hopefully that helped. Peace
You’ve might have heard a lot about the Bulgarian system. But I’m just saying what I’ve heard about it is: you don’t take 2-4 days off each type of lift, if you are competing for deadlifting the Bulgarian system would be to train deadlifts everyday.
Bulgarian system need be strictly controlled, i just read a chinese article and interview about Bulgarian system, which was done in 80s.They even recommanded doping using, 6 kinds of doping was introduced,one of them called Eldopa, which suppose to be used just before the competition. The others are daily supplyments like steroids maybe .All of them produced by Bulgarian itself. Although every lifter suppose to lift the max weight for 1-3 sets, it doesn't means you have to lift ur PR everyday, it depends on yourself and your own feeling.They just didn't do a set 3-4 like the most of others, but that's not really max out everyday, literally. what Bulgarian system really means to me is specific.No other form training invovled, back squat, front squat, snatch pull, clean pull, jerk, snatch, clean, power snatch, power clean, thats all. Hard to say if its really works, it did of course 30 years ago. But we all know that time is kind of extremly on something.However the country itself changed rapidly after 90s, so it's also hard to say the fall of Bulgarian just because of doping test or the politics.The only thing we know it's Bulgarian doesn't desigh for random guy in the gym.
zeitan Zhang The program would probably not work today but not because of doping they all dope the problem is the mindset. It was made for people who had 1 chance in life to be something more. In those years in order to beat the system you had to become champion and that was such a motivation normal people who have everything right now don't have. It is not just money or fame it was quite a lot more that is why it doesn't work for anyone who tries it. You lack the mindset/motivation which is the most important. In reality the program is nothing special but it separates the weak injuring the and destroying any chance they have at anything but boosts the best to become event more and still having records to this day. PS: What you said about the program is not exactly how they actually did it so the interview you read is wrong or bad translation
Compare with olddays Russia lifters, who obviously doped, you can still tell a lot of Bulgarian lifters dead in a ridiculous young age. So I won't say they just used something, it was definetly abused. Tell the Willing or other motiviation, Bulgarian were not the only one who had this kind of things. Thirst of success alone won't help you achieve anything, training appropriate is the only key to be the champion.We talk about training program boy And to the Program itself, I read at least 3 different languages article about Bulgarian system, since Bulgarian isn't really something complicate, so I believe I'm fully understood what Abadjiev told.The only thing I want to share it's actually the drug recommand part, the training program stay same as always
The merits of a program as it is applied to the individual lifter should be the only deciding factor. Whether or not it's "truly" Bulgarian is just a semantics debate, and leads nowhere
The frequency of training (multiple sessions in one day) kind of reminds me of something that Glen Pendlay did a handful of years ago with his athletes at MDUSA (or at least 3 of them). I believe it was Travis Cooper, James Tatum and Mike Szela. But he broke up their training into like 4-6 sessions throughout the day, with each smaller session just being one lift or a variation of a lift, working up to whatever percentage. I remember on podcasts and in their videos that he'd program "Bulgarian-ish" and I believe that Glen was also a coach at Cal Strength at least part of the time Ivan Abajiev was there, so I'd give some credence to him when he calls it "Bulgarian-ish". Damn, I miss watching those training videos.
![สาวเมืองเพชร - ธีเดช ทองอภิชาติ [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kEt7F9PvO3I/mqdefault.jpg)
My high school strength coach/history teacher was on the US Olympic Team in the 80s. He talked about working out with the Bulgarians and how they trained. I made the stupid comment once of 'well they were on steroids.' He looked at me and said 'We were all on steroids. Those guys just knew how to train better.'
I remember how Jeff Michaels(USA) clean and Jerked about 504 lbs. and Snatched a little over 400. These lifts were later removed as American records, on a count of Michael's failing the drug test. Sounds like success as a weightlifter from the 1980's depended on how to beat the drug test. Certainly, back then, the Eastern Block Countries must have known how to mask the use of anabolic steroids better than the Americans.
Damn that's an impressive story
You have to keep in mind however that you will hurt yourself without the intense drug regiments that allowed these guys to recover and make progress with these programs. Many of these top athletes with years of great training, great coaching, and great drugs still got injuries. Many also died very untimely deaths. These people wanted medals... they weren't into saving body's or low risk longevity shit.
well as a bulgarian i will tell u that we were on many kind of roids and excessive amount for a very long period smt like double what u were ;) but yes all the ppl there are on steroids this is what is needed to be competitive
IskurBlast yes it’s something else! Maybe something in the Bulgarian water! Lols. It’s a great sport and display of strength but sadly not the healthiest with the strain on joints that explosive lifting of weights has on joints over a period of time. Not to mention the abuse of veterinary drugs in the quest to reach the very top. The fact that many lifters don’t get caught out is largely due to the reach of politics into the sport than any specific masking agents.
So let me get this straight, this means that Rich Piana's 7 hour arm workout is the Bulgarian method of bodybuilding.
lmaooo
8 hour*, bro lmao
Am Bulgarian, can confirm
100 scoops per day
👌🏼
I train bugenhagen, BRO
That gave me a chuckle.
You mean STICKY RICKY!!!
“Kiiiiittttttaaaaay!!”
Honey and raw garlic and supination
Teddy Bear haha
Instructions unclear: I cycled to Bulgaria
Highly underrated comment
I lifted bulgarians.
#1 reason for Bulgarian success: Selecting the best lifters in a nation w/a large population of lifters: Bulgaria values lifting far more than the US. A strong kid who'd play football here'd be a lifter in Bulgaria.
But Bulgaria is a small nation
More than 100 times smaller than the USA
@@xboxgamerhr That doesn't matter. In Bulgaria, EVERY potential champion lifter Is in the lifting program. Way more than your 100-to-1 US comparison, probably more like 1,000-to-1, considering that virtually EVERY strong, athletic male high school student is only lifting to be better at playing football.
America has many options for potential elite athletes. So its spread thinly into weightlifting. A strong guy in the gym is more likely to go into powerlifting than weightlifting in America.
They became the best at a time when the Soviet Union had the biggest pool of elite lifters the world has ever seen. Plucky little Bulgaria equalled or bettered their medals for like 20 years. Now, Bulgaria has basically zero lifters, and they don't train like they used to because they can't get away with that level of intensity and doping. Bozhidar Andreev is their only remaining medal capable lifter. America currently has multiple world medallists and junior world record holders.
@@AfferbeckBeats We don't train like that anymore, because it's not a paid profession anymore. Funds for professional athletes are minimal, something like 50-100$ a month. You need a sponsor to help you train like that and we are not a rich country either, a lot of people here currently barely pay their bills.
But Eric....
Western Revival I figured Bulgarian Lite was not explicitly Bulgarian but rather a simpler system with a similar philosophy.
It's a mindseeeet
When you practice odd lifts it is no longer bulgarian. What the bugez does is a variation called bulgarlic
this comment is simple and effective. It’s only two words, but it speaks a thousand
Can someone explain this comment to me pls? I think it's in relation to Eric Bugenhagen but nothing more than that, since I haven't watched tonnes of his videos.
Since i am Bulgarian and i train I must be training Bulgarian :p
Nah. That’s just a Bulgarian training. Not training Bulgarian bruh
Nolan Cruz Smith 😂
@@benbishop7512 But if he trains another Bulgarian, would that count?
Kamil S - you ok broseph?
Има логика хД. Seems about right :D
I had a Bulgarian coach for a little bit. He had me squat everyday to max. It worked well. I went from Oly lifting to powerlifting and applied the same working up to max everyday with my deadlift. It went well. 2 years of no injuries and no stiffness.
Hey man I have a few questions. When doing deadlifts for Bulgarian Light, do you do any other exercises that day after maxing out like a shoulder workout, arms workout, etc? Would you just not squat for the duration of the bulgarian?
would you recommend smolov junior? It has me squtting 4 days a week for three weeks
Hows ya joints now mate 🤔
What is the science behind it? We are told you need time for muscles to repair.
@@george9822because the total volume each day is pretty low. You don’t need to be totally resting to recover, you just need your workload to be lower than your recovery ability. The idea is that you get conditioned to it. The main idea of Bulgarian is to become very comfortable with heavy loads, it’s like building a skill more than building the body. It’s best for people who are already near their peak and don’t need to really grow or develop fundamentals. People who need big improvements and muscle gain should not be training like this. The Bulgarians also used incredible amounts of steroids, like legendary amounts, and most lifters didn’t survive the system, they burned out. People do “Bulgarian” because they want to max out all the time and be hardcore but it’s not right for most people.
If you have a day job, you don't train Bulgarian bro
Please put 'You don't train Bulgarian, Bro' on a shirt. I'll buy 2
please consider this ZT
And me
If yall are still considering this my girl makes shirts. We can get it done let me know
NO! ONE IS MAX!
I'd buy that shirt
In a scientific basis of strength training course I took in college, we always heard about the Bulgarians, and how they’d either get injured or survive and kick total ass. It’s like you said, it’s their entire life.
I gotta say that as a Bulgarian I'm proud that this method of training has gained popularity worldwide, even though it was most successful for Bulgarian lifters several decades ago. Well done with the description and examples!
"Extra supplements", like creatine? Or whey protein?
creatine. lots of it.
ZMA's bro. The real key to the Olympics.
dat dere cell tech
"special bananas"
Turmeric with piperine
let me put on my +5 hat of weapon smithing and let's talk about this
Lol
Тука ли сте нацепеняци?
Bozhidar Ivanov дае
Каво
What are you guys saying
Yea
Wtf is nacepenjaci?
My coach was Sevdalin Marinov, he never trained me under the Bulgarian system because he knew it would break me.
It was a wise decision especially if you are drug free
You can’t say i am not training bulgarian because i am bulgarian myself.Of course i am training bulgarian.
Hi Zack, what are these extra "supplements" you speak of?
Asking for a friend ;)
Coffee
Omega 3
Eugene Poon HMB, brah
One extra scoop of Creatine
Eat Clen, Tren hard, Anvar give up!!
In that era average weightlifter from USA,Soviet Union was lifting 5 tons per day
The Bulgarian lifted around 55-60 tons per day
We never gonna see someone like the great Ivan Abadzhiev
I doubt that. 5 tons is nothing.
Just watched where Bulgarian said 70tons on average.
Thank you! Finally!
Way too many other fitness youtubers talk about this while not knowing what they talk about at all.
3:55 We all saw it said Bulgarian Women first. Zack's search history revealed.
I do Serbian method; Rakija + Cevapi every day and 2 hours at the gym maxing out all my compound lifts with epic hardbass music in the background.
And on weekend some white powder for the soul and disco kjutek for the mind! A true Eastern European workout regime.
Extra supplements= Irn-Bru
Offended, bro.
saying I can't identify as Bulgarian?
Just tired of the elitist 'Wooh look at us, we're REAL Bulgarians, not like you FAKE Bulgarians'. Cultural Appropriation at its finest here. Big Zack here can't even stay in his own country, has to come over to the Great Britain and tell us our tea sucks. He walks around laughing at all us NON 6'5 people as though he's some great overlord. Tired of it bro. Knock it off or I'll book a ticket to Texas.
totally agree I'm telling tumblr
Alex G 🥩?
@@ag9297 3 friends of mine have already not understood that this is a joke.
I think I managed to do something some what similar to Bulgarian lifting without knowing about it. Every lift I did was 1 rep towards hitting my 1 rep daily max fast as possible. Therefore I will do only 4 one rep lifts to reach my 1 rep max. Then when I got comfortable with that I will have two sessions a day doing the same thing. So in the end I will be only doing 5 lifts per session to a total of 10 lifts per day everyday. I improved very fast doing this method. People say it makes you tired but I don't think so. Because the volume is low and the lifts aint many and the sessions spread out through day day. I think I had the ability to do 3 sessions in a day as long as they are spaced out it gives you time for recovery even in a daily setting. There was periods where I stop training like that everyday where I will rest for 3 days as a precaution but it seemed to work well.
Bulgarian Light is maxing out everyday e.g. Eric Bugenhagen
DCUOxDestro It works I do it .Sadly there's no research papers to convince people only way to know is to try it.
What is bulgarian light
people just want an excuse to max out every day without getting called out for ego lifting. “I’m not testing my strength, I’m building strength. It’s called Bulgarian look it up hurrr duurrhh”
Jangho Seo very true
true dat
I wish this were true. If I can see someone lift 200+ kgs on the C+J everyday, I'd be too impressed to even fathom on calling them out.
Jangho Seo woman?
Exactly. No-one without steroids and massive use of even other chemicals will ever make strength gains like this.
3:28 DEM TRAPZ BRAH!
Am Bulgarian, can confirm.
username checks out
Anytime the intro starts with Kid Cudi, you know it is going to be good.
Bulgarian = Not more Steroids as in TH-cam Natural Bodybuilding
Lmfao
High INTENSITY based on previous high VOLUME will give highest competitive results. To get to the so-called Bulgarian method one had to have had at least 8 to 10 years of high-volume weightlifting training.
This is my favorite video of yours.
So basically it's like powerlifters who say they train "Westside" method. But if you're not in the westside gym/camp you can't train Westside.
Then there's me who two years ago thought the entire sport of Olympic weightlifting was literally called "Bulgarian Weightlifting". God I'm dumb sometimes.
love your content, Zack. I appreciate what you're doing.
train 8 hours a day yikes.
respect to the Bulgarian weightlifters.
Zach- I agree for the most part with the video. HOWEVER
the person who wrote the article is a highly respected strength/bodybuilding
coach and has been for an extended period of time.In other words he has a great understanding of the human body and training in general. He wrote the article with "modifications" ON PURPOSE! These recommendations are not "random musings.
his program WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE A STRICT COPY OF THE BULGARIAN WEIGHTLIFTING METHODOLOGY UNDER ABADJIEV!
I feel lots of people just got a nasty burn after this
Not sure what I love more, the variety of the intro music or the quality of the content!
With very few exceptions, Americans that trained with Abijaev when he came to California don’t use the system to coach other lifters. John Broz, Steve Gough, and Jim Moser are coaches that come to mind that have produced some pretty decent athletes using a version somewhere between the modified version you described and the actual Bulgarian method.
That was in fact very educational! Thank you
Jason Blaha does bulgarian though... Non negotiable. If you don't agree your mouth is writing a check that your ass cannot cash. Think about it, just think about it for a moment. 😉
Fake Natty this is perfect.
you talkin' bout mah boy hemingway
...who sent you? You better back the fuck up, you’re getting too close.
Bulgarian lifting style. Russian Spetsnaz and U.S. Navy Seal and British SAS combat style. He can snipe you from 2000 meters and then complete his morning 1 rep C&J at 250 kilos.
Scottius Maximus dust his tracks too
I always look forward to your videos. Zach. Keep up the good work!
lol "The guy in the article" is just Christian Thibaudeau, when he says "bulgarian training simplified" he is just trying to lay out a program for those less advance lifters, the ones with less time to train or less recoverability capacity (aka normal guy) with a base of the bulgarian system. He is not trying to make it better for the elite lifters. This is a poor example to my opinion.
Was about to say that. Lifting often obviously does not improve reading comp that's for sure.
I agree. Thibaudeau made it very clear what the real Bulgarian method was, and that his variation was NOT that, but aimed to utilize some of the principles for less advanced lifters.
Lit how u spoke over whole day n nite beat. U killed it 😭🔥🔥
Never heard of training Bulgarian. Now I only have respect for those weightlifters.
You can find the video somewhere on youtube if you search up "squatting everyday" This person. was a powerlifting and in the video KEPT saying "i have been doing the Bulgarian weightlifting program". The person claimed they have been doing this program for about 3 months, so they are very qualified to tell you how it went. All this person mentioned was squatting everyday. that was it. not maxing, not 3 sessions, not even special supplements. Plus, he is a powerlifter. He turned off the comments and the like to dislike was very positive, i just wish people could be informed like Zack Talenders audience.
Also noticed that you wore the “why be normal” shirt worn by at least one lifter from the Unbelievable Bulgarians video. Not sure if this is on purpose but well played 👍🏻
Don't mix "Bulgaria training" with "Bulgarian -Ivan Abadjiev" training. i am telling you this first hand. Abadjiev was banned out of the Bulgarian federation later in his career and criticized a lot during his prime, because of hi methods, but the truth is that we never had that many champions since he left coaching. His system was criticized as being unhealthy because if the high volume.At that time -70s,80s,9s - the whole Eastern Block and Russia was using higher several reps taring , with a volume of 5-6 metric tons a day. Abadjiev incorporated max 90+ percent training for one rep at only clean and jerk, snatch, front and rear squats only at 50-60 metric tons volume a day. His words were "recovery=adaptation, feeling tired and not recovered means the body is improving and getting stronger. "
I am from Bulgaria and I didn't know about this system. Thank you for the information!
Great video. The first time I read the term was in an article that talked about training splits and just mentioned it in passing like this: "upper/lower, push/pull/legs, bulgarian system (squat every day)" and that stuck with me. It seems some don't even point to bulgarian as anything to do with clean and jerk or olympic weightlifting
I mean theres a difference between saying you train 'Bulgarian' as in training with the philosophy of the program of high specificity and maximal loading and saying you train as the Bulgarians did. Saying someone doesn't train Bulgarian because they aren't elite, on steroids, and not pros is like saying you can't train in the Russian/Chinese/Kaz/Colombian/Etc style because you aren't elite, not a pro, and on steroids.
Of course, hobbyist or even natural athletes don't train like unnatural pros but from where some people derive their inspiration from can't be ignored even if, IMO, following that programming is stupid. If you asked someone how they trained and they answered you "Daily I take attempts at maximum on both lifts and the front squat" your first thought would be 'Bulgarian' because duh thats the basics of the program. The frequency and quantity of training sessions is only due to professional status and drugs, not anything special that makes the intent behind the program any different.
T C
Just doing daily maxes is so unspecific to any „style“ of training you just cant call it Bulgarian nor anything else
Its just being a bro
Its like saying I train Chinese style bc I wear golden weightlifting shoes and I backsquat a lot
Thats not a comparable analogy in any way shape or form. I didn't say its Bulgarian to train in old Adidas track suits and polos, I said the intent behind the program is high specificity (three lifts) and daily lifting to maximum. The Bulgarian program is the father of that movement at least within weightlifting. You front squat, you snatch, you clean and jerk to your 100% and you keep doing that. No other program calls for that; Russian tends to have lots of variation and most of the work is between70-80%, the Chinese style is highly varied but has lots of accessory work and lifts from different positions, LSUS or the 10-5-3 is a method requiring a lot of GPP, etc.
If someone says I do sets of 10 then you don't think 'Bulgarian' and if someone says they hit daily maxes on the lifts you can't think anything else but Bulgarian.
T C
Bla bla bla
In short my analogy just went over your head
I got better shit to do than to argue on youtube about people that train like meatheads
Yet you still felt the need to reply to both of my comments, apparently the facts of your life don't agree with that statement
Agreed.
Zack is debating semantics here, kinda pointless. This topic of "hurr durr you're totally not doing the B-System correctly, bro" has been beaten to death, and smells of true-scotsman.
The unique, novel selling point about the Bulgarian system was it's high specificity driven by a daily max-type of training. The daily maxing is what caught the attention of the lifting world as something never been done before, and most importantly, produced results. A concept never before explored or used until - omg shock and awe - the Bulgarians first established it.
Hence people use the term "Bulgarian" rather loosely nowadays to refer to any training methdology or program that implements a daily-max as part of its training regimen.
Does that mean said training methodology or program is truly the Bulgarian system? Of course not. Does it produce the same level of results as the original? Well, no, because: a) this is the internet, b) most don't have access to national weightlifting teams, and veen if they did why would they release that lifting data and c) most do not and cannot have the luxury of an on-site pharmaocologist.
But where do the origins of these daily-max-type training methods lie and by whom are they clearly inspired? The Bulgarians.
I don't think anyone who says they are training using the Bulgarian system/method/whatever truly believe they are employing the exact same method under the exact same conditions as originally used by Abahjeav and the Bulgarian national team. Greg Knuckols discusses this in his Bulgarian Method Manual as one of the criticisms levied by Lyle McDonald on his own rendition of the system.
Beginner lifter in the former Soviet and Bulgarian training is 10-14 years of age, Intermediate 13-17, elite 16+ ..had a former defector tell me “Americans start way to late, by age 14 I was cleaning double body weight”.
Bulgarian elite level of heavy athletics (weightlifting), usually ends by the age of 22 due to long lasting injuries, burnout, doping scandals etc.where as the former Soviet elite training was much more methodical and mathematical towards training as the athlete peaked near competition..
Yes they lifted heavy single and double reps..
The former Soviets coaches also understood that training a super heavy is not the same as training a light weight
Whereas the Bulgarians collectively trained everyone similar..it’s why everyone looked trashed walking up to the bar in competition!
Ivan Ivanov coached my kid’s current Wrestling coach, some of his wrestling drills/techniques have trickled down to these kids. 🙌
How much calories were they eating to sustain working out 3 sessions a day?
And how many hours of sleep?
Probably a lot.
Vdeo at 1:03 is Russian, not Bulgarian, the lifter seen is David Rigert.
@MrTrepacha That's good to know, but don't you think it is misleading seing the Soviet team with the title "the Bulgarian method"?
Have you seen John broz Bulgarian for powerlifting article? Working up to a daily max then a back of set double or triple, squatting and benching 5-6 times per week and deadlifting once
I get it, he is playing day and nite because you would have to be training day and nite to train Bulgarian
Супер видео 🇧🇬🔥
Solid video Zack
There’s a difference between bolgarian and bolgarian light but telling people they are training wrong is very motivating
i am bulgarian and the way you pronnounced ''abadjiev'' activated every bone in my body and theyre all in attack mode.
Bulgaria trains you
Man that intro music tho. Anyone else remember NBA Live 09 ?
I think it is pointless to talk about whether or not something is "truly" bulgarian or not.
It would would have been more informative to talk about the pros and cons of actual variations of lifting weights (like squatting) every day, like the original bulgarian, broz's system, greg knuckol's system, and matt perryman's system, because it leads into a discussion about training tools, fatigue management, etc. rather than semantics
vteam02
Just training every day/ a 6 day week several times a day is done by athletes in pretty much every sport in every country
You are talking nonsense boi
Hi John,
What nonsense am I talking about? I intended to only talk about lifting sports, so I updated my comment to avoid misunderstanding
vteam02
I said what nonsense
Just so you know, the guy on the T-Nation article knows very well how the bulgarian system works. You’re picking an article where he is providing. a training plan to the people that reads T-Nation and wants to build their own program.
As a Bulgarian I had no idea about this..
It's training at a constant sate of being overtrained driven by heavy androgen useage. Not recovering through androgen use and this program equates to torture.
I'm a big fanboy of Max and Chad. Digging your intro/outro beats!!
Intro is from Kid Cudi "Day & Night".
good job! Thanks a bunch. 🙂
So basically this program for national level and above or people that perhaps have 6 to 8 hours a day to spend lifting to max ,come back in a few hours do it again and come back a few hours later and do it again correct?
I think something very important to note is that while the intensity for the front squat, snatch, and clean and jerk are 100%, those lifts are not as taxing on the body as a 1rm on the lowbar back squat, or deadlift. This effectively makes recovery for maximal effort several times everyday slightly easier because in a sense it's not the body's absolute limit. I believe this makes trying a true bulgarian system with something as intense as deadlifts and lowbar back squats in the same day nigh impossible. It wouldn't in nature be bulgarian either because that method specifically uses front squats, snatches, and clean and jerks.
This is the best title ever
So would doing max rep band push downs not be Bulgarian light?
I did Bulgarian training for 1 week and I was so fuckin sore I had to take 3 day’s off
It is also relevant that Abijaev coached for like 4 decades and the system changed (very slightly) over time from very specific to even more specific. When guys like Alex Krychev came to America from Bulgaria initially it seemed like they used slightly more variation than solely Front squat and S/C&J. He seemed to use power variation, back squat, and more percentage work. But otherwise same basic ideas.
im sorry but this video is completely one sided. What t-nation is talking about is bulgarian light not bulgarian programing, which is actually a toned down version of the classic bulgarian program for people who have daily jobs other than lifting barbells, but still wanna make great strength gains by putting effort in the gym.
The huge downside to bulgarian light is that it is a huge time investment and that can become a problem if you have other issues in your life that need attention (college, family, tough job ). Other than that, if you pay attention to your form and fatigue bulgarian light can help you increase your lifts. Note, the strength gains, while they are easily transitioned to other lfits - are for the most part movement specific which means that you become very strong performing a certain lift .
@George Godson what the fuck you make it sound gayer
Zack whats the deal broski, ok how do we get the programming from you? And I'm in Houston could i come to you a couple times a month to analyze my lifts and technique...
Like the vid and channel, bro
You have a new Belgian subscriber💪🏻
I agree with you in most of the things you say, but I have a question? Don't you think that what you are stating about the bulgarian system could be stated about any other program done by pro athletes. I mean, in the end, the average person is not training like a pro no matter what program they are following. But even then, there are some general training principles that seem to work and that can be applyed to anyone. So, don't you think there could be some general principles that could be extracted from the bulgarian system, even if nobody is going to be training the "true bulgarian way". I mean, we still use periodization or peacking phases and they work, even if the average person is not a pro athlete going to the olympics
So this is a video telling us there is another, more detailed, better video about the bulgarian system?
@eternity cosplay Greg Nuckols is a powerlifter though. The Bulgarian Method is for training Olympic Weightlifting.
I'm glad someone fucking said it.
I read some mad long manual on it once and decided it wasn't for me....cos I need to work
Zack, you being a coach that successfully merges theory and practice, could you make a video on your favorite books and authors? I am puzzled in which bompa book to buy...thx
John Constantin most coaches don't emphasize half as well as zach does on his technique approaches, most coaches don't appreciate a good book, clearly throughout his vids you know zach is a smart guy, most youtubers just spill stuff out wheter its logical or not, most fitness personas unfortunately have way more viewers and not even 1% of the effort and quality this guy puts in his vids
I think you are overcomplexifying the thing.
Saying " Bulgarian " ( or modified Bulgarian, Bulgarian for powerlifting etc ) = maxing out everyday.
Of course no one can do the Bulgarian Method to the T, unless they are a juiced to the gills Bulgarian guy training under Abadjiev's supervision.
But saying " bulgarian style " is more of a common way of referring to the " doing 1RM extremely often " by opposition to the high level russians ( in example ) who rarely max out, generally 1 time close to maximum in the best case ( or even none staying in the 90-92% range at best ) , who do a lot of reps in the 85-90 range and keep the true maxes for competition...
Good content though.
Godspeed
Here’s the old school training program, 3-4 weeks phases 1. Compound movements 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps 2. 3-5 sets 8-10 reps 3. 2-4 sets 3-5 reps. Hyper, strength, elite phases. When your doing you first two phases you can add two additional movements like leg extension or tricep pull downs or hammer curls just a different section of the muscle group like your outer and inner biceps. Hopefully that helped. Peace
and don't forget get the juiiceeest part of how to train bulgarian
I'm training Bulgarian today bro
what's the clip at the end from? the monster 225 C&J and the roaring crowd
What track did you use for this video?
bro i miss mac, i just singed along to the beat at the end.
You’ve might have heard a lot about the Bulgarian system. But I’m just saying what I’ve heard about it is: you don’t take 2-4 days off each type of lift, if you are competing for deadlifting the Bulgarian system would be to train deadlifts everyday.
Shouldn't they jerk then clean up after why are they cleaning before jerk?
Maximal efforts for 10hrs plus watching their buddies do maximal effort. Eat, sleep, live weightlifting
I like your shirt. There is a TH-cam clip with a lifter that has the same shirt on.
Bulgarian system need be strictly controlled, i just read a chinese article and interview about Bulgarian system, which was done in 80s.They even recommanded doping using, 6 kinds of doping was introduced,one of them called Eldopa, which suppose to be used just before the competition. The others are daily supplyments like steroids maybe .All of them produced by Bulgarian itself.
Although every lifter suppose to lift the max weight for 1-3 sets, it doesn't means you have to lift ur PR everyday, it depends on yourself and your own feeling.They just didn't do a set 3-4 like the most of others, but that's not really max out everyday, literally.
what Bulgarian system really means to me is specific.No other form training invovled, back squat, front squat, snatch pull, clean pull, jerk, snatch, clean, power snatch, power clean, thats all.
Hard to say if its really works, it did of course 30 years ago. But we all know that time is kind of extremly on something.However the country itself changed rapidly after 90s, so it's also hard to say the fall of Bulgarian just because of doping test or the politics.The only thing we know it's Bulgarian doesn't desigh for random guy in the gym.
zeitan Zhang Is there an English version of that article you read? If so, can you share. Great comment by the way. Much appreciated.
I'm afraid not.
zeitan Zhang The program would probably not work today but not because of doping they all dope the problem is the mindset. It was made for people who had 1 chance in life to be something more. In those years in order to beat the system you had to become champion and that was such a motivation normal people who have everything right now don't have. It is not just money or fame it was quite a lot more that is why it doesn't work for anyone who tries it. You lack the mindset/motivation which is the most important. In reality the program is nothing special but it separates the weak injuring the and destroying any chance they have at anything but boosts the best to become event more and still having records to this day.
PS: What you said about the program is not exactly how they actually did it so the interview you read is wrong or bad translation
文章的地址？
Compare with olddays Russia lifters, who obviously doped, you can still tell a lot of Bulgarian lifters dead in a ridiculous young age. So I won't say they just used something, it was definetly abused. Tell the Willing or other motiviation, Bulgarian were not the only one who had this kind of things. Thirst of success alone won't help you achieve anything, training appropriate is the only key to be the champion.We talk about training program boy
And to the Program itself, I read at least 3 different languages article about Bulgarian system, since Bulgarian isn't really something complicate, so I believe I'm fully understood what Abadjiev told.The only thing I want to share it's actually the drug recommand part, the training program stay same as always
Zero elite powerlifters training Bulgarian.... tons of youtube powerlifters claiming to.
freakied0550
Haha spot on!
The merits of a program as it is applied to the individual lifter should be the only deciding factor. Whether or not it's "truly" Bulgarian is just a semantics debate, and leads nowhere
ok
Powerlifting and Weightlifting are completely different sports.
не мисля че знае, кажи му
Great video 👌
I have a large bowl of Goulash before I go to the gym so therefore I am using the Bulgarian System! PERIOD!
The frequency of training (multiple sessions in one day) kind of reminds me of something that Glen Pendlay did a handful of years ago with his athletes at MDUSA (or at least 3 of them). I believe it was Travis Cooper, James Tatum and Mike Szela. But he broke up their training into like 4-6 sessions throughout the day, with each smaller session just being one lift or a variation of a lift, working up to whatever percentage. I remember on podcasts and in their videos that he'd program "Bulgarian-ish" and I believe that Glen was also a coach at Cal Strength at least part of the time Ivan Abajiev was there, so I'd give some credence to him when he calls it "Bulgarian-ish".
Damn, I miss watching those training videos.