How are the Bulgarian weightlifters looking in their 50’s, 60’s and onwards? Elite athletes do all kinds of stupid shit that causes long-term permanent damage, but they do it to win high level competitions - for them it’s a living. If you’re a 29 year old recreational lifter (who also wants to train judo), why are you doing it?
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While it is amazing to read about the accomplishments of the Bulgarian weightlifters, and examine their training protocols, I’d much rather avoid spending my golden years confined to a wheelchair.
Yep, and I think making slightly less progress on the squat while also improving my deadlift, OHP, bench and chins is better than putting more into just the squat (and getting disproportional gains on it). I also think that I spread the stress on the body out (not just on the knees, hips and low back) and reduce the risk of injury. Staying injury free and training consistently long term has worked for me.
Prime example why I keep it to myself… and don’t get invested.
I just wanna mention that I read all five of the diet articles you sent my way in the very beginning of my training log thread.
My squat-focused training block won’t last forever. At the most, only 3 more months. After that, I’ll spend most of my time ensuring my diet is good more than ensuring I won’t miss certain workouts.
I appreciate you mentioning that.
Would you be willing to answer my question?
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Because he’s a bloated troll who gets a kick from the attention?
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Do you have a certain end goal? Is there a time frame you need to hit it by? If not, then what’s it matter if it takes you another 6 months to reach it, but in exchange you don’t have the pain?
Going by your posts, though, I’m not sure you’re actually looking for advice, but rather someone to confirm your plan to keep pushing.
The reasoning for your belief that “you can’t be convinced that any other method is as good as going maniacal on squats” is somewhat lacking. You have:
- A person you admire who promotes it;
- A training example from one country that had it’s athletes using PEDs, in which only those that could handle the training excelled and the rest washed out, and where you have no idea of the GPP and training that led up to the system;
- An single example of it working for your clean and jerk, despite the C&J and loads involved being much different than what you’re using for squats.
All these together may prompt you to try the training plan out, but for it to convince you 100% that it will work for you is a bit of a stretch.
Now, I do know that the Bulgarian system has worked for some people, especially as a short term training plan, that doesn’t make it the best for everyone.
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Out of interest, at what point/level of pain do you think it is smart to do something about your squatting?
What do you think is going to happen if you continue as you are or if you push harder? That the pain will go away and you’ll get stronger or the opposite?
We’re arguing over the right frequency, but I don’t even think that’s the point. Whatever the “optimal” (ugh, now I need a shower) program is, if you’re hurt it doesn’t make sense to keep doing the thing that hurt.
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sometimes it is better to go back 2 steps to advance 5
Doing heavy squats every day I think is not the best, since where is the recovery?
If you do continuous cycles of training / food / sleep / training / food / even sleep, but you would also see a very high frequency with very high volume and high intensity
If I’m not mistaken, when one of the variables increases, the other two also change, usually one or both of them go down, so I firmly believe that you are exceeding your MVR in addition to that if you already have pain, why continue to produce it?
I’ve noticed throughout life that if you don’t pay attention to the little signs and signals to change what you’re doing, they just keep getting bigger.
Eventually something breaks. Your mind, your body, your soul. What ever it is, it breaks. Then instead of just tweaking what you were doing 10 years ago, you have to entirely change how you live.
Take that for what ever you think it’s worth.
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This mindset can lead to a lot of injuries. I used to have it too. Tore a quad too. I could have stopped when it felt “funny” and maybe saved myself some pain and suffering but Nope, I pulled a plate off and kept on going until I heard the POP.
I think it’s smart to think about reducing squatting NOW. But by NOW, I meant at this day. Specifically, a few hours ago. But no longer during these past few moments because after my slumber (I’m nocturnal and sleep in the day), I stood up, moved around, and my knees feel fine. I think I’ll survive still.
I think if I keep going, I’m gonna become stronger. I just have this basic theory that if I go ahead and just… Live and breathe frequent heavy squatting, my body will somehow adapt to it all and not squatting heavy frequently becomes the new abnormal. I think it’s merely biological adaptation.
I’d like to quote Baki’s greatest martial artist, Kaku Kaioh, an enfeebled old man who had a far better chance of winning a fight against Baki’s father, Yujiro, far more than the younger, stronger fighters in that same tournament. Yujiro in Baki is basically like a Broly among Trunkses. I’m paraphrasing because I don’t memorize it. It goes like this…
“No matter how tough the environment or how demanding the situation, humans are built to adapt and overcome.”
He was a 140 year old man with the cognitive sharpness of an actively-working University professor.
Yes sir.
Go ahead.
Seems like you could save some time by writing down your question for everyone on paper, and then answering it yourself a couple hours later 
Biological adaptation you say? Are you familiar with positive feedback loops? Because you’re in one, and it will continue to get worse until you try to reverse it.
The fact that you feel pain during your first few warmups and it goes away after a few sets is textbook tendonitis–I’m guessing either your quad tendon and/or patellar. That’s how inflammation works. You can’t will it away. Gotta do your homework and treat it like a science experiment to find your optimal frequency and exactly how much prehab work you need daily to slowly increase it (if that’s your goal).
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Oh… Oh wait, you already asked it? Okay sorry. I thought you were about to ask a question. Let me go back…
To illustrate, if I, say, believe that red meat is healthy and then another person says that red meat is not healthy, and a discussion opens up that reveals our viewpoints amongst each other, and I end up still eating red meat because I still think it’s healthy, I come out of that discussion smarter because I learned the viewpoints and knowledge of another person.
I want you to know this is sincere: Back when the others recommended me to drastically change my training program for the sake of boxing, I was VERY close to following their advice. But I didn’t. I knew I was gonna get a bit attacked for that decision, but I still chose my own path. Despite that, I came out more knowledgeable than before.
This is a silly way to reach your goals.
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