Bulgarian Training for Power Lifting 6Month Progress

Training Powerlifting
41

[quote]serial lifter wrote:
Chicksan, sorry to answer to late, hope your meet went well,as for your question,I have tried the cut to 60 or 70 % thing the week leading up to the meet and hitting openers 3 days out. This did NOT work for me, what has worked best for me so far is to train up to a max every day as usual and do back offs as usual and stop training completly 3 days out from the meet(my last pull 10 to 14 days from meet). I am interested to know what method you used going in to your meet and how it worked out.[/quote]

I may have worded my original post wrong, my meet is this coming Saturday, January 31st.

Im not really changing anything for this one. I hit a All Time PR squat yesterday in the gym, and then followed it up with a bench press that was only 5lbs off my best bench over. I plan on squatting and benching right up to the meet because thats what Ive been doing all this time and I dont want to fix something that isnt broke.

after this meet, I will try your 3 day approach and see how that works for me. Thank your very much for your reply

42

Yes Sir. good luck brother, let me know how it goes.

43

[quote]sufiandy wrote:

I only know from reading about it but this seems like the answer you want. Allow for recovery but not break the lifting everyday pattern.

4 days out: w/u to 60-70%
3 days out: same
2 days: openers
1 day out 70%
[/quote]
I’ll give my 0.2 as well: this approach DID NOT work for me. I kept maxing out until 2-3 days out, cutting a bit the volume on the ramp (bigger jumps between sets) and cutting A LOT of volume on back-off (just 3x1 @90%).

From 3 days out, I just warmed up to a single at about 90%…which eventually became my opener on meeet day.

44

I competed this past Saturday and i used this training template. I went 9 for 9 PRing in all three lifts. I know people always say it but Ive watched the videos for my last squat and deadlift attempts and I know for a fact I have at least another 20 pounds in me.

Im going to continue using the Squat Everyday template (well at least 5 days a week at the least). I need to start putting some more down sets into my days as well as benching more often. In the last 2 months, I think I only pressed 5 times or so, and I think I only deadlifted twice.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Ill try to answer as best as I can

45

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
I competed this past Saturday and i used this training template. I went 9 for 9 PRing in all three lifts. I know people always say it but Ive watched the videos for my last squat and deadlift attempts and I know for a fact I have at least another 20 pounds in me.

Im going to continue using the Squat Everyday template (well at least 5 days a week at the least). I need to start putting some more down sets into my days as well as benching more often. In the last 2 months, I think I only pressed 5 times or so, and I think I only deadlifted twice.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Ill try to answer as best as I can[/quote]

Very nice job!

Do you have a record of your training (weight, rep, etc) leading up to the meet as well as the breakdown of attempts at the meet? Seems like whatever you did worked perfectly.

46

Squat: 455, 505, 530
I picked 455 because its a weight I could do even if I went into the meet fresh off a 3 day bender. I prefer to pick weights i can do for at least as easy double as openers, that way I stay in the meet. 505 was a 5lbs meet pr and after that attempt, I figured I was good for 530. I was and a lot more, I’m still kicking myself for not going up more.

Bench: 350, 370, 380
350 is a weight i can usually do pretty easy, but I just wasn’t feeling the bench that day…turns out the bench we were using was higher off the ground that Im used to. Had I put some plates under my feet, i think my attempts would have went smoother. 370 tied my best attempt and 380 was a 10lbs pr

Deadlift 465, 505, 525
465 for the same reason. 505 was a 5lbs meet PR and I thought I only had 20lbs left in me. Again, watching the video, Id bet a months pay that i could have gone 550 on both the squat and the deadlift.

This was the first time competing in two years. Me and a friend of mine started our own business and in the last 24 months its really taken off. Ive paid my entrance fees for two other meets but I could go at the last minute due to work.

I keep a log of every workout that i do. Im actually really anal about stuff like that. The workouts are pretty simple. Everyone of them starts with squat. Ive gotten to where I prefer a high bar placement with a moderate stance. The sets are as follows (pounds x reps) 45x5, 45x5, 95x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3, 225x2, 275x2, 315x1…from here is where it changes. Sometimes I make 10lbs jumps, sometimes i make 30lbs jumps. It really all depends how my day went, how work went, home much driving did i do. Some days I would work up to 455 without a belt or wraps, somedays Id grind 365, shut it down and head home. Getting used to squatting this much took its toll, so i didn’t do to much benching or deadlifting. If I did bench, id warm up and hit singles from 225 on up to however I was feeling that day.

Two weeks out from the meet is when I started using my wraps. This was my one mistake, I need to use them more. from now on, ill start using them a few times a week in the months leading up to the meet.

I hope this answers some questions. I wish I could give you more on the training, but its really all based on feel.

47

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
Squat: 455, 505, 530
I picked 455 because its a weight I could do even if I went into the meet fresh off a 3 day bender. I prefer to pick weights i can do for at least as easy double as openers, that way I stay in the meet. 505 was a 5lbs meet pr and after that attempt, I figured I was good for 530. I was and a lot more, I’m still kicking myself for not going up more.

Bench: 350, 370, 380
350 is a weight i can usually do pretty easy, but I just wasn’t feeling the bench that day…turns out the bench we were using was higher off the ground that Im used to. Had I put some plates under my feet, i think my attempts would have went smoother. 370 tied my best attempt and 380 was a 10lbs pr

Deadlift 465, 505, 525
465 for the same reason. 505 was a 5lbs meet PR and I thought I only had 20lbs left in me. Again, watching the video, Id bet a months pay that i could have gone 550 on both the squat and the deadlift.

This was the first time competing in two years. Me and a friend of mine started our own business and in the last 24 months its really taken off. Ive paid my entrance fees for two other meets but I could go at the last minute due to work.

I keep a log of every workout that i do. Im actually really anal about stuff like that. The workouts are pretty simple. Everyone of them starts with squat. Ive gotten to where I prefer a high bar placement with a moderate stance. The sets are as follows (pounds x reps) 45x5, 45x5, 95x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3, 225x2, 275x2, 315x1…from here is where it changes. Sometimes I make 10lbs jumps, sometimes i make 30lbs jumps. It really all depends how my day went, how work went, home much driving did i do. Some days I would work up to 455 without a belt or wraps, somedays Id grind 365, shut it down and head home. Getting used to squatting this much took its toll, so i didn’t do to much benching or deadlifting. If I did bench, id warm up and hit singles from 225 on up to however I was feeling that day.

Two weeks out from the meet is when I started using my wraps. This was my one mistake, I need to use them more. from now on, ill start using them a few times a week in the months leading up to the meet.

I hope this answers some questions. I wish I could give you more on the training, but its really all based on feel.[/quote]

Thanks.

I train this way too so I know how it is. Just curious to see how others approach it.

48

nice work brother! what is your weight class btw? I ask because our numbers are similar.

49

[quote]serial lifter wrote:
nice work brother! what is your weight class btw? I ask because our numbers are similar.[/quote]

Thank you sir!

I competed 220. I weighed in at 202lbs about 2 hours before my first squat. I dont cut because…well, I’m not really strong enough to break records, plus I was really wanting a meet PR and I didn’t want to mess that up

50

I dont mean to bump an old thread, but I was wondering, SerialLifter, what kindof jumps do you make in your squat training? Ive been doing some reading and ive only found a couple of examples…I know Damien Pezzutti suggested hitting the one big set and then doing your back offs where a few other people work up to their main set with smaller jumps.

And if you by chance read this Mr Chris Ottowa, Id like your take as well. I read some of your other stuff on the RTS forum and thought it was damn good

51

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
I dont mean to bump an old thread, but I was wondering, SerialLifter, what kindof jumps do you make in your squat training? Ive been doing some reading and ive only found a couple of examples…I know Damien Pezzutti suggested hitting the one big set and then doing your back offs where a few other people work up to their main set with smaller jumps.

And if you by chance read this Mr Chris Ottowa, Id like your take as well. I read some of your other stuff on the RTS forum and thought it was damn good[/quote]Greg Nuckols has a new e-book on this if you are interested.

I make moderate jumps when things get heavier, 20-40 lbs. When you get used to training every day it seems like you don’t need a lot of warm up sets, and you also don’t get so stiff.

The only lifter I’m aware of who has trained this way without backoff sets is Eric Talmant, but he also only trained something like 3 days a week. He made a comment on Pezutti’s article saying that him and John Broz had “missed the boat” on adapting the Bulgarian system to powerlifting, but it looks to me that their style is much closer than what Talmant was doing. I don’t think it really matters either way, the most important thing is that you make your training work for you.

52

I read Mr Talmant’s statement on the article and I guess I dont know enough about him. I know he was instrumental in bring Sheiko work to the US, but I didnt realize he was a specialist in The Bulgarian method as well.

I seem to be a bit more successful making the smaller jump, something like 1x225, 275, 315, 345, 375, 405, 435, 455, 475 rather than 1x225,315,405, 455, 475.

Thank you for your input sir, I greatly appreciate it.

53

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
I dont mean to bump an old thread, but I was wondering, SerialLifter, what kindof jumps do you make in your squat training? Ive been doing some reading and ive only found a couple of examples…I know Damien Pezzutti suggested hitting the one big set and then doing your back offs where a few other people work up to their main set with smaller jumps.

And if you by chance read this Mr Chris Ottowa, Id like your take as well. I read some of your other stuff on the RTS forum and thought it was damn good[/quote]

I’ll second that motion not to bump an old thread. Ha, ha.

I had run a Squat Everyday program as well and it just seemed like I was doing the same thing everyday. I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on this (if you care to share them), but do you think this is because I’m an idiot and really put a damper on my progress via training history.

I ask because, yes, I did what everyone said you can’t do, and ran the base cycle Smolov three times in a row with only a week off in between. Ha, ha. I know, not the smartest idea, but without gaining (or necessarily wanting to) any weight, I took my long-time plateau of a belted 365lbs squat to 415lbs no belt.

I guess having just been messing around lower volume CAT stuff (about two or three months) and not really seeing the progress yet, I wanted to know what everyone thought.

54

[quote]matt.t.geer wrote:

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
I dont mean to bump an old thread, but I was wondering, SerialLifter, what kindof jumps do you make in your squat training? Ive been doing some reading and ive only found a couple of examples…I know Damien Pezzutti suggested hitting the one big set and then doing your back offs where a few other people work up to their main set with smaller jumps.

And if you by chance read this Mr Chris Ottowa, Id like your take as well. I read some of your other stuff on the RTS forum and thought it was damn good[/quote]

I’ll second that motion not to bump an old thread. Ha, ha.

I had run a Squat Everyday program as well and it just seemed like I was doing the same thing everyday. I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on this (if you care to share them), but do you think this is because I’m an idiot and really put a damper on my progress via training history.

I ask because, yes, I did what everyone said you can’t do, and ran the base cycle Smolov three times in a row with only a week off in between. Ha, ha. I know, not the smartest idea, but without gaining (or necessarily wanting to) any weight, I took my long-time plateau of a belted 365lbs squat to 415lbs no belt.

I guess having just been messing around lower volume CAT stuff (about two or three months) and not really seeing the progress yet, I wanted to know what everyone thought.
[/quote]

Im a little confused as to what your question actually was.

You didnt like doing the same thing everyday? You could alternate front, back and SSB squats and for bench you could rotate flat, floor, close grip and incline.

Who told you that you couldnt run that Smolov Cycle three times in a row? I
dont know a thing about Smolov so its hard for me to comment on that.

If you havent seen a lick of progress in 3 months, It may be time to change something up

55

[quote]Chicksan wrote:

Im a little confused as to what your question actually was.

You didnt like doing the same thing everyday? You could alternate front, back and SSB squats and for bench you could rotate flat, floor, close grip and incline.

Who told you that you couldnt run that Smolov Cycle three times in a row? I
dont know a thing about Smolov so its hard for me to comment on that.

If you havent seen a lick of progress in 3 months, It may be time to change something up[/quote]

Thanks for the response, Chicksan, and sorry for not phrasing the question more clearly.

To go along with the first part, it’s no so much that I didn’t like doing the same thing everyday in as much as I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I don’t think that I haven’t learned when to push it and when to dial back because, on the program, I could tell from my first warmup single how the day was going to go and would plan accordingly be either going for a new PR or planning on getting more volume in.

As for Smolov. Ha, ha. That advice was peddled out by the keyboard warriors. Ha, ha. That one I was being sarcastic about but after having done it, I feel like I can’t make progress with anything less than that high volume.

Thanks again for the response, though, Chicksan. I’m trying trying to get better.

56

I was just wondering if any of the experienced guys have any further updates to their progress. I have been interested in this style of training for some time but have trained an rpe esque protocol for almost two years. However I took the jump less than two weeks ago and am following something close to Greg nuckols Bulgarian style. In little over a week I’m almost at my pre ious all time.best Raw squat less than 10lbs to go and within 20lbs of my bench. Previous to this I was training with higher reps rts style and mixing up the exercises to hit weak areas as well as the comp lifts. I also started the method on the back of a severe dose of man flu so I’m amazed at how quickly the numbers have risen.

Has anybody else experienced anything similar to this?

57

[quote]irishlifting wrote:
I was just wondering if any of the experienced guys have any further updates to their progress. I have been interested in this style of training for some time but have trained an rpe esque protocol for almost two years. However I took the jump less than two weeks ago and am following something close to Greg nuckols Bulgarian style. In little over a week I’m almost at my pre ious all time.best Raw squat less than 10lbs to go and within 20lbs of my bench. Previous to this I was training with higher reps rts style and mixing up the exercises to hit weak areas as well as the comp lifts. I also started the method on the back of a severe dose of man flu so I’m amazed at how quickly the numbers have risen.

Has anybody else experienced anything similar to this?[/quote]

It took me a bit longer, just over a month and then I started hitting PRs in the gym which lead to a big meet PR a few months ago.

58

[quote]Chicksan wrote:

[quote]irishlifting wrote:
I was just wondering if any of the experienced guys have any further updates to their progress. I have been interested in this style of training for some time but have trained an rpe esque protocol for almost two years. However I took the jump less than two weeks ago and am following something close to Greg nuckols Bulgarian style. In little over a week I’m almost at my pre ious all time.best Raw squat less than 10lbs to go and within 20lbs of my bench. Previous to this I was training with higher reps rts style and mixing up the exercises to hit weak areas as well as the comp lifts. I also started the method on the back of a severe dose of man flu so I’m amazed at how quickly the numbers have risen.

Has anybody else experienced anything similar to this?[/quote]

It took me a bit longer, just over a month and then I started hitting PRs in the gym which lead to a big meet PR a few months ago.[/quote]

Nice work, how did you set up your training?

I’m squatting and benching mon-fri with heavyish deads on Friday as well

59

[quote]irishlifting wrote:

[quote]Chicksan wrote:

[quote]irishlifting wrote:
I was just wondering if any of the experienced guys have any further updates to their progress. I have been interested in this style of training for some time but have trained an rpe esque protocol for almost two years. However I took the jump less than two weeks ago and am following something close to Greg nuckols Bulgarian style. In little over a week I’m almost at my pre ious all time.best Raw squat less than 10lbs to go and within 20lbs of my bench. Previous to this I was training with higher reps rts style and mixing up the exercises to hit weak areas as well as the comp lifts. I also started the method on the back of a severe dose of man flu so I’m amazed at how quickly the numbers have risen.

Has anybody else experienced anything similar to this?[/quote]

It took me a bit longer, just over a month and then I started hitting PRs in the gym which lead to a big meet PR a few months ago.[/quote]

Nice work, how did you set up your training?

I’m squatting and benching mon-fri with heavyish deads on Friday as well [/quote]

I squatted every day I was in the gym. To break up the monotiny of it, I started front squatting every now and then. I called it a day when the bar speed got to slow.

I didnt bench near enough.

I think I deadlifted 3 times in the two months leading up to the meet.

I did chins, BB Rows and leg curls as assistance work through out the week.

The only thing I cared about was the squat so thats where my focus was at. My bench and deadlift received what was left. I think all the high bar, close stance squatting helped with the deadlift. The bench, I dont really know how I PR’d in it.

60

[quote]chris_ottawa wrote:

[quote]Chicksan wrote:
I dont mean to bump an old thread, but I was wondering, SerialLifter, what kindof jumps do you make in your squat training? Ive been doing some reading and ive only found a couple of examples…I know Damien Pezzutti suggested hitting the one big set and then doing your back offs where a few other people work up to their main set with smaller jumps.

And if you by chance read this Mr Chris Ottowa, Id like your take as well. I read some of your other stuff on the RTS forum and thought it was damn good[/quote]Greg Nuckols has a new e-book on this if you are interested.

I make moderate jumps when things get heavier, 20-40 lbs. When you get used to training every day it seems like you don’t need a lot of warm up sets, and you also don’t get so stiff.

The only lifter I’m aware of who has trained this way without backoff sets is Eric Talmant, but he also only trained something like 3 days a week. He made a comment on Pezutti’s article saying that him and John Broz had “missed the boat” on adapting the Bulgarian system to powerlifting, but it looks to me that their style is much closer than what Talmant was doing. I don’t think it really matters either way, the most important thing is that you make your training work for you. [/quote]

Based on your username I assume that you’re in Ottawa Canada.

If that’s correct, and you’re interested in training around some accomplished and driven lifters with experience using Bulgarian style programming, I would suggest looking into doing some training at Dynamo Barbell with Jay Nera, Kade Weber and Willie Albert.

If you’re serious about powerlifting, and you’re in Ottawa, then you’re probably already aware of these guys, but I thought I would mention it just in case you hadn’t heard of them. A quick google search will let you know why you would want to train around these guys.

Jay spent a large part of his early powerlifting career using Bulgarian style programming, but I believe he’s been using a different style of training the last few years.