The Bulgarian Method – it’s for normal people too (and it’s not as bad as you think)!
-By Martha Munroe
I’ve read a number of articles online from weightlifters trying out what they call “The Bulgarian Method” of weightlifting and reviewing what their experience was like. For those of you not in the know, the Bulgarian Method is a system of training for weightlifting developed by Ivan Abadjiev for the national weightlifting team in the 1970’s and 80’s. During his career he produced 12 Olympic champions, 57 world champions and 64 European champions. The reputation of the Bulgarian system is that it is brutal – lifting to max everyday, often several times/day, with very few assistance exercises. The verdict of many people testing this out is that it’s unsustainable, dangerous, and can’t be done without steroids. My personal experience with the Bulgarian method has been very different from that.
My coach, from my first introduction to weightlifting, is Alex Varbanov, one of Ivan Abadjiev’s champion athletes and an excellent coach in his own right. When I first started, I took Coach Varbanov’s 2 day coaching course and got to see with my own eyes a copy of his training plan from the height of his career (and by the way, he has standing world records and has the 7th highest Sinclair score of all time). Shortly after, when coach Abadjiev was in Toronto, I did a semi-private lesson with both coaches. But my true “Bulgarian Experience” began when I signed up for a 2-week long Train like a Bulgarian training camp in Bulgaria with Coaches Varbanov and Abadjiev, as well as another Bulgaria legend Coach Ivan Letchev.
For two weeks, we trained. We trained two 3-hour sessions every day during the week. A typical day was waking up, eat breakfast, have a strong coffee, train snatch, clean and jerk, and front squat, have lunch, have a nap, train snatch, clean and jerk, and front squat, have dinner, and go to bed. It sounds like a lot, but really, it was awesome because you didn’t have to worry about any of the stresses of your regular day to day life – no social commitments, no work, no cooking, etc. Oh and did I mention that we had warm-up sport massages before each training session? So good.
I went into that training camp a total novice but came out looking like some semblance of a weightlifter. My numbers are still small but over the 2 weeks I was there I added 10kg each to snatch and clean and jerk and 20kg to my squat. So yeah, it works. During the camp, we also had a seminar with Coach Abadjiev about his methodology and the main take away for me was that this system is based on adaptation. Yes, training every day is hard on your body but if you recover properly with sleep and food, your body will adapt. Somebody who takes a job doing heavy manual labour doesn’t have weeks to cycle on – you start doing the job, you do it every day, and soon enough you get used to it.
The reality of weightlifting is that it’s not even remotely the same thing to snatch 50% of max as it is to snatch max and so in order to train your body to perform your max, you have to hit it, and regularly. Most sessions we worked to our daily max or very close to it. Max effort, though, is anything over 80%. And working to max everyday doesn’t mean hitting your lifetime PR every session, it’s your max for that day, based on how you feel, and more importantly how your coach feels you are performing. Having a coach dictate if you go up or not each session is, in my opinion, what makes the Bulgarian method work, as opposed to being irresponsible and dangerous. For me, when I was training powerlifting on my own and I had numbers I was supposed to hit for a given session and I didn’t hit them, ego gets involved and you don’t feel good. With this training, I may miss a weight that I’ve hit before and feel frustrated and my coach will say “don’t worry, you’re tired, that’s normal,” and you don’t get to go on.
Since returning to Toronto, I’ve joined the team at Varbanov School of Weightlifting where we train as Bulgarian as we can – Monday to Friday 2-2.5hr training sessions. It’s not twice a day but it’s realistic with work and school commitments. In a typical week Monday we do max snatch, clean and jerk, and front squat; Tuesday max back squat, and some work from racks and maybe some pulls; Wednesday classic lifts again; Thursday back squat and maybe work from hang or blocks; and Friday is competition style maxes and front squats. It’s a lot, but it’s not un-doable. I have a full-time job, am doing grad-school part-time, and do this training and I love it. With focus on eating enough, recovering properly, and most importantly trusting and listening to my excellent coach, this method of training is safe, effective, and sustainable.
No one said it was going to be easy, and not every day is fun, and though it may not be easy I love it!
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