Bulgarian Method/HIHF training
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Thanks for the concern folks and I do understand what you are saying about the load on my central nervous system. I've cut way back on my accessory work while doing this approach and while they were always focusing on hypertrophy anyway, its still a lot less things like leg press & ft squats I won't be doing for a few weeks.
I'm trying to listen to my body, not get into a YOLO mentality, and rest properly. This is an experiment honestly. An approximately 6 week experiment.
So far I feel no ill effects but I will adjust as needed and if in a couple of weeks I feel like absolute crap, well, that'll be a good sign this isn't working for me.Monday - squat heavy, bench heavy
Tuesday - squat light, bench heavy
Wednesday - deadlift heavy, bench heavy
Thursday - squat light, bench heavy
*snipped good stuff about how this would be a pretty terrible idea*
Quick bit of clarification. This week was not a normal week. I attempted two true maxes, my squat on monday & DL on Wednesday. That isn't going to be happening again for a good bit and next time I try I'm going to make sure its on a deload week. lol
Also the squatting is thrown off a bit because I'm in the ramp up period to squatting like I bench.
Typically Wednesday will still be DL day, but it'll be 5-10 singles at a moderately heavy weight just to keep my body used to DLing.
Today I stepped up to the next rung on my squatting and plan to be in full mode by Thursday of this week.
Saturday 1/2 - Felt good, got plenty of sleep, didn't work out yesterday and was lazy all day and ate too much.
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x10
205x6
225x2
225x2
Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
175x3
185x2
2-195x1* Both slower, but steady with good form. Second was a bit closer to grind than I want to be.
accessory- pullups, t-bar row, db shoulder press, wide grip lat pulldowns
*The 2 195 singles prove to me that most of my issues with bench are mental and that if nothing else, this is helping me get my mindset right. Also, its helping me focus on my breathing while benching, to keep the bar moving fast up, and to keep my form proper every single lift.
Thanks for checking in on my adventure! I'll keep letting everyone know how it goes.
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Happy Monday! Sundays are rest days for me except occasionally some cardio. Very occasionally.
Monday 1/4- Felt good. Bit groggy at first but after I got into my routine it was all good. MP3 player died halfway through benching so I wasn't getting any oomph from my music. lol
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x8
205x6
2-225x2
Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
175x3
185x2*
175x3
*Wasn't quite prepared for it after I lifted off so it felt heavy & moved slow. Breathing was off so I went back and did another set at 175 which went pretty easy.
accessories: facepulls, wide grip cable row, ab work
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GuitarJerry wrote: »Thanks for sharing. Just commenting for future reference. I found this link, is this what you are referring to? http://www.jmaxfitness.com/blog/daily-undulating-periodization/
The answer is probably yes, but can you do this 3 days a week?
Somehow I missed this post @GuitarJerry! I'm not sure about the link, but I'm guessing its what @LolBroScience is referring to. I'm going to give it a read through as glancing at it, it looks interesting.
What I'm doing is this: http://www.strengtheory.com/bulgarian-manual/
I'm in no way affiliated with Greg and get nothing if you download it. I can also safely say he doesn't spam you constantly with stuff if you give him your email to download it.
Hmmm. I see he's now selling a Bulgarian bundle for $10 I might have to snag that.0 -
GuitarJerry wrote: »Thanks for sharing. Just commenting for future reference. I found this link, is this what you are referring to? http://www.jmaxfitness.com/blog/daily-undulating-periodization/
The answer is probably yes, but can you do this 3 days a week?
Somehow I missed this post @GuitarJerry! I'm not sure about the link, but I'm guessing its what @LolBroScience is referring to. I'm going to give it a read through as glancing at it, it looks interesting.
What I'm doing is this: http://www.strengtheory.com/bulgarian-manual/
I'm in no way affiliated with Greg and get nothing if you download it. I can also safely say he doesn't spam you constantly with stuff if you give him your email to download it.
Hmmm. I see he's now selling a Bulgarian bundle for $10 I might have to snag that.
I've run both DUP & Bulgarian (Knuckols/Omar one specifically). They can overlap in some aspects depending on how you would go about setting up the programming, but there are also differences.
The JMAX site is a really basic template for DUP... if you want to program your own stuff then look up Dr. Mike Zourdous DUP for more in depth information on the subject.0 -
Cool, thanks!0
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It's Tuesday which means its squat and bench day! LOL I crack myself up. (I'll show myself out now...)
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x8
205x6
225x2
225x2
Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
175x3
185x2
2-190x1
Accessory work: zuttman curls, pull ups, bent over db flyes, 1 arm db rows.
Feeling good. The hamstring in my left leg is a bit sore where it attaches to the knee. That's the leg I hurt slipping on the ice last winter so I'm just gonna keep an eye on it and make sure I keep doing plenty of mobility work and foam rolling.0 -
Happy Hump Day!
Deadlift:
185x10
225x7
6-255x1
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x8
205x5
225x2
225x2
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x3
175x3
180x2
185x1
190x1
195x1
Accessory work: hanging leg raises, various arm & shoulder warmup stuff
Feeling good. Planning on attempting daily min/max with squatting starting tomorrow. I might DL 2x a week, but not sure.
Looking over the program again last night I kinda realized on my bench I was jumping up my "heavier" weights too quickly. Instead of 165-175-185, I added in 170 & 180 and don't feel noticeably worse for the wear. Sure I did one less rep of 185 than I did yesterday, but I did more reps overall for the day.
Anyway, I'm feeling good, better than I expected and while there is some soreness, its actually not bad at all. This is also forcing me to do more mobility work on my hips & legs which is something I've been needing to do but neglecting. I'm never going to be the most mobile/flexible person, but if I want to keep lifting heavier I need to be more than I am and its just something that's good for me anyway.
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Happy Hump Day!
Deadlift:
185x10
225x7
6-255x1
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x8
205x5
225x2
225x2
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x3
175x3
180x2
185x1
190x1
195x1
Accessory work: hanging leg raises, various arm & shoulder warmup stuff
Feeling good. Planning on attempting daily min/max with squatting starting tomorrow. I might DL 2x a week, but not sure.
Looking over the program again last night I kinda realized on my bench I was jumping up my "heavier" weights too quickly. Instead of 165-175-185, I added in 170 & 180 and don't feel noticeably worse for the wear. Sure I did one less rep of 185 than I did yesterday, but I did more reps overall for the day.
Anyway, I'm feeling good, better than I expected and while there is some soreness, its actually not bad at all. This is also forcing me to do more mobility work on my hips & legs which is something I've been needing to do but neglecting. I'm never going to be the most mobile/flexible person, but if I want to keep lifting heavier I need to be more than I am and its just something that's good for me anyway.
Did you write the exercises in order performed? You must be an animal to have the energy to squat and bench after you deadlift. What intensities were used for the couple top-sets?0 -
Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »
Did you write the exercises in order performed? You must be an animal to have the energy to squat and bench after you deadlift. What intensities were used for the couple top-sets?
Well, I did the DLs in between the squat sets which I'm kinda used to as during my regular routine I'm usual alternating squatting with my DL auxiliary & DLing with my squat auxiliary.
DL-255 is about 65-70% 1rm. not super taxing
Squat- 225 ~80% 1rm
Bench- 195 ~ 95% of known 1rm But I haven't maxed bench in 4 months and even then I just stopped at 205 to break the 200 barrier mentally.
My bench max is higher than 205 now if I'm getting to 90-95% multiple times a week without completely dying. lol
Honestly, I'm surprised how good I feel. I'm not used to squatting this often. My lower back muscles are a bit tight, but I'm working them out just like I have my hip flexors, i-bands, and hamstrings.
So there's a bit of muscle soreness, but not brutal fatigue. And the soreness is worked out pretty well through mobility work and warming up.
I could see how someone could totally wipe themselves out quickly if they aren't good at self-regulating on this program.
Me? I have the totally opposite problem and I tend not to push myself hard enough. Its nice trying to find a sweet spot between the two of pushing myself daily, but remembering its daily and that its the upward trend that matters.
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Only had about 1800 calories yesterday which is ~200 under my target which obviously is already at "slow cut" level. (I'm not overly strict with my eating, but trying to get off the christmas pudge quickly and then slowly get down to 175-180.)
Couple that with yesterday's workout and I was a little bit tired this morning, but nothing too bad.
Anyway to the workout:
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x7
205x6
215x4
225x3
230x2
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x3
175x3
180x2
185x2
190x1
Accessory: wide grip lat pull downs, wide grip cable row
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Are you doing any of the back off sets? It doesn't look like it. Or, did you take the approach to leave them out until you hit a wall?0
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LolBroScience wrote: »Are you doing any of the back off sets? It doesn't look like it. Or, did you take the approach to leave them out until you hit a wall?
I haven't really done any back off sets yet. I think I did some Monday as it wasn't going great, but yeah, I'm still at "charge ahead" mode especially since its only my 2nd week on this full bore with bench and first day with squats.
Possibly next week I'll add in some dropback sets on bench since I think I'm only going to get 3 or 4 days lifting in unfortunately. Squats I'll probably hold off for another week or so before worrying about them yet.0 -
Interesting thread. I'm also a proponent of using DUP methods while creating a program. I train 3x/week full body. I've made the best strength gains this way.0
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Happy Friday everyone who checks in on me here.
Skwaat:
135x10
155x10
185x10
205x6
215x5
225x3
235x2
245x2
Bench
135x10
155x8
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x3
185x2
185x1
180x2
180x2
Accessory: drag curls, various ab work
Feeling great. Been sleeping and eating good this week which helps.
185 was slower than I wanted so instead of heading up to 190 dropped back and did 2-180x2 which went up solid. Funny how a mere 5lb difference can sometimes move so much easier.
Squatting felt good. The 245x 2 wasn't terrible. Didn't want to try and He-man any further though so I called it.
Tomorrow I have to work so I'll hit the gym before work. Not going to squat as I'm gonna jog but we'll see if I do another bench session or not.
I'm having a lot of fun with this which is surprising me. I was half-dreading it coming in which is sort of why I decided to do it. I also think after I get back into my normal program I'm going to keep squatting 4x a week. Not like this, but I'll do my main squat day, my auxiliary squat day, and then just do some lighter hypertrophy work the other days. We'll see, but I'm enjoying it. I should probably snag "Squat Every Day" and peruse it.
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Saturday and I'm at work so I hit the gym. Skipped squatting as I jogged a bit and did my 6th bench session of the week. Got an extra 90 minutes of sleep so you'll see how it went....
Bench:
135x10
155x9
165x6
170x4
175x4
180x3
185x3
190x1
195x1
200x1- YOLO'd here. First working set at 200 so I wanted it. Was slow, but kept my form.
190x1
185x2
185x2- Shouldn't have done 2 here. 2nd one was ugly. First truly ugly rep I've had doing this though.
Accesssory: Facepulls & DB OHP
Jogged 2 miles on the treadmill. Was gonna do a 5k but dear god jogging on a treadmill is like torture for me. Just horrifically mentally taxing whether I'm going slow as a turtle or pushing myself. I hate it.
Tomorrow I plan on completely taking off. Only gonna get 3 days lifting in next week as I have a minor prodcedureThursday which will put me out until the following Monday for bench and probably that entire following week on squats.
I'm still impressed but how not dead I am. Am a sore? Yeah. Was I tired by the end? Sure. But I've been more torn up by a single day's session than I am by a week of this. I'm sure the ramp up period helped of course.
I'm at a point where if someone is at a point in their program and they want to try something different for 6-12 weeks I'd suggest giving this a go.0 -
For me my body can't handle squatting more than twice a week even with lower percentages. I could easily do bulgarian method for bench and maybe deadlift.
(Could have to do with knee surgeries) I find in general my legs take forever to recover compared to my upper body.0 -
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GuitarJerry wrote: »How do you guys track this stuff? I'm sticking with StrongLifts until I top out, but, I created a spreadsheet for DUP (because I'm super geeky and love spreadsheets) once I finish with SL's. The SL app is top notch. I wish someone would build a similar slick app for all the other programs out there. It should be easy. Maybe I should shut up and do it. Lol
Pen & paper than manually put it in MFP. I'm also eventually when I'm really bored put it all in a spreadsheet.
An app would be handy for a lot of people. I don't really use my phone at the gym but man, if someone developed an app that was easily user customizable for variety of programs it'd be downloaded like hotcakes I'd think.
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GuitarJerry wrote: »How do you guys track this stuff? I'm sticking with StrongLifts until I top out, but, I created a spreadsheet for DUP (because I'm super geeky and love spreadsheets) once I finish with SL's. The SL app is top notch. I wish someone would build a similar slick app for all the other programs out there. It should be easy. Maybe I should shut up and do it. Lol
Excel & RepCount app0 -
GuitarJerry wrote: »How do you guys track this stuff? I'm sticking with StrongLifts until I top out, but, I created a spreadsheet for DUP (because I'm super geeky and love spreadsheets) once I finish with SL's. The SL app is top notch. I wish someone would build a similar slick app for all the other programs out there. It should be easy. Maybe I should shut up and do it. Lol
I use an app called "Multi-Year weight Training" it's only for the iPhone though.
Fully customizable it was $5 and worth every penny!0 -
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Its Monday which means its time to bench & squat again!
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x10
205x7
215x5
225x4
235x3
245x1
255x1
2-245x1
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x4
170x3
175x2
180x1
185x1
190x1 SLOW
175x3
175x2
Accessory: t-bar row & lat pulldown
Was slightly low on my already cutting calories yesterday and missed out on about 40 minutes of sleep so I was a little beat by the time I got to bench. Still satisfied with the day however. Going to try and push hard through Wednesday before I have to take a little break.
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Tuesday
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x10
205x7
215x5
225x3
235x2
245x1
255x1
245x2
Bench:
135x10
155x9
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x3
185x2
190x1
195x1
200x1
2-190x1
No time for accessories today sadly. Stupid weather.
Thought I felt tired but apparently not. The 245x2 involved probably 5 seconds of standing rest under the bar as I took a few deep breaths to go for the 2nd. It went smoothly though. Bench I really wanted to go for 205 but 200 was slow and wasn't going to wrestle it up.
This has been a fun experience. I'm looking forward to my regular program and seeing how this helped, but I think next winter around holiday time I might do this again.
Its helped me figure out where my weak points are in my lifts too. Bench I really need to get my shoulders stronger, chest too, but shoulders as much as anything. Squats, got to build my quads up more. I always thought they are pretty strong and from an endurance standpoint they are but that's still different squatting "heavier" weights.0 -
I'm tired of it being cold and making me later to the gym so I'm not getting any cardio or accessory work in. Ah well, those things aren't what this is about right now anyway.
Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x10
205x7
215x5
225x3
235x2
245x1
255x1
245x2
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x2
185x2
190x1
195x1
195x1
No dropback sets on bench today got up to 195 and it went up alright but not alright enough to put on another 5lbs so I just did it again and called it.
Aside from strength gains this program has really helped me with my mobility. Why? Because its FORCED me to do extra mobility work on my legs and hips. Oh sure before I'd do a little bit, and its not like I'm doing a ton now, but I'm doing more than I did and I can tell a difference.
Now to keep it up when I'm not doing this every day. lol
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What are you doing for your mobility work? Anything in particular?0
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What are you doing for your mobility work? Anything in particular?
Nothing super major but since I was slacking its helping. A little bit of static stretching for hamstrings & calves.
Then I do something where I kneel and put 1 foot on a bench, the other foot out, then twist towards the foot that's out, hold 2-3 seconds, go back, repeat about 10x side.
Then I do this stuff: mobilitywod.com/propreview/pre-squat-hip-opener-mob-rx-mobility-project-episode-363/
Then I roll on a foam roller on inner & outer thigh and roll my hamstrings down to my calves.
I've been doing this at night a bit too and also have taken to putting a lacrosse ball about 1.5" below the hip joint and laying on it, slowly working it across my leg into a new spot every 15-20 seconds.
Occasionally I'll do some other dynamic stuff, jumping, leg swings, whatever to get some blood flowing.
I'm not a supple leopard. I'm not even a fat lion. But in just a few weeks I'm not nearly as tight through the hips as I was.0 -
Happy monday anyone following this. Had a minor procedure last week so only got 3 days in and I won't be squatting this week just to make sure everything heals up properly.
Sore from sitting on my *kitten* for 3 days. Tired as hell because my brain decided I needed to wake up at 2:45 and not go back to sleep. Great first day of the week. Ah well.
Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x2
185x1
190x1
195x1 Felt heavy as hell. So tired
185x1
Facepulls: 3x70x10
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Today was a good day. I'm getting restless from not squatting but what can ya do? Only a few more days.
Didn't quite get as much sleep as I wanted, a half-hour or so more than usual, but still not nearly enough to make up for Sunday night. Also was ~300-350 low on calories.
However thanks to Electric Wizard's seminal album Dopethrone it was a good day.
Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x3
185x2
190x1
195x1
200x1
205x1 (first time doing it in a working set)210x .75 SO F'ING CLOSE! Had a spotter and got 3/4 up slow but steady. Then form went to hell & I bailed it. I KNOW I can get it now (which would've been a PR, not just a daily max) but not going to be stupid about things since I have 4 more days of benching this week and last thing I need is to hurt myself being dumb.
190x2
185x2
I wanted that 210 so bad. SO. BAD. However seeing that I nearly got it up anyway I feel good about when I test my max at the end of this in a few weeks. Not quite sure I'll be in 2 plate territory yet, but I'll be really damn close.
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