Bulgarian Method/HIHF training

Checked my rest and I was right on my guesstimate.

Felt pretty good today. Got plenty of sleep. Didn't get a chance to lift yesterday as I took my wife to the airport and forgot to pack any of my gym gear to lift after work. I could've gone home and back out, but no, that doesn't happen. lol

My plan is Saturday to do some sort of high volume squatting. Maybe just a bunch of reps at 60% or something to see how it feels.

Anyway:

Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x3
185x3
190x1
195x1
200x1
205x1
200x1
195x1
190x2
190x2


I'll admit the last 190 rep wasn't exactly pretty but 3 total reps of >200 felt pretty good. I'm still amazed by how not sore I've been through this whole thing. Sure there's some, but stretching helps and by the time I'm done with my warmup sets its pretty much completely gone.

jmule24 wrote: »

Nice progress!

Thanks! Its been kinda fun and its really helped me mentally & physically with my bench.

I think I'll do this again next winter around this time but ramp up faster and only run it for 5 weeks tops.

I skwaated again!!!! Yay! It felt good. Not used to doing so many reps/set. That was sorta sad but anyway

Squat
135x10
155x10
165x15
165x10
165x10
165x10

Bench
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x3
175x2
180x2
185x2
190x1
195x1
200x1
190x2

Was tired today a little bit. Mostly due to squatting before benching which obviously I haven't been doing all week. 165 is 60% of my max so its not much weight, just haven't been squatting for high reps in a couple months and not used to doing it.

Another full week left to go on this little journey. Its been fun.

Yesterday night totally pigged out. I'd like to believe that helped me this morning. Was feeling a bit sore from yesterday and kind of assumed that today wasn't gonna be all that great. I was wrong. It's nice being wrong like that.

Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x7
205x5
215x4
225x4
235x3
245x1
255x1
260x1
265x1
270x1
255x2

Bench:
135x10
155x7
165x5
170x4
175x3
180x3
185x2
190x1
195x1
200x1
205x1
195x2
200x1
205x1
195x2
195x1


I really wanted to try 275 on squat but 270 was really slow so I didn't. Got to 205 didn't think I had enough for 210. Dropped back to 195x2 and it went up nicely so I said screw it and built back up to 205. I think I could've had 210 and wish I'd gone for it. Ah well.

Someone was actually using the squat rack this morning so I had to bench first. lol It was all good, he was doing some decent front squats so it wasn't being wasted. Bit tired and sore this morning but more for bench than squats. This is my last week of doing this. Testing some maxes next week and then vacation for a week and back to my regular routine.

Bench:
135x10
155x8
165x5
175x4
180x3
185x3
190x1
195x1
200x1
190x2
190x2

Squat:
135x10
155x10
185x7
205x4
225x3
235x3
245x1
255x1
260x1
265x1
270x1
250x2
250x2

The 2x250x2 at the end wasn't bad. Heck, the 270 wasn't bad. It wasn't like I popped up, but the hitch in the movement wasn't terrible and I worked through it fine. Apparently my body is getting used to lifting "heavier" which is good. My shoulders still sort of wonder WTF I'm doing to them though. lol

Final day: The Reckoning.

Didn't even bother tracking yesterday, just light stuff to work out the kinks and some soreness for testing maxes today.

Previous PRs: Squat 270 (sometime in December) Bench 205 (back in August)

Started with Squat
135x5
155x5
185x3
205x3
225x2
245x1
260x1
270x1
290x1
300x1 PR!!!!!!
305x1 Pf'ingR!

Then to bench. Self spotted in squat rack, no help with liftoffs.
135x7 (short stroked)
155x3
175x2
185x1
195x1
205x1
215x1 PR
220x0 Lifted off no problem, got to chest and nu-uh.

So, it was a good morning in the gym to say the least. I wanted to try for 3 plates on squats but knowing I still had benching left I decided to call it. Not sure I could've done it anyway. 305 was hard, but not a total "OMG form going to hell I want to die" grind. Just happy to have the 300 barrier out of the way.

Bench, the reason I did this whole thing, went well. Benching in the power rack I never feel I have the exact right positioning. Still, got 215 up with good form. It was slow, but form was good. 220 I think I was just mentally done at that point. I'd already hit 3 PRs for the day and just wasn't in the "zone." Anymore. That's ok, 2 plates is within reach.

I'm happy with my results and my chest and legs are bigger than when I started as well. I really should've measured things first. ah well.

Thoughts on Bulgarian Manual:

I've enjoyed doing this HI/HF lifting for the past couple of months. I'd suggest this program to someone looking for a 4-6 week break in their program who wants to really focus on going heavy without destroying themselves. Granted "heavy" is relative but throughout the program I was surprised but how sore I wasn't. I honestly expected to feel lots worse than I did and it wasn't bad.

I do think getting enough rest is a major part of this. If you have a schedule where you aren't getting a solid amount of good sleep every single night I think you'd get beat up pretty bad trying this.

I plan on doing this again probably next winter around this time and I'll do a few things differently. The ramp-up will be a lot shorter. I did "The Fire Rises" approach fully for bench and accelerated for squats and realized I could've done the accelerated for bench too.

Second, I'll also do it for less time overall. This has stretched over about 2 full months (there were 2 breaks 1 for holidays and 1 for a minor prodecure). While you theoretically can do this for as long as you like I think I'd condense it to 4-6 weeks max for me.

Finally, I'll start doing dropback sets earlier. I didn't at first because I just wasn't sure how my body would react. Now I know I can do more dropback sets and yes, this will increase soreness and need more recovery, but it could be managed.

I plan on squatting a whole lot more than I used to after this. If not every day, almost every day. It won't always be high/low bar back squats, but there will be more squatting in my life.

I also don't hate the bench as much as I used to. I had some success at mentally conquering it and I have some plans of attack to continue to build my strength overall.

I will say I'm looking forward to getting back to my normal routine again. lol

Here's Greg and Omar talking to a couple of guys who are WAAAAY stronger than me who'd been running it. Thanks for to all who followed along and chimed in with support!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRm8rPMWgA