Are Back Squats REALLY Necessary? The Legs, Hips, and Ass Issue

Posted by Nick Horton | 56 comments

We’ve all heard that the back squat is the King of lifts.  It’s been at the bedrock of some of the most productive routines of the last 70 years.  So, what I’m about to say might sound sacrilegious, particularly here in the world of Olympic Weightlifting.  But, I’m going to say it anyway.  You don’t have to back squat – ever!

Don’t get too excited.  If you want to be a better weightlifter you do have to squat.  But, I’m going to argue in favor of swapping out the back squat for the Front Squat and a few other exercises.  I believe doing this makes more sense for the majority of recreational lifters, Masters lifters, and CrossFitters out there.  You will be less likely to get injured and your lifts will improve at a faster rate.  Crazy, I know.

I’m also going to say upfront that I am NOT against the back squat.  It is a good exercise, and I use it myself.  What I am against is the notion that you MUST back squat to be a good weightlifter.  That is patently false.

The Good Things The Back Squat Does For The Weightlifter

The Back Squat isn’t all Bad and Ugly. There are good reasons why people Back Squat.  The most important is that it works! You can think of the Back Squat as the ultimate “Jack of all Trades” exercise. It hits the quads, the glutes, the hamstrings, the spinal erectors, the low back, and it even will develop your upper back, lats, shoulders, and arms if you squeeze them hard enough and put in enough work!

If you could only do one exercise, ever, the back squat is a decent choice. (The Clean and Jerk is better, but I suppose technically it’s two exercises combined.)

The Back Squat also develops these muscles in the right proportions that we are looking for in great athletes.  It is not just that we want athletes to have a strong posterior chain, we want it to be a well-balanced posterior chain.  If you back squat correctly – high bar, on the heels, deeper than parallel – then you will likely do this.

(If you just happen to have the anthropometry of many high level Oly lifters – short and “squatty” – then it will be even more likely that you’ll develop just right with only back squats.  However, I think long legged lifters are less likely to see the same results.) 

The Back Squat also has the advantage of being highly “loadable” – that is, you can add a lot of weight to it rather easily.  I’m wary as all Hell of using (as your mainstays) exercises that you can’t put much weight on.  The step up is great, but doing a 1 (or even 3) rep max is just not an option unless you are willing to crash and burn!  You need to make sure that the core exercises in your arsenal are things you can do a max set of 1 to 3 reps on without it getting too dangerous. 

The Downside of Back Squatting

On the other hand, there is a downside to being a “Jack of all Trades” – you aren’t a master of anything. 

• The Back Squat is a good quad builder, but not as good as the Front Squat.
• The Back Squat is a good hamstring builder, but not as good as the Romanian Deadlift.
• The Back Squat is a good glute builder, but not as good as the Hip Thrust.

I’m not a believer in trying to “isolate” muscles.  I want lifters to use functional movements.  (I’ve always loved that CrossFit sticks to about 10 or so basic functional multi-joint movements and works the crap out of them.  I can respect that.)  But, there is something to be said for using the right tool for the job: the tool that is best suited to that job.

One of the things that makes strength coaching hard is finding the right balance between using exercises that are general enough to hit the body as a unit and allow for proper loading, with exercises that attack a specific athletes weaknesses in a way that solves the problems at hand.  The Back Squat is plenty general, but it just isn’t very specific.

In addition to that, teaching the back squat properly is a pain in the ass!  Everyone wants to use too much weight, doesn’t get low enough, bends over too far forward, and turns the exercise into an ugly Good Morning.  With beginners, this means I spend my entire evening having to watch and correct guys (it’s usually men) squatting like morons rather than focusing my attention on the platforms where the truly hard technical work is being done on the snatch and clean. 

No thanks!!

I don’t let anyone Back Squat until they prove to me that they can Front Squat correctly, make it look pretty, and do so with some real weight – bodyweight or more.  That goes for the ladies, too!  My fiance was in a car wreck recently, and was unable to lift weights for nearly 7 months.  She is now back up to front squatting bodyweight multiple times a week.  She’s not a genetic freak.  She just likes to lift.  Anyone can Front Squat their bodyweight.  (Anyone with legs, that is!)

The New Triumvirate:  Front Squats, RDL’s, and Hip Thrusts

Now, if you were that hypothetical person who was only Back Squatting, then you won’t be able to just replace it with one exercise and call it good.  I think you’ll need three:  The Front Squat; Romanian Deadlift; and the Hip Thrust.

Each of these combined will cover your bases (the Front Squat being the most important), and they will do so better than the Back Squat did by itself.  They are also all harder to cheat – you are less likely to put more weight on the bar than you can honestly do.  For those of you who are self-coached, that is a BIG deal.  Doing exercises wrong is not going to do you any good.  It is going to get you injured. 

These three exercises are ones I think you can figure out how to do well on your own (with ample help from Youtube!), and that will go a long way toward making you a better weightlifter.

Front Squats

The Front Squat is my all time favorite exercise.   It affords you most of the best things the Back Squat gives you, but without its biggest downsides.  

[Read the study “A Biomechanical Comparison of Back and Front Squats in Healthy Trained Individuals” by Gullett, et al. Here’s a quote: “The front squat was shown to be just as effective as the back squat in terms of overall muscle recruitment, with significantly less compressive forces on the knee.]

The most important downsides that the front squat avoids (at least better than a back squat does) are shear forces at the low back, and compressive forces at the knee.  Now, I’m not a believer that you should go out of your way to avoid these “negative” forces completely!  When you walk, run, jump, and do other normal human things, your body is dealing with all kinds of forces and you need to make sure you are training in such a way that you are able to deal with these forces appropriately.

But … we need to be realistic.  There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  (Unless we’re talking about Mochas, of course!)  Once you get to the point where you are Back Squatting well over double bodyweight, the stress on the body is getting a bit ridiculous.  If I can get the same benefits to the athlete with a Front Squat, and reduce some of the beating on the body, I’ll take it.

(Never forget that the best strength athletes all have one thing in common: big bones.  They have a thicker bone structure for their height than other people of the same height – check out their heads, they’re huge!  Along with these big bones comes thicker ligaments, tendons, and other connective tissues.  They are BORN to lift heavy stuff and not get hurt doing it.  You may or may not be in this group.  If I were you, I’d err on the side of safety.)

As I mentioned above, from a coaching perspective, I find the Front Squat to be an easier exercise to teach than the Back Squat.  I can get someone to squat deep, with an upright spine, much faster than I can get them to do this with a Back Squat.  It is nearly impossible to cheat a Front Squat.  If you start to lean too far forward, you will drop it. 

People are also more likely to get into the deep bottom position in a Front Squat easier than they are with a Back Squat.  Cutting depth is a big problem.  The glutes get worked the most in the deepest portion of the squat, the part that is well below parallel.  But, depth-cutting happens ALL the time when people back squat.  Switch them to a front squat and they magically get a few inches lower! 

Romanian Deadlifts

For the most part, the Front Squats will cover your bases in the same way that the back squat does.  But, to be fair, it isn’t the ideal hamstring builder.  We need a specialist.  My favorite lift for the hammies is the Romanian Deadlift (RDL, pronounced “Err-Duhls” in my club). 

Since the motion is almost exclusively a hinge at the hip, the hamstrings are taking the biggest beating during this lift.  I also like that it is a functional movement:  we all find ourselves in situations when we are bent way over and have to pick stuff up – a lot.  Getting good at it isn’t a bad idea.

The RDL hits the hamstring hard, but it also builds up some necessary strength in other areas relevant to the Olympic lifts: the spinal erectors and low back; the traps and upper back; and your confidence with heavy weights in a precarious position.

However there are a few downsides to be aware of with this lift if you are an Olympic weightlifter.  Unlike the Front Squat, the RDL is a killer on the nervous system.  Working up really heavy can fry your nervous system, make your hamstrings extremely sore, and make your snatch and clean weights drop for a few days. 

Generally I have my Olympic lifters do RDL’s only once a week, most often on Saturdays.  We’ll alternate working up to 1 heavy set of 5 for a few weeks, then switch to something heavier like 3’s.  And, once in blue moon, I’ll have them turn it into a deadlift and go up to a heavy single (no more than 3 or 4 times a year).  Only doing 1 heavy set of 5, once a week might sound like it isn’t enough work.  But, don’t forget that we squat and do the Oly lifts every day.

Now, if you are a CrossFitter in my club, I’ll almost never have you do these.  CrossFit workouts are all over the map and CNS intensive.  I don’t want to tax a CrossFitter any more than I have to when that energy can be spent on the Olympic lifts and front squats.  Metcons are a killer.  CrossFitters are doing them up to 4 or even 6 times a week!  I can’t pile more CNS destruction on top of that.

There is one more downside to the RDL: It is really similar in execution to the part of the snatch/clean pull that goes from the knee to the hip – but … different. 

Similar but different is horrible when your goal is to dial in a very specific motor pattern on a particular movement!  I don’t want someone touching an RDL until they are quite consistent with the lifts AND I believe they will be able to do so without it screwing with the patterns I’m trying to dial in. 

So, while I think it is the best hamstring builder out there that you can easily do with a barbell (there is some argument for the glute-ham, but who has one?), if you want to get good at Olympic lifting, you should limit it to moderate weights done only once a week at most until you become more proficient at the Oly lifts. 

That said … there is one way that the RDL can help a lifters technique.  If a lifter is having a hard time at the Knee Position of the snatch or clean pull, where the bar is at the knee-cap, the shoulders are over the bar, the hips are high, and the weight is hard on the heels, then the RDL can be a good tool to get them used to it.  It is uncomfortable to hold that position, but that is the exact position of the RDL.   Since you can RDL so much more than you can snatch or clean, it can be helpful to “convince” a lifter that they can, indeed, hit that spot correctly with heavy weights – and, so doing so with lighter weights ain’t nothin’.

I guess what I’m saying is:  Use this exercise to build a strong pull, but be conscious about its possible negative effects on your pulling mechanics and your CNS. 

Hip Thrusts

(I’ve added a video at the end of this post by my friend Bret Contreras explaining how to do the Hip Thrust)

We’ve got our quad-focused exercise (Front Squat), we’ve got our Hamstring-focused exercise (RDL), but we need a Booty-focused exercise.  Enter the new kid on the block:  The Hip Thrust.

The Hip Thrust looks rather … odd, to say the least.  But, it doesn’t have any of the negatives associated with the RDL, and it has a number of big positives.

Because the performance of this lift is so far away from anything that looks like a snatch or clean, we have no fear that it will screw with our technical learning.  This is HUGE.  It means you can get as heavy as you want, do it as often as you want, and you won’t have some negative feedback loop in your brain moaning about how confused it is.

We’ve been playing with this exercise now (at PDX Weightlifting) for a few months, and we love it.  It took a while to get down the basic technique (again, see the video below).  But, once we did, we found out something remarkable.

The Hip Thrust is the best exercise I’ve ever come across for teaching a weightlifter (like YOU) how to extend at the hip and not the low back when finishing your pull on the snatch or clean – by maximally contracting your glutes. 

Your hip is able to hyperextend just a bit (you do it all the time when you walk).  This is exactly the motion you need to do to finish your pull.    But, when people are standing with a bar in their hand, and are asked to push their hips “through”, they will, at most, stand straight up.  Worse, some will mimic the look of that “arched” position they see many high level lifters doing by extending with the low back. 

Bad news!

That is only going to result in injury.  Being able to extend properly with the hips is an essential skill the weightlifter needs.  Given that I work primarily with adults, teaching this is a harder job for me than it would be if I was only teaching young kids who seem to learn everything 10 times as fast.  I haven’t yet put the hip thrust into my full rotation for new lifters, but I plan to – especially for those that have the hardest time using the hips in the pull.  I’ll keep you updated.

The last thing I noticed is that the lift isn’t very taxing, no matter how much weight you use.  Yes, the glutes will be sore if you’ve never done it.  But, you don’t have that, “Holy hell, I killed myself yesterday!” feeling that you get when you deadlift, for instance. 

I think one of the best places to put this exercises is as part of your warmup.  Just do 2 or 3 reps on each set.  Add weight slowly until it actually feels like work.  Then stop.  You’ve just primed your body to use the hips and you’ve warmed up a bit.  You are ready to snatch.  I’ve had a number of lifters set PR’s on the Olympic lifts after doing exactly this.  It works!

Conclusion

Let me be clear – again.  I am in no way telling you NOT to back squat.  If you love it, do it.  If your coach told you to do it, for God’s sake, do what she says!!  I have a number of athletes that back squat.  But, if you are doing your own thing (as most of you are), and you are wondering if you can do things differently, then I say, “Yes!  Yes you can.”

OK, here’s the Hip Thrust Technique video I promised you from my man Bret Contreras.  (Be smart, buy his eBook which explains in MASSIVE detail why the hip thrust should be included in your program.  If you can’t tell, I’m sold.)

The Theory of Sport-Specific Conditioning

Posted by Nick Horton | 0 comments

When we use the word conditioning, in normal parlance, we tend to mean it as a synonym for cardiovascular endurance training.  That isn’t to say that we mean it simply to be long-distance running.  It could be interval training, CrossFit, or boxing.  But, in any case, it’s meant as a form of training that gets your heart healthy.  This is a mistake, and quite misleading.

In fact, conditioning does not mean cardio.  It doesn’t even mean muscular endurance.  It is your bodies ability to handle the specific demands of the training for your sport.  It just so happens, that for a lot of sports, conditioning involves what looks like cardio work.

The word conditioning, obviously, comes from the word condition. Are you in the right condition to handle the training demands placed on you?  If the answer is “no”, then the next step is to determine what specific kind of training will bring you “up to speed” so that you are in condition.

Not All Conditioning is Created Equal

Strongman competitors require massive amounts of pure strength, combined with a higher level of muscular endurance than Olympic Weightlifters and Powerlifters (or Throwers, for that matter) do.  Their sport requires that you do exercises that look like pure strength exercises … but you them for a longer period of time or for reps.

For instance, the deadlift.  A Powerlifter only has to lift it one time, and the goal is to get the highest weight possible.  A strongman will have to lift a fixed weight for as many reps as he possibly can.  The requirements for each sport are very different.  Strongmen must incorporate into their training work that will condition their body for doing heavy lifting for a solid couple of minutes straight, rather than for only a couple of seconds.

Powerlifters may never lift anything for more than 3 reps, ever.  Strongmen will go above that more often.

One might say, “Hey, CrossFit does deadlifts for reps.  Maybe that would be a good conditioning for a Strongman.”

Wrong.

In CrossFit, one does moderate to light loads for high (sometimes VERY high reps).  Rep ranges of 10, 20, 50, or more are not uncommon.  This means the type of conditioning work they are doing is geared toward maximum muscular endurance and cardiovascular strength.

In contrast, Strongman shows, especially those at the national level and above, require one to lift in excess of 500 pounds or more on the deadlift for reps.  But, the reps aren’t that high.  Guys often top out around 5 or 10.   Training with light weights in high rep ranges will never prepare you for lifting weights this heavy.  In fact, it will hinder you.  The body can only be good at so many things concomitantly.

Similarly, a CrossFit athlete would not benefit from dumping all their CrossFit workouts in favor of pure Strongman training.  In Strongman the emphasis is still max strength, with enough muscular endurance to handle the demands of competition.  In CrossFit the requirement is like that of a long distance runner.  Events that last as long as 30 minutes require a build up of substantial endurance in the musculature which must be trained specifically.  Having a 700 pound deadlift won’t save you on a workout that requires you to do 5 rounds each of 20 pull ups, 20 burpees, and a 400 meter run!

Team sport athletes often get more than enough cardiovascular and muscular endurance work during their “sport” training.  A basketball player, for instance, when practicing the skills of their sport, will also be running up and down and up and down the court, sometimes for hours!  They don’t need any more it.  There’s a good case to be made, in fact, that they get too much of this type of training and it is causing them to be slower and less explosive because of it.  (But, since Basketball is a high-skill sport, they really have no choice but to practice the skills as often as possible).

But, there are other qualities one must condition themselves for if they are a basketball player.  People often don’t realize just how much of a contact sport basketball is.  If you’re in the paint, you’re getting hit – hard.  If you aren’t strong and stable enough to stand your ground, and make plays in the face of some serious abuse, you aren’t going to make it.  Basketball players who don’t have the luxury of being as giant as Shaq, have to train to get strong enough to repel the big guys.  (Shaq, of course, added to his genetics by training hard as hell and lifting some serious weight.)

Conditioning for the Olympic Weightlifter

It would be easy to say that Olympic Weightlifters don’t do ANY conditioning. But, that would require the synonomy “conditioning=cardio” to hold true.  It doesn’t.  Weightlifters don’t do cardio, as a rule  … ever!  But, they are highly conditioned for the demands of their sport.

It takes training to be able to do frequent maximal (or near maximal) lifts on the snatch, clean and jerk, and squats.  I don’t mean that you have to get strong first.  I mean that your body will feel “broken down” after just one session of this if you aren’t adapted to it, regardless of how strong you are.

When a new lifter comes in, they are lucky if they can lift maximally once a week.  Even that is a bit much. Eventually, a top weightlifter is capable of doing maximal lifts (heaviest lift you can make for the day, not necessarily lifetime best) every day, 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day.  Extra cardiovascular endurance or muscular endurance won’t help you to do this.  Those are the wrong kinds of conditioning.  Only practice on heavy lifting as often as possible will condition your body to this type of training.

Bottom Line

Conditioning is about adaptations to the specific demands of your sport. Find out what those are, and the best methods to train for them.  Don’t just blindly assume that what you need is more time running on a treadmill.  That kind of thing only helps long distance runners.  If that is your sport, then yes, “conditioning =  cardio”.  But, for the rest of us, it’s much more complicated than that.

Now, if you’re really smart, you’ll hire a coach, so that you don’t have to think about these things.

The ‘Secret’ to Bulgarian Training in Olympic Weightlifting

Posted by Nick Horton | 30 comments

(Make sure you check out my updated “5 Myths of Bulgarian Weightlifting“)

It is an understatement to say that Olympic weightlifters are obsessed with Bulgarians.  No, not the people, or the great food (my Step Dad is Bulgarian, I can testify), or the copious consumption of vodka (well … maybe a bit of that). No, Olympic weightlifters are obsessed with Bulgarian weightlifters, and even more so with their previous head coach Ivan Abadjiev.

Much of this obsession culminates in an attempt to use the ‘Bulgarian method’ of training in some manner on their own.  The problem with this is two-fold.  First, it is hard to pin down just what the method was in the first place that catapulted a tiny nation of only 8 million people into weightlifting superstardom and kept them there for decades.  Second, whatever the exact methods used by the Bulgarians, we do know that they were far out of the zone of practicality for most Americans.

That said, it is still instructive to first evaluate just what the Bulgarian system was actually like.  And then to find a way to incorporate some of the best of it into your training.

While you can’t train exactly like a Bulgarian, you CAN get much stronger applying some of the same principles upon which their system was founded.

Also, this is my own interpretation of the stuff that is out there about the Bulgarian system. As I mention below, there is little to go on, so we’re forced into the position of interpreters of scarce data (like paleontologists).  Not enviable, but inevitable.

[side note:  It is a fact that the Bulgarians – along with nearly ever other dominant country in sports – used a shite-ton of steroids and other drugs.  Abadjiev hasn’t shied away from this fact, though he calls them (cryptically) ‘recovery agents’.  The two main reasons you CANNOT train like a Bulgarian are: 1) you don’t have the time, this was their job; 2) you aren’t on a bunch of drugs that enable you to recover so fast.  I’m not going to make this a steroids post.  I still believe you can gain a lot from a modified Bulgarian approach.  But, it would be naive to pretend that steroids didn’t play a big part.  That said, most of the countries have their lifters on steroids, so the Bulgarians were hardly unique in this respect.  In other words, drugs were a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for their success.]

What Is the Bulgarian ‘System’?

Sadly, Ivan Abadjiev has never written a book outlining precisely how he trained his lifters (in the late 90’s there was talk, but it never came to fruition).  And none of his lifters have come out with a ‘tell all’ book, either.  We’re left with interviews of Abadjiev and his lifters, a few articles, some writings by those that have spent time with them (e.g. guys like Randall J. Strossen), Glenn Pendlay, and John Broz (to name a few).  It isn’t perfect, but we do have a few things to go on.  See my reference list at the bottom for a few good reads.

Adaptation

The first key principle that we can glean about the Bulgarian system is the principle of Adaptation.  The point is simply that you adapt in direct response to a stimulus.  Different stimuli produce different adaptations.  The adaptations that come from sub-80% lifts are different that the ones that result from >90% lifts.

The point then, under this idea, is to focus your energy at the top-end weights in training so that you encourage the proper adaptations that are the most sport-specific.

In a general sense we know this to be true.  How specific we can take it is debatable.  But, on the balance, Abadjiev is on to something. If you want to prepare to lift heavy weights, it makes sense to lift heavy weights.

Specialization

The next principle is Specialization.  Exercises that are not directly related to the sport shouldn’t be relied upon. The thinking is that they don’t result in the right adaptations, for one. But, the other reason is that Olympic weightlifting is one of the most unique sports on the planet.  No other sport requires maximum intensity, high level technique, at such a rapid pace.  It doesn’t matter how good your technique is at 80% or even 95% of max.  All that matters is how good your technique is at 100% of max weights.

The only way to train yourself to handle yourself with utmost technique at high intensity at max weights is to do just that with the competition lifts themselves.  No exercise can mimic them.  They are your prime strength builders and technique builders.  Add in some front squats and you’re good.

Abadjiev even dumped the back squat:

“Our athletes do not do any “supportive exercises” they stay with full clean and jerk, snatch, and front squat. We have found that taking back squat out is more effective for the healthy lifter. Sticking with the three lifts named above as the only training for the advanced and healthy lifter…. If the athlete is injured they will do back squat or parts of the lift the full lifts (ie. high pulls, push press, etc…). You must be extremely careful with the stresses you put on your athletes. You must have direct benefits from each exercise because the athlete has limited recovery capacity.” IA

Competition Mode

Abadjiev believed that the best training experiences were contests themselves.  He had his lifters in so many contests that they were happening nearly every 3 weeks!  And in the weeks leading into the contests, they were still attacking max weights.  Training sessions mimicked contests – except that they were worse, because you had to take more attempts at weights you missed, not to mention you still had a ton of squatting to do.

Make your training sessions as much like contests as you can in terms of intensity, exercise selection, and reps. And then compete as often as humanly possible.

Intuitiveness

A point that is often overlooked is the importance in their system of intuition.  Since there is virtually no variety in training at all, it becomes paramount that the lifter learns to interpret what their body is telling them – it’s the only ‘periodization’ available to them.  On days they feel good, they should push it and go for broke.  On days they feel crappy, lay off.   You’ll be back in a few hours anyway.

The other mental point is a total willingness to embrace failure.  Under this system, athletes will miss and miss and miss.  All the time, missing.  They go in, go heavy as hell, and fail.  As time goes on, they fail at higher and higher weights, thereby increasing the weights with which they succeed.

It is through missing that you learn the character of a lifter.

With intuition, lifters create their own version of periodization:

Lifters might take as little as 1, or as many as 10 attempts at maximum. They might hit a maximum and immediately drop back to 80% before progressing back up (sometimes with minor adjustments in the weights attempted). Alternatively, after one or more maximum attempts they may perform drop down, ‘flushing’ sets at various intensities. Additionally lifters change the order of exercises or repeat exercises within the same session to add extra stimulus where required. Finally, the coach might change the training frequency in a given week to permit greater time for recuperation. These and other variables can be continually adjusted to keep training both mentally and physically stimulating (See Appendix). It should be stressed that Bulgarian lifters utilize daily ‘training’ maximums rather than absolute (best ever) maximums. On a given day, depending on fatigue and arousal levels, these two loads could vary significantly.

[I’m going to refrain from the myriad jokes that could result from the “arousal level” comment!]

Examples of Routines

Most of the time when someone says ‘Bulgarian training’ they mean the following:  Lift as heavy as you can on singles on the classical lifts, 3 times a day, 6 days a week.

That is a gross oversimplification that leads to some wildly problematic training – and overtraining.  Abadjiev was highly worried about recovery capacity – or more accurately, the lack thereof.  While his lifters had the benefit of ‘recovery agents’ (roids!), constant massage therapy, ice-baths, etc, they still weren’t machines.  No one, even on steroids, can lift like that.  No one.

Instead, there were heavy days/workouts, and lighter workouts.  On the heavy days, one might do ton of lifts at the maximum.  But, on a light day or workout, they may only do power snatches and power cleans and front squats.  Or full lifts, but lighter.  If doing the power versions, those would be to maximum, but because a power clean is necessarily lighter than a full clean, you are still doing a “light” day!

One of the more frequently seen examples is the most basic:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

9am – 12pm: snatch to heavy single; half-hour break; clean and jerk to heavy single; half hour break; front squat to heavy single.

They may also include back-off sets (singles of course) in the 90% range of whatever the heavy single was. (When I say up to a heavy single, I mean full-on as if it were a contest.  Keep going up till you miss, then try it again.)

3pm to 6pm: same as morning.

9pm: Front squat to heavy single.

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

Same as Monday, but only do power versions (or light full versions).  Also, dump the evening front squats.

Sunday

9am: Front squats to heavy single.

Yep, every day – even the Sabbath.

Another option that I’ve seen is to do only Snatch and Front squats on Mon/Wed/Fri, only Clean and jerk and Front squats on Tue/Thur/Sat, then Front squats on Sunday.  Go heavy when you feel like you can, lighten it up when you have to.  Keep recovery in mind.  (I particularly like this model, it’s intuitive, and basic, and easy to implement.)

How to Use the Bulgarian Ideas to Your Advantage

There are only a few components to juggle when writing a training routine:  exercise selection; sets; reps; volume; load; frequency; and intensity are the main ones.

The Bulgarian training system kept the exercise selection down to a minimum: snatch; clean and jerk; front squat; and sometimes the power versions (at one point they did a lot of back squats, but they took them out eventually).  They kept the reps exclusively to singles and doubles.  The sets varied depending on how they felt.  The volume (sets x reps) was low. The load (sets x reps x weight lifted) was moderate.  But, the frequency and intensity were both very high.

The key to the system is high intensity, high frequency, specificity, and an intuitive approach to volume (more sets when feeling good, less when not).

You can take from that menu what you think will benefit you most.

Here’s an example of one of my all-time favorite Bulgarian variations for people who can hit the gym every day, but not for very long.  It is particularly well suited to older athletes (post-40) whose recovery may not be what it used to be.

A-day

am/pm: Snatches, Front squats

B-day

am/pm: Clean and Jerks, Front squats.

Alternate these workouts 4 to 6 days a week.  (Workout should take between 20 to 40 minutes.)

Do only singles or doubles.  Work up to as heavy a lift as you can on the classical lift for the day, then if you feel good, do some back off doubles at 90%.  Front squat to a max-ish weight (remember not to miss!).  Do 1 or 2 back off doubles on a good day.

On days you feel strong, you’ll be able to do a lot.  On days you are dragging, let it be.  Just work up to a heavy lift, then front squat whatever you can for a single and go home.  If the crappy days are really crappy, that’s normal.  Don’t feel bad.  That’s part of the program.

You can do the workout only once a day or twice a day, depending on what you have time for, and what your goals are.  It’s a simple and intuitive training routine that most anyone can thrive on.

Is it realistic for you?  Maybe not.  If you can only come in 3 times a week, you’ll need to make up for the lack of frequency with higher volume in each workout.  And you can’t just do 1 classical lift in each workout  or you’d only be doing it 1 to 2 times a week which isn’t enough.

If that is you.  Do both lifts all three days, go heavy and hard and finish with back squats.  Same workout every day you come in.  You can progress remarkably far with this.  Go up to something heavy on the classical lift, do some back off sets (2 to 6), move on.   The workouts should be less than an hour and 15 min’s.

My Current Favorite Compromise

The fact is that most recreational lifters only have so much time to lift.  A variation that I’ve used with success with my lifters at PDX Weightlifting is the following 5 day routine:

Monday

Snatch

Clean and Jerk

Back Squats

Some upper body work

Tuesday

Power Snatch

Power Clean

Front squat

Wednesday

Clean and Jerk

Snatch

Clean Grip Deadlifts or RDL’s

Some upper body

Thursday

Power Snatch

Power Clean

Front Squat

Friday

Off

Saturday

Snatch

Clean and Jerk

Back Squat

some more upper body

Everyday, every lift (except RDL’s), go to a max.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, do backoff sets of doubles or singles starting at 80% and working your way up if you can.  Do this for snatch, C+J, and squats, but NOT for Deads.  For RDL’s only do 5′s.

The Downsides of the Bulgarian System

There are at least four major downsides to the Bulgarian system.

The first is injury rates.  It is a fact that lifting at the maximum of your ability every day, all year, is not good for you.  It’s hard on your joints, it’s hard on your muscles, and your connective tissues.  There is a reason that Ivan Abadjiev’s nick-name is ‘The Butcher’.

I am a big believer that if you are never missing on the Oly lifts, you are going too light.  I advocate (in intermediate and above lifters only!) missing regularly.  It teaches you more about your flaws than anything else, and it confers great mental fortitude skills.  Taking 2 or 3 attempts on the snatch and clean and jerk at your heaviest weight for the day should become routine.

But, I don’t think you should miss on any other exercises – ever!  That’s a lofty goal, that won’t be met.  But, missing on other exercises is far more dangerous.  When you miss on an Olympic lift, you were only under tension for a few nano-seconds.  Your technique broke down, and you dumped the bar.  It’s not something that puts your body under great strain.  It was not a miss at the muscular level, it was at the technique level.

The same cannot be said of other exercises like front squats, where the action is slow, and your muscles are under tension for far longer.  In these cases you miss because you couldn’t put in enough force.  You strain to put in max force, fail at the muscular level, and something pops …

No fun.  The Bulgarians missed front squats all the time.  But, that doesn’t mean you have to.

The second is more pedestrian, but arguable nearly as important: boredom.  When all you are doing are the 5 lifts – snatch, clean and jerk, power snatch, power clean, and front squats.  That’s it.  Forever.  You get bored.  There is just no way out of that.  If you’re a top lifter, getting paid to lift, then fight the boredom.  But, if you ain’t … what’s the point again?

Variety is not only the spice of life, it is the spice of lifting.  Most of us really enjoy doing other exercises too.  We don’t want to skip doing deadlifts or Chin ups just because it isn’t directly related to performance of the Oly lifts.  Come on! Them’s fun to do!

Third, the Bulgarian program is not at all good at producing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy – an increase in the fluid in your muscles.  This is the kind of muscle size that bodybuilders have.  It looks good, but it doesn’t make you all that strong in comparison to your appearance.

But, I say, “who cares?”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are NOT a high-level Olympic weightlifter (National level at least), and that you NEVER will be (neither am I, by the way).  Most of us will always be intermediates.  Forever.  And that is totally fine.  Most of us are doing this because it is fun. We ain’t going to the Olympics.

So, if we pop out of our weightclass, are bigger than we should be to be supremely competitive, etc … who cares?  While sarcoplasmic hypertrophy doesn’t result in massive strength gains it is good for you in other ways. For one, it increases you metabolism, so it becomes easier to stay lean.  It also looks good.

Let’s face it, this is America.  We don’t like to put the value of function over the value of form.  If a guy has large arms and shoulders, he’ll be more inspired to keep at it.  Similarly, if women notice that their butts and legs are more shapely because of lifting they’ll be more likely to stay.

Consistency is key.  Paying attention to aesthetics increases consistency.  It’s a fact, and it can’t be ignored in the American market.

Finally, number four.  Most lifters need a lot more work on assistance exercises to perfect their technique.  Remember that when we are talking about the ‘Bulgarian system’, we’re really talking about the top lifters in their system.  You and I are not that, and never will be (at least them’s the odds).

I like to divide the lifting world into two camps: Divers and Pullers.  Divers are aggressive on the 3rd pull and get themselves under the bar very fast.  But, they tend to cut their 2nd pull short, and so leave the bar out front too much and will miss out front (there are lots of other reasons people miss out front of course, but this is a big one).  Pullers love the 2nd pull.  They got lots of power when it comes to getting height on the bar.  But, they don’t even bother with a 3rd pull. They instead try to race the bar down – and lose.  If they can’t power it up, they can’t make it.

Over time, each type will get better and better.  But, certain assistance exercises make a major difference (pulls for divers, full-muscle snatch/clean for pullers, etc).

It comes down to your goals and your level.  The Bulgarian system in its entirety is for very advanced lifters – only.  The rest of us should take from it what we can, but not get carried away.

Conclusion

I’m still a fan of Bulgarian-ish lifting, even though much of it is not applicable to us.  I like heavy singles; I like sticking to the basics; I prefer frequency + intensity over high volume; and I agree that if you don’t train at the high end of performance regularly, you won’t be ready when it counts.

But, there are downsides that can’t be ignored.  “Take what is useful, discard what isn’t,” said Bruce Lee.  Applies perfectly well here.

To get an idea about how my ideas on this subject have been changing, make sure you read my posts about our 2-times a day experiment and my Bulgarian Primer.

References

• Abadjiev, Ivan. “Competition as an Integral Part of the Training Cycle.” http://www.mikesgym.org/programs/uploads/abadjiev1.pdf
• Abadjiev, Ivan. Lecture.  http://www.theironsamurai.com/2010/05/21/ivan-abadjiev-lecture-bulgarian-olympic-weightlifting/
• Drechsler, Arthur. 1998. The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A Guide to World Class Performance. A is A Communications.
• Everett, Greg. 2009. Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide to Coaches and Athletes. Catalyst Athletics, LLC.
• Klose, Thomas. 2000. “Evgueniy Popov: The Bulgarian Buffalo.” MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes. Vol 8, Number 1. pp. 98 – 103.
• Strossen, Randall J.. 1999. “Bulgaria 1998.” MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes. Vol 6, Number 4. pp. 83 – 86.
• Strossen, Randall J. 2000. “Petar Tanev: A New Passport and a Golden Year.” MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes. Vol 8, Number 1. pp. 118 – 122.
• Woodhouse, David.  “Ivan Abadjiev + the Bulgarian System”.  http://weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=438&Itemid=60 You can also download it here.

You can find some opinions about the Bulgarian methods as interpreted by Mike Burgener, Glenn Pendlay, and Steve Gough on these audio podcasts here.

Interval Training: Mainstream Media Finally Catching On

Posted by Nick Horton | 0 comments

Here’s some proof that the mainstream media is finally getting a clue that interval training is far superior to long slow cardio.  (There are some exceptions to this, but odds are they don’t apply to you.)

Hat Tip: Mike Boyle

Ronnie Coleman: Yeah, Buddy!

Posted by Nick Horton | 0 comments

I miss Ronnie Coleman.  Nothing against Jay Cutler, but Ronnie was a fun lovin’ dude.  Yeah, Buddy!