Marketers use this fact about how brains work all the time when presenting price – so do I, by the way. First, you tell someone how much the normal price is. Then you tell them the sale price. In that exact order.

If I told you that I was going to sell you a bagel at the price of $3, you’d probably laugh at me. After all, you can buy a lot of bagels for that price. Why in the world would you spend that kind of money for just one bagel?

But imagine instead, I’d come up to you and said, “Normally I sell these bagels for $6 each. They are THAT good. But you can grab yours for half off … just $3 bucks. I only have a few left, so hurry.”

I bet you I’d sell more bagels.

That’s all interesting when it comes to selling stuff and marketing … but it works EXACTLY the same way with ALL of the information our primate brains gather up. What we learn first becomes the reference point. This fact is seriously problematic when your goal is to understand something clearly – and without bias.

The good news is that you CAN reset your brain. It just takes work.

What I Want To Do …

As you know, I’m in the middle of an entire series on Bulgarian Weightlifting which I kicked off with a just-for-fun 21-Day Squat Challenge and a quickie explanation of a simple program for when you have NO time: The 4-Hour (Bulgarian) workweek.

The goal of all of this is to make clear what I think are the most important ideas inherent in the philosophy, what the philosophy is, and how we can utilize that info in our own training to make faster progress.

The problem is that we’ll first have to unlearn all the myths and misinformation regarding “Bulgarian Weightlifting” before we can fill our brains up with the right stuff.

In other words, this post is all about what Bulgarian Weightlifting is NOT. I will outline what I believe it IS in the next article.

However, in order to avoid too much confusion, let me quickly list out the primary components of the philosophy.

As I see it, Bulgarian training is primarily driven by a full acceptance of two ideas:

1. Chaos Theory and the concept of the human body as a Complex System (I mean that in the Physics and Mathematics sense, NOT the colloquial sense)
2. Auto-regulation in training in response to #1

Don’t worry if you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about. I’ll get detailed next time.

NOTE: I will also quite often use the word “philosophy” when I might have been served well to use the word “theory” or even “hypothesis” in my description of Bulgarian Weightlifting. But I am sticking with “philosophy” because I am not at the point where I believe a true working theory or hypothesis has been put forward – that is, something testable. Till then, “philosophy” makes more sense, as I believe this discussion fits well under the umbrella of the philosophy of science.

MYTH #1: If you aren’t in Bulgaria, you aren’t doing “real” Bulgarian training

Purists of all stripes abhor progress. They believe any change to the “classical” system is a degradation of perfection. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it … right?

REMEMBER: Wagner was mocked …

The word “Bulgarian” will always be used by me as the name of a philosophical point of view, NOT a particular training system being done in a particular country. That kind of narrow world view has no place in our discussions if we are honestly trying to advance exercise science.

Let me make it clear that any connection with the in-the-gym realities of the training halls in Bulgaria have absolutely nothing to do with my own definitions of the term in this context. Again, I’m defining a philosophical point of view, not giving a record of what did (or did not) happen at some point in time and space.

That kind of thing is very interesting, and has great historical and etymological value. But it plays NO role in the underlying philosophical discussion at hand.

MYTH # 2: You have to “Max Out” every day

I’d argue that, along with frequency, the concept of going up to a maximum single repetition on your main lifts every day is regarded as the “essence” of Bulgarian Weightlifting. That is highly problematic.

Why?

Because it misses the point entirely of what a philosophy IS.

The “essence” of a philosophical view can’t possibly be limited to a particular set and rep range! What if a Bulgarian weightlifter decided to do a heavy 5×5 on back squats once a week? Would that make them a Texas-style Bulgarian?

Ridiculous (though pretty cool sounding, now that I think about it).

Programs are defined by their sets and reps. Philosophies are not. Philosophies go to the reasons BEHIND why one might choose a particular set/rep scheme. They are not defined by them.

In practice this means that you can be well within the scope of what I’d define as Bulgarian even if you NEVER maxed out.

MYTH #3: High Frequency, OR, You have to workout twice a day, every day

The argument against this one is nearly identical to the one above. Using frequency of training as a defining characteristic of a philosophical system is rather arbitrary.

Is only once per day, 7 days per week enough? How about 5 workouts per week?

You can be Bulgarian and train only 2 days per week. You can train 13 sessions per week and not be Bulgarian at all. Frequency is irrelevant to the discussion.

Further, weightlifters of this stripe hardly have a monopoly on high frequency training! Nearly every high level athlete in nearly every sport trains upwards of 15, 20, 30, or more hours per week. That is standard no matter what philosophical school you ascribe to.

MYTH #4: Bulgarian training is sport-specific

Specifically regarding Olympic lifting: you only snatch, clean and jerk, and front squat to a heavy single max attempt every day, multiple times a day – that’s it. Anything else, and you aren’t REALLY a Bulgarian.

Yet … John Broz proscribes Back Squats and Pulls – daily. Glenn Pendlay has his lifters do stuff off of blocks and crazy complexes. Jim Moser has his lifters doing all manner of multi-phased pull complexes and other “special” exercises to fix a lifters weaknesses.

These are three of the most famously pro-Bulgarian coaches in the country! And even THEY aren’t orthodox enough. What gives?

The issue is two-fold.

First, defining the term “sport specific” is hardly an easy task. Other than the actual sport itself, every other exercise you do is technically not as sport specific as the competition. Even if you simply snatch and clean up to a max today, that is STILL different than a contest.

• Did you only allow yourself 3 attempts?
• Did you have a weigh-in two hours before?
• Did you wear your singlet?

No.

A workout is a workout. A competition is a competition. The point of a workout is to prepare you to do better in a competition. The point of a competition is to win. One is subservient to the other.

The Sport Specific ideology is not as simplistic as “the more this workout is like a contest the better” … It is, “the more this workout prepares me for the contest the better.”

The above two sentences might seem quite similar. But the subtle difference is important.

Second, EVERY school of thought, every workout program, every philosophy of training purports to be sport-specific as defined above. Bulgarian training is not unique, here. The sport-specific-ness of the tenets of the system are at best no greater than those of other competing philosophies that make similar claims about how useful they are in preparing you for competition.

In other words, we can discard this idea outright as a defining characteristic of the philosophy.

MYTH #5: You have to use steroids.

I hate this one … but it’s everywhere.

The argument usually goes something like this, “Hey … look at all those guys who got popped for steroid use who were doing Bulgarian training. Clearly you need to be on steroids to do it.”

That’s not an argument. That’s simple association.

It’s also rather strange given that EVERY athlete at the top of the sport of Olympic lifting on the world stage is on “meds”. Russians, Chinese, Cubans … and Bulgarians. They all take steroids because steroids WORK.

They make Bulgarian training easier. They make Russian training easier. They make Chinese training easier.

Steroids are a part of nearly every sport on the planet, every training philosophy, every program. They are everywhere.

When something works that well, of course people are going to use them when they can get away with it. But what in the world does that have to do with the MERITS of a Bulgarian program?

A somewhat better argument is, “You can’t survive Bulgarian training without steroids because it’s too hard.”

I say “better” simply because it’s less blatantly illogical – not because it’s in any way true.

This confusion is derived from all of the myths above. Excise those from your definition of Bulgarian and you’ll realize how silly Myth #5 is.

Once you accept that Bulgarian training doesn’t require you to max out, to workout 13 sessions per week, or only do snatch and clean and squats … then it becomes far less daunting.

By the way, I have plenty of lifters in my club who are training under a Bulgarian philosophy, and as far as I can tell, they ain’t on steroids. Quite a few of them are over the ages of 30 and 40. And they are doing just fine.

Conclusion

I’m sure I could sit here and write up another 5, or 10, or 20 myths that pop up on the internet forums whenever the word “Bulgarian” comes out. But these are the primary myths that I see the most often, that are the drivers of the greatest arguments – even among coaches – and cause the most confusion.

I’ll come back next time with a detailed definition of Bulgarian Weightlifting Philosophy – one that we can use to further our search for greater progress in a chaotic world in which we have little control.

The ends of the pen spinning between my fingers, my gaze fixated on the six bold navy-blue letters emblazoned along the side, are now polished to a brilliant shine. From Copenhagen to Reykjavik, the sway of airline-standard cabernet to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” in my earphones has served the only respite from the cursor’s relentless blink. How on Earth am I supposed to describe those six letters? How does one possibly go about articulating the Eleiko experience? Do words even exist to describe it? I’m pretty sure at this point that they don’t. But I’m going to try to find them anyway.

See, the Eleiko experience isn’t a thing to be described at all. It’s a feeling. It’s that feeling when you realize one of your childhood heroes is actually better than you had always thought—and had desperately hoped—he (or she) would be, that feeling when you realize the closets are unlocked and completely free of skeletons, and when you’ve been let down so many times that you expect this time to be no different, so you build up your guard, brace yourself, and wait patiently for the shoe to drop. Except that, this time, it never does. Because, this time, your hero has never been, nor has any intentions ever to be, Clark Kent. That’s the Eleiko experience.

Halmstad Bound
Before lifting the veil on the inner workings of Eleiko’s corporate structure and philosophy, I should probably explain why the trip to Sweden was even necessary in the first place. Most people with a pulse in the weightlifting community in the United States would likely find it hard to deny Eleiko’s resurgence into the North American market over the past two years. After seeing the sales figures for myself on Monday, I can pretty confidently say that Eleiko isn’t going anywhere but up, and it’s time we find out a little bit more about the company taking the weightlifting, powerlifting, and strength training worlds by storm in the US (and internationally too, for that matter).

My trip started with a relatively routine 5-hour delay out of Washington Dulles to Copenhagen, where I joined up with my travel guide and chauffer for the trip, Eleiko Sport USA President Rickard Blomberg. His direct-flight-turned-delayed-and-then-re-routed-3-flight trip out of Chicago left him none-the-worse for wear after a tall Americana coffee, and off we were by train to Halmstad, home of Eleiko Sport AB, the company’s international headquarters.

Once in Halmstad, I realized just how thankful I am to have taken that theatre class in high school, a scene that would play itself out quite often during this trip, as it took every ounce of every acting skill I had ever acquired to hide my giddy excitement at the person who greeted us at the train station, none other than Eleiko Sport CEO and Board Chairman, Lennart Blomberg. The fact that I had known—and had worked with—his son since before I had retired from my athletic career did little to quell the butterflies. This was Lennart Blomberg. This guy—whose revered status in the sport, it should be said, is no more outwardly apparent these days than David Rigert’s or Alexander Kurlovich’s—is Eleiko, and he is picking up my bag himself and opening a car door for me. Mental note: even though I didn’t know exactly what I was expecting to experience during my trip to this point, this level of warm unpretentiousness certainly wasn’t it.

But the amicability didn’t stop there. That evening, the Blomberg family met me at my hotel for dinner, and this was when I truly got my first glimpse into why Eleiko is as successful as it is. This is quite possibly the most passionate family I have ever met in my life, and it was blindingly apparent before the appetizers had even arrived that making barbells is not simply a job or a family business for the Blombergs—it’s a way of life. Case in point: a couple years ago, as a Christmas present to Gunnila, the matriarch of the family who has just published a nutrition book of her own, the family was charged with going three solid days—72 hours—without talking about Eleiko. When I asked how that went, Rickard answered only with, “It was very quiet.” They made it two days before breaking their silence and discussing company matters again.

Living the Brand
My remaining time at Eleiko was spent in their machine shop, rubber factory, and conference room. While the “making of” processes for their barbells and bumper plates will be outlined in Part 2 of this series, what I’ll leave it with now is my generalized take from the experience. The pride in ownership, pride of craftsmanship, and overall pride to be a cog in the formidable gear that is the Eleiko brand displayed by each and every one of its employees was enough to write (or text) home about.

Where does that pride come from? It has to come from somewhere, right? At Eleiko, that pride comes from the top down. When I asked the marketing director—who is a woman, by the way, but more on that later—about what she thought made Eleiko the number one barbell company in the world, her answer was unbelievably touching. She said, “Our steel. We’re the only ones with our steel, but even if everyone else had our steel, they still wouldn’t have our Bosse. They don’t have our Spinge. They don’t have our Andreas or Anders or Sarah or Lennart or Gunnila. They don’t have our people. And as long as they don’t have our people, we’ll always be number one. Our people are what make Eleiko great.” After spending time inside the company and meeting all of those people she mentioned for myself, there’s not a doubt in my mind that she’s absolutely right.

In fact, at this point, I’m fairly convinced that Eleiko cares as much, if not more, about people as it does about weightlifting equipment, with the equipment being merely vessels through which to help others. A large part of my reasoning for this conclusion is a phrase I heard Ann-Sophie, the marketing director mentioned above, say on the way back from lunch on Tuesday—“Living the Brand,” part of the title to this article. But what does that mean? What is the Eleiko brand and how does one go about living it?

The Eleiko brand is about putting health and wellness first, about helping people to maximize their potential and experience on this earth by eating right, staying fit, and remaining or becoming healthy enough to do the things they love to do, whether that be competing at an elite level, climbing mountains, skiing, modeling on the cover of Vogue magazine (as one of the Blomberg brood has), or simply being able to keep up with young children or grandchildren. And these folks mean it. It is company policy never to use an escalator or an elevator, even when traveling alone.

Add to that health-conscious mission a desire to promote gender fairness and equality, and you have a fairly accurate depiction of what it means to live the Eleiko brand. Earlier this year, CEO Lennart Blomberg stood up in front of a conference room full of European weightlifting officials and powers-that-be to make his case that, in order to help promote and grow the sport of weightlifting to move it into the 21st century, we need to have more women in high-ranking decision-making positions. You could have heard a pin drop on the carpet in that room after such a blasphemous statement, yet, lest he be deterred, Mr. Blomberg is on his way to South Korea as I write this to give a similar presentation to high profile members of the Asian weightlifting community.

Mr. Blomberg, I tip my hat to you, sir, for standing up for every woman who has ever ghost-written a weightlifting article for a man in order to have it accepted by this industry or who has ever been told that a competition is “too big” for her to run on her own, so perhaps she should consider getting a man to help her, or who has ever been mistaken for someone’s mistress at a competition or conference. You, sir, have my respect not only for the company you run and for the equipment you produce but also for the stand-up man that you are. Thank you for helping to move this sport into the future and out of the Dark Ages.

Ever since I was a child, when I thought about Eleiko, I thought about barbells. During this trip, though, I realized that the company is about so much more than that. It’s about honesty, openness, integrity, an unerring eye for detail and commitment to customer service, an unquenchable desire for improvement and perfection, and, above all else, a desire to provide the full spectrum of equipment and education necessary to help others live the Eleiko brand for themselves because, after all, strong is happy.

My time in Sweden was filled with far too much information to do it all justice in a single article. Stay tuned next month for Inside Eleiko HQ, Part 2: The Birth of a Barbell, which will take a behind-the-scenes look at how Eleiko barbells and bumper plates are manufactured today as well as chronicle how the company grew to where it is now in just 50 short years.- rc

(Note this article was edited by Mark Cannella. Check out more at Columbus Weightlifting.)

This would have been fine, as the point of putting it up wasn’t to have a “hit”. (Not the I mind.) Rather it was to kick off a series of articles that are designed to explain difference aspects of how I approach a “Bulgarian-ish” style of coaching (heavy emphasis on the “ish”), how I define that term VERY differently than almost everyone else on earth, and the lessons you can take away from it all.

I figured it would be cool to kick that series off with a (very) simple program that pushes just one aspect of training that I find important: frequency.

However, I totally expected it to dud. I mean, while training daily (or near daily, or even twice daily) is rather old-hat to my lifters and other serious competitors in the sport … it isn’t something I would expect anyone else to want to do!

I was wrong. Very very wrong … as usual!

Why I’m Bothering To Write This

The 21-Day Squat Challenge article has become one of my most popular posts on Breaking Muscle as of late. It helped drive over 21,000 views from StumbleUpon to the Sunday Seven top list (it was #1).

Most importantly, I’ve gotten tons of emails, private Facebook messages, tweets, and other communication from people who are trying it out.

Rather than spend a bunch of time answering the same questions over and over, I figured I’d create a little resource where all of these questions can get answers. And if you have more, just put them in the comments section, and I’ll answer those, too!

There are a number of them, so I’m just gonna dive in.

Question: Can you explain the program in more detail … I’m confused?

I love writing for Breaking Muscle, but I’m on a word limit over there of about 1,000 per article. Most bloggers would consider this perfectly normal and have a hard time writing ENOUGH to fill the space. Not me!

I’m a blabber mouth. And sometimes I find myself writing on a topic that I have far too much to say about in the space allotted. I then have to cut out a lot of the details in order to make sure the key points are presented.

That’s totally cool, though, ’cause I’ve got this blog where I can blab on as long as is needed to fill in the gaps!

The main point of the 21-Day Squat Challenge

The idea of the challenge isn’t to have you “max out” or anything silly like that. It’s to get you to break the habit of not squatting on a regular basis.

If you go to the gym every single day for 21 days and squat – something, anything – then you win! That’s the ONLY goal. All the rest is just add-on stuff that can be left out.

It’s best to have a beach-bum attitude about it all. If it ain’t fun, what’s the point?

What’s with the “maxing out” business?

I happen to like for beginners – and other people who are new to serious strength training and Olympic lifting – to get used to the idea of hitting a max weight. Not because I think it is a magic way of making you stronger … but because it teaches your BRAIN something important that it won’t learn in any other way: That you’re not gonna die.

I know that might sound funny – and false if we’re being literal! – but one of the main hurtles that will face you in your Olympic lifting training is the fear of going up to a heavy weight on the snatch, clean, and jerk.

That fear is RATIONAL. It’s a rather strange thing to dive under a heavy snatch or jerk. But, that’s what the sport IS.

Most people are quite fearful of this, and no matter how pretty their technique is with light weights, they choke and lose their form when the bar gets even remotely heavy.

One of my favorite ways to start training a persons brain to handle this situation is to get them maxing out (to the point where you miss your last rep) on Front Squats as soon as possible.

The front squat is a rather safe exercise to max out on.

• You can dump it easily.
• It isn’t as heavy as a back squat.
• And it is FAR less scary than a back squat, snatch, jerk, or clean.

It is also POSSIBLE to max out on it. Honestly, there are few exercises available to us that are safe to do this on – and almost all of them are the ones weightlifters use. That last fact is not an accident.

If you are new to heavy squatting, I advise you stick with front squats for a while. The goal isn’t just strength, here. You’re learning skills. Strength is only ONE of the skills I want you to learn from this.

So … squat up to a max daily, but don’t worry if it’s a REAL max. It just needs to be heavy, with good form. No biggie.

While I prefer that you go until you have to dump the bar – miss – that isn’t the only way to miss. Anything that isne with horrible form, or where you have to “Grind” it out is also considered a miss.

Maxing out in this way is EASY to do everyday. Don’t believe the hype in your mind.

If all you did was exactly what I explained above, it would be a VERY low volume program. Think about it: you only did about 4 reps that were at all heavy each day. 4 reps … it’s harder to walk for half an hour.

Question: Can/Should I also do your “Squat Nemesis” workouts along with this?

Yes … but only if you’re a bit crazy and really love squatting.

The Squat Nemesis Program isn’t really a program, it’s a workout that we use IN our programs. (It was named this by my friend, Cliff Dyer, who used it to help him hit a new snatch PR – along with some kick-ass coaching from Caleb Ward.)

I’m going to be doing a whole video explaining it, why we’re using it now, and why I believe it to work so well. We’re getting near our 12th week doing some variation of it 5 days per week. And it’s been a HUGE reason behind our current rash of PR’s.

Until then …

The workout is very simple on paper, and very hard in practice. It can be done with either back or front squats. But like I said above, if you’re relatively new, stick with front squats for a while.

The Squat Nemesis Workout
- Work up to a max single (that is, a miss)
- Drop 30% off the bar and work up slowly to a heavy 3 reps (not a miss, just heavy). Don’t take more than 5 to 10k jumps! You WANT the volume in that mid-range.
- Drop to something lightish and do 2 sets of 5 reps. Your only goal is speed out of the hole. These should be rather light for you, like 40% to 65% of max. FAST!

This could easily take between 30 and 60 minutes. If you’re as lazy as we are, it could take longer. I’ve had guys take up to 2 hours!

Clearly if you are in a time-crunch, this workout won’t work for you. However, if you are adventurous, you can do this workout in place of simply maxing out that day on 2 to 5 days in the week.

So far at PDX we’ve done this in two ways:

• Front squat every time
• Alternate back and front squats with a max of 3 back squat sessions per week.

I’m not saying you couldn’t try this on back squats exclusively, we just haven’t done it that way.

Also, we have not done more than 5 Squat Nemesis Workouts in a week.

3 Sample Versions of the 21-Day Squat Challenge

Given the above, you’ve got 3 primary options:

1. Squat daily, not caring particularly what you do. Just do it and have some fun.
2. Squat to a max/heavy 1 rep daily (preferably on the front squat). Don’t be a maniac, here. Good form still matters!

OR … do one of the following:

3A – Whole Squat Nemesis Meal Deal:

Monday through Friday: Squat Nemesis
Weekends: Front squat to max single

3B – Less insane but still fun

Front Squat to max every day. At least 2 times per week, do the whole Squat Nemesis workout.

Done.

Question: Can I do more exercises, or should I just squat? If so, which ones?

Yes. Now is as good a time as any to tell you something that may come as a shock if you’re new to all this crazy stuff – brace yourself:

In my club, we do all of the above as only about 30% of our total workload.

We often snatch and clean and jerk for a full one to two hours before we even get to the squatting. The shear amount of total work my lifters are used to would blow the minds off of most recreational lifters. (What’s amazing is that most of them ARE recreational lifters! They just really love this stuff!)

You can do just about any exercise you want on top of the squatting. The easiest would be an upper body focussed routine. That would leave the legs totally fresh for the squatting.

Another option is to pair it up with some lower body work like Hip Thrusts and pulls or RDL’s. (See my article on my favorite 3 exercises for the lower body.)

Or …

QUESTION: Can I do this program along with learning/doing the Olympic lifts? Or is it too much?

As I said above, we do exactly that. But HOW is the question that was begged.

While you know I take seriously the principles of Chaos Theory, don’t let that fool you into thinking that I don’t strongly believe in well planned programs. The way we do our Oly lifting is intimately connected to the kind of strength training we are doing and vice versa.

But, the 21-Day Squat Challenge isn’t a program. It’s just a challenge, mostly for fun.

Given that, I’d say your best bet is to simply work on technique with the Oly lifts going up to a heavy enough weight to be considered “work” but not so heavy as to kick your ass. And do this as often as you have time for.

Sets of 2 reps per set for many sets are classic – going for great lifts each time.

Example
- Squats
- Snatch 10 x 2
- Clean and Jerk 6 x 2

That’s a simple, but highly effective method of improving your squats and Olympic lifts at the same time. Do the squats daily, and if you have time, do the Oly lifts. If not, screw it. Doesn’t matter. Ebb and flow, my friend.

QUESTION: Can I combine the Challenge with CrossFit?

Maybe. Depends how you do it.

Unlike the Olympic lifts done the way I explained above, or lazy-bodybuilding work, CrossFit is a very CNS intensive way to train. If you are at all serious about your CF workouts, you likely kick your own bootay at every workout. That’s fine, but it leaves little recovery room on the table for much else.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that if you ONLY max out daily on the squat, you aren’t adding much fuel to the fire. Again, you’ve only done about 4 or 5 total heavy reps that day. That’s easy.

Squat BEFORE your CrossFit workouts – almost like a warm up. Don’t bother with the Squat Nemesis unless you are willing to dial back the CrossFit stuff while you’re at it.

In my experience in training a lot of people who also do CrossFit, you can’t do both with any level of seriousness at the same time. You are either going to focus on your strength training (and/or Oly lifting) OR you are going to kill it on the CrossFit WOD’s.

You can do both, just don’t do both with ultra-intensity.

QUESTION: Is it normal for my squat to go DOWN?!

The short answer is: Yes. The long answer is two-fold:

1. We’re trying to “game the system” of your body.
2. Progress does not look linear, nor is it a simple step function.

I’ll be getting very detailed about the second part of that in an upcoming article. But let me explain it in simple terms really quick:

The graph of progress doesn’t look the way you want it to!

Most people think of progress like a line that is pointing upward. You push hard and you move up. Done.

That view is naive at best. And it is the reason most people find themselves frustrated in the gym so often. Their expectations are totally out of sync with reality. They need a reality check.

In the real world, two facts come to play that make the graph of your progress look far different than expected.

First, some days you will be strong, some days you won’t. The graph will be jagged.

Second, the human body, like (nearly) all natural systems is best described by the exponential function, “e”. That is, you will go through long periods where not much change is occurring, then BOOM, big gains. Then, you start all over again.

So from a birds eye view, progress is like a series of exponentials, one after another. If you zoom in really close, it looks like a super jagged (sine-like) wave function that is up and down everyday seemingly without reason.

Accept this.

Frustration is easily avoided in training by a simple acceptance of reality.

A frustrated lifter is a shitty lifter.

Gaming the body

The second reason for your squat numbers dropping has to do with us intentionally over-doing it for a while.

I tend to write programs based upon something called, “The Hormone Fluctuation” model which utilizes something called, “2-Factor Training.” I’ll go into more detail in future articles in this series, but let’s see if I can summarize it for you.

Most of the programs you are used to – especially those in Bodybuilding magazines – are based on a Linear Model of progress. You create stress to the body via a workout, you rest until your body has adapted, then you go back to the gym and do it again.

This type of training works great with rank beginners, but it breaks down rather quickly as you progress further. The reason is that it takes more and more stress to force adaptation the more advanced you are. That is, your workouts get rather intense.

Similarly, the time it takes to recover fully from such an insane bout of work will increase until you’re at the point of having to take a full week or more off of training in between each session!

THAT, by the way, is the underlying justification of the old HIT routines.

Quicky explanation of the 2-Factor Model

It turns out that the body can respond faster if you stop thinking about your Stress/Adaptation cycle so acutely: workout, rest, workout, rest …

Our new goal is to increase the stress on your body through a process that is very much like the “compounding interest” on your credit card. You workout, then you come back and workout again – before you are recovered – and then do it again, and then do it again, pushing your body further and further down.

You can do this in little mini cycles of only a few workouts/days, or go for a few weeks, or even a few months!

Eventually, you pull yourself back and slowly allow the body to recover, or “peak”. What happens is rather amazing. Over the same length of time, this 2-Factor approach out performs the 1-Factor approach for intermediate and advanced athletes. (This conclusion is based on some science, and a lot of experience by coaches like myself and many others around the world and in many sports.)

Why does the 2-factor approach seem to outperform the 1-factor model? (At least once you are no longer a beginner.)

Well … I’m not sure we have enough accurate data to answer that conclusively. But we do know a few things. One of which has to do with your hormones.

When you push your body down, your hormones (like Testosterone) are suppressed. Eegads! Who wants that?

You do. Because when you then go into a Taper or Peaking phase, your body will respond by raising Testosterone up to levels higher than they were to start with.

The Key Bit: The deeper into the red you push yourself, the greater the response at the end.

A single workout, no matter how hard you make it, can only push you down so far. But if you stack workout on top of workout on top of workout way before you have recovered at all, then your body gets pushed deeper and deeper into the hole.

The downside is that you’ll feel kinda crummy when you are at the lowest low.

The upside is that the gains will be that much greater.

Interesting Side Note #1: There is some evidence – and I’ve seen in many times in my gym – that athletes can make remarkably great gains even when they are still in the depressed state! They are deep down in the hole and yet gains keep coming … weird. I don’t have all the answers on this, and I’d love to see more research on it. But, I CAN say that it works.

Interesting Side Note #2: I’m reviewing Matt Perryman’s excellent upcoming book on the subject of high-frequency training right now, and it goes into some of this and MUCH more. Once it’s released, I’ll post a formal review and link so that you can check it out if this stuff interests you.

The point …

For some of you, even the simplest squat program like this can cause you to start “dipping down” a bit into your recovery capacity. That’s OK. This is only three weeks, for heavens sake. You ain’t gonna die.

Ride it out, then taper down for two weeks and reap the rewards.

Combining the 21-Day Squat Challenge with a two week taper at the end brings this closer to being a real “program” and not just a “challenge”.

I’ll be adding some tapering programs to Samurai Strength Nation this month, by the way.

But suffice it to say that a taper is just a phase where you take it easier on your training.

QUESTION: How heavy should the back off sets be? (Assuming you do them.)

Something most people miss about Bulgarian-inspired training programs is just how important the back-off sets are.

In my discussion with Michael Hartman on Bulgarian Training Basics, we brought up the idea that the “max” was just a gauge for us to see where the athlete is that day.

• Are you fatigued?
• Are you really technical today, but not very strong?
• Are you really strong, but not technical?

In other words, the number you hit for your max isn’t really important. It is simply part of the “data set” that I’m going to look at and use as the basis for what I’ll have you do for the rest of the workout.

Just as important as the number that you hit for your max, is HOW you hit that number. Sometimes, you miss a front squat simply because you got it out of position. Other times, it was a massive grind out of the bottom.

Those details matter.

If you are super grindy on the way up with a number you normally are not grindy with …then I know you are fatigued, and I’ll have your drop pretty low for your back off sets.

If you take a big lift, but barely miss it for technical reasons, then you may end up hitting some very heavy back off sets.

All of this implies that doing things the way we are is VERY coaching intensive. But that doesn’t mean I have to be there.

You are your first coach.

Only you can say for sure what you are capable of. Unfortunately, you also have to know yourself very well to accurately tell if what you are feeling is at all true! (See my article, How You Feel Is A Lie, for more on this.)

Much of what I’m trying to teach you – in my articles, videos, and in this challenge – is how to auto-regulate.

Auto-regulation is simply the act of adjusting what you are doing based on how capable you feel in that moment.

No easy task!

It takes practice to learn that connection between how you feel and what you are actually capable of.

The back-off set variations don’t really matter as much as your ability to decide what to do based on what you CAN do that day.

So … when you go down in weight after your “max” just do what seems reasonable! Don’t have some preconceived notion in your mind about what you SHOULD be able to do. Who cares. Just do something. If you feel good, go for it. No? Don’t.

Got More Questions? Put Them In The Comments Section Below

Don’t be shy …

There’s a lot of great take-away info in this interview. Including:

• Why is Bret Contreras known as “The Glute Guy”?
• Should he be called, “Contreras the Controversial Contrarian?”
• How has his ebook been received in the fitness community
• … and What effect has it had on the training we do at PDX Weightlifting
• Is Sport Specific training a Myth?
• Should athletes (who aren’t Olympic Lifters or CrossFitters) even bother with the Olympic Lifts?
• What’s up with the Sprinting controversy?
• How Bret got totally mired in the Lumbar Flexion debate (AKA – Are crunches bad for you?)
• What the hell is wrong with the fitness industry
• … and worse, fitness bloggers and “guru’s”
• All about Bret’s new kick-ass “Strength and Conditioning Review” project

• Bret’s blog
• Research review

For the Audio-only download Click Here

Finally, here’s a pic of Bret in a cowboy outfit … ’cause why not

We talk about a lot, but some of the main stuff that will help you in your weightlifting is:

• A big heel doesn’t make you a bad person
• The importance of volume in your training
• The best way (according to Gwen, her coach, and yours-truly) to learn the snatch
• Why understanding the exponential function WILL make you a better lifter
• That “Bulgarian” does not equal maxing out
• How being a Geek really is more awesome
• That Gwen can really blow shit up
• And why cheerleaders made kick-ass weightlifters

I had a ton of fun in this interview and it was nice to chat with someone who I consider a very good friend, but lives on the opposite coast. Skype is awesome for that kind of thing.

My BWFF, Gwen Sisto, makes this look easy ... it ain't!

You can check out more about Gwen Sisto and her company by following these links:

• Risto Sports
• Gwen’s Blog

(If you want to download the audio, click here to go the official Weightlifting Academy page)

Does the sun revolve around the earth? No. Why did people believe such a crazy notion? Were they stupid? Of course not.

The trouble with science is that it just doesn’t give us the level of certainty we humans seem to obsessively (and desperately) want. But don’t let that cause you to despair. Quite frankly, I find this lack of certainty in science quite liberating.

Without hard and fast rules, we are given de facto permission to relax about the details of health, fitness, and exercise.

I decided to do this largely because I got a number of unsubscribes from my email list in the last few days from some folk who are “just fed up” with my not supporting their particular thing – really, some of them were MAD.

Mostly it was in response to my 21-day squat routine, my discussion of Bulgarian training on Weightlifting Academy, my calorie deficit argument (the article it’s in response to), and recent podcasts on Intermittent Fasting, as well as my write up of my own experience with it. You know … hot-button issues

What’s funny is that I have many other readers and friends (shout-out to Steve!) who I have great fun arguing with, who – like me – find it fun to debate … but don’t take themselves so seriously that they flip out every time someone doesn’t agree with them. This stuff is supposed to be fun

I also find it odd that these folk stayed on my email list as long as they did. Not sure what’s up with that.

Here’s my mini-rant about the notion in the Philosophy of Science called “the under-determination of fact” and how I feel that it’s massively important to all of our discussions – if for no other reason, because it will keep the discussions civil.

For more on the Philosophy of Science, I suggest starting with Karl Popper. He’s my diggity dog.

Squatting is at once one of the easiest things to teach in the gym, and one of the things most trainees do horribly wrong – which increases the likely hood of injury something fierce!

I believe in having my lifters squat as often as they can possibly handle it given their time constraints (as was made abundantly clear in my article at Breaking Muscle this week, “The 21-Day Squat Challenge.”) . But in order for that to happen, they need to squat well so that they don’t injure themselves … duh!

Here are the 6 major things you need to put into place if you want to squat the way my lifters at PDX do.

1. Put on a heel! We cheat, I’m gonna throw that out there up front. Without a heel, squatting like a weightlifter will be nearly impossible.
2. Increase mobility in the glutes, especially the periformis region.
3. Increase mobility in the hip flexors
4. Increase mobility in the groin
5. Keep your hip bone right on top of the ankle bone as you go down in the squat as best as you can. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s a great goal.
6. Keep your chest up and torso locked at ALL times!

You may wonder why I did’t tell you to increase your ankle mobility? Well … I DO want you to do that. I want you to do a lot of things … but I can only have you learn so much at a time, and I like this stuff to come first.

I see more bad lifts because of a lack of mobility in the hip region (glutes, groin, hip flexors) than I do from bad ankle mobility.

Realistically, that’s in part because of the heel on the foot. Just like a cyclist needs pedals on his bike, a weightlifter needs heels on his … heels

On with the show!

I wrote an (only slightly) tongue-in-cheek article over on Breaking Muscle called, “Are You Geeky Enough to be a Weightlifter?”

Yes, of course, I’m playing around a bit. But, I’m partly serious. The skills, the mental tools, that geeks have access to are tools you NEED to develop to be good at the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.

Namely: Patience, consistency, a willingness to work hard on minute details, etc.

When I was in the 8th grade, I used to sit around at the coffee table at home and create Algebra problems for myself to solve. I thought it was FUN. I liked the mental challenge.

Looking at something that takes hard work, time, and consistency as fun (rather than miserable) is  MUST if you want to snatch and clean and jerk big weights.

Geeks are like that naturally. And I’m proud to be a Geek

Here’s a big quote:

Remember what everyone said about the nerdy kid? He/she isn’t very popular right now, but just wait. Someday they’ll be more successful than anyone else in the room.

That’s actually fairly accurate. Yes, it’s a trope that is a bit overused in the movies. But it’s based on fact. The kids who were spending their time working on their brains grew up and found they had a HUGE advantage over their competitors. They knew more, they were more analytical, and they were better able to deal with (and learn from) failure.

As a kid, the only thing that mattered to your peers was whether you had personal skills. More accurately, that you could play the right game in the right way: the cool-kid game.

That skill is also important to the success of anyone in the adult world. The old saw thatlife is like high school is dead on in that respect. If you can’t communicate well, get people to like you, and persuade others to see things your way without coming across as annoying, then your success will always be hampered.

However, no matter how important those “soft skills” are, they MUST be backed up by “hard skills” and the ability to execute. You can only fool people for so long before they figure out you’re full of it.

Click here to read the full article

Peter and I tackle Intermittent Fasting on the High Octane Body Podcast for our Auspicious episode number 7.

In this review you’ll learn …

• That the number 7 has a cool sound effect
• Why fasting is not unhealthy, in fact, it may prolong your life
• What Sasquatch eat …
• Why fasting is not “weird”, it’s part of many cultures and has been for millenia
• That fasting is NOT necessary, but we like it
• That Athletes need to eat all day because they have a hard time getting in ENOUGH calories
• You will NOT die if you miss a meal … even though we were both convinced of this for years
• How Nick lost 15 pounds in 1 month before his wedding by eating burgers, bacon, and vodka
• Why Fasting is often EASIER psychologically than most forms of dieting – as odd as that sounds
• Why making decisions can be bad for you
• That implementation is where it’s at …
• Why Coaches often have coaches
• Why you’ll save money on Tupperware
• How fasting can accelerate fatloss because of hormonal response reasons
• How stress is not always bad, and might help you fight disease and live longer

Click here to listen to the Podcast episode

Below are all six of Gwen Sisto’s attempts (and makes, she went 6-for-6) at the 2012 Olympic Weightlifting National Championships.

I’m putting these up for two reasons. The first is that Gwen is super-duper cool, and I’m proud of her.

The second is because I think you could learn a lot by watching her technique. She’s got remarkable technical skills on the snatch and clean and jerk, that are closely aligned with the particular way in which I like to teach them.

I want you to focus on this one thing, that is so often messed up with beginners. It might seem small, but it is actually a huge deal.

Notice where her shoulders are relative to the bar, as the bar is being pulled off the floor. She doesn’t let them drift forward past the bar. She keeps them basically right on top of the bar for as long as she can. This helps her to keep the bar over her center of balance better, and that means she is far more likely to end up with the bar in the right place.

Think about it. That bar is getting heavy. It’s well over her bodyweight in every one of these lifts. If she allows the bar to drift out forward (which is bound to happen to most people when they allow the shoulders to poke forward too far too early), then the bar will drag her forward and she’d never have made these lifts look so sweet.

I generally teach new people to start with the shoulders BEHIND the bar … not because that’s actually where you’ll be starting in the long run, but because it gets you used to the idea of at least not being in front.

Sometimes a lot of what teaching is, is over-exaggerating something in the beginning to make a point …

And the point in this case is that there should be an imaginary wall shooting up from the barbell – don’t let your shoulders poke through the wall. They can touch the wall (be right above the bar). But not through the wall (shoulders forward past the bar).

Obviously, at some point during the pull, the shoulders will be forward over the bar. But this is a byproduct of your rising your hips to get your knees back out of the way and putting yourself in what is basically a Romanian Deadlift position.

It is not the goal in-and-of itself.

Next time you’re on the platform, channel your inner Gwen, keep the shoulders in the right place, keep the bar over your center of balance, and if you make it … Tebow!

Snatches

80k Snatch!!

Clean and Jerks

You can hear me in the background being a “woo girl” on the Cleans … Hey, I’ve accepted what I am.

Hip Drive …

Did you notice her ridiculous hip drive? That’s how it’s done!