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Barbell Why Squatting Every Day Doesn't Work

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In a similar vein, my coach once told me that I needed to be able to OSQ at least 140kg to be able to compete on the national level. And that Rigert and all the other great Soviet lifters had threshold they were able to hit. I think it was 140kg/5, but I can't remember.

My best I think was 152kg/2 x5. It was my least favorite thing ever.

Oh arrrrgh.

I'd almost rather do burpees for a meso cycle.

Almost.
 
I don't follow him closely, but I think he's been stalled in the low 200's for like a year now?
Yeah, I think so. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan, but yeah, if my goal was 300kg...
This reminds me of the stories about how the Bulgarian method didn't work when Ivan Abadjiev came to the US and had neither the conveyor belt of lifters to feed survivorship bias nor the drugs to make the daily 90% attempts work without leaving lifters broken
Yeah... shocking, right?
 
@Boris Bachmann and @watchnerd - I remember a few years ago listening to Max Aita talk about when he went to train with Abadjiev, and he talked about how a lot of the lifters would "make" attempts that they didn't lift when he wasn't looking (or purposefully fail a lift), or would misload the barbell so that the side facing Ivan looked like a 90% max but the other side was underloaded. Not sure how prevalent that was throughout, but it was interesting. Basically the gist I got was that a lot of the lifters knew that "maxing" was expected but would intentionally under-preform and try to hide it.
 
@Boris Bachmann and @watchnerd - I remember a few years ago listening to Max Aita talk about when he went to train with Abadjiev, and he talked about how a lot of the lifters would "make" attempts that they didn't lift when he wasn't looking (or purposefully fail a lift), or would misload the barbell so that the side facing Ivan looked like a 90% max but the other side was underloaded. Not sure how prevalent that was throughout, but it was interesting. Basically the gist I got was that a lot of the lifters knew that "maxing" was expected but would intentionally under-preform and try to hide it.

That's pretty funny.

Hire a coach known for a particular method and then intentionally undermine the method.
 
@Boris Bachmann and @watchnerd - I remember a few years ago listening to Max Aita talk about when he went to train with Abadjiev, and he talked about how a lot of the lifters would "make" attempts that they didn't lift when he wasn't looking (or purposefully fail a lift), or would misload the barbell so that the side facing Ivan looked like a 90% max but the other side was underloaded. Not sure how prevalent that was throughout, but it was interesting. Basically the gist I got was that a lot of the lifters knew that "maxing" was expected but would intentionally under-preform and try to hide it.
Doesn't surprise me really - young people, when they're just trying to survive the training will often do stuff like that.

As a D1 swimmer, I remember swimmers 'disappearing' for sets at a time (blowing bubble from the bottom of the deep-end, hiding in the bulkhead, taking an extended bathroom break, etc). I mean, when you're swimming 10 miles a day, does it really matter if you miss a repeat or a set here and there? Coaches would flip out occasionally of course, but truth be told, I think they knew it was dumb to expect 100% adherence/compliance too.
 
Coaches would flip out occasionally of course, but truth be told, I think they knew it was dumb to expect 100% adherence/compliance too.

The Abadjiev Corrollary:

Any under-application of training compliance can be solved with an over-application of drugs
 
The Abadjiev Corrollary:

Any under-application of training compliance can be solved with an over-application of drugs

Does anyone actually know and not assume how different the Bulgarian doping policy was from the rest of the World?
 
I would tend to agree.

That's why I'm puzzled how at times the incredible success of the Bulgarian weightlifters is reduced to "lol drugs".
I don't think that's anyone's intention (at least it's certainly not mine). However, looking at the training of world class olympic weightlifters (who are likely using PEDs) and then trying to apply that wholesale to my 50+ year old weak-sauce butt might not be a good idea either.
 
My $0.02, FWIW -

I've used it all.

Probably the most sustainable progress I've ever made is a L-H split, 2x week, which is what my coach argued for when we started training together and I was convinced 3x week was best. (Youth - it's wasted on the young.)

Interestingly, and I'm sure Eoin knows this - Glenn Pendlay, arguably the U.S.'s most decorated coach in recent years, also settled for 2x week with his lifters - Light-ish at the beginning of the week, heavy at the end of the week.

There's a world of difference between how drugged professional lifters train and how the rest of us train. It's like apples and oranges. Or watermelons and apples.

It's also worth noting that it's easier to be "successful" squatting every day with a barbell using the Front Squat or Zercher Squat, because they put less direct loading on your spine. So if you want to experiment with the concept, start with the Zercher Squat.

Finally, I think also the following "difficulty" continuum is worth keeping in mind:

Most Difficult --------|------------------------|-----------------------|----------------|-------------|----------------|--------------------|------ Least Difficult

Barbell Back Squat > Barbell Front Squat > Zercher Squat > DKB FSQ > SKB FSQ > Goblet Squat > Bodyweight Squat

So although you may not be successful using a barbell, you may be successful using a KB.

Hope this helps.

Excellent post.:cool:

I had the privilege of briefly talking with Glenn Pendlay years ago, on another site. For a man of his accomplishments, he was very down to earth, and happy to share his huge knowledge of training.
 
I would tend to agree.

That's why I'm puzzled how at times the incredible success of the Bulgarian weightlifters is reduced to "lol drugs".

That's just the shorter version of the meme that:

"Bulgarian method will likely break you if you're not on PEDs."

At least in American weightlifting circles (where the athletes don't start as young as they do in other systems), there is folklore that some national-level American lifters who tried it were broken by it.
 
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That's just the shorter version of the meme that:

"Bulgarian method will likely break you if you're not on PEDs."

At least in American weightlifting circles (where the athletes don't start as young as they do in other systems), there is folklore that some national-level American lifters who tried it were broken by it.

But blaming it only on the PEDs is strange. Why not talk of the need of PEDs for the Soviet System, which was relatively almost as successful and absolutely more successful?

The other weird part of the discussion often is the notion that there would be endless queues of young Bulgarians looking to get their chance at weightlifting, if one should fail and drop off the wagon. Seriously, where does this idea come from?
 
But blaming it only on the PEDs is strange
This! On this forums and many others when talking about successful methods, from Sheiko, Westside, Chinese wlt team...steroids is mentioned and very quickly people argue that's the key. Going that road seems like a dead end to me; no longer we can learn from the method and people behind it.

My experience with squatting everyday:
Background:
- Much weaker compared to many of you. Weight about 70 - 75 kg most of the time. Current max back squat is 150 kg
- I ran squatting everyday from Nov 2020 (I believe) to Mar 2021. After that I ask Eric help for a meet and he pulled me back to squatting twice per week, one heavy, one light.
- Before squatting everyday I did the Texas method, before that doing sets of 5 for squat.

Success (modest one)
- 10 kg to back squat. From 135 to 140, then 140 to 145. All is atg
- A few kg of weight gain. Squat is the only lift I done with frequenly (I don't deadlift, bench or ohp much during that time) so squat is the main driver I believe.
- Less scared of squatting. This is the most important thing that I gain from this. I'm also more comfortable with pausing at the bottom position.
- Most of the time I feel fresh.

Drawback:
- Very hard in terms of planning/ programming. I remeber most of the time I just do a few sets of heavy rows, then squat, then come home.
- Other lifts get negative impact because of lacked of practice, mostly upper body push. My deadlift increased thought
- My friends at the gym said that I look like T-rex. Some said dyel
- It's hard to increase the volume to keep progressing. I believe 10 kg gain was from both squatting every plus a long duration of squat with sets of 5 before that. When the benefit of 5-rep squat duration ran out my progress stall. Greg Nuckol recommends doing sets of 3 and 5s after hitting daily max; I do it and noticed it became harder to recover. I ended up doing it quite randomly.
- A strange addicted to squatting. When I saw a squat rack I did a set of squat, and next thing I knew I drop my plan and just doing squat. Everything else feels meaningless. It's hard to explain.

Despite of all the drawback, I had zero injury and if I can come back I would definately do it again, of course with some change.
 
The other weird part of the discussion often is the notion that there would be endless queues of young Bulgarians looking to get their chance at weightlifting, if one should fail and drop off the wagon. Seriously, where does this idea come from?

I don't know where the endless queues idea comes from, but I've seen it asserted many times.

It's part of the mythology at this point.

The meta-point, though, is probably this:

Culture and context matters, and you can't copy pasta Warsaw Pact methodologies (or Chinese methodologies) to American weightlifters, who don't have the same motivations or grow up in the same system, and expect the same results.
 
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Drawback:
- Very hard in terms of planning/ programming. I remeber most of the time I just do a few sets of heavy rows, then squat, then come home.
- Other lifts get negative impact because of lacked of practice, mostly upper body push. My deadlift increased thought

These are the drawbacks I notice even if I'm doing heavy squats only 3x a week (let alone more often).

I just don't have enough training time, and recovery time, to properly work the competition lifts and upper body accessories.

And because I wasn't very fresh, my other qualities (speed, explosiveness) suffered.

My jerks are my big limiting factor, anyway, and going ham on squats doesn't help that much.
 
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Fwiw, I have done stints of squatting everyday and if you love squatting everyday and it's what you want to do, then fine. Do it. As long as you are smart about it and don't go nuts with it, I don't think it's so terrible to do an exercise everyday whether that's jogging, or swings, or squats. Or if you're going to squat everyday incidentally because you are a weightlifter then of course.

But, I won't even bother to entertain the notion that it's the best way to develop your strongest 1rm in the movement. Beyond being a quirky way to go about training I don't think there's any real imperative or advantage to barbell squatting every single day. At all.
 
I don't know where the endless queues idea comes from, but I've seen it asserted many times.

It's part of the mythology at this point.

The meta-point, though, is probably this:

Culture and context matters, and you can't copy pasta Warsaw Pact methodologies (or Chinese methodologies) to American weightlifters, who don't have the same motivations or grow up in the same system, and expect the same results.
Didn’t/doesn’t Bulgaria have weightlifting in their public school system? That would be where their farm comes from, just an overall larger pool if mostly every child learns it at an early age.
 

Why Squatting (performing any big lift) Every Day Doesn't Work​

What is unique about squatting here? Other than some have done it successfully and some are fascinated by the idea... where are the examples of great or extended runs of success doing other lifts daily?
 
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