Interview with John Broz VERY interesting

[Johan]

This is one hell of a interesting interview.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121212081

John Broz is a olympic weightlifting coach that is training his athletes by the Bulgarian methods(crazy ammount of work, 2-3 workouts a day, max attempts every day etc). The Bulgarian weightlifters has been very successful and it seems like Broz is gonna repeat that success. Here is a 19 year old he is training that is just out of this world!


772 ibs olympic style squat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFm9q1HBKY

660*6 Squat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvkZuG-CFjI

182kg snatch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQsCXNFOML4

310kg(697,5 ibs)deadlift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df7DAPK4yOY

Here are some quotes from the interview

IT WILL! Training lifts will eventually start to go backwards as you enter into the "dark times". When you are so sore and fatigued that you cant even imagine lifting weights. This time is CRUCIAL to training. You MUST persevere and continue to train! Eventually your lifts will begin to improve and you will make progress and PR's while in a totally fatigued state. When you can make progress when feeling like this, this is when you are going somewhere.

To quote Antonio:"the day will never come when you can't lift the bar"

To quote my first coach:" If you wait til you feel good with no aches or pains to train, you will never be here"

this is a tough one to swallow for most... THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS OVERTRAINING!!! if you can't do something you are not in good enough shape. Here is a story:

IF you got a job as a garbage man (or run a jackhammer, or some other physically demanding job) and had to pick up heavy cans all day long, I'm sure the first day would be very difficult - possibly almost impossible for some to complete so what do you do? take 3 days off and possibly lose your job? NO! you would take your sore, beaten self to work the next day. You would mope around and be fatigued - much less energetic than the previous day, but you would make yourself get through it. Get home, soak in the tub, take aspirin, etc. The next day would be worse..etc. etc. Eventually you will be running down the street tossing cans around and joking with your coworkers. How did this happen? You forced your body to adapt to the job at hand! IF you cant' squat everyday, lift heavy everyday then you are not OVERTRAINED, you are UNDERTRAINED!

Could a random person off the street come to the gym with you and do your exact workout? probably not - cause they are undertrained. Same goes with most when compared to elite athletes.

%'s don't work. Plain and simple. How many times have you had to go in and hit a max but you didn't sleep well, feel under the weather etc. but have to lift a designated amount of weight? Conversely, how many times do you feel great but are only allowed to go to 65-75% when you really feel like you could hit a PR that day? It's hard enough to peak at a meet a few times a year and feel like you are prepared to hit weights that are pre-determined. How can you possibly do it every workout, every lift? simple - you can't.

The more often you attempt max, the more opportunities you are giving yourself to feel what max feels like, make max attempts, hit PR's, and it builds confidence. Eventually max is usual and as routine as walking down the street. Every morning I would squat at least 220(Johans note, kilos not ibs) (usually more, but that was my "minimum" I HAD to do regardless of how I felt) like clockwork. I could do it just as easy as walking to my car to drive home. Pat is currently doing 250 every morning. It is so routine that at any given time, night or day 7 days/wk he would be able to do it without even blinking.

You can't add a predetermined weight each workout because you cant predict how you will feel. You might be able to add 10 kg in one session, or might have to drop 10 kg - the point is don't limit yourself by thinking in a definitive number because you don't know what you're capable at any given moment.

don't take days off if you have access/availability to train. Go in and at least squat 30-40% or something. Squat the bar for 30 reps. Something! it will hurt, but it will help the adaptation progress faster. Don't abandon days if you can help it, simply just go in and bob around and do something - anything! Whatever you can do is better then riding the couch.



"Every time you touch the bar it is a +. when you take a day off it's a -" -Krastev



This applies to any weight lifted, even if it's just the bar.

[Johan]

A post from some kind of doc in the thread with his view on overtraining

@crackyflipside - In the "dark times"? it's just as I said, a lot like "withdrawl"? from substance abuse. If you want the specifics, I�ll try to lay them out for you as best I can. Maybe this will clear up some of the misconceptions people like IA and his nuthuggers have over what actually happens when you lift weights. Then again, maybe monkeys will fly out of my behind...�

Most people think the only part of the body to adapt to lifting are the muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. In fact, the brain also adapts to whatever stress you put on the body. It physically changes its structure and ability to deal with chemicals which directly relate to your physical activity. If you are a runner, youll get better at making and using chemicals which deal with running. Youll also develop and affinity for extremely short shorts, politics, FOX news, granola, etc.�

One thing that pissed me off about IA is his insistence that the CNS fatigues? in some way. Bulls**t. People are still taught that the nervous system runs off of electrical impulses like a power cable. It doesnt. The nerve impulses (synapses) run off of chemicals (neurotransmitters). If these chemicals are not present, there is no signal between brain and muscle. The reason you can measure electrical impulses in the nervous system is because the electrical impulse is a BYPRODUCT of this chemical reaction. Its called an electrochemical reaction.�

A large part of how strong we are is the ability to create and deal with a higher concentration of these neurotransmitters. The nerves develop more receptor sites to connect with them, and the glands learn to make more of the neurotransmitters themselves. Only then do you get a stronger impulse.�

When you start placing demands on the brain to lift maximum weights every day, it says "oh crap I need to learn how to make and use these chemicals or hes going to kill us"�. So it goes through an adaptive period where it shuts down some functions and tries to upgrade?. These are the "dark times"?.�

The main chemical in muscle contraction is SEROTONIN. It actually regulates how HARD the muscle contracts, which is why only the heaviest weights seem to effect our mood, the reason why people shy away from maximal lifting and cower from the imaginary symptoms of overtraining�.�

Serotonin just happens to be the main feel good hormone in the body. It directly effects your mood and mental outlook, your “happiness” and willingness to train. Your sleep, appetite, and also effects the cardiovascular system (your heart rate increases when you are supposedly overtrained� - this is why). The serotonin cycle in the brain gets screwed up when drug addicts go into withdrawl (most recreational drugs artificially influence the serotonin pathways, which is why they are so much fun). There are other neurotransmitters which get effected by this (acetylcholine for example), but serotonin is the big one.�

So, when the body receives a demand to lift heavy things on a daily basis, the brain shuts down the serotonin receptors to upgrade� them. The brain structure changes take a few days to a few weeks. Changes in individual nerves happen quickly, a few days at most. This is why the dark times� occur. Its the adaptive period thats needed for the brain and body to get to the next higher level�. Natures little joke is obviously making us feel like crap when we are actually improving.�

The body is trying to get us to stop the stress so it isnt forced to remodel the whole place, but thats exactly what you want. Thats why its so important to keep pounding away through it all. You want the greatest adaptation to take place.�

Guys who are afraid of this response are guys who are lifting because they like the way it makes them feel. If you do lighter workouts, this serotonin is raised, but there is no signal to adapt. You feel “high”. Basically lifting weights becomes like a drug. People feel better doing light useless workouts, just like they feel better taking a hit of crack. I think this is why no one wants to try lifting the Bulgarian way. They are addicts.�

You asked me about cortisol. There are no good and bad� hormones. There are only hormones specific to your physical activity. Do you know why cortisol is released in weight lifting? Cortisol controls the blood pressure and concentration of blood sugar.�

With short bursts of intense lifting (singles and doubles), blood sugar is not the primary fuel. Blood sugar only becomes an issue when you are doing higher reps. Cortisol is released mainly as a way to cope with these high reps, a way to shuttle more fuel (blood sugar) into the muscle tissue by using higher blood pressure. This is one reason bodybuilders have their posing trunks in a bunch over it. Cortisol is dealt with just like serotonin. The body tries to adapt to using it, and all the bodybuilders run and scream. If they stuck with it theyd go through a response much like the “Dark times�, and theyd be able to handle more high rep sets afterwards.

In this case, cortisol is specific to the activity bodybuilders, not power or olympic lifters. Keep your reps low and you never have to worry about it. (It has nothing to do with total volume, only reps in the set.)

Thats funny what you mentioned about the Bulgarians having huge adrenals. It makes sense. They adapt by getting larger and stronger just like anything else. Thats also a great argument against limiting “genetics”. Someone else would look at normal sized adrenals and say they would obviously be overloaded by stress. The Bulgarians entire organism changed in response to their lifting. Form follows function. Awesome stuff.�

The adrenals dont only release cortisol, they release adrenaline as well. Adrenaline acts as one of the triggers� to this adaptive period. You should go read the lecture by Ivan Abajiev here :�

- weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&Itemi d=75

He explains this whole adaptive period and how it effects more than just the musculature. Go read the paragraphs which start with:

"So this is our aim when we are training athletes, that we would build up all those organs and muscles needed for a certain performance, not only the muscles, but the whole cardiovascular and other systems that support the working of the muscles in order for a better performance. The adaptive process however, does not only include all the lungs and the heart and the other organs that I mentioned."

So I hope I explained that all well enough. Bottom line, from a physiological standpoint - BROZ IS RIGHT. Let me know if you have any other questions.�

[Narkissos]

I agree with this 100%

This is one of the reasons my clients make so much progress in such a short space of time.

Work.

Nothing beats hard work.

This is why people like Charles Poliquin will ALWAYS have clients.

He realized this a long time ago.

Poliquin once said that training 3 days per week is only good for maintenance.

Sure, they're some pretty big guys walking around training 3 days per week.

But the biggest guys are training many more times than that.

And in addition to being strong, they're big AND fit.

[Narkissos]

Now I won't comment on what CFS said about IA and similar trainers.

Not my style.

I will say however, that I believe a lot of people underestimate the adaptive ability of human body.

On a side note: I'm pretty sure MS will disagree with a lot said here... but let's bump it for his input all the same.

After all... there really is not 'right' or 'wrong' when it comes to an opinion where this lifestyle is concerned.

[Narkissos]

I'm on page 3 right now... and wishing Broz posted over here.

I'm loving the dialogue.

In fact, it gives me some ideas that I'm going to try on myself and two of my clients very shortly.

[Johan]

^^ it is extremely interesting stuff no doubt. I have been interested in the bulgarian system ever since I heard about it.

It makes no sense that athletes in just about ALL sports train multiple sessions a day while for some reason strength athletes shouldn't. So I definitely think there is a lot to this, the success of the Bulgarians speak volumes, that such a small country can produce so many champions in such a competitive sport.

After we get me into shape I would be very interested in experimenting with this kind of training. I have more or less decided that my new goal after I lean out and add some lean pounds will be to make an all out effort on olympic lifting and to compete within a year. So if you need more people to experiment on, count me in

[Narkissos]

Read through 14 pages (i.e. the end of that thread)... and realized a new Q & A started up:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=122395951

[Johan]

^^ read through that thread myself earlier but forgot to link.

This thread and the stuff Pendlay writes is really going through my head now. Seems like Broz and Pendlay use about the same methods and both are coaching a bunch of amazing weightlifters that should hit the world stage soon.

[Prada]

Hmmmm...interesting. I just had the time to read what you guys wrote but it seems interesting. I must say that I did frown on the "there is no such thing as overtraining" part.

[Narkissos]

I trained quads 4 times last week.

Loads of volume... loads of weight... loads of singles, doubles, and triples.

I think I'm going to bump it higher this week. :)