BOTEV Explains BULGARIAN Training Under ABADJIEV

[@WeightliftingHouse]

Watch the Full podcast - patreon.com/weightliftinghouse

[@clarence0]

Less is more. Less rest

[@rustyrave]

Hello Clarence

[@toximan2008]

rest? you mean dbol?

[@onemanswrld405]

Rest, test, same thing

[@scottessery100]

If you were Bulgarian what’ would you do Clarence?

[@tombray2404]

@@scottessery100 He'd probably have a couple olympic medals hanging on his neck

[@bradenbash5916]

6 maximal lifts at a competition must feel like a rest day compared to what the bulgarians are used to for training...

[@o-neil]

As far as I'm aware, that was intended. I heard they wanted to train then so hard that competition is easy.

[@andreas_klinger]

I assume it's "Maximum for the day" as in heavy lift weight. Guessing that it's likely close to their PR but not PR - otherwise how can they do multiple of the single PR weight.

[@matthiasroiss4739]

@@andreas_klinger drugs and no care for injuries. they did the maximum

[@usbgus]

People are weirdly drawn to the Bulgarian system. As a Bulgarian I can say it doesn't work for individuals. It works for countries. You put your country on this training plan and the lifters with the most insane genetics and work etic will survive. The rest will overtrain and get injured, but they don't matter. If you are planning your country's program, you can try it. If you are planning your personal training, move along to something else more sustainable. Mad respect for the veterans of this method. Their work etic is epic. But we have to keep it real.

[@LARGAS13]

You said everything. As a Greek, that our Federational Coach had built his program out of Abadjiev's system (they were friends) that is exactly what he was saying 👍

[@PhilosophicalWeightlifting]

What a legend. I still can't get over the fact that we podcasted with Botev whilst he was seated in a car in Bulgaria...

[@Radoslavv9]

A few month ago i was squatting 220kg and i remeber my coach, Zdravko Stoichkov (at the national team at the same time as Botev), telling me, Rado, Botev did jerk that weight еasily than you squatted it..

[@jeffriggins9106]

😂😂

[@FOUDEFOOT85]

hi who is better in sport ? romania or bulgaria ?

[@ХристоР]

@@FOUDEFOOT85 Romania has representation in more sports and has more Olympic medals. In weightlifting and wrestling Bulgaria is p4p the best.

[@frontrackkid631]

I like that type of energy

[@JFMark]

​@@FOUDEFOOT85 Both of em were anormal and strong !

[@theodor320]

We need a new segment 'Story time with Botev' - just going back talking about training 10 hours a day back in the day.

[@jishubharadwaj3817]

Yessss

[@thebarbellboi]

One of the hidden gems of weightlifting. Thanks to seb for sharing it with us!

[@ConnoisseurOfExistence]

8-10 hours of weightlifting per day, with maximums every day... Insane...

[@keldsports8337]

The Ironmind video of Stefan is amazing. I’ve probably watched it 100 times. Always gets me fired up to train 😎

[@webapp31]

Well this was an unexpected video! I always have admired Botev's work ethic. There's a 50 minute training video on Ironmind's channel of him training and it's absolutely brutal!

[@jclips2098]

I play that video sometimes when I’m working out, really good motivator.

[@chasetorres4964]

Favorite lifter of all time. Thank you for this. If you ever interview him again I would be interested in the psychology (I am a psychologist) behind mentally managing and enduring such hell. Where did Botev put his mind and focus during the dark parts? How did he remain motivated with such physical fatigue?

[@IlianNachev]

The situation in Bulgaria at the time was this “if you really want to achieve, you last mentally. If you are not willing hard enough, you fall out of the process.” Simple as that. It is a bit of a Communist system mentality, where discipline is of utmost importance. Also, the alternative for most of those athletes was to become regular Joes, who work as a welder, construction worker, or in the best case scenario, as a coach for close to nothing. Enduring through the hard training was a possible ticket out of the country and to a financially better life. That is a big incentive for a person who has actually lived during the Communist regime and has realized its limitations.

[@drew78ism]

Brilliant seb, I was going to ask if you'd ever do anything on botev and here it is! Thanks!

[@WeightliftingHouse]

If you are interested in more from him I did a podcast on his life a few years ago in the Sinclair Countdown series, and wrote about him in The Greatest Weightlifter of All-Time book.

[@drew78ism]

@@WeightliftingHouse listened today. Have you ever considered interviewing randy strollsen about the ironmind vids? He must have some interesting stories.

[@FishbrainMnt]

I'm Bulgarian and I don't know half of the names that were world/olympic champions in the golden era for Bulgarian weightlifting. I'm little bit ashamed of myself. Thank you for uploading such a valuable content!

[@FishbrainMnt]

@Даниел Димов Засрамих се...

There is a bulgarian documentary made in the 80's..named school of champions..i am sure you will enjoy it..

[@OsnoloVrach]

@Communismatic Няма. Това не се счита като обща култура, тази информация е предназначена за хора, които са борци или хора, които вдигат тежести. В сегашна България населението по-малко и по-малко се интересува в такива спортове, златния век си отмина. Ти също може би не си знаел тази информация(първоначално), трябва ли да те е срам? Ще бъде само истински срам ако човекът, на който говориш, не знае кой е Васил Левски, Христо Ботев и други като Борис трети, Аспарух, Александър Батемберг и храбрите войски, партизани, горяни, войводи, учители и светци, поради които се нарича ме Български народ, и поради който имаме собствена и уникална от другите култури, традиции, език, история и много други.

[@OsnoloVrach]

@Communismatic Горяните са били хора срещу идеите на БКП, Тодор Живков или изцяло тоталитарното управление

[@OsnoloVrach]

@Communismatic Ти кви глупости говориш бе? Тоталитарният режим не е бил харесан от много хора поради колективизацията, национализацията, и други причини, което води до движения срещу Тодор Живков и режимът му са били намразени от т.нар горяни

[@bobbyp8221]

A true legend of the sport..great interview.

[@mangoauto8450]

Great video guys. I know it is a few years old but what a perspective

[@andreasstadler65]

Stefan Botev war in der Bundesliga beim ASV Ladenburg und ich war dabei1990/91 , the best 🏋️🙋🏻‍♂️

[@OfKilmurray]

This is awesome, now I want the interview with: Galabin Boewski, Georgi Markov, Georgi Gardev, Vanev Zlatan ... Pleeeeease Seb !!!

[@TheTillhammer]

Man this was a great watch! I hope you can get Polovnikov on the show!

[@danielghesquiere2011]

Roughly 250 max attempts a week. I had to pause for a while after he said that.

[@WolfgangLizana]

Awesome interview guys! Thanks for this

[@markovasil1608]

More videos of Botev please! Great video

[@joe718gt4]

Very good Patreon post

[@AliCanTUNCER8]

Great interview.

[@miketracy9256]

As we learned in Marine Book Camp, "The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war."

[@theturk1939]

When your daily workout routine is harder than the competition.

[@loluskekus]

For a second I thought Stefan did narration for School of Champions documentary. Or maybe it's just similar Bulgarian accent

[@beyondmeaning]

50-60 Max attempts a day. 70 tons lifted per day. Superman would be sore after this workout.

And he will think to train or not the next day..that's for sure..🤣🤣👍..

[@sukraatahluwalia5137]

In other news, Lasha just snatched 223 and CJ'ed 265 in a training session.

[@sakaue]

Damn, i might actually live to see a 500kg total

[@jeffriggins9106]

More importantly bring back the press

[@Danoliveira3]

@@jeffriggins9106 the hard thing about the press is to judge it as a strict movement, I don't see it coming back

[@jordangroff8978]

Bet he's still strong as hell.

[@Lavabug]

you can hear it in his voice. The confidence alone is a 300kg squat

[@mme9646]

@@Lavabug lmao exactly

[@jamesdean1143]

Strong enough to moonlight with a bit of door security in the evenings and debt collection during the daytime.

[@Miiiiiiighty]

Botev is a legend !

[@wraymcclamma4707]

That volume is not for mortals

[@slothbin]

Does Botev talk about his move to Australia? Funny seeing him train in a Telstra t-shirt (Aus telco company)

Well..Mr Botev was really an elite lifter..the Abadjiev methods of training were not for everyone..that's for sure..may i suggest to you to try to interview more bulgarian lifters of these days??

[@kangkim6534]

Amazing!

[@cannonfodder8287]

This was the coolest thing ever.

[@Seb4asti4n]

That's wild. Even more than I thought. Maxing out 50-60 times per day??? Hnnng my joints.

[@bestonemusic]

1988 Seul: a second Bulgarian weightlifter was stripped of his gold medal today after tests showed he took a banned weight loss drug and Bulgaria then pulled its weightlifting team out of the Olympics "Since this is the second case the Bulgarian delegation has decided to withdraw its team from foreigner participation in the competition" a Bulgarian team statement said.

Well ...some time has passed since 1988..i think that the issues with The National Bulgarian team deserves a profound investigation..allegedly the CCCP has something to do with that..there is a bulgarian film made in 2017 named Salto Mortale..in which Angel Guenchev tells the story of his life..i think you can find it here in you tube..

[@ilyailindu07]

Botev, one of the beautiful clean-jerk we've ever had

[@bestonemusic]

Angel Angelov Genchev (: Ангел Ангелов Генчев) is a who competed for . He claimed the gold medal in at the Summer Olympics - Men's 67.5 kg but was disqualified after he tested positive for furosemide, an IOC banned substance.

[@troloinvest]

2:27 He is not an American lifter he's Hysen Pulaku from the Albanian National Team

[@WeightliftingHouse]

yes...

[@attilaegervari8590]

Hi there Good idea to talk with former weightlifters... I'm from Hungary and I worked out with bulgarian weightlifters(leading Abadiev)before Barcelona(1992) They've come to Hungary to hide before olympic games....

[@andrewschiffer5117]

I was in that training hall in Sofia

[@IlianNachev]

I had classmates who were part of the national team in 1997. I used to go see them practice at the training hall.

[@johnjones6964]

Stephan now at 55, does he still lift?

[@cw9249]

70 tons = 70,000kg. so assuming they lift 150kg on average throughout the training, thats roughly 460 repetitions in total. lets say they do 10 different exercises in a day, thats still 46 reps per exercise. im assuming they don't go over 5 reps per exercise, so 5 to 20 sets of 1 to 5 reps, with 10 exercises, using weights from 100 to 250kg would add up to be roughly 30-70 tons. im guessing the 70 tons is an upper estimate for his weight class

[@IMoney40]

Awesome video

[@scottessery100]

How can your mind cope with such stress 3:34

[@kirby7475]

YES

[@scottessery100]

How is this possible without getting injured

[@WeightliftingHouse]

Survivorship bias :')

[@scottessery100]

@@WeightliftingHouse that I can believe. I think Zack agreed it’s about finding those who can not help those 99.99 percent on the bell curve improve

[@scottessery100]

@@WeightliftingHouse 5:10 your right. Natural selection and survival of the fittest not helping each lifter achieve their potential

[@tjbanville]

I'm not a Patreon member but I sure hope you asked Botev the question we all want to know...does he feel he would have beaten Zacharevich at the 1988 Olympics?

[@WeightliftingHouse]

He said he would have hit 200/260 'not a problem'

[@manueljn1094]

and then I saw the patreon thing....... why I am poor please god help me!

[@WeightliftingHouse]

It's $4! If you can't afford that, I'll post it on the W|H Podcast soon too

[@rc-1983]

$4 is almost R$ 30 in my crap national currency

[@BigFarts0]

Lift eat sleep repeat

[@matthewkossolapov159]

50 max efforts lifts per day loooool

[@younggunz2121]

Really twisting my arm to become a patron 😂

[@jeff-hh9mc]

And how much / how many steroids were you taking per day? Legit question.

[@jaxonsevero1045]

Literally just bought your Patreon lol

[@alanaliyev456GT]

STEFAN iS A LEGEND.....ABADJEV TOO..... But perso i prefer russian coach technics.... Abadjev was right to not neglige Front squat...

[@loopeydloop]

Is good content. Is real big content

[@jordywilliams]

Bloody hell, there really is nothing else like it

[@alfonsorodriguez6437]

No wonder they had to take so much steroids, there was no way to recover otherwise.

[@dfxzzz]

A Palieva without goshko and Kristinka without Vladimir and Blaga out of home ?

[@jamesdean1143]

They must have been fuelling their bodies with some special vitamins.

[@IlianNachev]

It’s called Rakia, lol.

[@andrewdestiny8252]

70 tons a day ? wtf my max was 6-7 tons per day

[@toximan2008]

Bulgarian system is pure survivor bias. Can you imagine the volume of athletes that was turning over under Abadjiev's entire coaching career? All the athletes that left because of injury? And how few were able to remain in the system? Naturally, there will be some with physiological adaptations so extreme that they would be able to handle quite literally any amount of training and never become injured. It seems that Botev fits this description well.

[@arbur4746]

Kakhi Kakhiashvili and many Georgians criticize Bulgarian method, no time to recover

[@IlianNachev]

Everyone can criticize, but the results speak louder than critique…

[@federicocarnebale]

Thats why they were so amazing Simply amazing

[@brianfitzsimmons5703]

or ya know... all the drug use

[@federicocarnebale]

@@brianfitzsimmons5703 well why dont you take drugs and go beat all the world records then?

[@vob8509]

@@brianfitzsimmons5703 Bro honestly if it was from the drug use, then US weightlifting would have been in the sky and space. But they are not. Plus there is no such thing as a proffessional athlete who is not on something. Yes drugs helped them, but damn just imagine what it would be for you to be constantly in a competition mode! Like on a daily basis... Whatever the discipline is...

[@ceaselesssquid8049]

@@brianfitzsimmons5703 Every professional athlete is on something, that's a simple fact and nothing can change it

[@JamesJones-qc4dk]

Isn’t it funny people think a strong human being is a bodybuilder type yet he looks like a Hod carrier this is not disrespectful this is life big isn’t strong strong is strong

[@lewiselliott9038]

OG

[@loranovabridal1880]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🥊🥊🥊

[@Filaxsan]

Woow 😯

[@inky4690]

Second because someone got first!!

[@GudMarty]

Damn he just cleaned 250 easy

[@rfjohns4452]

Absolute torture training as Valentin Christov 110Kg said in his book about his experiences.Christov said his knees were terrible at 20!

[@marcelobarbosaferreira91]

I think he meant 17 tons, that is around 2 tons per lift. 7 max singles should be about 2125 kg.

[@dipanmondal3137]

People should also know about the white pills in the Bulgarian training system. Without those PEDs one couldn't work that way.

[@airforcebg]

Everyone was using and is using pills so no disrespect pls

[@levliberant]

It's impossible without doping especially for heavy weight lifters and super heavy weight lifters. We need smth revolutionary new, maybe with some features of the Bulgarian system, but smarter and with deep account for physiological processes of athletes.

[@joe718gt4]

You should listen to Juggernaut Training System's thoughts on the Bulgarian system. Max Aita trained under Abajaev himself. Edit: "Abadjiev" not whatever I wrote

[@bmstylee]

@@joe718gt4 that's a cool talk with Max.

[@jamesdean1143]

RIP Ivan Nikolov Abadjiev 1932 - 2017 You inflicted a lot of pain on a lot of people. Good pain. And you lived to be 85, which is a lot longer than the drug-fuelled athletes whom you trained.

[@acerld519]

Hard to square the 'good pain' part with the note you end on.

[@ozwunder69]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/paSqdJiFd9p9ppI dead at 24 yrs

[@denbrick2]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😁

[@rogiecadiente4670]

Sir: the mens Bulgarians Olympic Weightlifters will always be the best in the world, and no one has come close to their training under Abajiev. From 52kg all the way to the Super Heavyweight. Imagine, if the drug testing was not to strict, and if the federation installed a certain guide line, we should have seen by now, maybe close to 4x bodyweight clean and jerk, and 3x bodyweight snatches. Look what powerlifting has done. Power squatting over 1100lbs, deadlifting close to 1000lbs, or maybe more, and benching over 1000lbs. They making Olympic weightlifting look small. Of course, they have different federations, that's what going to happen with Olympic weightlifting in the future, with all the drama going on now.

[@fmls8266]

Bro.. That's not how it works. Snatch and CJs are not parallel squats in gear. 4x CJ and 3x snatch are way above human abilities, it means someone like Shi Zhiyong should CJ 290 kilos and snatch 220. COME ON.

[@rogiecadiente4670]

Don't underestimate the human body. If coach Abajiev was still alive, he probably have the same thinking. He was the first and only coach to push triple body weight clean and jerk in training. These applies to the lighter classes. Alexander Varbanov, training in the 75kg, did close to 227.5kg, which was 222.5kg. The 52kg, 56kg, 60kg and 67.5kg did triple body clesn and and jerk in training. You must be a young guy, look at the history. Like I said, if it wasn't for the drug testing, you don't know what these Bulgarians olympic weightliffters could have achieved. That's why in 1988, the Soviets sabatoge the Bulgarians at the Olympics, accusing them of cheating when they do the same. Just admit it the Bulgarians were too superior to the Soviets. The Soviets were being put down in competition, and the Soviets didn't like that. The damn news won't tell you that at that time. Even, if Naim Suleymanoglu was still training under Abajiev in Bulgaria, he would have done more at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Coach Abajiev was so ahead if everybody of his thinking in Olympic weightlifting. He was Superior in Sports Science as a whole. That's why he will be the best coach ever to step on this planet. And Thank you, Sir!

[@scottessery100]

Isn’t Bulgarian system bad for 99.99 per cent of the population

[@IlianNachev]

Yeah, but look at that 1% who achieved the impossible!

[@janci9047]

70 tons seems a bit unreal. Didn´t he mean 17?

[@IlianNachev]

He knows exactly what he is saying…

[@pogoMena]

First!

[@rikazrameez7647]

looks like these guys skip arm days lol

[@Grant.Lenahan]

bro is he just using a front camera from his car lmfao

[@muteblocallowsnoisefreedea7412]

Gyms are too noisy, will damage your hearing.

[@Zethalai]

yeah man, those deadlifts... so loud... 🙄

[@sakaue]

Damn bro same, I hate when guys breath heavy during/after sets, way too loud

[@tuks1131]

2:38 Man is born tired and lives to get a rest. Love thy bed as you love thyself. Rest during the day, so you can sleep at night. Do not work - work kills. If you see someone resting, help him out. Work as little as you can, and convey all the work you can to another. In shade is salvation - nobody died from resting. Work earns illness - do not pass away young. If you have an urge to work, sit down, wait and you’ll see it will pass. When you see people eat and drink, approach them. When you see them work, withdraw yourself not to trouble them.

[@IlianNachev]

Looool… 😅

[@howardmenkes2926]

My friend Joe Gazio was Antonio Krastev's roomate for 18 months. Krastev said that a hig man couldn't recover from Abadjiev's training, and the Russians were stronger than the Bulgarians

[@timothy3686]

This program is literally programmed for people on gear.

[@sakaue]

I hate to be the on to break it to you, but most top level programs are.

[@rogiecadiente4670]

Of course, it is, that's why they were the best. To this day, no one can beat them, even the Chinese, with all their conglomerate training.

[@a-s7623]

This is awesome, Botev has been always a GREAT idol for me.. But isnt there a complex intensity training like this for non-juiced athletes? I know they re in elite levels, respect that and peds, but if a normal person wants to give the best, all in internet its explained for people who are taking peds, even the kids before 18 are taking it without compete.. normally they dont advice.. I know this is old thread.. I train and compete at the federal level, but i was so silly to think that everyone in olympics are using peds too many years.. Theres actually non ped training for natural? Or some elite normal standards to see? Thanks for video, always checking new ones and all new stuff, like Karlos vs Tao. But this is gold too. PD: 70 tons? TF?