Maximal Effort Training: Comparing Max Effort Day Method w/ AMRAP/Failure Sets and HEAVY High Volume

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When planning out a training block, it is important to know exactly how each mode of training is going to affect recovery. In this discussion of maximal effort and high intensity modes of training, I outline the benefits and limitations of training methods using max effort day, amrap/failure sets, and heavy high volume work.

[@jakedging]

Been lifting for over 25 years and Alexander is the only person I've found who "fills in the gaps". Meaning what a lot of us spent years and years experimenting with and getting frustrated over. Keep it up brotha!

[@TheLaxfizzle]

No doubt the #1 active powerlifting channel on the tube. Thank you brotha. Keep em coming.

[@strengthcoachlondon]

I've always likened the Bulgarian system to Special forces selection. It's literally designed as a program of attrition to find the 1 or 2% of outliers who could win medals. Every single person I've ever met who tried it lasted a couple of weeks before quitting.

[@johnhall87]

Yeah that's a good way to look at it. As well as the idea that seals have said they want to determine a person's abilities and character and the best way to do that is under extreme stress.

[@joelhall5124]

It's a terrible way to look at it. When I was a weightlifter I actually trained alongside Bulgarians. And a lot of mythology has grown up around Abadjiev's coaching

[@Guitareben]

Hey Alex, o think you made a mistake at 6:44 whilst editing this video - I’m not sure you meant to put that there. Great video as always though!

[@danman75766]

Yeah, that seems out of order.

[@kylephipps1078]

Yeah what the heck happened there? I thought I was going crazy lol

[@juliawilliams1355]

You are my new favorite channel on KZbin. Thank you so much for making the videos you do.

[@unclefrancis5134]

Thank you Alexander Bromley for the awesome videos. I find your videos very informative and your explanations easy to understand. Especially love your comparisons of the different training strategies.

[@scottgilmour749]

Grt channel brother, Grt info but most importantly explained very coherently and simply. Keep on keepin on.

[@heveyweightheveyweight5399]

this channels been gold and really help me tremendously

[@jefferylord3068]

Dam man, your videos have helped me so much with my training. I quite literally have made every mistake you describe...and the price paid for me has been injury or burnout. Thanks for all your teaching

[@roebuckmckinney]

Hey Bromley - just wanted to get in touch. Last spring I was in a car accident and had to take a substantial break from training.. I spent my off time doing research into how to start progressing smarter when I was ready to train again and found a video of yours. You made a simple recommendation of not deadlifting from the floor every seven days because that simply doesn't allow the CNS to recover properly. I rewrote my programming to do conventional DLs once every other week instead and do assistance work (RDL's, Rows, etc) on the off weeks. Now obviously everything has its limits, and I 'm sure I'll hit mine someday and need to change up again, but I'm very happy to say that that one little adjustment has let me start adding weight to the bar almost every time I pull conventional after a year of stagnation leading up to the accident. I'm doing a third less work and progressing faster. That I owe to you.

[@jonathanfeatherston758]

It's funny isn't it. With most things in life we try to "work smarter not harder" but abandon that in the gym. You might not continue top make progress indefinitely but what's great about making progress with less work is that when you eventually do stall you have the capacity to train harder. So no point in rushing it. Get the most out of how you're training then reevaluate once you're stuck.

[@jefferylord3068]

He owes all his smarts to westside!!!! Thanks uncle louie!!!!!

[@simaoribau321]

Amazing video, like always.

[@ThePayneFactor]

Great video yet again. Thank you!

[@SLouiss]

I like the educational value of these videos. Good teaching

[@Whurlin]

I tried my hand at the Bulgarian Lite template put out by Greg Nuckols. It's a modification for actual Bulgarian but is one that can work for powerlifting, just a high frequency high intensity routine. Not only did I absolutely love it but I saw my best results on my training journey during the time I was running it. If it wasn't for my gym being closed due to Covid 19 I not only would have finished the prescribed cycle but I honestly was considering just continuing to run it indefinitely. On it I was only working up to a daily maximum. If I didn't have it in me one day, I would hit my daily minimum and do 2 back off sets of 3. Some days that's all I could do, some days I would hit the same daily max, sometimes I would pr. It taught me auto regulation and that level of high frequency high intensity really affected my body and mind in a positive way. It's not for everybody but it's worth checking out Greg Nuckols book on it.

[@stephenhughes5156]

I've moved on from Bulgarian lite now, but I ran it for probably a good 6 months. For me, my main reason for wanting to do was because I wanted an excuse to train full body everyday (or 5-6 days a week) because I just felt best doing that. I made some decent gains, particularly since I had never really worked with singles, doubles or triples before. It was also a great way for to further reinforce good technique, especially in dealing with 90%+ weights. I did end up with what I think may have been an overuse injury in my foot, however, which put me out for a couple of months. Of course, it isn't neccesarily the result of the training method, but it very well may have been. In any case, it was a great experiment. Especially since noone at my gyms does anything like it. Currently, I'm experimenting with what is essentially Westside, just without the speed work (at least for now). Absolutely loving it.

[@timtwing5886]

Nice video

[@eliasthegreat8]

Bromley currently running you’re 5 day a week bench program and am loving it, also running smolov at the same time. I’ve been able complete all sets and reps with correct weight on both programs. I would be interested in a video of you’re thoughts on smolov

[@brenm3835]

I absolutely love Sub-Max training with actual AMRAPs everything working thru 3 weeks waves.(peak over 4-6, weeks)

[@stefanomagaddino6868]

Alex, great vid and content. But tell us about that awesome Tatt. WOW!

[@jacekblachsiewierski7140]

3rd point. i remember when i was finishing starting strength 3x5 squat sets across. after the set ive looked at the clock and noticed that ive been grinding for 2 minutes (taking quite a few breaths to make 2 3 4 5 reps doable)

[@cemilarslan7592]

check out the alphadestiny, he uses max effort for years and have elite numbers

[@DuaqsToir]

What is your opinion on 5thset? Have you read the books?

[@agontprevarator5214]

6:44 error while editing?

[@AlexanderBromley]

Gah! I was wondering what happened to the intro lol

[@agontprevarator5214]

@@AlexanderBromley It turned into a midtro

[@bondedcarbon]

Picking the heaviest weight possible for volume work and turning it into an all-out blood bath? Guilty. Hahaha

[@heroscapewarrior4217]

Same lol. Trying to dial it back

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

we all are I thinks... kids will be kids I guess

[@travisellison7098]

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

[@anthonyball1439]

I'm no where near a really strong person but I think some people have trained using Bulgarian style training block and become very successful such as Greg nuckols and Bulgarian training has helped me take my squat from 325lb to 470lb

[@AlexanderBromley]

Your right, Knuckols did have success, but he only ran it for 12 weeks. Also, and he addresses this, it was a modified approach that did not involve frequent failed lift attempts.

[@Richard-bw9jy]

Side note: If you're interested in hearing some thoughts from a guy who trained under Ivan Abadjiev (the creator of the Bulgarian Method) give this a watch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qH2YiXinrqp6prc

[@maxxfury13]

@@Richard-bw9jy max is the man

[@Daniearp]

Also, Nuckols is a freak who reportedly squatted like 120 kgs on his first try at 13 years old, or something like that

[@kevinc6971]

Hey Bromley, have a question about recovery that may be a bit outside the scope of this channel. You go over how taxing maximal work is; I've heard the general rule of thumb that you should take at least 72 hours rest with good sleep/food so that your cns can recover. Would this mean other physical activities should be avoided in this time period? Like if I did heavy bench press on Monday, would you recommend avoiding boxing or rock climbing in the following days? Or is that a different enough stimulus?

[@AlexanderBromley]

72 hours recovery is between 'similar substantial workouts', meaning if you train upper body twice per week, ideally you put them 72 hours apart; the best example being Westside putting Dynamic work 72 hours after Maximal work. Of course, there are training splits that don't do this, and it's all relative to how much volume is in there and how much your training hinges on performing at 100% each workout. What you are describing is GPP and it can and should be done in between heavy workouts. 72 hours isn't nearly enough time to repeat a 'maximal' workout with good results, with the exception of absolute beginners who can progress indefinitely for some time. If you are working up to 90% and up with maximal effort in one lift, after around 3 weeks, you cease progressing. One option is to deload after 3 weeks, another is to rotate exercises every week or two, and the third is to space those attempts further apart, as in maxing every other week.

[@kevinc6971]

This information is incredibly helpful. Thank you for such a detailed response. I'm very much a beginner and your videos fill in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge that have been difficult to find consistent information on, and it's helping me train a lot smarter.

[@dennisnordlund902]

Kevin Copson Check out the forum If you haven’t yet, tons of great info!

[@Bicloptic]

Hey Bromley, how should GPP be programmed? How should progressive overload be applied to these workouts, if at all? Where do they fit in with the rest of your strength based work outs? How much is too much or too little? Thanks.

[@frodothehobo9938]

not bromley but my 2 cents on GPP is, GPP should have 3 rules 1: is it difficult to do but easy to recover from? EMOM triples on deadlifts are probably (most definitely, actually) require too much recovery. it's not gpp anymore, thats a whole workout. and probably a bad one at that. EMOM triples on the ssb goodmorning are fine. farmer carries, kettlebell swings, bodyweight movements, all tend to be very exhausting in the moment but leave very little if any damage behind to cover up 2: is it progress-able for you? if you're really good at push ups, like you can do 50+ in a set, it is time to stop using push ups at gpp. they are a waste of time for you. again farmer carries are great for this because you can progress in two different ways, weight and distance. 3: is it fun?you should want to do gpp. it will make you stronger because it will better prepare you for strength work, it is important to do. but it doesn't need to be super specific. pick different movements. farmer carries are amazing gpp (my favorite gpp movement, actually), but that doesn't matter if you hate your life every second you have a farmer implement in your hands.

[@noalane3626]

It’s funny but gpp is also specific to the sport haha , so for most strength/ppwer their sport specificity is the lifts and its variations , stick and ball/field athletes GPP is weights sprints cardio energy systems training etc… but across the board everyone benefits from energy system training

[@early20s18]

Eric bugenhagen did bulgarian

[@alexanderchernoshtan9898]

Its a good logic, its really are: If u can keep the intensity, most of the time, at around 6-9 RPE/4-1RIR and keep progressing, the only question u can ask is "why not?" No good answers for this one :))) Ofc u need to max at meets or some 1RM max once in a while, jus to know how much u can lift, but 98% of time its just weird and dangerous If we were getting some crazy, unseen in any other way stimulus with this "max effort" - okay, there is a room for cost/effect calculus, but all we get from it is pain and trauma, so

[@TasosZagos]

For me years of plateaus everywhere because i didnt work on singles. Muscle mass fine but strength not. 1 rep work is the truth. 3 to 5 singles 1 or 2 times per week at the start of the training

[@alexanderchernoshtan9898]

@@TasosZagos Hmmm U say single work at the start with compound and than some regular BB style work for hypert/pump An interesting concept indeed, many good PLs are training like that How many singles u think its optimal? I would say like 5-12 per movement or u just piramide to the 95% and doing it once?

[@TasosZagos]

@@alexanderchernoshtan9898 3 to 5 singles at 90 to 105% and then rep work on that exrcise and then rep work on other exercises.

[@drinkinouttacups2665]

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY

[@mach5jeep]

That shirt says gymoog not gymdog. Needs a better font to make the D more recognizable

[@mayukhsen8195]

I think everyone is different and this may be the case for everyone but sir... I did full Bulgarian with strict sandbag military press(neutral grip) and strict bilateral curls and let me tell you... The first week killed me, but at the end of 4 weeks, I military pressed 90 kilo and curled 60kilo for a max. That's a 30 percent increase in strength. Amazingly enough I don't get sore doing it and can go hard everyday. So it worked great for me. Today is the 5th day of the second cycle, I am pretty confident I will press 100kilo today. Let's see.

[@rickstark85]

Sounds like you're a novice, which is probably why it worked. Military pressing 90kg is very unimpressive, which is why I'm assuming you're a newer lifter. Try it again after your newbie gains. Anything you do will work when you're a complete notice military pressing 90kg...

[@rickstark85]

@Stephen Hughes no, I'm not confused. You're right, though. Depending on bodyweight, that's solid. My point was simply that there's no way this guy added that much weight to his 1 rep max, unless he is a newbie to lifting. If you've been lifting for years, you're lucky to add a couple of kg/lbs to a lift after running a program for a much longer period.

[@rickstark85]

@Stephen Hughes it was also a neutral grip sandbag press, which is different. He said "strict" but I kinda doubt how strict it was. Either way, it's not that much, bro.

[@deadandbored]

proof that max effort doesnt work well is evident with ego lifting. guys who always do 1 or 2 reps of their max every session never get stronger.

[@drinkinouttacups2665]

How did you watch this and not know what max effort means?

[@deadandbored]

@@drinkinouttacups2665 how did you read my comment and come to that conclusion