Abdominal Training in the Bulgarian System

[KiloNewton]

I'm curious about if and how abdominal training is included in the Bulgarian system. Did they treat abs the same way they treated other exercises- maximal lifting 2x a day, did they disregard abs all together or did they do something more conventional?

[jcameron28]

I'm curious about if and how abdominal training is included in the Bulgarian system. Did they treat abs the same way they treated other exercises- maximal lifting 2x a day, did they disregard abs all together or did they do something more conventional?

Work up to a heavy hanging leg raise single, back off with some ab wheel rollout volume work. Lol seriously though, what the Bulgarian philosophy was all about was cutting out excess and drilling what was left every day. So nope no ab work.

[raffiki]

Chakarov did situps.

[someonefat]

what sqauts, snatches, cleans everyday multiples times a day isn't enough work for your abs? Do some heavy belt less front squats and tell me if your abs feel nothing.

[KiloNewton]

That is what I expected, just seems odd to me.

And for the other guy: I always do my front squats beltless and heavy and I don't find it delivers a training effect for the abdominal muscles.

[GoJu]

@someonefat

They feel more from direct work with planks, or ab wheel, etc than they do from front squats...

[someonefat]

my legs 'feel' like they are getting better workout doing leg extensions then heavy squats doesn't mean its better for olympic lifting. You should be getting plenty of abdominal work from just sqauts and the lifts.

[GoJu]

my legs 'feel' like they are getting better workout doing leg extensions then heavy squats doesn't mean its better for olympic lifting. You should be getting plenty of abdominal work from just sqauts and the lifts.

You guys really need to stop reading every Ahbadjiev article and take it whole heartedly, it's almost like plers and westside. You'll get plenty of ab work from the lifts and squats doesn't mean its optimal and it doesn't mean its enough to keep you from collapsing on heavy lifts.

[Squinky]

When I used ab wheel in 6 months I experienced abdominal hypertrophy that seemed like a 5 years worth of it (I never experienced hypertrophy with the lifts or front squats by the way). From this position, after all the "hard work" and after achieving a muscular 44" waist it would be very easy to flip flop and say just do the god damn squats!, after all all I did was something what the weightlifters do when they are 15.

[John Prophet]

When I used ab wheel in 6 months I experienced abdominal hypertrophy that seemed like a 5 years worth of it (I never experienced hypertrophy with the lifts or front squats by the way). From this position, after all the "hard work" and after achieving a muscular 44" waist it would be very easy to flip flop and say just do the damn squats!, after all all I did was something what the weightlifters do when they are 15.

thats what I figure. They may not have been doing abs at the top level but I imagine they did them at some point in their development

[crackyflipside]

Cubans do weighted hypers and abdominal work at the end of EVERY session. Hypers up to 50% clean and jerk, most of the time closer to 25%, doing 10 reps for 3 sets. Abdominal work is done 20-25 reps 3 sets, it can be done weighted but is not as important as hypers, they do abdominals just to balance out all the work with hypers.

[John Prophet]

Cubans do weighted hypers and abdominal work at the end of EVERY session. Hypers up to 50% clean and jerk, most of the time closer to 25%, doing 10 reps for 3 sets. Abdominal work is done 20-25 reps 3 sets, it can be done weighted but is not as important as hypers, they do abdominals just to balance out all the work with hypers.

thats cool. I been doing at least some hypers everytime I step foot into the gym. They are great to loosen up with. Noticed on the "training champions" ironmind tape that Kolecki and others seemed to do weighted hypers in their warmup everyday. (prolly not heavy though)



btw, where did u get all the cuban training info? is it online or r u using binoculars or what?

[batmannu]

imo abs and lower back workouts are a must to prevent back injuries!!

[SPFjudge]

You guys really need to stop reading every Ahbadjiev article and take it whole heartedly, it's almost like plers and westside. You'll get plenty of ab work from the lifts and squats doesn't mean its optimal and it doesn't mean its enough to keep you from collapsing on heavy lifts.

I take offense to that! I hate how many plers thing westside is the end all be all for powerlifting programs. Most of the people on the PL section that do train westside are some of the worst lifters on the forum too.