‘You lift more, train more, you get higher results.’ – Ivan Abadjiev The Bulgarian Method of Olympic Weightlifting training is once again in mainstream media. Today the Wall Street Journal runs an article called about it. “Heavy Lifting, No Rest, Candy: the Bulgarian Method”
Ivan Abadjiev is currently in US trying to get the struggling US Weightlifting team ready for the 2016 Olympics.
One coach doubted he could “get the guys to buy in” to such a taxing, time-consuming program. (Mr. Abadjiev suggested revoking their personal possessions, like cellphones.) Southern Illinois University’s strength coach, Jared Nessland, said after the presentation, “You can’t beat the snot out of these kids—they don’t have the mental toughness.” But Tommy Lee Barnes, an associate strength coach from the University of Tennessee, was intrigued. “It kind of made me think, ‘Gosh, am I loading my athletes enough?’ ” said Mr. Barnes, adding that American coaches tend to “lean on the side of undertraining” to account for other stresses in their athletes’ lives, like classwork and relationships. “We tend to be on the reserved side, but then again, the American [men] haven’t won a gold medal in 40 years.”
