Do mesmo tópico sobre o programa bulgaro,uma perspectiva de um atleta neozelandês,interessante a meu ver:

In 2007 Ari Moilanen arrived in NZ to be NZ's new head coach. He predominantly used Bulgarian approach and it was a modified version (as natural lifters it simply had to be modified as we wouldn't be able to handle the workload tonnage), but still used things like wave loading, increased training frequency (twice a day, 6 days/week at most), limited exercise selection (snatch, CJ, FrSq, BkSq), ect. It took a few weeks to get into the groove of the program since Ari didn't know us (individual lifters' flaws in technique/strength, previous training experience) that well and the initial overload of the program caused a lot of fatigue and soreness.

[As a side note I should mention that in NZ, at the time for top lifters, it was common practice to put lifters through a generalized program to see which lifters develop. Overtime coaches would modify the program depending on the athlete, but in my mind the modifications made were still too general and didn't follow up with emphasis in later programming. So to say, it wasn't a terribly an individualized program. This generalized program was made by Walter Sholz (a German coach who used to coach Ronny Weller when he was a junior) when he came to NZ. It consisted of three blocks (preparation, strength and competition). Each block had it's own attributes and emphasis. To quickly categorize without going into too much detail: Preparation (lots of squats/pulls/powers, limited OL at low intensity, high volume) Strength (some OL (low-medium intensity, squats/pulls/powers (less volume but increased in intensity) and competition (still pulls/squats/powers with an increased amount of OLs (but still not near enough lifts overall and at a high intensity to be efficient/confident). From my personal experience I have increased squatting strength somewhat but my olympic lifts just weren't as good as they should have been for that strength).

So it was really not surprise that when we came off the really high volume German program into lower volume/high intensity Bulgarian (modified) program we experienced some real discomfort with fatigue (sore joints, increased inflammation ect).]

At the beginning of Ari's each training session we would follow a generalized warm-up (a little bit of running, leg kicking, forward/backward/cartwheel rolls, few sets of push ups, BW squats. Doing things like this became more important in the winter when it got cold as f# in the gym. Ari also varied the warm ups with different exercises to minimize onset of fatigue especially during heavy days) followed by a specific warm up (bar warm up leading to the lifts). He would also ask us about how we felt and rate it on a scale (a mini RPE scale) so he had an idea of what we are capable of lifting on the day. During first attempts at programming, on Mon/Wed (AM) we'd go heavy (upto 92% or so) in the SN/CJ/FrSq and in (PM) training we'd do upto 95% in SN/CJ and BkSq. So it really wasn't based on daily maxes but off a 1RM max (although, at times, those percentages felt like daily maxes or we would not even reach them in training due to fatigue so Ari would adjust training for the following day(s)). If we didn't reach a top weight, we'd have a few more attempts at it depending on how capable/fatigued we were at the time. There was also a 15-30 minute break between each exercise. On Tue/Thur/Sat it was usually once a day training upto something like 75-85% wave loaded on SN/CJ/FrSq. On Friday, it was an absolute max day upto 100% and beyond if possible. It was staged as if it was a competition (I should say that German program that did not have scheduled controlled competitions which added to the insecurity/anxiety on the platform at the time) but having more than just three attempts if lifts were missed.

Overtime of course as we grew stronger/got injuries the intensity/volume/frequency parameters increased/decreased depending on situation. Needless to say we became somewhat efficient technically (more control over the weight, had better ability to 'save' the lift if need be, ect) than when we were doing German program since we attempted lifts in the 90% and over 100% range. The advantage was that my snatch and clean/jerk were increasing but a disadvantage was that my squatting/leg strength (that was build on the German program) decreased due to, although frequent, low volume squatting. You could also make a case that since we were doing snatch/CJ at such a high intensity prior to the squatting there is fatigue (acute or ongoing) that could have prevented me or anybody else to increase their squatting numbers or the fact that due to our bodyweights increasing very little overtime it was a factor that contributed to decline/plateau effect on leg strength (!). There was a point at which my clean/jerk numbers were 10kg behind my front squat numbers but I believe this is more common with Bulgarian-type training.

As with any type of program or sport injuries have also occured. Some coaches in NZ have indirectly attributed those injuries specifically to Bulgarian training, which may have some merit but isn't telling the whole story. There is a risk of injury (especially in young athletes re: joints) when attempting higher weights and due to frequency of training as opposed to doing German program which focused on developing strength at much lower percentages with higher volume which may be beneficial regarding joint strength. Having said that, injuries that athletes got were mostly due to overuse, their inability to make proper judgment to stop /tell the coach and adjust training when something started to hurt, lack of proper warm up. Bulgarian training may have been a contributing factor (re: high intensity/high frequency) but it sure wasn't a sole factor and could have been prevented. To take precautions post injury Ari has modified programs to focus on other things besides OLs (depending on lifter's injury) and overtime became more 'open' should I say, to changing the program and adding other things even for the athletes that weren't injured (e.g hyperextensions, bicep curls, more squat volume on lighter training days, ect but not at the expense of recovery of time).

Aside from decrease/plataeu in leg strength, there was also an issue of fatigue. In a typical fashion we'd run two heavy weeks (sometimes three, but this is rare and may happen when we really need to push ourselves while only a few weeks out from the competition) followed by a light week to gain recovery. During second heavy week, sometimes we would find ourselves not being able to reach weights that were deemed 'easy' (read: can be attempted on any day of the week and successfully completed when the body is recovered) that were way below the target and because of this some lifters would get discouraged at their performance not knowing that decrease in performance is due to fatigue. It messed with their minds a little and at times decreased their motivation to train considerably.

For me the biggest issue on the Bulgarian program was not eating enough (not just the volume on squats) as it simply didn't make me as hungry as German program did (it's really my own fault for not eating enough on Bulgarian training though) and that obviously affected the strength on my legs and plateaud my OLs. I have around another 6-7kg of bodyweight to gain and once I'm able to achieve that I think my snatch/CJ will be in the range of 160kg/195kg which is what I think will be competitive for 2010 Commonwealth Games.

All in all it's really a great program but needs to be individualized to the athlete (by looking at their strengths/weaknesses) and supplemented with other training when *needed*.