Bulgarian Burst

So tomorrow I start my Bulgarian Burst experience. Before I dive right in to how messed up I feel I'm going to drop a little knowledge on you and explain the nuts and bolts of this program.

So if you have been living under a rock for the past 20-30 years...or just don't keep track of the Olympics the eastern block has been ruling the Olympic sport world. Yes communism played a significant role in this, however so did sports science. The Bulgarians figured out that athlete's testosterone levels rise about 20 min into a work out and cortisol levels drop, (testosterone = good, cortisol = bad) then after about 40 min the amount of testosterone and the amount of cortisol reach about the same levels. So, we need to keep our work outs to 40 min. or so. On a side note this makes me really wonder how anyone can get anything done in 20 min. in the gym. Now, when you really get into lifting weights you will find out that it is hard to get a lot of high quality work done in 40 min. So we will work out 3 times a day.

This will do 2 things. 1, allow us to get a lot of really quality work done in the gym through out the day and 2, allow the volume of the work to go through the roof.

So, strength coaches measure work outs with 2 measure tools. Volume and Intensity. Intensity if the heaviness of the weight compared to your 1 rep max. and Volume is the total amount of tonnage lifting. You don't need a masters degree and 14 certifications to understand that there is an inverse relationship to volume and intensity. Say your 1 rm is 100 lbs of a given exercise. you can do 100 lbs one time. that would make your intensity be 100, however your volume would be very low. now if you did 70 lbs 10 times your volume would be 700 lbs, however your intensity is 70. I hope that opens it up a little bit for you. If you have more questions about volume and intensity check out The Lost Variable in The Quest For Power on XL Athlete.

Now when I work out 3 times a day, I can lift more weight in each given exercise, so when I continue to keep my intensity up I can still keep my volume up.

Before I get any questions about my diet. I am roughly 250lbs right now, I will not try to eat anything more to gain weight and I will not stop eating so I loose weight. If I loose weight great, if I don't, I'll be okay with it. As for supplements, I'll be taking a lot of whey protein, creatine, glutamine, a multi-vitamin, probotics, Omega-3s and CLA. I will also try to get as much sleep as I can at night, my wife might not think that is all too great, however she likes to sleep too. So, for now I think I'm all set to start this craziness tomorrow. Today, it's a beautiful day out so I think I'm going to go out and ride my bike!

Stay Strong
Tommy