A not bulgarian fencer...

[BlackIronEpee]

6'2 208 28 Years old.
Starting Strength took from 205-245
Squat: 180ish - 305
Deadlift 205ish - 375ish
Bench 165- 235ish
It's been roughly two years since starting strength, after SS I dabbled in various protocols. I am not a powerlifter and didn't want to maintain such a high weight so my basic experience has been dropping weight unintelligently and then working up to previous PRs at a lower weight.
About a year ago I hurt my shoulder Arm wrestling for fun ( not so fun ) and my bench is finally back to where it was the last time I brought my weight down to 205.
Essentially I like to train for maximal strength and then shift the focus more to fencing when I approach some sort of competition. It is all very loose, I'm not a pro. I just get off on pretending I am an athlete.

SO...I find myself with no tournaments on the horizon, I work at a gym, love to train and try stupid stuff ( see poor progress above ). With all this hubbub going on I thought I would take my version of the bulgarian method for powerlifting for a spin. Please don't tell me how dumb I am, I am well aware. I am not shooting testosterone into my ass and I am not a born again believer in anything so I should be able to present some unbiased results to you all.

First my take:
Work up to a seamless Max on backsquat every day
-This means no psyching up for an all out grinder, just take the weight up to where it starts to slow down at the sticking points and call it a day, or back off 10% and do some doubles until it feels grindy.

On Fencing Days
Work up to a seamless Max on OHP
-Back of 20% and do sets of 5 until they slow down

On Non Fencing Days
-Work up to seamless max on the front squat
--Same principles on back off sets
-Work up to seamless (very seamless) max on the bench press
--Back off 20% and do sets of 5 till they BEGIN to grind
---I am more cautious on the bench press because that is the only lift that caused me pain when my shoulder was fucked up.

Other Notes:
3 sets of chins after every upper body lift, will be doing this with bands on bench day for higher rep stuff because regular chins after heavy bench always hurts me and I don't have time to wait 30 minutes between those two sessions.

I'm leaving backsquat and front squat open to their paused variations, as well as variations off of boxes or pins to limit the weight and still train maximally, this also applies to bench presses, off pins or floor presses. Pretty much whatever the hell I want to do.

Note, I already was squatting three times a week fairly heavy, so this wasn't a huge jump, intensity up volume down and frequency up.

Basic Format:
S: Rest
M
Back Squat
OHP
Fence
Tu
Front Squat
Bench
Back Squat
W
Back Squat
OHP
Fence
Th
Front Squat
Bench
Back Squat
F
Deadlift
Bench
Back Squat
Sat
Fence!
Starting PR's:
Squat 385
Press 155
Bench 205
Deadlift: 425ish?
First week looks weird because my fencing schedule just changed:
2/14/2014 Front Squat:245 Squat:345 Bench:205
2/17/2014 Front Squat:275 Squat: 365 Floor Press:190
2/18/2014 Press: 155 Squat:335
2/19/2014: Front Squat: 275 Bench 205 Trap Bar: 425
2/20/2014 Front Squat: 285 Press 150 Back Squat: 365
2/21/2014 Bench Press: 210* Squat: 365
2/22/2014 OFF
2/23/2014 OFF
Week One Notes: The trap bar was just for giggles, the gym got a new one. Back Squat generally "feels" better if I have front squatted in the morning. Front Squatting is almost completely new to me.

2/24: Front Squat: 275 Press 145 (mismanaged time, lost out on the back squat)
2/25 Bench 215** Front Squat

[Jsutt]

Cool dude, there are a few people here running a high-frequency/daily max program. I personally really like it & am seeing good results. Good luck!

[BlackIronEpee]

Thanks, have any links to logs? I'm going to post once a week too many sessions to post up every day.

[BlackIronEpee]

Week 2:
2/24/2014: Press: 145 Back Squat 355 Fence
2/25/2014: Front Squat: 275 Back Squat: 345 Bench: 215**
2/26/2014: Press 145 Back Squat 355 Fence
2/27/2014: Front Squat: 280* Bench(Pins)195* Back Squat: 365
2/28/2014: Back Squat: 365 Sumo: 335*
Notes: So far the lifting doesn't interfere with fencing and vice versa. I changed my stance to sumo very recently, in fact I've never tried to pull heavy that way, so everything is a PR. Reason being I feel in incorporates more of the musculature required for lateral movement. I probably won't only pull sumo but I do want to work on it, it is obviously a weakness of mine. Press seems to be the one taking the hit from the increased intensity. Bench press and Press should move up fairly smoothly because I have been stronger in the past (however not at this body weight). Shoulder started to feel a little bit grimy so I opted for only 4 pressing days, and made the second bench day off pins to lower the maximal weight. This week I had zero soreness and only one day of knee stiffness that went away after my morning front squats. I have been taking small jumps and doing little to no back off sets for the lower body. Upper body I have been working up, then pulling 80% off the daily max and doing one back off set to kind and gentle failure ( leaving 1 or 2 in the tank ) There were a few lower body days where I may have gotten one more jump in without it being a grinder but if there is a question in my mind, I back off.

[BlackIronEpee]

Week Three:
3/10/2014: Back Squat: 385**(missed rest of sessions, mismanaged time)
3/11/2014: Front Squat Beltless: 285* Back Squat 375 Bench 185x5*
3/12/2014: G.Band Back Squat 345(435)* Press 130x5*
3/13/2014: Front Squat 295 Bench 225* Back Squat 375
3/14/2014: Sumo 335, Back Squat, Press 135x4*
3/15/2014: OFF
3/16/2014: OFF

I am a week out from a minor competition so I am cutting the squat down to one a day, alternating between front and back. I am going to pair the back squat with some low volume plyometrics, and am replacing the day's second session with footwork sessions ( cardio!) yes, a week out is too small a time to make any real difference in explosive strength. I also want to see how my body responds to this frequency of dynamic work.

[BlackIronEpee]

My post keeps getting deleted. I am going to put highlights because its pissing me off. Paired all banded work with box jumps.
Front Squat: 305, 310
Back Squat 385, 405 WOOOOT
Bench 200x5, 205x5
Green Band Back Squat: 335,345

[BlackIronEpee]

By far the hardest part of this is logging all the workouts
My template has evolved a bit to include more deadlifts.
Sunday: Back Squat/Bench/Row
Monday: Front Squat/Press/Deadlift
Tuesday: B.Squat/Bench/Row
Wednesday: Front Squat/Press
Thursday: Back Squat/Bench
Friday: Front Squat/ Press/ Deadlift
Saturday: Off

This past week was uneventful I will post on saturday for the week and how I'm using set x rep for upper body and deadlift

[BlackIronEpee]

4/6
Bsquat 365, 3x325x2
Bench 195x5

4/7
Front Squat 315 2x265x2
Press 100x10
Deadlift 315x4 (Start at 245 & make 10 pound jumps!!!)
4/8
Back Squat 405 2x315x2
Calves 2x60x30iso
Bench: Missed
4/9
Bench 197.5x5
4/10
Back Squat 365 2x315x2
Bench 200x5
Pullup Black Band 10xsingle arm each 20xchinup
4/11
Front Squat 295
Deadlift 275x5
OHP 102.5x10
Calves 65xISO30's, 85xISO30's

Next Week Strategy:
Back Squat 6 days to max, alternate back down sets from Front to Back
Sequence will go as follows:

G.Band Back Squat1:Back SquatV
-Bench3/Pullup/Calves
Paused Back Squat1: Front SquatV
-Press5/DB Row
Back Squat1: Deadlift5
-Bench3/Pullup/Calves
G.Band Back Squat1: Back SquatV
-Press5/DB Row
Paused Back Squat1: Front SquatV
-Bench3/Pull/Calves
Back Squat1: Deadlift5
-Press5/DB Row

4/14
GBBSquat 325(415)
Bench 210x3*
4/15
Paused Squat 315
Front Squat 2x265x5
Press 135x5*
4/16
BSquat 375
Bench 225
4/17
GBBSquat 335(425)
Press
4/18
Pause BSquat 325
Bench

As I have tread into unforeseen waters and not been damaged. In fact all of my lifts have gone up, no three week drop off like I have been told. I naturally want to test my limits. I decided to run a week of the following.
M: Speed Back Squat/Bench
T: Speed Paused BackSquat/Bench
W: ME Back Squat/Bench
Th: ME Paused Back Squat/Press
Friday: High Volume Back Squat/Bench
Saturday: High Volume Paused Back Squat/Press
As far as supplemental work I have been doing some high repetition work with my calves just to keep my ankles healthy for fencing. When I neglect them, I hurt them. Some hanging leg raises for additional abdominal work if I feel like it. Isolation work for the abs seems to help with proprioception. I don't know or care if this is broscience but they fall asleep if I don't do something to hurt them every once in a while, not just for squatting but for fencing as well.

4/20
BSquat 245x10x2
Bench 135x8x3
Hanging Abs
4/21
PBSquat 195x10x2
Press 95x8x3
Calves
4/22
BSquat 385x1x1
Bench 230x1x1*
Hanging Abs
4/23
PBSquat x1x1 335
Press x1x3 140
Calves
4/24
BSquat 300x7x3
Hanging Abs
4/25
PBSquat 245x7x3
Press 110x7x3
Calves

Still setting PR's I may stick with this template for a while, and continue to try to set new 5,3, and 1rm's on the lifts in that order on ME day. For the record, this is the first time I've been sore since I started to lift every day.

[BlackIronEpee]

Oh shit, I forgot I am deadlifting one set of 5 on Monday and Friday, and the days there are wrong my week starts sunday and goes to friday not the way it is listed.

[BlackIronEpee]

After two months or so my schedule opened up and I began fencing hard again 3x a week instead of just teaching. I loved the program and didn't feel like it pushed me too hard at all. My conditioning however had completely bottomed out and I needed some more work in this area. I couldn't consolidate lifting heavy 6-7 days a week multiple times a day with 10 hours of fencing plus additional conditioning work. A big part is I just didn't have the time. Also, it gets a little boring. If lifting was ALL I did I would continue like this for a lot longer with more variation on the main lifts. Thats my .02. Had a great time!