WSJ Article on Abadjiev

Probably not much that wasnt already known, but its good exposure for the sport. Theres pics and vids in the tabs as well:

Thanks for posting the link.

It is too bad the author did not have better knowledge of the sport, but it is nice to see it get some attention.

I wonder if any one of the athletes there are real talents.

[quote]Ajax wrote:
I wonder if any one of the athletes there are real talents.

[/quote]

There are, and for some, they will be.

Great article.

We haven’t won gold in 40 years cause they train like pussies apparently… I don’t doubt it.

Interesting article, thanks.

IIRC he’s training this guy… no idea if this dude is American, doubt it…

I was wondering when you were going to post it up Man!

Good exposure for the sport and a nice article.

Koing

get pat mendes there. if anyone’s a hopeful its him

It strikes me as utterly insane that Abadjiev would be forced to live as a locksmith and security guard to make ends meet. I guess his legend precedes him.

Still though, his methods seem conducive to an environment where his athletes don’t have to work for their living, merely show up to the gym.

why do reporters call the lifts ‘monotonous’ and ‘boring’??? i’ve seen that a few times now.

that surprised me as well.

who knows? but I guess if you are doing them 2-3 times a day and you are always tired and hurting you might prefer a holiday than lifting every now and then.

I guess its also the reason the sport isn’t very popular. Its pretty monotonous and boring from a spectator viewpoint if you’ve never tried it for a while. Problem is few people try it at all and I’m sure a lot more people would like it if everyone tried it just like soccer in europe or football in the US…

i wonder what Abadjiev thinks of smoke breaks. i hear they used to be popular :slight_smile:

As someone who used to live at the Olympic Training Center I can tell you all with no uncertainty - the US NATIONAL TEAM COACHES DON’T KNOW SHIT. They’re in it for the paycheck and travel opportunities, and several of the past “coaches” had NEVER BEEN LIFTERS THEMSELVES (Bob Morris, Lyn Jones, etc, etc…). Our Olympic program is nothing more than a glorified “good ol’ boys club”, these are the same people that told Krastev to take a hike when he offered to train the team back in the day. Fucking morons.

I think Abajiev is an absolute genius and only wish this program had been around when I was competing. I would have done anything to put myself into that environment.

Mendes at 19 has snatched 200 kilos (440 pounds). I mention this because Mendes is coached by John Broz, who in turn was coached by Antonio Krastev - who was taught by …

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/491/Five_Lessons_I_Learned_from_Ivan_Abadjiev.aspx

[quote]gordo1893 wrote:
get pat mendes there. if anyone’s a hopeful its him[/quote]

Pat is with John Broz who trained with a Bulgarian lifter who was I think was coached under Abadjiev. Pat would never leave Broz mate.

[quote]Otep wrote:
It strikes me as utterly insane that Abadjiev would be forced to live as a locksmith and security guard to make ends meet. I guess his legend precedes him.

Still though, his methods seem conducive to an environment where his athletes don’t have to work for their living, merely show up to the gym.
[/quote]

At the academy they still work and go to school/ college mate.

Koing

[quote]twiceborn wrote:
As someone who used to live at the Olympic Training Center I can tell you all with no uncertainty - the US NATIONAL TEAM COACHES DON’T KNOW SHIT. They’re in it for the paycheck and travel opportunities, and several of the past “coaches” had NEVER BEEN LIFTERS THEMSELVES (Bob Morris, Lyn Jones, etc, etc…). Our Olympic program is nothing more than a glorified “good ol’ boys club”, these are the same people that told Krastev to take a hike when he offered to train the team back in the day. Fucking morons.

I think Abajiev is an absolute genius and only wish this program had been around when I was competing. I would have done anything to put myself into that environment. [/quote]
we do have Zygmunt Smalcerz now. :slight_smile: Our Lord and Savior.

Ill address a few points.

  1. I think the “monotonous and boring” is because what we do is “deliberate practice”.

2)Broz learned under Krastev, and while he is on a different version of what we do, its still effective and he definitely knows what hes doing.

  1. As Koing said, everyone at the academy works full time and/or goes to school. Theres only one person there currently who has none of those obligations yet theres another who has a family, but its just a matter of organizing your life to accommodate the lifting. Yes its hard, yes you have to sacrifice things, but you can make it work if you really want it.

  2. Nekohlay was here during Abadjiev’s first attempt at coaching in the US but Nekohlay eventually went back to Bulgaria.

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:

that surprised me as well.

who knows? but I guess if you are doing them 2-3 times a day and you are always tired and hurting you might prefer a holiday than lifting every now and then.

I guess its also the reason the sport isn’t very popular. Its pretty monotonous and boring from a spectator viewpoint if you’ve never tried it for a while. Problem is few people try it at all and I’m sure a lot more people would like it if everyone tried it just like soccer in europe or football in the US…[/quote]

What can be more fun lifting heavier then you have EVER done before in the Sn, CJ, FS and going heavy most of the time?

I met a girl at a new weightlifting comp I was coaching OxMan at. She had never seen the sport but I got talking to her and explained to her what was happening. What the lifts were about and why they were picking the weights they were picking. The strategic element of picking your weights, going for broke or getting an early lift in, waiting for someone else to pick their lifts first, countback and order etc. She really enjoyed it. But again at first sight it’s hard for a person to appreciate this at a competition but when someone explains it to them it all comes apprent.

Koing

But what about the smoke breaks???

Maybe that was the wonderful magical magic???

@Gqartguy - You sound like you train there as well? Do they have a website? I’d gladly drive down to Cali to see Abadjiev speak if they ever do clinics.