What's up brothers? Today I'd like to share a story I came across recently. I'll set the scene.
It's the 1970s and the Bulgarian weightlifting team is getting smashed by the Soviet union. In countries other then America, particularly Europe Olympic weightlifting is celebrated by the citizens and government alike. Prestigious jobs post career, endorsements/commercials along with the full backing of the government. Housing,food, anabolics,doctors and everything else you can imagine is provided.
Ivan abadjiev has entered the chat. Ivan had some preposterous notions concerning the development of his athletes. Think you train Hard? Does HIT sound like too much?Welcome to the Bulgarian method. 3 to 6 sessions a day @2-3 hours each. What do they do this whole time ? Well 3 lifts and it's taken to maximum and then maintained at that intensity. Clean & jerk, Snatch and front squat. That's it. No assistance training. Maybe a back squat from time to time but that's it.
Now the part I'm in this section for. What was the anabolic protocol ? Test, Winny, tren maybe ? Nope. For each athlete 180+ dianabol pills (5mg ea) a week minimum. Prior to competition this dose could be doubled. The low end of this spectrum was 900mg of Dbol a week. There was no ai or even a thought concerning estrogen. The only other steroid taken was deca and this was low dose for the joint buffering. Back then prior to a drug test the bladder was emptied and subsequently filled with clean urine via catheterization. The next question you should be asking is 1. How did they do and 2. Are they alive ? Records of 260 kilo (572 lbs) in the clean and jerk stood the test of time for many many years. Squats of 300 kilos or 660 lbs for 185 lb lifters wasn't rare and the heavy weights rocked out with 340 kilos. These are high bar, ass to grass squats by the way
In closing. Side effects varied from brown urine,kidney/liver failure emotional instability and every muscle, bone,tendon and ligament being torn,ripped and atrophied. This isn't a endorsement of megadosing Dbol. It is a interesting case study we can look into where multiple individuals over at least 2 decades were administered more anabolics then any other single individual I've ever heard of and probably ever will. Anyway, something to think about.