Here follows quite a long (and not always clear) script of one of Mr.

Abadjiev's
most recent lectures,which begins with an open reference to Greek Sprinter
Ekaterina Thanou,notoriously training under Christos Tzekos' guidance.
"This material that I have prepared here for you for today is the same
material that I lectured on in front of the Greece Committee last spring.
They specifically asked me to present my material because one of their
athletes, Ekatarina Tanou, was using this method of training and has
incredible results using this method. She was third in the world for 100 meter
sprint, and last year she was one of the best white athletes, and she has
been using my methods of training.
If you pay attention to what I am saying and if you think logically about what
I am saying then you will see that this method is applicable to almost any
sports training. We will be concentrating on weightlifting nonetheless.
I have been asking myself a question, why such countries such as Uruquay,
Paraquay, Peru, not to mention Brazil, have incredible achievements in, say,
football, considering that those countries do not have stable sports methods
or academic sports development. And yet, they have better results in
comparison to other countries like Germany or Russia, which have been
studying sports as an academic for a very long time.
The other question that I have been asking myself is why such universal
athletes do not exist anymore, why it is so difficult to be good in different
disciplines, such as only 100 meters or jumps. These athletes who do only
one discipline they do it well but it is
almost impossible to be good in a lot of disciplines at the same time.
The same question is with athletes who train 10 different disciplines. They
have a mediocre scale of good results. For each sport they are not at their
best at one of those sports because they try to perform good in all the 10 of
them which prevents them from
being good at only one sport.
The fourth question that I have been asking myself is why, when observing
animals, for instance, they don't have micro and macro cycles.
They don't have leisure periods.
They are all the time active.
They don't have performance of 80% or 70%.
They only have performance achievements of 100% all of the time.
The way that animals prey, whatever they do, they do it their best and they
do it
at 100%. This is the way they survive.

Please forgive me for the simpleness of these examples, but every time I talk
with opponents who do not share my point of view, I have found that this is a
simple method of explaining the way I think and the way muscles work and
this is a simple way to present it graphically although it is not an academic
way.
As you can see this is a train with coaches which is performing a certain
function. We can compare this to a group of muscles or to a muscle fiber
which also performs some kind of duty. It also has dynamic function
Literally there is a difference between a living organism and this machinery,
and I will try to talk about that.
This is the precise way that a human body would function or human muscles
or any living organism's muscle function. That when there is a lack of energy,
there is a signal sent to the brain which, on its behalf would provide them
with nitrogen and whatever else is needed for them to function (energies)
through the blood circulation system. Up to here the mechanism of the way
they work is absolutely identical.
But the difference between the living organism and the machinery shown
here is as follows.
()
Now we have switched on the little trains. This is a law in organics that the
function builds the organ, or, the muscle. And when they function, they form
new structures. On the examples shown, they are growing.
First of all -- this is the coal storage, if we are talking about the train -- so it
will extend its size.
()
This is a human cell and in the cytoplasm there are swimming these
organelles which have this shape and form. This is basically how the energy
received into a cell is formed so the cell can use the energy provided. That is
why they are called energy stations of
the human cell. This is where energy is formed, and in the appropriate
measure, then it goes into becoming energy that the human organism needs
to perform.
This means that the number of those mitochondria is bigger so that the size
of the whole cell will change and become bigger also. Which practically
means that the more energy it receives, the more it grows, and the stronger
the power of the engine will be

And those are the different shapes of muscles. We have one muscle that
could be one after another one, when they're parallel, . . . this is the different
types of muscles. They all have a particular function, they all react to
different things. For instance, when we
have slower, but heavier exercise, then those muscles are the ones that are
doing the work. The ones that need speed and heaviness at the same time,
then those parallel muscles are activated, because power or strength of the
muscles depend on different things, different parameters.
The part of the muscle which is contracting is called sarcomere. The longer it
is, the faster it reacts, the faster it contracts. The shorter it is, it could
provide enormous strength, but in a longer period of time.
And there are muscle groups that can work without oxygen provided,
anaerobically.
And there are those muscles who work aerobically, with oxygen.
For instance, when we have a sprinter or cross runner, this is the muscle
which is activated .This is used for running and sprinting and longer running
periods. Those two muscles which are located on both sides of the knee, they
take part when sprinting is necessary, also called out of phase muscles. They
turn food into energy without using
oxygen. When we are talking about longer distances, then the energy is
formed using oxygen. So that the ones that are used for longer running
distance, they have a bigger number of mitochondria. This is where the cycle
of Krebs takes place and over 1,500 kilojoules of energy are formed.
And when we are talking about anaerobic working of the muscles, then we
are talking about 60% less production of those mitochondria from the same
amount of energy. So in the longer period, when we look at different training
muscles, there are different muscles that are used for different groups and
they are the ones who change their size
accordingly to the training system.
That is why when we change, when we are not lifting weights, when we are
doing something else . . . if we say that on the upper picture the engine is
the one that is used to lift weights, if we do something else not lifting weights
we are using other muscle groups, in another exercise not weightlifting,
those are the muscles that are being contracted.
So we have used this system when weightlifters have done other exercises,
not only weightlifting. For instance, I saw here that some of your trainers do
jumps with weights. Which means that immediately the energy supplies for
those muscles will be activated,
the ones that are necessary for a jump to be performed, which means that
there will be energy taken from the basic muscles needed in weightlifting.

And it is not only the matter of the muscle itself growing, but it is the
connections and the blood vessels which supply it with needed energy, they
change their form and shape too. So then, if we go back to doing the same
exercise, which is shown on the upper picture, then it wouldn't be as easy for
it to get energy anymore. And those are physiologically proven right, that the
mechanism works precisely this way. Respectable biologists and
physiologists have proven that this is right.
As it is proved also that when we have, with the use of non-weightlifting
exercises there is new proteins and the muscles are growing and protein is
developed and what have you then it is at the same moment that the
muscles used for weightlifting begin shrinking.
So if we concentrate our energy onto other exercises, then it means that the
creative process of the muscle needed in weightlifting will be stopped, which
means that in a longer period of time it will not be as easy to develop into its
original shape anymore, or size.
So this is our aim when we are training athletes, that we would build up all
those organs and muscles needed for a certain performance, not only the
muscles, but the whole cardiovascular and other systems that support the
working of the muscles in order for a better performance.
The adaptive process however, does not only include all the lungs and the
heart and the other organs that I mentioned.
The first adaptive period of the organism is an emergency one, which
activates the hormone use in the blood and the organism. The first ones to
be activated are adrenalin and noradrenalin.
It is said in this work for instance that the adrenaline can be lifted as much
as
to 1,000 ng/ml from 0.5. It is almost 1,000 times higher than its normal
amount. This whole adaptive mechanism plays a huge role in the functioning
of the organism.
It is not only in sports, but that it is how our organism adapts to any number
of changes, for instance, the cold when we go outside.
And it is cold and there is a rush of adrenaline and naturally your
cardiovascular system starts to work faster in order for your heart to produce
enough blood to get you warm.
Adrenalin also activates this anabolic machinery. This is the membrane of the
cell. It is formed by four molecules, and we will be interested in only two of
them. This is how the adrenaline divides this part of the cell. One of them
mobilizes the calcium inside
the cell. So calcium is needed in order for those two to be united, and as the
disappearance of those little bridges that we see here occurs, there is the

contraction of the muscle; as they are pulled apart, the muscle contracts.
So naturally everything is controlled by the brain, the adaptation and the
growth of the muscles. And they are also determined huge changes in the
kidneys, they grow bigger in size, and their production is also changed.
Another very important thing is how the body learns to economize with less
hormones and it lessens its demands, it becomes more sensitive.
Those new muscle cells that are produced, they become more economical in
their demands. And it has been proven that those new muscles, they need
less blood supply.
So it means that they can better perform because of their new economical
way of functioning.
All those processes begin with a stress reaction, exercise being a stress.
If there would be another coach after the engine of the train, then it would
mean a new adaptation, and it is the same as with weightlifting when we add
some more weight to the bar.
All those functioning systems are in a stressed condition, they have the socalled stress reaction, and it activates all those mechanisms of all those
systems. Their functioning grows, and so the structural changes begin, and
new structural shapes and sizes can be formed.
So in the first stage that I mentioned before, the emergency stage,
sometimes the production of adrenaline is way too high for the use of those
systems.
When there is a bigger strain on the muscle there is a catabolic effect. As we
can see here this is the size of a normally functioning cell, this is the cell
after it has been adapted already to the new conditions, it becomes bigger,
and this is the size of the cell after adding to its functions.
So here we have already added those extra coaches to the train. It is bigger
than in
the beginning but it is smaller here when its in its extreme situation, the
emergency state that we were talking about. Some athletes cannot
overcome this stage of the extra strain on the muscular system and they
cannot have the process, cannot obtain the maximum of the process, they
cannot have this adaptation in their muscles.
In order to avoid injuries and complications, we have to avoid the state of
hyper functioning of muscles and cells. The organism itself can form a stress
limiting system. This system allows the organ at certain stress levels, it
measures the amount of stress it thinks that a human muscle or cell can take
and it limits it to a certain
level.

The organism has this level of the stress that it can take to avoid injuries or
discomfort.
This amino acid, which has one of those functions, to limit performance.
Other such limiters are beta endorphins and enkepholytes, they have
tranquilizing effects. The
brain cells also have their way of avoiding injuries by limiting stress. There
are also other ones but I will not be talking about them.
This is why in our training program we have only four exercises that
we perform. Which means that we are not using new material, we are not
using energy or plastics in order to build new functioning systems. We do not
force them to go into catabolic reaction. And this is the way that we make
sure that the muscles adapt faster and better. And when I say adaptation I do
not mean adaptation of only
adaptation of one single muscle but the whole system that functions
together, all those that I have been talking about, the heart, the lungs, the
central control unit, and all the others.
()
This example that I will be talking about will come to show again why
it is very important to use only one set of exercise modes. But now
we will not only be talking about what kind of exercise to do but we
are going to be talking about the amount of strength that is used
during an exercise.
Hayden, a very well-known physiologist claims that this is the density which
goes through the neurons into the muscles, stimulating the muscle. When we
are lifting 100 kilos, through the neurons there is a set of impulses sent, and
this is the density of the impulses.
And if he is doing the weight as shown , presuming this is his record weight,
which he would be doing in a competition, and then the impulse density is
much bigger. This density associated with the heavier lift activates this one
particular part of the DNA chain. Those genes have particular storage of
information. And accordingly with this specific part of the DNA where the
information is stored there is certain proteins produced which have this
shape.
And when we have the density associated with any other weight, then there
is
another information which is used from the DNA chain, and then there
is produced this kind of protein which has another set of characteristics. And
Hayden claims that only this set of proteins would be activated only at this
density, which means that only by lifting 100 kilos will you be activating what
you have been building,
those proteins.

During a competition, the density the one required, and those will be the
proteins activated in a state of competition or higher performance and all the
others will be passive, they will not be activated, because of the different
density. So, when we are lifting weights which are not the maximum amount
we could lift, and this lift is being
performed in aerobic conditions, when there is a supply of oxygen, we will
not be activating the density and the real performance of the muscle, it will
not be taken to its extent. While lifting those higher weights, there will be a
chance of producing more anaerobic energy .

That is why it is important that we lift our maximum, in order to produce

those kinds of proteins and those kinds of structures that we will be using in
a competition, for instance. We don't want to spend our energy building
structures that will not be used under extreme situations.
This comes to show why our training method is that we are lifting our almost
maximum during training. Before we were talking about lifting many tons a
day of weight. About the middle of the 70's, we were lifting up to 60 tons a
day. But we were not producing any effect.
The speed at which we were training was different, it was higher.
But those were little weights, not the maximum of an athlete. This is why our
athletes now lift up to 4 tons a day, but they are performing in this zone in
the maximum zone, of maximum achievement.
So we are building this particular protein structure that we will be using
under extreme circumstances as competitions are, for instance.
So naturally we were looking for a way to expand those muscles which are
used in weightlifting, leaning on those functions of the organism. We are
lifting bigger weights, but slower, and we make less attempts. But in order to
develop those particular proteins, we were forced to do more work in order to
make those particular muscle groups work and perform.
You cannot be lifting big weights densely in the duration of one training.
That's why we have divided the training session into different parts. And so
we have first snatches, then cleans, then snatches again, so we have twice
snatches, and then squats afterward. But in the afternoons we change the
order so those muscles are overall equally pressured.
So what we are doing we have the maximum weights with lower tempo and
lesser attempts.
This is how we achieve this effect of building up precisely those muscles that
are needed in weightlifting.
Now I want to show you a system which triggers a natural metabolic

reaction. And this will be on the example of lifting weights.

This system is called the ties between the functional and the genetic
apparatus. And what is the structure of those ties.
Lifting weights we are achieving the contraction of a certain muscle which
grows and which is needed for the weights to be lifted and we are changing
its structure. So during training if we are using maximum amount of weight
and only a few attempts to lift that weight, that means that we are activating
this whole system, which will
achieve the growth of that muscle and its maximum performance.
So by stimulating with adrenalin those molecules, they bring more calcium
into the cell. By doing that, they are making the genetic repressor
dysfunctional, which means it cannot enter the DNA chain, and so it means
that it can perform up to its maximum. But this is because of the adrenaline
which is made during training sessions. Adrenaline is
released only when we are doing the maximum amount of weight. In order to
achieve this higher level of adrenaline release, we used to do Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, training sessions in front of an audience, which
resembled the situation of a real competition, when you have the lights, the
audience, the crowd, the judges, and the
emotional factor also plays a very important role, it stimulates the release of
adrenalin. So you performed up to your maximum three times a week,
almost in competition circumstances, which releases the adrenaline needed,
which makes this whole mechanism function, which enables a certain muscle
group to grow and perform better.
This is the way a different medicine, which releases, which makes more
adrenalin to be released, they work exactly on this principle.
Now we will be talking about the amount of training.
For instance, in bodybuilding, bodybuilders do not lift their maximum, but
they lift a certain amount of weight many times.
Meerson says that a cell has a particular amount of what it needs in order to
function and it can self-energize itself.
This is the main fiber. It has those contractive proteins. Those other fibers are
acting as kind of supporting the main fiber. Those fibroblasts do not have the
contracting proteins which the main fiber has. Basically what they are doing
is acting as donors and
supporters of the main fiber. In order to be able to support the main fiber
during dense exercises, they enlarge their size. This is the process when they
are changing
their structure.
But if there are too many attempts, there is a process called hyperplasia.

Those supporting fibers start to divide, and their quantity grows bigger. And
they also start working on
supporting the main fiber, but they do not have those contracting proteins.
So the main fiber can function and perform longer, because of the supporting
fibers, but on its own, its strength does not grow. But the muscle itself grows
bigger. This, we are talking about bodybuilding.
So basically before, when you used to do this training with many repetitions,
our weightlifters looked completely different, they had much bigger muscles.
But Yakovlev says that this actually prevents the main fiber from functioning
correctly. It does not give
it strength, even though it looks bigger.
If we go back in time and look at the technique that our weightlifters used to
use, it is very incorrect and difficult to perform with it. On the scale,
bodyweight is growing and they go into another category because their
bodyweight is growing, but strength itself does not grow bigger.
There have been many tests made with lifts and the repetition, and it shows
that the classical exercises are much more productive, even in the
psychological aspect. Not only that there are different muscle groups
achieving the same movement, and even the movement itself is different,
and the speed of the performance is altered and changed.
Not only the strength of the muscle is important but also the coordination in
between the muscle groups is very important in order to perform. And even
this is an obstacle when you are doing not only the classical exercises,
because you ruin this coordination, and you cannot perform the classical
exercises anymore when in a competition for instance.
So when we are doing only pulls, then the symbiotic structure of the muscles
is different, and even the muscles have memory, so then they cannot as well
perform when we are doing the and jerk.
The better the coordination is, the better the economical working of the
organism, and the better the function of the muscles.
This is why we are not doing those half pulls anymore, and nobody, none of
our athletes have lowered their achievements. Quite the opposite, they have
achieved even better."
*Note the reference to scientists and physiologists Felix Meerson and
Hayden,whose findings support the whole training approach
*Specifically regarding Strength Training,as from the information to me
available at the present,athletes training with Tzekos did not perform any
additional lower body lifting (coherently with the Training approach
suggested above),and only some informal and minimal upper body strength

training,often limited to one single exercise per athlete,chosen to suit

individual need.
At some point Thanou was performing some light overhead presses,while at
the same time Kenteris performed some bodyweight pull up sets.
Some plyos were part of the program,though in limited numbers,as well as
some general conditioning and warming up routines.
I cannot confirm this information,but I think they did experiment some
Nemes vibration platforms at some time,mainly with recovery purposes.
Rumors are Tzekos' training system is still used in Greece for Track and Field
athletes,producing consistent improvement over time in athletes using it
(particularly in the qualities defining Speed Endurance) ,though my
information concern mostly young developing Sprinters and 400m er's

and this is from Goose232:

I remember reading that during the gpp phase they did 2 sprint sessions in a
day;
2 sessions x 3 x 200m per session @ 90%
speed. 30mins rest between reps.
Friday mornings would be 3 x 100m even for kenteris. Thanou allways did
100m reps.
I thought it was closer to 85% but somebody else said 90%.
I also remember reading that it averaged 5 days a weak of training as
follows;
3 days on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off.
They would decrease to 3 sprints per day when intensity moved to around
95%.
At some point there was one sprint per day at 100% during peaking phase.