MEETING IVAN IVANOV, CREATOR OF THE BULGARIAN BAG
Some pieces of training equipment are so commonplace that it's easy to forget somebody actually had to invent them.
The Bulgarian Bag is one of those for me.
I've used Bulgarian Bags extensively in my own training and coaching for years. I've competed with them, coached people with them and spent an unreasonable amount of time swinging heavy ones around.
So getting the opportunity to meet and learn directly from Ivan Ivanov — the man who actually created the thing — was pretty special.
Who Is Ivan Ivanov?
Before becoming an inventor and coach, Ivan Ivanov was an elite Greco-Roman wrestler representing Bulgaria.
He competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, wrestling at featherweight and finishing fifth.
Following his competitive career, Ivan moved into coaching in the United States and worked with high-level wrestlers at the US Olympic Training Centers. It was through that coaching work that the Bulgarian Bag eventually emerged.
Ivan wanted something that could develop the rotational strength, endurance and dynamic movement required in wrestling, while also being practical enough to use in a wrestling room. In 2005, he introduced the first Bulgarian Bag.
The crescent-shaped bag and its various handles allowed athletes to swing, spin, pull, push, carry and manipulate a load in ways that conventional weights didn't easily replicate.
Twenty years later, Bulgarian Bags can be found in gyms around the world.
Including, of course, the Commando Temple.
Ivan Ivanov Comes to the Commando Temple
Ivan had heard about the Commando Temple as a world-class strength facility and knew that we were already using his creation.
So when he came to visit and deliver a workshop, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
There's something quite different about learning an established training system from the person who originally developed it.
Ivan took us through the Bulgarian Bag, refining techniques we already knew but also showing us different movements, details and ways of structuring training that I hadn't previously considered.
And it was fantastic.
Learning From the Source
Ivan is quite a character.
He's intense — which probably won't surprise anybody familiar with his background — but he's also incredibly friendly, warm and enthusiastic about what he does.
What struck me most was that he didn't simply show us a collection of exercises.
He changed the way I thought about using the Bulgarian Bag as a training tool.
The Bag is obviously rooted in wrestling, and its value for wrestlers, grapplers and combat athletes is pretty easy to understand. You're manipulating a moving load, producing and resisting rotation, changing direction and maintaining grip while fatigue accumulates.
But I think it's a mistake to see it purely as a wrestling tool.
Used properly, it's an extraordinarily well-rounded bit of kit.
Why I Love Bulgarian Bag Training
You can use a Bulgarian Bag to develop strength, conditioning, muscular endurance and — particularly — endurance through the hands and grip.
But what makes it really interesting is movement.
A lot of conventional strength training is deliberately controlled. We stabilise a load and move it efficiently from A to B.
The Bulgarian Bag can be very different.
With spins, swings and other continuous movements, you're creating momentum and then learning how to control and redirect it. The load moves around the body through patterns you don't encounter very often with a barbell or dumbbell.
You're not simply lifting the Bag.
You're interacting with it.
And once you become proficient, movements can flow together into long sequences that challenge your strength, fitness, coordination and concentration simultaneously.
Ivan gave us new ways of thinking about those combinations and about how individual movements could be structured into complete workouts.
Those ideas have stayed with me and influenced how I've used Bulgarian Bags with clients ever since.
Five Minutes With Ivan Ivanov
The workshop also provided a pretty good demonstration that Ivan practises what he preaches.
At one point he picked up the Suples Ball and launched into what became roughly five minutes of continuous movement.
No standing around explaining theory.
He was moving, demonstrating, working and pumping up everyone watching.
And he could bloody move.
Knowing what that sort of continuous training feels like made it even more impressive to watch.
This wasn't simply the inventor of a piece of fitness equipment turning up to explain his product.
This was a lifelong athlete and coach demonstrating a system he'd developed through decades of wrestling, experimentation and practical coaching.
That's what made the day so valuable.
A Genuine Pioneer
The fitness industry isn't short of people reinventing old ideas, putting a new name on them and declaring they've discovered something revolutionary.
Ivan actually created something.
The Bulgarian Bag is distinctive. It solves a particular training problem, has developed into an entire training system and has spread far beyond the wrestling rooms it was originally designed for.
For somebody like me, who has spent years experimenting with different approaches to strength and conditioning, meeting the person responsible for one of my favourite training tools was a privilege.
More importantly, I came away from the workshop better at using it.
Firsthand knowledge from someone with Ivan's experience is difficult to replicate.
He's a fantastic athlete, an extraordinary character and a genuine pioneer in strength and fitness.
And his work has had a significant influence on the way I train and coach today.
Bulgarian Bag & Strength Training in Deptford
Bulgarian Bags are just one of the tools I use when coaching at the Commando Temple in Deptford.
Depending on the person in front of me, training might involve barbells, kettlebells, Bulgarian Bags, carries, calisthenics, sandbags, stones — or something else entirely.
The equipment isn't the point.
Getting stronger, fitter and more capable is.
If you'd like to train with me, I offer one-to-one personal training and strength coaching in Deptford for all abilities.