This handout focuses on who is the Tactical Athlete. The tactical athlete is anyone who engages in high-risk/high demand operations. These operators/athletes require high levels of muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed, power, agility, balance, joint mobility, muscle flexibility and mental toughness. They need to have a superior energy system development and must be able to operate in an anaerobic environment for extended periods of time to handle the rigors of these high intensity environments. The tactical athlete needs to have an increased level of situational awareness as well as the ability to adapt quickly to an ever changing environment. The main tool to prepare these operators/athletes is the Bulgarian Bag. Topics include, reinforcing operational skill sets, reducing the possibility of injuries, usability and sustained fitness, functional movement patterns, forces in the environment and more. Check in out and let me know what you think!

1. Bulgarian Bag: Focus on
Tactical Preparation and
Application
More than physical movement…
“The mind is the athlete; the body is simply the means it uses to run faster or
longer, jump higher, shoot straighter, kick better, swim harder, hit harder or box
better.”
2012
Total Warrior
Stephen Nave
Competitive Performance Strategies, Inc.
2/25/2012

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Bulgarian Bag: Focus on Tactical Preparation and
Application
Who is the Tactical Athlete
The tactical athlete is anyone who engages in high-risk/high demand operations. These
operators/athletes require high levels of muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed, power, agility,
balance, joint mobility, muscle flexibility and mental toughness. They need to have a superior energy
system development and must be able to operate in an anaerobic environment for extended periods of
time to handle the rigors of these high intensity environments. The tactical athlete needs to have an
increased level of situational awareness as well as the ability to adapt quickly to an ever changing
environment.
Below is a quote from G.S. Patton, Jr. that I feel is very appropriate.
Maj. 3rd
Cavalry
“Civilization has affected us; we abhor personal encounter. Many a man will risk his life, with an easy
mind, in a burning house, which recoils from having his face punched. We have been taught to restrain
our emotions, to look upon anger as low, until many of us have never experienced the God sent ecstasy
of unbridled wrath. We have never felt our eyes screw up, our temples throb, and the red mist gather in
our sight.
And we expect that a man, the result of all this, shall, in an instant, the twinkling of an eye, direct
himself of all restraint of all caution and hurl himself on the enemy, a frenzied beast, lusting to probe his
foeman's guts with three feet of steel or shatter his brains with a bullet. Gentlemen, it cannot be done -
not without mental practice.
Therefore, you must school yourself to savagery. You must imagine how it will feel when your sword hilt
crashes into the breastbone of your enemy. You must picture the wild exaltation of the mounted charge
when the lips draw back in a snarl and the voice cracks with passion.
When you have acquired the ability to develop on necessity, momentary and calculated savagery, you
can keep your twentieth century clarity of vision with which to calculate the chances of whether to

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charge or fight on foot, and having decided on the former, the magic word will transform you
temporarily into a frenzied brute
To use the words, which Conan Doyle puts in the mouth of his hero Gerard, you have equipped
yourselves with, "A heart of fire and a brain of ice."
To sum up, then, you must be: a scholar; a high-minded gentleman; a cold blooded hero; a hot blooded
savage. At one and the same time, you must be a wise man and a fool. You must not get fat or mentally
old and you must be a personal Leader.”
Personal History
The SEAL Experience
For the tactical athlete, when conducting platoon workups or being operational, what impact does
“fitness” or “functional fitness” really has on operational readiness? Operational readiness does not rely
only on physical preparedness, but many other components, such as mental preparation, self-
confidence, being self-aware (which is different from self-confidence), skill development (such as
weapon skills, navigation), tactical proficiencies (mission planning, tactics, ability to observe and act
quickly), and the ability to operate under pressure in stressful situations are some of the requirements
needed to survive when out in the field or combat situation. So, if we really look at it, the physical
fitness element plays only a supportive role, which is the part that allows us to be able to operate from a
solid platform or base of support, but ultimately, it is the mind that needs to be developed and strong.
I served over twenty years in the U.S. Navy, with 18 of them as a Navy SEAL. And I wasn’t done when I
retired, heading over to the Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Center in Coronado, California to act
as a Navy SEAL Instructor, training the men in BUD/S who would go on to become SEALs. My
experiences in training physically, mentally, and emotionally, both and on and off the battle fields, as
well as in training 1000’s of BUD/S students gives me a unique understanding of what it means to take
people to the edge and beyond, testing physical strength, muscle endurance, aerobic and anaerobic
capabilities as well as mental toughness.
SEALs and Special Ops get the opportunity to use all kinds of unique, expensive, and cutting-edge
equipment. One perk was that we field-tested tons of products before they hit the market – shoes,
watches, weapons, fitness tools… you name it, if it was something pretty cool, we probably had our

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hands on it. Just a couple of years ago after leaving Coronado, I was looking online for some options for
grip training when I discovered what I wish would have been available when I was on the teams – the
Bulgarian Bag. We never got the opportunity to test this baby out, but if it had been available to us, it
could have made a valuable difference in training.
History of the Bulgarian Bag
Real World Application Based
My partner, Ivan Ivanov, invented the Bulgarian Bag around 2005.
He is a former Bulgarian Greco-Roman Olympic athlete, and at the
time was working as the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling coach
at the Olympic training center in Marquette, Michigan.
He was looking for a training tool that would allow his Olympic
wrestlers to improve explosive actions and dynamic movements
involved in pushing, twisting, swinging, pulling, bending, rotating, squatting, lunging, and throwing in a
safe yet effective manner.
Although the Bulgarian Bag was initially designed for Olympic class wrestlers, it has come to be adopted
by fitness trainers and professional athletes for its ability to increase muscular strength and endurance,
neurological integration, mental toughness, grip strength while providing a transition from traditional
training methods to non-traditional. Through a unique collaboration between Ivan and me, we founded
the International Bulgarian Bag Confederation (IBBC). The outstanding line of Suples training equipment
merged with functional movement principles based in research, science, industry, and sport-specific
applications have united in the IBBC’s respected ability to provide high quality education and support for
Bulgarian Bag enthusiasts and athletes around the world.
In order to truly understand the benefits of training with the Bulgarian Bag, full comprehension can only
be gained through education and understanding the “Why’s” and “How’s” behind the biomechanical
benefits of this innovative, dynamic 3 dimensional movement-based, functional training tool.
We are constantly researching traditional training methods and theories and adapting them to the
Bulgarian Bag. To obtain superior results with your training, you must apply physics, kinesiology and
physiology principles to movement, strength development, development of superior joint specific

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muscle endurance, and metabolic rate increases. With knowledge of how to manipulate these variables
you will be able to have better carryover to practical application and performance increases, particularly
the correct techniques in the development of force with the Bulgarian Bag.
The Current Operation Environment (COE)
The contemporary operational environment (COE) is the overall operational environment that exists
today and in the near future (out to the year 2020). The range of threats during this period extends from
smaller, lower-technology opponents using more adaptive, asymmetric methods to larger, modernized
forces able to engage deployed U.S. forces in more conventional and symmetrical ways.
In real-world operational environments, soldiers and leaders must be aware of the variables
representing the “conditions, circumstances, and influences” that affect operations. In the training
environments, these variables and effects must, therefore, be present to provide realistic and relevant
training. Now, you are saying, “Steve where are you going with this.” Well if we are talking about
training for the tactical athlete (warrior) the same principles apply for physical preparation as in War
preparation. As athletes we must be aware of our “conditions, circumstances, and influences” that can
affect the outcome whether in battle or on the job (fireman, policemen).
The concept of asymmetric warfare is critical to understanding the COE. Asymmetry is a condition of
ideological, cultural, technological, or military imbalance that exists when there is a disparity in
comparative strengths and weaknesses. As in War as is for the tactical athlete, the opposing force,
(OPFOR) will seek to avoid our strengths while exploiting perceived weaknesses. In this way, they hope
to achieve their own goals. Bringing our attention back to fitness and physical training, we could call this
“Asymmetric Conditioning” where we adopt an adaptive approach to avoid or counter our threats
strengths without attempting to oppose them directly, while seeking to exploit their weaknesses. If we
understanding these COE variables we can then provide realistic or RBT (Reality Based Training) training
conditions that challenge us to produce certain training outcomes for the desired effect.
Reinforcing Operational Skill Set
Should our training methods just enable us to run longer, perform more push-ups and pull-ups, carry a
heavier ruck farther? Is this style of training even going to help us perform better in the field or on the
job? Just because someone is in great physical condition does not make them a great warrior or fighter.
However, if we properly understand the components that make up the required demands of the

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potential situations that we may be required to confront - not only on a physical level, but also on
mental and emotional levels - we can then adapt the training protocols to support and mimic those
conditions as is realistically possible. It is important to note that there is a tremendous difference
between the performance impact of a heart rate increase caused by fear, (i.e. sympathetic nervous
system flooding stressor hormones into your body) and heart rate increase caused by physical exercise.
When your heart is pounding to physical exertion, your face will usually be bright red, as every vessel
dilates wide-open to get blood to the muscles. But with a fear–induced heart rate increase, your face
will usually turn white, due to vasoconstriction. Now ask yourself again, will attention to only physical
fitness be as effective when this athlete is put in the situation to react under pressure, fatigued, heart
pounding, breathing uncontrollably and overtaken by fear?
Unlike motor skill training, survival skills will be formed in the stress of combat. According to Kenneth R.
Murray, there are basically three elements that will enhance your ability to train these gross motor skills
so you can perform better under the stress of combat. These three elements include:
1. System design selection
2. Instructional delivery system
3. Motivational principles
Development of a system of skills which are appropriate for the arena of particular tactical performance
can easily be created using the Bulgarian Bag. Take a look at how primal movement’s patterns for the
Bulgarian bag are transferable in appropriate arenas of combat performance.
The instructional delivery system must ensure that the students can learn and develop confidence in the
skill quickly. Like I've always said, “the Bulgarian bag is easy to learn, but hard to master.” We can get
students up and running very quickly, teaching them basic gross movement patterns that will start the
learning process and start the programming of the neurological movement patterns that through
increased practice and experience help to develop superior neurological integration for all movement.
The final variable recognizes that the influence of motivational principles has a direct effect on the
students training intensity and subsequent skill development. Even though training with the Bulgarian
bag does not simulate the conditions of stress under combat situations, we can train in heart rate zones
(145 to 175 bpm) that mimic conditions that you may find under a combat situation along with
developing movement patterns that also occur under various stressful conditions. Skill development is
the ability to bring about some result with maximum certainty and a minimum outlay of energy, time

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and energy. Training with the Bulgarian Bag and mastering movement patterns will allow us to use basic
physics such as momentum, force production, gravity and inertia, which surround us in each and every
day and in every situation, including combat. As skill development increases, we learn to use our body
more efficiently, which allows us to use more weight (for loaded dynamic movements) and increase our
force production (mass x acceleration) with less energy. Using the Bulgarian bag and developing skills
with the Bulgarian bag can have a positive effect on our force production and our ability to create force
with a minimal outlay of energy that under a combat or stressful situation will carry over to the gross
motor skills that need to be performed. When looking at creating more force with less energy, by
conditioning our body and our mind, we create less of a mental strain required to exert the same
amount of force or energy than we would have created if we were de-conditioned. Once we have
trained our body and reached an exceptional physical level of performance, during combat situations we
may have to hardly pay attention to the physical demands. This will free up cognitive processes for other
requirements such as situational awareness, including fine motor skills, such as shooting a weapon
accurately.
Reducing the Possibility of Injuries
We also need to adopt a training program that will train the body (joints, ligament, tendons and
muscles) to deal with the demands of the environment, as such, it is imperative to strike a balance
between joint strength, joint mobility, and adequate flexibility to deal with unexpected situations, and
adequate muscle strength and endurance in order to remain confident in our abilities and deal with the
changing demands of day-to-day operational or fighting conditions.
Training Options – Key to Usability and Sustained Fitness
One of the factors when I look back to my SEAL days was sometimes the lack of having superior training
tools available when we deployed either by air, ship or vehicles in order to maintain our training
regimens. Space and weight restrictions often prevented us from taking anything useful. Sure, I know
you might be thinking this, but sorry TRX, you are not even in the same league as the Bulgarian Bag. The
great side effect is that this will reduce overall risk and helps us weather the physical demands we
encounter over a 20 or 30 year career.
Let’s look at the Bulgarian Bag in the deployment situation. This versatile training tool takes up only a
small space. Back in the day, I would have been able to outfit a 16-man platoon with only five kit bags,

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which could easily carry twenty 37 lb. Bulgarian Bags. Five kit bags can fit almost anywhere, anytime,
and with five kit bags I would have a complete, portable training solution. The leather Bulgarian Bags
are tough and can take a beating. They won’t rust, won’t roll on the deck on a ship or the back of a
truck, and again, take up a very small individual foot print, and do not need to be attached or secured to
anything, as is the case with TRX. In fact, I’ve had a student use the bag while underway on a small
cruiser during air operation, with 10 foot waves crashing against the flight deck!
If the guys on deployment or those who may need a mobile solution have the opportunity to train,
here’s what they want:
• They want a solution that is time efficient
• Requires little or no set-up
• Is movement-based
• Dynamic in nature
• Can provide a high volume (high density) of training in a short period of time (45 minutes or
less)
• Works on anaerobic capacity
• Has carryover to aerobic fitness (lower resting heart rate and increased stroke volume),
• Develops grip strength and endurance (direct carryover to day-to-day operational demands)
• Increases metabolic rate to potentially maximize body composition through continued use
The Bulgarian Bag delivers all the above, and more. We haven’t even addressed nervous system
integration and mental toughness. But just wait, I will.
Functional Movements Patterns
Pull/Push/Carry/Throw/Rotate/Squat/Lunge
Functional movements can be defined as primal movement patterns. Pushing, squatting, lungeing,
throwing, rotating, pulling are all movement pattern that exists in our environments. Therefore it
follows that exercises are broken down into series of primal movement patterns, not muscle groups.
Many of the movements performed with the Bulgarian Bag during training are attempts at mimicking
the natural movement of a given task in order to improve performance. One of the strengths of the
Bulgarian Bag is the ability to train through a wide range of movement patterns, including simple single-

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joint movements, progressing up to dynamic compound-movements with high force production
qualities, allowing flexion, extension and rotation while under a dynamic load. The Bulgarian Bag is one
of the few tools that can provide this highly dynamic opportunity and compatibility.
When we look at functional movement patterns there are many descriptions as to what this really
means, but I believe the following elements must be included in the concept to fully understand what
functional movement is:
• Maintenance of your center of gravity over your own base of support - Balance/stability
component
• Improves relevant Central Nervous System (CNS) integration – Increases ability
• Isolation to integration – Movement
• Generalized motor program compatibility - Superior carryover to other activities
Forces in the Environment
Aside from known threats and opponents, both the tactical athlete or weekend warrior are pitted
against further unseen forces in the environment that are always present, always workings and always
affecting physical performance: Gravity, Momentum, Vectors, Velocity, Mechanical Feedback-movement
as well as resistance that is changed as a result of force application, Ground reaction force (GRF), Mass,
Inertia (Working with acceleration and deceleration), Load distribution, Body position (joint angles and
moment arms).
At any given time, those forces in the environment are either working for or against us, and are
therefore obstacles we have to overcome. Having a technical understanding and applied practical
application on how to manipulate these elements can make the difference between victory, defeat, and
in the case of warfare, becoming a casualty.
One of the many outstanding attributes of the Bulgarian Bag is that we can use this tool to manipulate
the above elements, and not only manipulate, but learn to train our body to adapt effectively with these
forces which will increase our performance in whatever environment we may be in.
My experience of working with countless athletes has shown that the Bulgarian Bag can and will help
you cope with the unanticipated and unfamiliar increases in hormonal induced stress levels. The
benefits will be expressed in the ability to adapt and respond more quickly in virtually all experiences,
especially unfamiliar conflict situations.

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Objects in the Environment
What better challenge and training than to have to manipulate a physical opponent or obstacle in the
real 3D world environment. Depending on your job or sport, moving people around is harder than is
seems. Remember, these people usually don’t want to be moved! MMA and Jiu-jitsu athletes are
masters at this skill. Based on the writings of Kenneth R. Murray, Training at the Speed of Life, many
people in the in law enforcement and the military have never been in a fist fight and have usually very
little experience with violent conflict. That’s why I started with the quote by General Patton. It seems
as appropriate then, as it is now.
Learning to use the unseen forces for your advantage takes skill, physical awareness, but most
importantly experience to know what it feels like to be working against these elements. The Bulgarian
Bag can train you to become more aware and gain the experience of dealing with these forces on your
body and understand what it feels like as these forces converge on you while performing loaded
dynamic movements. This type of dynamic load based functional training and application has direct
carryover to real-world applications and situations that cannot be mimicked by other training tools.
Bulgarian Bag as an Integration Tool
Critical link between non-functional and functional movement
The ongoing argument between what is functional and what is non-functional is not the point of this
article but if you were to ask 10 people, “What is functional training? ” you will get 10 different answers.
Regardless of the definitions provided, I do believe that resistive weight training (i.e. squatting, lunging,
pushing, pressing and pulling) should be incorporated in to any athlete’s programs, with the program
designed to reflect the physical demands of the sport or job. Having a solid foundation in strength
carries over to all activities and provides the base to build key components - power and speed – and is
the ultimate building blocks for functional movements.
The Bulgarian Bag is the perfect transitional tool between traditional weight training and the parameters
mentioned above for functional training. Training with the Bulgarian Bag during off days helps recovery
without overtraining. The relative loads are relatively light and force development can be controlled
based on how we manipulate two primary variables: mass (weight of bag) and acceleration (speed of
movement). Because the loads are light, there is relatively low muscular protein degradation compared

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to high intensity resistive weight training. Remember, we measure intensity for weight training based
on how hard we are working as a percentage of 1RM for a given rep range.
Intensity with the Bulgarian Bag can be measure by not intensity (per definition above) per se, but by
density. By density, I mean how much work we are performing in a given time frame. This again is
where the Bulgarian Bag excels by being able to produce very dense workouts with high relative volume
of weight moved.
Nervous System Integration: Recruit More Muscles During Movement
One of my favorite Bulgarian Bag benefits is the direct carryover to resistive weight training or
movement enhancement for the tactical athlete; in other words enhanced nervous system integration.
Let me describe this for you, and unless you use the Bulgarian Bag on a regular basis (3 to 5 times a
week) you won’t really be able to relate, but basically here is how it works. Many Bulgarian Bag
movements such as the Spin, Power Snatch and Arm Throw require full body integration/activation to
perform the movement with correct technique. That means a bottom-of-your-foot-to-the-top-of-your-
head type of integration. As you progress and master the movements, you develop an increased ability
to recruit more muscle through developing neural pathways that quickly communicate with muscles to
work together to efficiently load and unload the body during highly-dynamic load-bearing rotational,
sagittal plane and frontal plane movements.
Flow: Using the Bulgarian Bag to get into Flow
What is flow and why is it important? How we feel toward what we do and the experience it offers
often directly impacts our performance or ability to perform at continual high or optimal level. Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi describes this experience as “flow.” In his book “Flow is Sports” he describes what
various athletes have said about being in the flow. Some descriptions are:
• “In the zone.”
• “In the groove.”
• “Focused.”
• “Everything clicks.”

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But, being in the flow is more then just the words above. Flow is a “harmonious experience where mind
and body are working together: effortlessly. Victory or defeat is irrelevant; flow is a state of mind
regardless of the outcome.”
These points are being discussed to help you understand how important the mental factor is to finding
flow. Remember, flow is a psychological state and can be attained through control of the mind – or
attention. The physical and technical components all need to first be in place to experience flow.
Creating the Proper Mind Set
Mihaly believes it is the mind-set that opens the possibility for flow. He mentions 9 components that
need to be place:
1. Challenge-skills balance
2. Action-awareness merging
3. Clear goals
4. Unambiguous feedback
5. Concentration on the task at hand
6. Sense of control
7. Loss of self-consciousness
8. Transformation of time
9. Autotelic experience
All are important but beyond our scope. The two that are the most relevant to the topic are the
Challenge-skills balance and the Autotelic experience.
So what is this challenge-skills balance and how does it affect how we train, and more important what
tool do we use for the tactical athlete? Challenges may come in many forms - physical, mental
(emotional) or technical. Challenges are not always driven by the obvious, like the challenge to win the
fight or accomplish the mission. Many times they are defined in a personal way, and may be far different
then the demands of the structured competitive or tactical environment. A key point to remember
according to Mihaly is, “It is what the athlete chooses to define as the challenge that determines what
skills are needed to match the perceived opportunity.” We all vary in our relative skills and capacities,
however, the objective skill is not critical for the challenge-skills balance, it is how we perceive our skills

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in relation to the relevant challenge. Mihaly states, “It is more important to realize that what you
believe you can do will determine your experience more that your actual abilities.”
Putting All Together: The Autotelic Experience
What is the autotelic experience? Simply, it is “flow.” This state of mind can be so rewarding to
athletes, once experienced it is sought out, over and over again. You may focus on many aspects of how
it feels; some focus on how the movements feel, so that you “feel like a champion-like a true athlete.”
Performing perfectly may be another component of enjoyment and is a result of being in flow. So, how
do we find flow for the tactical athlete? For our purposes completely understanding the challenge-skills
balance and creating the proper mind-set is a great start.
Fundamentals for Reinforcing Operation Skill Sets
Belief in Self and Being Self-Aware
The importance of self-confidence cannot be underestimated. Without a belief that, “I can withstand
challenges that will come from many fronts” you may never get the chance to experience flow. Self-
belief refers to cores ideals that we hold about our abilities and ourselves. This is built up over time and
is a consequence of our experiences and our environment. Typically, tactical athletes are at the mercy
of their job or operational commitments. Meaning, their confidence is based on performance in their
job and can be affected from mission to mission. Having self-belief is much deeper and it not related to
specific performance but a belief in self.
So what is the difference between belief in self and being self-aware? Being self-aware means we have
the ability to quickly make adjustments to skills, or objectives depending on the opportunities in the
environment. Mihaly states, “Self-awareness simply means paying attention to the cues provided by
movements and reactions, and making adjustments to what you are doing when something is not quite
right. Without self-awareness the tactical athlete misses important cues that can lead to a positive
change in performance.” Being self-aware is not thinking about the self at all; we just process in
formation about the fine nuances of our involvement in the activity, which may save your or your
teammates life.

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Using the Bulgarian Bag to Facilitate Flow
How do we use the Bulgarian Bag to facilitate flow? Training with the Bulgarian Bag offers a different
challenge then most of us are accustomed too. People often wonder, “What can I do with a light 26 lb.
or 37 lb. bag?” Remember, that’s the weight while it sits still on the ground, not moving. Once we start
to move the bag and manipulate the variables the whole game changes. I mentioned above that getting
to that psychological state of flow depends on many variables, but the ones we can impact and develop
with well-designed training is self-confidence and self-awareness.
Bulgarian Bag training and workouts can be extremely difficult and can provide challenges at physical,
mental and emotional levels. What this does for us as tactical athletes is to build our self-confidence by
truly believing, “I can live through this, I am ready physically for any challenge.” If as a coach I can help
my athlete overcome any mental obstacles associated with the challenges, then we create the
environment for flow to exist. One of the amazing benefits is the short duration to experience, feel and
see the benefits from this type of high intensity training. Twenty to thirty minutes workouts, performed
3 to 4 times a week will rapidly start to show results.
The second check block for facilitating flow is by training to be more physically self-aware. To do this
the athlete has to be so tuned-in to how his body feels, reacts and responds to movements patterns that
may effectively mimic the potential external stimulus that be experienced in the combative
environment. This stimulus must be quickly interpreted as environmental feedback and the athlete has
to have the ability to react and adjust. Because of the raw nature of the movements with the Bulgarian
Bag, you will become body-aware. For many movements, no muscle escapes the stimulus and demands
of the bag. To endure the training you will develop a more keen sense of movement-based reaction;
essentially you become a fine-tuned neurological response machine.
Integration of the Bulgarian Bag into Current Training Protocols
The Learning Cycle is a systematic approach for integrating a new tool or method into an already
established protocol or regimen. It requires the following:
1. Create a need for the skill
2. Students must believe they can learn the skills quickly
3. Students must have a positive training experience quickly

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4. Students must quickly feel results that provide increased job performance and efficiencies
1. Time and Money. Time is precious these days and if I am already stressed and loaded, dealing with
my work and personal responsibilities integration of a new training tool without really asking the
question, “It is this time spent to acquire a new skill worth it?” and “what will be the potential benefits
in job performance?” I feel that in the previous paragraphs I have shown that there is real need and
benefit to taking the training and time and money to integrate the Bulgarian Bag in any current training
protocols.
2. Easy to learn, but Hard to Master. The Bulgarian Bag is experiential in nature. A hands on application
is the key to technical proficiencies.
3. But what is beautiful about using the Bulgarian Bag is that results can be very quickly even without
technical mastery. Because the movements are so dynamic your body is forced to adapt. Basic
movement patterns can be performed that have high training carryover value right from the first day of
training. As technical mastery increases into the conscious competent and on some levels unconscious
competent, you mind focuses on the actual movement, not how to perform the movement. Even
though you may be performing a gross movement pattern, you mind can control fine nuances of motor
control to adjust muscle tension, contraction and relaxation. This is where our nervous integration and
opening of neural pathways occur.
4. Based on personal experience and working with number of athletes, I have seen increases in
technical (job skill) proficiencies almost immediately. Once the differences are felt for practical on the
job demands, then we have belief. This is a quote I can up with that really holds true, “You must believe
that winning/goal attainment/mission accomplishment is possible. As long as you truly believe that you
can reach your goals and objectives, you will. That belief in yourself and abilities is real. Tangible. It’s
that belief that creates the passion that will drive you to willingly pay the price for your success”. In this
situation once people feel the changes it will motivate them to commit to scheduled training
Conclusion
They are many aspects to performance and longevity for the tactical athlete. I have shown that the
Bulgarian Bag is a versatile tool that can be taken and used virtually anywhere in most any condition.

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Functional and non-functional training all has a place in our physical and mental preparation, and the
Bulgarian Bag is a great integration tool. Creating the correct mindset can have a direct impact on our
tactical performance regardless of our physical conditioning. Our psychological state and our belief in
our abilities often will determine our outcome whether in the field or on the mat. The Bulgarian Bag will
start to mitigate personal injury and lower risk (on many levels) through adequate dynamic movement
preparation. In my opinion, the Bulgarian Bag should be a key component in any serious training
program for the tactical or combat athlete.