Hepburn Method Question

[KnightTemplar]

Apologies if this has been asked before. I did use the Search and found several thread relating to Hepburn but not this specific question.

My shift system at work could be changing in the next few months. If this goes ahead, it will mean I have to make significant changes to my training program. Including limiting my Strength training to two sessions at the gym instead of three.

Is it possible to do the Hepburn Method two days per week instead of four? And if so, exactly what exercises should I select? Obviously the Big Three are a no-brainer, but I'm unsure how to structure a workout.

Any advice welcome.

 

[PowerHungry]

I know shit about Hepburn's method. In my time here, I haven't seen it talked about much. I know some people are trying/were trying although I can't remember names other than Meatplow. He said he was doing a version called twiceborn and you can find information on it in his log and this post.

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f49/plowed-meat-1036763/

See my log. My training is Doug Hepburn based and I don't think I'll really use anything else again for any long period of time. I am using a method a guy called Twiceborn over at t-nation says he got from Doug Hepburn back in the 90s. He says Doug had sort of changed his recommendations at that stage by seperating the power and pump phases as it would lead to overtraining for many. Here are some of the posts by Twiceborn...its good reading, and you can see my log here also to see it at work.

Here is the original thread link:
T-Nation.com | Hepburn Solution for Strength and Power

If you don't want to read it, here is the important points from Twiceborn:

"One thing Doug changed later in his life is that you DO NOT do the Power and Pump programs together in the same workout.
He felt the Pump program was overkill and probably did him more harm than good. 8 sets of 90% singles followed by a full 5x5 would kill any of us.

His refined training which he advised when older and wiser (in the late 90's before his death) went like this:

"A Routine" - Use Singles, start with 4 total and build up one rep per workout until you hit 10. (4 to 10 reps with 90%)
"B Routine" - Use triples and do the same progression. This was used when you went stale on the "A" routine, and was used until you were using the same weight for triples as you did for singles on "A" (12-30 reps with 75-80%)

You would do the "A" program until you went stale (and you WILL go stale, trust me) and then switch to the "B" routine for a few months. You don't pick and choose depending on the day,you use them in order, A/B/A/B... Doug thought the average guy could go 4 months on each before having to switch to the other program. THIS, he said, was the key to continued gains.

If using the "old style" workouts, you ALWAYS add the single reps to the FIRST sets until you hit the goal. For example:

3/3/3/3/3
4/3/3/3/3
5/3/3/3/3
5/4/3/3/3... and so on...

He said you should always do the added reps as soon as possible in the workout to maintain your energy. Don't add them at the end until its time to.

And not to be a jerk to Mike Mahler, but Doug would never superset (ie: A1/A2). He mentioned that he thought the idea was silly and it took away from focus on the lift you're working on. He liked total focus and would meditate between lifts. He was a big believer in self-hypnosis / autosuggestion.

I have been using these programs solely for more than 7 years. For such simple programs, they work better than anything else if you have the patience not to rush them."


"To answer some questions:

I actually spoke to Doug several times back when I was an up-and-coming olympic lifter in the late 90's. He produced two full training videos showing him breaking strength records while he was 70 something years old. He strict pressed 205 ,one arm dumbell presses 110, and strict kurled 160 if my memory serves me correctly. He outlined his full training program and all the rationale behind them in those videos, which im lucky to have gotten from him before he passed.

He would use TWO exercises a day, split into upper and lower body. He would overhead press and bench press one day, and squat and kurl on the other. He used to shoot for two of the same workout in 8 days (one day on one day off) as his schedule and told me he had even better results at his age if he went one on two off.

He would progress from workout to workout. Always go to the gym seeking that ONE rep gain, no matter what. If you can do that you will ALWAYS progress!"

" As far as the pump sets go, he called them the "C" workout, and treated them separately.
At the end of his career he actually split up the two workouts "Power" and "Pump" and used them as I mentioned, one for a few months and the other for a few months.

First 3-4 months:
one set of 5 at 50%
60% x 1
70% x 1
80% x 1
4-10 singles @ 90% ("A Routine")

when you peak out and cant add any more weight...

Second 3-4 months:
one set of 5 at 50%
60% x 1
70% x 1
80% or thereabouts for 4-10 sets of 3 ("B Routine")

OR

80% for 3/3/3/3/3 building to 5/5/5/5/5 ("C Routine")

I know its confusing because most of the online information shows him using the power and pump phases together in the same workout, but he advised me NOT to do that, and mentions the same in his videos.

He simply came to the conclusion that its too much work for most people (and himself once he rounded 50 years old...)

I have Thurston's bio of him and it also mentions using them together. I can only imagine he used old articles to piece together Doug's training.

Doug advised me to just focus on using a single rep routine "A" for everything strength related. It worked, and I managed to push my Clean and Jerk up from 140 to 170kg using the "A" routine alone.

For the past few years I have been focusing on cycling the "A" and "B" routines together and managed to push my bench up to 480 starting on the bottom(started at 280 after a layoff)and my squat up to 660 from the bottom up.

I wanted to chime in when I saw this article because Doug helped me all those years ago, and I wanted to "say thanks" in a way. I really hope more of you guys give this a try, it will do wonders for you."

" Last thing and MOST IMPORTANTLY.

Doug never used percents, he realized some guys could do more than others at a certain percent.

If I mentioned percents I am sorry, I was just trying to illustrate.

He said to take 5 reps with a light weight to start. Then add weight and do a single, add again for another single and add yet again for the last single. This was the warm up. a set of 5 and 3-4 singles to get to your working weight.

The next single would be at your working weight, which was "heavy enough to strain with but not your max". This was not necessarily 90% but thats what it averages out to for me. YOU MAY BE DIFFERENT.

Use a weight you strain with but can get 4 singles, and build up to 10.

If you do the "B" routine, use a weight you can get 4 triples with and build it up the same way.

If you use the "C" routine, stay with 5 sets but start with 3's and build them up to 5's.

THE "C" (PUMP) ROUTINE IS JUST A SHORTENED VERSION OF THE "B" ROUTINE! Use it if you dont want to hang around for 10 sets, simple as that.

Basically, its the Westside "max effort method" without going to absolute failure. You can see it on Prilepin's table when he tells you to do 4-10 sets of 90%...

Some things never change but boy do they WORK!

Best of luck, guys!"

 

[KnightTemplar]

Thanks for that, PH.

 

[Zerocrew1984]

Doug Hepburn’s Routines | AmpedTraining.com | Matthew Perryman, CSCS

 

[Donut62]

^The above post by Meatplow is what you need to know. Do singles starting with 4 total, adding one each workout working to 10, and then add 5-10kg and repeat. When you stall on that, do the same thing with triples. I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. Add in some upper back and light lower assistance. Meatplow, Chase, and I made great progress doing just that (but spread out over 4 days a week). It's a nice basic dual progression scheme that works for a long time.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Doug Hepburn

 

[KnightTemplar]

^The above post by Meatplow is what you need to know. Do singles starting with 4 total, adding one each workout working to 10, and then add 5-10kg and repeat. When you stall on that, do the same thing with triples. I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. Add in some upper back and light lower assistance. Meatplow, Chase, and I made great progress doing just that (but spread out over 4 days a week). It's a nice basic dual progression scheme that works for a long time.

That's one of the things I heard about Hepburn's that I liked; that you could stay on the routines for a relatively long period of time without burning out or getting stale.

Do you think it could be done twice a week instead of four times?

 

[Donut62]

That's one of the things I heard about Hepburn's that I liked; that you could stay on the routines for a relatively long period of time without burning out or getting stale.

Do you think it could be done twice a week instead of four times?

Yes, if you want to do it twice a week I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. That's what Meatplow did IIRC. I did a squat, bench, deadlift, and press day each week so you would still be hitting the same main lifts over the same period. You probably run it for years and make steady consistent progress which is it what strength training is all about. Lift heavy shit for a long period of time and you'll find yourself in a good place.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Yes, if you want to do it twice a week I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. That's what Meatplow did IIRC. I did a squat, bench, deadlift, and press day each week so you would still be hitting the same main lifts over the same period. You probably run it for years and make steady consistent progress which is it what strength training is all about. Lift heavy shit for a long period of time and you'll find yourself in a good place.

Nice!:icon_chee

Did you do any assistance work or "just" the main lifts?

 

[PowerHungry]

^The above post by Meatplow is what you need to know. Do singles starting with 4 total, adding one each workout working to 10, and then add 5-10kg and repeat. When you stall on that, do the same thing with triples. I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. Add in some upper back and light lower assistance. Meatplow, Chase, and I made great progress doing just that (but spread out over 4 days a week). It's a nice basic dual progression scheme that works for a long time.

Good post. I've been looking for someone else with first hand experience of the program.

 

[oyaji poi]

^The above post by Meatplow is what you need to know. Do singles starting with 4 total, adding one each workout working to 10, and then add 5-10kg and repeat. When you stall on that, do the same thing with triples. I would do a squat/bench and deadlift/press day. Add in some upper back and light lower assistance. Meatplow, Chase, and I made great progress doing just that (but spread out over 4 days a week). It's a nice basic dual progression scheme that works for a long time.

When do you increase the weight on the triples? It says to start with 4 singles, then when you can do a total of 10 singles you increase the weight. But with triples you'll approach ten total within three sets.

 

[Indivdude]

The Hepburn Program sounds... awesome. Makes me want to change my program and try it out.

Plus I checked out the guy behind it all, Doug Hepburn. He's crazy strong. Saw one pic where he was benching on some 2x4's. Insane.

 

[ozzie]

Nice!:icon_chee

Did you do any assistance work or "just" the main lifts?

Add in some upper back and light lower assistance

You should check their logs, it's good stuff.

 

[oyaji poi]

When do you increase the weight on the triples? It says to start with 4 singles, then when you can do a total of 10 singles you increase the weight. But with triples you'll approach ten total within three sets.

I found the answer in one of the links. when you can do ten triples you increase the weight. So start with four sets of three reps, then five, then up to ten sets.

 

[KnightTemplar]

The Hepburn Program sounds... awesome. Makes me want to change my program and try it out.

Plus I checked out the guy behind it all, Doug Hepburn. He's crazy strong. Saw one pic where he was benching on some 2x4's. Insane.

There's a good video of him on YouTube; he is shown winning the Gold for Canada with a 375lb Press. Hepburn makes it look ridiculous easy. He presses the bar with no strain whatsoever.

Hepburn was the first man to Bench 500lb, and that was without steriods or a Bench shirt.

 

[callador]

I found the answer in one of the links. when you can do ten triples you increase the weight. So start with four sets of three reps, then five, then up to ten sets.

Yeah the A and B method use the same scheme, just the C method is different.

I also read somewhere that Hepburn didn't like doing total body every workout. So squat/OHP wouldn't be preferred. Maybe something like Squat/DL one day and then Bench/OHP the next. That is what I did when I tried it. I would try to go 2 days per week minumum (my schedules are wierd), but if I could get in 3 days I would just alternate the 2 routines, so one week would have 2 bench days etc... As for assistance, I did 3 sets of 5-10 depending on the exercise. Just do a few assistance exercises, you don't need much.

What I like about this method is that it is old school iron. It works w/o drugs and has withstood the test of time.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Thinking of running the Hepburn over three days while I still can. Each day would be one of the Big Three done Hepburn-style with a small number of assistance exercises. So for example the first day would be Squat(Hepburn)and Press(Hepburn)with some light shoulder and leg work, no more than two exercises each.

Thoughts?

 

[Indivdude]

Bump. I think this thread deserves more attention than its getting.

 

[PCP]

There's a good video of him on YouTube; he is shown winning the Gold for Canada with a 375lb Press. Hepburn makes it look ridiculous easy. He presses the bar with no strain whatsoever.

Hepburn was the first man to Bench 500lb, and that was without steriods or a Bench shirt.

Don't be so sure, a lot of these old-time lifters DID use steroids. Steroids have been available in one form or another since World War 2. If I remember right there was some speculation that he did use.

 

[callador]

Thinking of running the Hepburn over three days while I still can. Each day would be one of the Big Three done Hepburn-style with a small number of assistance exercises. So for example the first day would be Squat(Hepburn)and Press(Hepburn)with some light shoulder and leg work, no more than two exercises each.

Thoughts?

I'm sure it can be done this way, and in the end it might even be the best way to do it. As mentioned in my previous post, I read somewhere that Hepburn didn't like to do total body days (squat/press), and would instead do something like (Bench/OHP) one day and (Squat/DL) the next. Now I say "like" because he did squat and some other leg exercise according to stuff I was reading at Tnation. But I figured since you wanted the big 3, I woud use DL instead. Twiceborn answers a post on that long thread and advises a split like this.

He would just use the 2 workouts as well, so if you worked out every other day, you would just keep cycling them. Same for 3 days, but every week would have 2 times for 1 workout and 1 for the other. I hope that makes sense.

This is the way I did it when I tried. Even programs like Westside have you Squat/DL on the same day, so it is doable. If it seemed like too much DLing, you could do squat on every leg day and just do DL every other leg day. Lots of things to try.

Good luck!

edit: I didn't mention this, but the 2 lifts would be done under the Hepburn scheme, the rest of the assistance stuff could be done normally (like 3 sets of 3-8, depending on the lift). Like other have said, do some upper back stuff for sure. I did a little more tricep work (close grip press etc) as well.