I sandbagged my starting percentages ~70-75 % rather than the 80 you normally start with for 8x2-> 8x3, but would try to do the sets with shorter rests when I was doing fewer total reps. Doug Hepburn’s training program has stood the test of time as one of the most effective ways to train for relative and absolute strength. The only rows I built into it come as part of a superset, which is why I like to have an extra day for accessories. Doug always focused on getting stronger in just two key lifts per workout. Powerbuilding. With the second routine, you perform eight doubles on a given exercise, followed by five sets of five on a similar but slightly different exercise. I'll use that for the rest of my lifts while I focus on my squat for the next 8 weeks.

Note that there's actually three Hepburn routines out there, and this is sort of a mishmash of the A and B routine. In my humble opinion, this workout is the best of the three for the majority of regular strength trainers. There's a lot of misinformation out there about it, so read up on everything. That's my most lagging lift, and I feel like benching heavy twice a week would do wonders. I have yet to miss a rep in the past 4 months and that’s because I am increasing the weight appropriately and when my body can handle it. Been doing Hepburn for about 5 months now. Doug believed whole-heartedly in these principles to the point that he based his entire routine around them. So I adjusted by shortening the progression to 3 week blocks and incorporated deloads (which was not an adjustment I would make now, in hindsight... more on that later). He will make a moderate weight jump up to 145 lbs next workout for his functional hypertrophy work. According to Charles Poliquin, the heavy singles should be performed with approximately 95 percent effort.

I've run Hepburn a lot on and off over the past 5-6 years. Working out great. I paired up squats/OHP one day and DL/bench the other day, with the goal of getting in 4 workouts per week. He only increased the weight when he had full confidence that he would be successful with it. It is by far the fastest and most effective means for individualizing training programs. His last two sets move faster than set 6, despite the increased load. Principle #1: Focus on only two exercises per workout. Tuesday Bench reps 6 sets of 2 reps @ 80% 1RM Dumbbell rows 5 sets of 6-10 reps Overhead press3 sets of 6 reps @ 60% 1RM I had it set as an upper lower which, in hindsight, was a mistake because that had me doing two presses every day. Keeping the weight the same week after week is demotivating and I think I had an ego driven need to kill myself on the volume work as a result. Workout A would be focused on somewhat higher reps (say 7-8). Staying well below your max at all time seems like a reasonable idea in that regard, as it helps to not aggitate the old injury more, while getting a decent amount of quality reps in over the week. But if you stick with it, and you aren't near your genetic max yet, you can easily put on 100 pounds on each of your lifts in a year. Alternate two different workouts, performing each three time over a six-workout period. The lower intensities keep me from feeling too beat up, but hitting the lifts frequently at that volume has really helped me nail down my form and improve. Last year I ran hepburn for a few months pretty much as written in the book "Hepburn's Law." Welcome to Training Tuesdays, the weekly r/weightroom training thread. I followed a similar Bench/Squat, Press/Deadlift scheme. However, it is well worth the effort to fit it into your schedule.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t a terrible performance. There are two main types of splits that work well with Doug Hepburn’s routine: upper/lower splits and the Poliquin style splits. Seems like a sufficient amount of total volume as to induce mass gains as well as strength (can someone also link me to the study which this was found in?). It's still one of my favorite schemes because it automatically cycles volume and intensity at a slow enough rate to make progress for a long period of time without a lot of thinking. After finishing all eight singles or doubles from the first part of your routine, reduce the weight to about 80% of the weight you used on your last single or double. Often I just do my heavy sets and that's it, which is fine. If I stuck with it through to christmas (assuming no deloads) i'd improve my bench by 15KG up to 95 for a double or triple.

What was your split, frequency and volume per lift, including accessories if any? And takes forever for one lift. Using an upper/lower split three days per week is an awesome way for many trainees to train. By keeping a few “reps in the bag” and not training to failure, your body is better able to recover from your workouts and, subsequently, gets stronger, quicker. Monday Squat 6 sets of 2 reps @ 80% 1RM Deadlift 3 sets of 6 reps @ 60% 1RM 1-2 core exercises of your choice.

If you are familiar with my other works, then you know that I am a huge fan of neurotransmitter based program design, as developed by Charles Poliquin. Hepburn remains one of Hollywood's most iconic film stars of all time, thanks to starring roles in films during the so-called Golden Age like "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina." I’ve made it my personal mission to provide you the most cutting edge strength training information available anywhere in the world for advanced physique and strength athletes. The progress seems slow but when I started I needed that sort of gradual progress.

That's true, and I hadn't thought about that too much. This is because you are essentially only using two main exercises per workout. I’ve decided now to run Hepburn for the foreseeable future since I love it so much and I guess I can talk about my experience thus far since starting it back up again around Halloween last year. Follow the Hepburn plan for a few months and let me know what happens. Recap: Joe decides to bump up the weight on his functional hypertrophy sets this workout, as discussed earlier. Wasn't very good for my lifts, but damn did I feel fierce. Am currently finishing up my 5th cycle. © 2020 Copyright Revolutionary Program Design. Well I enjoyed 5/3/1 thusfar but I find my form routinely breaks down at higher rep ranges. Please consider making a donation to help support this website. However, if you are seeking to get stronger as quickly as possible, you may want to consider focusing on just two key lifts per workout. In addition, you may wish to perform between 3 and 5 sets of 3-5 reps during the functional hypertrophy portion of the routine. I trained my press with Hepburn A for a little while. Hepburn was the first lifter to bench press 500 pounds and also squatted 600 pounds at the advanced age of 54. Can you elaborate? After all, a routine is only as good as the time it takes to adapt to it. I am going to point you to a thread on (stay with me now) T-Nation where a fellow named Twiceborn who worked with Doug later in his life made some terrific suggestions. I highly recommend you take advantage of them.

We will feature discussions over training methodologies, program templates, and general weightlifting topics. yea thats a pretty old school double progression. But for Doug Hepburn, thinking outside the box paid off in a very big way. For a little bit of swoletrophy, I would sometimes follow up the Hepburn sets with a dropset of 10-15 reps. you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like, ladies.

Doug Hepburn’s training protocol is an extremely demanding training system. Thinking of doing something similar but with pullups. He was the first natural lifter to bench press 500 pounds, and he could squat 600 pounds for reps at the age of 54.