Hepburn Method for Powerlifting

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Good-morning fellow pursuers of strength. So recently I invested my time in a book entitled Hepburns Law, and it was an enjoyable investment. After reading it and looking through articles about the supposed grandfather of strength, I took his philosophies and put them into a linear program that I sure hope you enjoy aswell. This program divides into five phases and focuses only on compound lifts and movements as well as developing skill in some areas, so here we go.

Phase 1 (main lifts start from 65-70% of 1RM)
Monday-Box-jumps 4-5 sets of 5(ascending in height), Squats 3x6, Bench 3x6,Pull-ups pyramid to near failure, Dips pyramid to near failure, Handstands(against the wall) 4-5xMAX

Tuesday-Weightlifting practice, Deadlifts 3x6, Shoulder press 3x6, Push-ups 5-8xAMCRAP (As Many Clean Reps As Possible), Handstands 4-5xMAX.

Wednesday-Rest

Same movements for Thursday and Friday, Main lifts will add a set of 7, So 2x6 +1x7 until all lifts make it to 3x8, then add 10 pounds for lower body movements and 5 pounds for upper body movements. Dips and Pull-ups switch to 5-6xAMCRAP.

Saturday and Sunday rest.

Once you cannot go higher in weight for Phase 1, Test new sub-1RM,then switch to next phase.

Phase 2 (start at 75-80% of sub-1RM)
Everything the same in terms of exercises and times, Main lifts start at 5x3, every workout adding a set of 4, so the next workout would be 4x3 and 1x4, work up to 5x5. Then make same poundage progressions. Find sub 1RM. Box-jumps switch to 5-6x3

Phase 3 (start at 85-90% of sub-1RM)
Everything the same, Main lifts go to 8x2, adding a set of three until reaching 8x3, adding same poundage. Test sub-1RM at very end. Box-jumps go to 5-6x2

Phase 4 (start at 90-95% of sub-1RM)
All the same, Main lifts start with 5x1, adding one set until 10x1. Box-Jumps 6-8x1.

Phase 5 (70-75% of sub-1RM)
All the same, Main lifts start with 4x3, adding one set every workout till 10x3.
Box-jumps 5-6x3. Switch back and forth between Phase 4 and 5 for further gainzzz.

Now this program has the potential to span the course of over 2-3 years, so you better strap in. NONE OF YOUR REPS SHOULD BE SLOW. The weight you start with is crucial, pick a weight in the beginning that you can get up FAST for all your reps. Practice for weightlifting should be just with the bar for first 3-5 months,add weight only when technique is solid and ingrained.
All of these rep ranges and intensities are measured with the Poliquins chart, just for a little assurment. Hope you guys give it a try.

2

I dont think anyone is going to invest 2 years into a program full of handstands and stuff

3

Question OP…by chance do you do Crossfit?

4

Well I said It COULD span over 2 years,you could honestly just take any of these formats and use them over and over. The handstand are there to just develop a unique skill, pretty soon you just practice them freestanding.

5

Not at all.

6

Lol so not interested

7

Not that I’ll be jumping on this program, but these responses are kind of douche, Doug Hepburn was a lot stronger than anybody who posts here. What this OP wrote is at least reflective of his ideas and you could probably do worse.

8

Yeah and you could def do better. So what’s your point?

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[quote]Reed wrote:
Yeah and you could def do better. So what’s your point?[/quote]

His point was that your reply was that of a simpleton. Instead of just saying “lol, not interested” you should at least spend 5 minutes retorting why you would not do this program.

Kids these days, can’t even bother typing up a reply that makes sense. You might have well just put up that “lolwut” meme and call it good.

This is the powerlifting section and I think that most of us here at least want to talk about different programs and use our brains a bit. If you just want to give one sentence answers that don’t make sense then why not just go into the “get a life” area?

james

10

Lolwut

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Why would I spend 5 minutes explaining why I would not want to do this when I van easily say exactly the same thing with “Not interested” I looked at the program and read over the entire post and I was not interested. Therefore not interested is a rather logical answer from me. As simpleton as I may have been.

12

[quote]Reed wrote:
Lolwut[/quote]
LMAO

13

i ran the hepburn A routine, which is similar kinda, both were beasts

basically
3 upperbody barbell lifts m,w,f 8 sets of 2, every workout turn one set into 3 reps
3 lower body barbell lifts t,t,s 8 sets of 2, every workout turn one set into 3 reps

brutually simple but worked wonders, granted i was not yet as strong as i am now

best thing i got out of this program was deadlifting 3 times a week

take it for what its worth

14

OP is 15, and possibly a girl (if not, no offense, OP), so cut her/him some slack.

15

Ok duly noted, Doug Hepburn is/was stronger than me. I appreciate the effort of this program but I will be just fine running my own routine as opposed to this young individuals attempt at constructing it into a program for us. Maybe someone else can look at this template and possibly learn something. Is everyone not offended anymore that people are feigning interest

16

Anything you want to know about how Hepburn actually trained you can find on here as there is an old member called twiceborn who actually met the man and spent sometime with him, if you read the information that he gives you’ll see that a lot of stuff written is inaccurate.

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[quote]tredaway wrote:
Anything you want to know about how Hepburn actually trained you can find on here as there is an old member called twiceborn who actually met the man and spent sometime with him, if you read the information that he gives you’ll see that a lot of stuff written is inaccurate.[/quote]
Thanks for sharing.

18

[quote]tredaway wrote:
Anything you want to know about how Hepburn actually trained you can find on here as there is an old member called twiceborn who actually met the man and spent sometime with him, if you read the information that he gives you’ll see that a lot of stuff written is inaccurate.[/quote]

I’ve spent a lot of hours going through Twiceborn’s posts here. They were really good stuff and I learned a lot from them.

james