Doug Hepburn Old School Methodical Progresion

[BendtheBar]

Fo those of you who aren't familiar with Doug Hepburn...we was a Canadian strongman, and was the first natural to bench press 500. He used a very simple progression approach. Here it is...

A) Train each big lift 2 times a week.

B) Perform 8 sets of 2 reps at 80% of your 1RM. Each time your workout, add one rep to the last remaining 2 rep set in your scheme. When you can perform 8 sets of 3 reps with a weight, move up by 10 pounds. Here is a sample scheme:

2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
2,2,2,2,2,2,2,3
2,2,2,2,2,2,3,3
2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3
2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3
2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3
2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3
2,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3

This progression takes 4 weeks total. So, every month you are adding 10 pounds to a major lift. It's slow, mellow, and methodical. But it works.

C) Rest 2 minutes between sets

D) For "volume work", "hypertrophy work", or "supplementary work", do 3 sets of 6 reps, and add one rep each workout. progress to 3 sets of 8 reps. Start with about 60-70% of 1RM. Here is the progression:

6,6,6
6,6,7
6,7,7
7,7,7
7,7,8
7,8,8
8,8,8

When you hit all 8's, add 10 pounds to the bar.

[jwood]

This seems like an extremely slow approach, but I can see how it would allow a natural to progress for a very long time, there are so many workouts I want to try but I having great success with the conjugate method so it does not seem logical to switch.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by jwood

This seems like an extremely slow approach, but I can see how it would allow a natural to progress for a very long time, there are so many workouts I want to try but I having great success with the conjugate method so it does not seem logical to switch.

I don't like the idea of heavy squats and deadlifts twice a week on the program. Plus, when you get to a certain point where you're training above 95% every day, and flirting with failure every day.

I think his approach is interesting, and can be learned from, but I would never use it in its entirety.

[chess315]

doug hepburn was an very iportant figure in lifting history I have heard he was juicing toward the end of his carrer but none the less he had many good natural lifts anyone ever see his diet he worked at a chicken coup for little money and free eggs and chiken I think he ate 50 eggs a day 2lbs of chicken ,milk and 10 bannas or something like that its pretty crazy but it obviously worked to a degree. Him being disabled also makes him very important figure by not complaining about his short commings. To many people say "I cant because of", rather then "I will in spite of"

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by chess315

doug hepburn was an very iportant figure in lifting history I have heard he was juicing toward the end of his carrer but none the less he had many good natural lifts anyone ever see his diet he worked at a chicken coup for little money and free eggs and chiken I think he ate 50 eggs a day 2lbs of chicken ,milk and 10 bannas or something like that its pretty crazy but it obviously worked to a degree. Him being disabled also makes him very important figure by not complaining about his short commings. To many people say "I cant because of", rather then "I will in spite of"

Good post. We definitely can learn a lot from you.

I learn a lot from Doug's style of training. Though I don't think I'd ever do the low-rep progression, a higher rep form - like a cluster set - seems more appealing for my old body.

Nice avatar, btw. Swole!

[chess315]

I dont think you can learn anything from me lifting weights is only to make your life better I Just got back from a rough night. If you want to know about liting weights I know everything but nothing about life I'm drunk lol