AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH ARTICLES
Legendary Strongman Doug Hepburn’s Solution for Strength and Power
By Mike Mahler
Long before steroid abuse became common in the weight-training world, legendary strongman Doug Hepburn was proving by example that with the right combination of smart training, adequate recovery, right nutrition and determination, one can dramatically increase strength, size, and power. Doug was born in 1926, with a clubfoot and a severe alternating squint. He certainly didn't then appear destined to become one of the strongest human beings around. Yet most exceptional people have ways of defeating the odds, using their adversities as tonics to focus on what they desire. Exceptional human beings don't like defeat and exploit their setbacks in demonstrating their capabilities. Doug’s accomplishments are a terrific example.
Doug was the first man to bench press 500lbs drug-free. His exceptional pressing power wasn't limited to the bench press, as he set records in the one-arm military press with an astonishing 200 pounds--more than most men can do with two arms! He also push-pressed 500 lbs., military-pressed 420 lbs, and performed deadlifts with 800 lbs. Doug’s amazing displays of strength weren't limited to his youth: he made a comeback in his fifties and, at age 54, squatted 600 lbs. for eight reps and one-arm military-pressed 170 lbs. So much for the excuse that you can't be strong and powerful as you get older. People who want to make excuses will do so no matter how much inspiration is available but, for the rest of us, let's take a look at Hepburn’s rules for maximum strength and power.
Hepburn’s Ten Rules for Maximum Strength and Power
Rule #1: Training frequency should be a minimum of twice per week, and a maximum of six times per week
Like most things in life, if you don't do enough work, you won't get anything done; however, if you do too much work, you pass the tipping point of effectiveness and enter counter-productive territory. Hepburn found that two full-body workouts per week were the minimum a trainee should execute. While some trainees can do very well on six-day-a-week training programs, most trainees do better on three-to-four days per week. Six days per week is possible for some trainees provided a combination of great genetics, top nutrition, and solid recovery programs. But with the stress of day-to-day living, family and work obligations, few can devote six days a week to training and still apply adequate restoration to maximize recovery. And while training too much is unproductive, forget about making progress by training only once a week.
Training frequency will often be dictated by what's going on in your life. If you're in a phase wherein stress is low-to-moderate, your nutrition program is solid, and you're getting 8-9 hours of sleep per night, go for four to six workouts per week. Once life becomes more stressful, reduce the frequency to two-to-three workouts per week. You could also cycle training frequency in the following manner: for every three weeks of six workouts per week, do one week of two workouts per week. The possibilities are endless, just keep a detailed training journal to track how you respond to various frequency protocols. And if you don't have the discipline to keep a training journal, don't ever consider starting a business: no business will be successful without proper record-keeping and training must be run like a business to be successful. Deal with it.
Rule #2: Never do more than three exercises per workout
Hepburn was a firm believer in doing a few things extremely well. Once you add too many exercises to your program, you're all over the place, winding up doing several things poorly or, at best, merely average. Many trainees make the mistake of doing several exercises per muscle group, for example, having a chest day consisting of bench presses, incline presses, decline presses, dumbbell flies, cable crossovers, and pullovers. Come on, how many parts does your chest have? Pick one major compound exercise and forget all the isolation work. For example, pick the incline press, put in 100%, and move on to the next major muscle group. Focus on the majors for massive results in the most efficient manner.
Rule #3: Never work the same muscle group more than three times per week
Once again, Doug believed there's such a thing as too much of a good thing, and found working the same muscle groups too often to be counter-productive. Doug understood the importance of rest and recuperation and wrote that most trainees enter the land of over-training via too many workouts with any single muscle group. I agree with Doug for the most part; however, I think intensity has a lot to do with determining adequate frequency. For the purpose of rapid strength gains, high-frequency training programs are effective as long as one isn't training to failure--or even close to it. Depending on the goal, many trainees can hit the same exercise five or six times per week and experience rapid gains in strength and muscular endurance. However the intensity has to be moderate and the focus has to be on practicing the skill of the exercise, not jacking up the intensity and this requires a lot of discipline, as there will be a natural urge to increase intensity. Thus understanding most trainees are stimulus addicts and believe more is better, I think Doug’s rule of keeping frequency to three times per exercise, three times per week is the way to go for most trainees.
Rule #4: If working out more than three times per week, never include the upper and lower body exercises in the same workout
Doug wrote that three full-body workouts were plenty and that when training more often, it's time to apply split-training routines. Again, it goes back to the principle that you can only do so much, so often. If you want to train more than three times per week, half the days do upper-body workouts and the other half do lower body workouts. Or, you could do some pressing for the upper body on day one, followed by some deadifts for the back and legs. Then, on day two, do some weighted pull-ups for the lats and squats for the legs. You get the idea, just remember the principle of doing a few things well and organizing your workouts accordingly.
Rule #5: For a total-body workout two-to-three times per week, choose three exercises to most effectively work the three largest muscle groups
Hepburn was a firm believer in focusing on exercises providing the most bang for the buck. Programs centered on compound exercises are not only more efficient but more productive. Why do more when less delivers a better, more productive outcome? Regarding the choice of exercises, Doug wrote the full barbell-squat is the best exercise for the legs, the deadlift the best exercise for the back and hamstrings, and the bench press the best exercise for the chest and triceps. If big pectoral development isn't your thing, replace the bench press with the standing barbell military-press. For legs, you can't do better than squats and deadlifts.
Rule #6: If you train four to six times a week, choose six exercises to work the entire body
Rather then doing the same exercises more often, when training more frequently, schedule more exercises for balanced development. When training four to six times per week, Doug recommended utilizing the bench press, full-squat, deadlift, and then three more exercises to work antagonistic muscles, such as bicep curls, leg curls, and high-pulls. A solid selection for full-body development, but I would change a few things. For one, the bench press is a great exercise for upper-body development, but I'd balance it with the standing barbell military-press. Work the bench press at one workout and the military press at another. I would utilize the squat as the main leg exercise one day and the barbell deadlift as the main exercise on another day. Instead of leg curls, I'd do dumbbell or kettlebell swings or glute/ham raises for the hamstrings. Other options are Romanian deadlifts or one-legged deadlifts using dumbbells or kettlebells. Next, instead of doing bicep curls, I'd have the trainee do weighted pull-ups and bent-over rows to balance all the pressing work. Finally, the high-pull is a great exercise and I don't see any reason to remove it, but for variety the trainee can do double-kettlebell or dumbbell swings, or heavy one-arm kettlebell or dumbbell snatches.
Rule #7: Give equal attention to opposing muscle groups to avoid injuries. A common example is too much bench-pressing with not enough rowing exercises.
Doug is dead-on with this one: far too many training injuries are due to imbalanced training programs. Trainees have a tendency to prefer pressing to pulling and failure to balance pressing with pulling is a sure-fire way to injuries. I've seen it many times and even experienced it myself. We all have our pet lifts and likewise there are exercises that, while beneficial, we don't enjoy. We need to accept reality, including the fact that there are things needing to be done whether we like it or not. Follow training programs which focus on balanced development. Always balance quad work with hamstring work and pressing work with pulling work.
Rule #8: Never expend your full lifting capacity while working out--slowly but surely is the only way to go.
The goal of a productive workout shouldn't be to wipe you out or produce excessive soreness. Yet these are often the flawed measuring tools trainees use to gauge workout effectiveness. Dude, I was sore for a week after that squat workout! Man, my arms were so sore after doing fifty sets of preacher-curls I couldn't comb my hair the next day! Variations on these all-too-common statements are heard daily at gyms around the world.
While I think it's great to have a solid work ethic and enjoy the stimulus of training, it can also create a focus on what's unessential. A proper training program should result in increases in strength (regardless of whether your goal is size or not), energy, confidence, and well-being. If your training program leaves you wiped out to the point where it's reducing enjoyment in other areas of your life, you're on the wrong program. The reality is, it doesn't have to be that way. Effective strength training workouts are like an energy-producing tonic: they clear the cobwebs from your head leaving you energized and confident. Get over the notion that unless you're wiped out, you're not doing anything productive. The focus should be on the results of your workout and enjoying the process, not using fatigue as a measure of success.
Rule #9: You need a mental relaxation program: the main reason lifters fail is over-training
Just as a proper training program is needed to get stronger and in better shape, you need a restoration program to recover from your workouts and derive the greatest benefits from training. Your body doesn't grow and get stronger while you work out, these occur after you work out. Having a post-workout protein shake is only the start of the recovery process. Begin taking thirty-minute naps after each workout and you'll be amazed with the results. Make a point of getting eight--deep--hours of REM sleep each night and not only will your workouts be better, you'll feel better. Get a sports massage every other week to manipulate the scar tissue from your muscles. And don't wait until you're wiped out and over-trained, get the massages while you still feel great. We'll often wait for things to break down and become problems before doing anything about them. Instead, for optimal progress, take your restoration program as seriously as your training program.
Rule #10: You must have a proper, balanced, diet rich in vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, and protein.
Similar to any successful athlete, Doug understood and emphasized the importance of a solid nutrition plan, especially for the goals of developing massive strength, power and size. Doug consumed 10,000-plus calories per day and was a big fan of liquid nutrition to jack up his calories. He made shakes loaded with milk, juices, eggs, protein powder and honey. He often had these shakes during his workouts to keep his energy high.
While following a high-calorie diet is a beneficial component of training progress, it also has pitfalls. Recently, I was talking to my friend, Harley Flanagan, (Harley is the founder of the NYC Hardcore band The Cro-mags) and he said he'd put on fifteen pounds of muscle in a short time frame by jacking up his calories and following a solid training program. While he enjoyed being bigger and stronger, he often felt nauseated and said it would've been really lame to get in a fight during that time, as he'd have puked all over the place. Basically, he never had an empty stomach since he was consuming food all the time.
When the goal is rapid gains in size and strength, eating goes from a pleasurable experience to a job. Therefore, I think finding a happy medium is possible only by gradually increasing calories rather than doubling calories overnight. Just as you must gradually condition your body for intense training, you must condition your body for increased caloric consumption. If you're eating 2500 calories to maintain your weight, go up to 3000 calories for a few weeks. Once you get comfortable with that, go up to 3500 calories. Increasing calories over time will also allow you to determine how the increased consumption is affecting body-fat levels. While many trainees want to get bigger and stronger, I doubt that too many want to be fatter and stronger. You can avoid the fat/strong look by increasing calories gradually and keeping the quality of calories high. Don't have several bowls of ice cream to increase calories, focus on consuming more nutritious food.
Next, exactly how did Hepburn train to get so strong and powerful? Well, you're going to have to figure that one out on your own. Just apply the ten rules above and let me know how it works out for you...just kidding, now let's take a look at Doug’s favorite training programs and figure out how to apply them.
The Hepburn Training Program
Hepburn was obviously not a student of marketing genius Dan Kennedy (or Dan’s precursor, since Dan wasn't around back then) when he named his two favorite programs. The first Hepburn program we're going to cover is the “A” program. The second program is--yes, you guessed it--the “B” program. Don't let the titles fool you: whatever they're lacking in inspiration, they make up for in producing impressive gains in size and strength.
Hepburn’s "A" Program
Hepburn had incredible results with his training program and said it worked for others as well. He said the “A” program will add 120 lbs. to any compound exercise, such as the bench press and deadlift, in a year, and 60 lbs. to any isolation exercise, such as the bicep curl. Hepburn said the program should provide continuous training progress for one year and in many cases, two years or more.
The “A” program contains two routines. First, the trainee starts with a power routine for developing maximum strength in the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This is followed by a pump routine for developing maximum size and endurance. Hepburn said you should always do the power phase first, which makes perfect sense. Heavy weights and low reps stimulate the central nervous system and get you primed for the higher rep sets later in the workout. The opposite, however, doesn't have the same effect. Thus, first get the beneficial CNS stimulation and finish off the workout with higher reps to pump some blood into the worked muscles to build muscle and facilitate recovery.
Here's how the power phase of the “A” program works: Choose a weight you can lift eight times and do eights sets of two at the first workout. Take two to three-minute breaks in between each set. The weight will feel light...and that's the point. You have to practice each lift to get better, and practicing with poor form isn't what I'm taking about. Execute every rep with perfect form, which should be difficult if you're using your true eight-rep max and taking adequate breaks between each set. At the next workout, increase the overall reps by doing seven sets of two and one set of three. At the third workout, do six sets of two and two sets of three. Keep adding more sets of three until you get up to a total of eights sets of three. At this point, add ten pounds for large muscle groups and five pounds for small muscle groups and go back to eight sets of two.
After the power routine take a five-minute break, then do the pump routine. Reduce the training poundage by 20% and do three sets of six the first workout, then do two sets of six and one set of seven the second. The goal is to do three sets of eight, at which point you add five pounds and start over.
Hepburn’s “A” program requires a great deal of patience and discipline. Not discipline to train in a hyper-intense manner but discipline to not train intensely. The program is well thought-out and the progressive element ensures that over-training is avoided. Some of the workouts will feel unproductive in terms of how you feel afterwards, but remember the goal of the workout is not to induce fatigue and soreness. No, the goal of the workout is to induce strength and power, which doesn't come about by running yourself into the ground. Make sure you follow the program to the letter and avoid the natural inclination to modify things and make the program harder.
Hepburn’s “B” program
Next, let's take a look at Hepburn’s “B” program. Similar to the “A” program, Hepburn claimed the “B” program would produce progressive results for at least a year and, in some cases, two to three years. Hepburn also said you'll never feel like you're struggling on the program. Not a bad thing for trainees interested in results rather than struggling, but not what stimulus-addicted trainees want to hear. Too bad, you'll have to deal with it or just keep on working hard to maintain stagnancy.
Here's what Hepburn’s student, Canadian weightlifting champion Paul Bjarnason, had to say about Doug’s program:
“You never seem to be working that hard. You go through your regular, relaxing workout, making your regular relaxing increases as indicated, yet a few months later you are lifting all this weight that you never dreamed that you would be able to lift.”
Sounds good to me! The “B” program is more of a pure strength and power program with a focus on singles. Hepburn said that single-rep training led to the fastest strength gains. Here's how the “B” program works: After doing two warm-up sets, take a weight you can do three times and do five sets of one. Take three to five-minute breaks between each set. At the next workout, do six sets of one. If, for some reason, you can't complete six reps, you either started with too heavy a weight or aren't taking long enough breaks. Again, follow the program to the letter and don't add your modifications. Hepburn knew more about productive strength training than you do, so deal with yourself and don't over-analyze the program. The goal is to work up to eights sets of one. When you reach that phase, add five to ten pounds and go back to five sets of one. This manner of progression has a built-in cycling mechanism for intensity to avoid over-training. As the intensity goes up, the volume eventually goes down to induce adaptation.
After the power phase, take a ten to fifteen-minute break and then do the pump routine. Take a weight you can comfortably lift for eight reps and do six sets of three with one-minute breaks. At the second workout, do five sets of three and one set of four. Once you've worked up to six sets of five, go up five to ten pounds and return to six sets of three.
If, for some reason, you find the training too much and aren't making progress, Hepburn's recommendation was for the trainee to cut out the power routine and do the pump routine only for two to three weeks. One thing you can also do is start with three sets of one at the first workout to give yourself more time to work up to 8x1. Considering how the program is laid out, I doubt you'll enter an over-trained state unless you do too many exercises, choose the wrong starting weight, or deliberately avoid food and sleep.
Now, let's talk about workout scheduling. The recommendations are the same for both the “A” and “B” programs.
Two times a week option
If you can only train two times a week train on Monday and Thursday. Do military presses and bent-over rows in alternating fashion and squats on Monday. On Thursday, do the bench press and weighted pull-up, in alternating fashion, and deadlifts. Here's how the program will look:
Monday:
A-1: Barbell Military Press 6x2
A-2: Barbell Bent-over Row 6x2
Take 90-second breaks between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
B-1: Barbell Squat 6x2
B-2: Double Dumbbell Or Kettlebell Swing 6x2
Take 90-second breaks between each set of B-1 and B-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Now, take a five-minute break and do the pump phase:
A-1: Barbell Military Press 3x6
A-2: Barbell Bent-over Row 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
B-1: Barbell Squat 3x6
B-2: Double Dumbbell or Kettlebell Swing 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of B-1 and B-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Thursday:
A-1: Barbell Bench Press 6x2
A-2: Weighted Pull-up 6x2
Take 90-second breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
B-1: Barbell Deadlift 6x2
Now, take a five-minute break and do the pump phase:
A-1: Barbell Bench Press 3x6
A-2: Weighted Pull-up 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
Barbell Deadlift 3x6 (90 second breaks)
Four Times Per Week Option
If you have four days to devote to training, work each exercise twice per week in the following manner:
Monday and Thursday:
A-1: Barbell Military Press 6x2
B-2: Barbell Bent-over Row 6x2
Take 90-second breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
B-1: Barbell Squat 6x2
B-2: Double Dumbbell One-legged Deadlift 6x2
Take 90-second breaks in between each set of B-1 and B-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Now, take a five-minute break and do the pump phase:
A-1: Barbell Military Press 3x6
A-2: Barbell Bent-over Row 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
B-1: Barbell Squat 3x6
B-2: Double-dumbbell One-legged Deadlift 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of B-1 and B-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed
Tuesday and Friday:
A-1: Barbell Bench Press 6x2
A-2: Weighted Pull-up 6x2
Take 90-second breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
Barbell Deadlift 6x2
Now, take a five-minute break and do the pump phase:
A-1: Barbell Bench Press 3x6
A-2: Weighted Pull-up 3x6
Take one-minute breaks in between each set of A-1 and A-2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.
Take a two-minute break, then do
Barbell Deadlift 3x6 (90 second breaks)
There you have it, a program that that will doubtless work for developing tremendous size, strength, and power. Follow the Hepburn program for a few months and let me know what happens. I'm ending this article with one of the most important points Hepburn made in his book, and that is to have a life outside of training. Do the workouts and do them well, and then get your mind off of training.
For more information on Doug Hepburn’s life and training philosophy check his exceptional book Strongman-The Doug Hepburn Story By Tom Thurston
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