Doug Hepburn was a Canadian strongman who won the 1953 world weightlifting title and the 1954 Commonwealth Games, and he did it on training that looks almost too plain to work. Four days a week, two lifts per session, squat and bench on one day, deadlift and overhead press on the next. No percentages chart, no wave loading, no accessory list.
The method itself is one idea. You pick a weight you can handle, you keep it exactly the same, and you add a single rep each session until you hit the target. Only then does the weight go up, by five or ten pounds, and the whole climb starts again.
Everyone else in the 1950s was chasing heavier bar loads week to week. Hepburn added volume at a fixed load and let strength come from the accumulated work.
There are two programs here, A and B, and each has a power phase and a pump phase. I’d run this if you like simple, repeatable training and you’re happy to be patient. The catch is that it’s slow, it’s repetitive, and it programs almost no direct arm or back work, so if you want a varied session or you’re chasing a peak for a meet on a date, this is the wrong program.
Table of Contents
Doug Hepburn Program A + B, Power + Pump Spreadsheets
All four phases are in one workbook. Put your one-rep maxes on the 1RM Input tab and every session weight fills in automatically, rounded to whatever increment you set. There are separate 1RM inputs for the power and pump phases on purpose, because the two don’t restart at the same time.
What Is the Hepburn Method?
The Hepburn Method is a double-progression system built on compound barbell lifts. You hold the bar weight constant and add one rep per session until you reach the rep target for that phase. When you get there, you add 5 to 10 pounds and drop back to the starting rep count.
A power phase runs heavy and low: eight sets of two at roughly 80% of your max, climbing one rep at a time toward eight sets of three. A pump phase runs lighter and longer: three sets of six at roughly 60%, climbing to three sets of eight. The power phase is where the strength comes from and the pump phase is where the size comes from, which is why the combination gets called powerbuilding.
Hepburn originally ran both phases in the same workout, and you’ll see that version in the T-Nation article. In his later years he changed his mind and recommended running only one phase at a time, then switching when you burned out on it. That’s the version the spreadsheet is built around, and it’s the one I’d follow.
Four lifts get trained: squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift. Two per session, four sessions a week, so every lift is hit twice.
Program A Overview
- Power phase starts at 8 sets of 2 at roughly 80% of your 1RM
- Squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift are trained
- One rep is added each workout until 8 sets of 3 is reached
- Two lifts are trained per workout
- Training is 4x weekly (check out T-Nation for an overview of the 2x training version)
- 5-10 lbs is added to all lifts and the cycle repeats
- Pump phase starts at 3 sets of 6 at roughly 60% of your 1RM
- One rep is added each workout until 3 sets of 8 is reached
- Everything else works the same way as the power phase
Program B Overview
- Power phase starts at 5 singles at roughly 90% of your 1RM
- Squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift are trained
- One single is added each workout until 8 singles is reached
- Two lifts are trained per workout
- Training is 4x weekly (check out T-Nation for an overview of the 2x training version)
- 5-10 lbs is added to all lifts and the cycle repeats
- Pump phase starts at 3 sets of 6 at roughly 60% of your 1RM
- One rep is added each workout until 3 sets of 8 is reached
- Everything else works the same way as the power phase
Program A or Program B: Which Should You Run?
Program A is doubles at 80%. Program B is singles at 90%. That’s the whole difference on paper, and it changes who each one suits.
Run Program A first. Sets of two give you more total reps to practise the lift with, the load is manageable enough that technique holds up when you’re tired, and eight sets of anything at 80% is already a hard session. This is the version to start on even if you’ve been training for years.
Move to Program B when your doubles feel easy and you want to spend more time near your true max. Singles at 90% demand a lot more from your setup and your recovery, and they punish sloppy bracing in a way that 80% doubles forgive. If you’re not confident grinding a heavy single with clean form, stay on A.
Accessory Movements
Plenty of versions of the Hepburn Method float around with no accessories at all, and that’s a fair reading of how he trained.
Hepburn did recommend heavy rows, chins, and dips as useful additions, so they’re in the spreadsheet as optional. That’s a much shorter list than most powerbuilding programs use today, where three or four accessories per session is normal. Pick whatever addresses a weak point you already know about, and keep it to a couple of movements.
Sources
This spreadsheet was built by consulting the following:
- https://www.t-nation.com/training/hepburn-solution-for-strength-and-power
- Extreme Powerbuilding: Doug Hepburn (Muscle & Strength)
- http://web.archive.org/web/20120202100124/http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_article/hepburn_solution_for_strength_and_power_1? (old T-Nation thread where the user twiceborn describes working directly with Doug Hepburn)
- r/weightroom Training Tuesdays: Hepburn Method, a long discussion thread that includes program reviews
Hepburn wrote his own book, The Doug Hepburn Strength and Muscle Building System, if you want the method in his words rather than second-hand:
Frequently Asked Questions
The Hepburn Method is a double-progression barbell program from Canadian strongman Doug Hepburn. You keep the bar weight fixed and add one rep per session until you hit the target, then add 5 to 10 pounds and start the climb again. It trains squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift, two lifts per session, four days a week.
About four weeks per cycle, then you add 5 to 10 pounds to your 1RM inputs and repeat. The program is designed to run indefinitely rather than to peak on a date, so most lifters cycle the power phase three or four times before switching to the pump phase.
Hepburn originally did, and the older T-Nation write-up describes it that way. Later in his life he recommended running one phase at a time and switching when you burned out on it, which is what the spreadsheet is built around. Running both together is a large amount of work for one session.
It works, but it’s slow by design and it will feel repetitive. A beginner adding weight every session on a linear program will make faster progress for the first six months or so. The Hepburn Method makes more sense once linear progression has stopped and you need a way to keep adding work at a fixed load.
