Doug Hepburn has become synonymous with brute force and sheer simplicity. This is reflected in his programs, which focus entirely on compound strength movements and do not explicitly recommend any direct accessory work.
Below there are essentially 2 programs, each with a power phase and a pump phase. In the old days, Hepburn used to run both the power phase and the pump phase in the same workout (you’ll see this recommended in the linked T-Nation article), but in his later years he recommended running only one at a time, then switching phases when the athlete became burnt out on whichever phase they were running. When alternating between the two, the athlete will achieve significantly strength stimulus from the power phase, while also inducing hypertrophy from the pump phase, hence the “powerbuilding” designation.
Table of Contents
Program A Overview
- Power phase consists of starting with 8 sets of 2 at ~80% of your 1RM
- Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press, and Deadlift are trained
- One rep is added on the next 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 consists of starting with 3 sets of 6 at ~60% of your 1RM
- One rep is added on the next workout until 3 sets of 8 is reached
- Everything else remains the same as with the Power Phase
Program B Overview
- Power phase consists of starting with 5 singles at ~90% of your 1RM
- Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press, and Deadlift are trained
- One rep is added on the next workout until 8 sets of singles
- 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 consists of starting with 3 sets of 6 at ~60% of your 1RM
- One rep is added on the next workout until 3 sets of 8 is reached
- Everything else remains the same as with the Power Phase
Accessory Movements
Many versions of the Hepburn Method can be found without accessories.
Hepburn recommends heavy rows, chins, and dips as useful accessories, so they are included in the spreadsheet as optional. In this way, this differs from popular powerbuilding programs of today that frequently program 3-4 accessory movements outside of the primary compound lift. What you personally choose should help address known weak points.
This spreadsheet was created by consulting the following articles:
- https://www.t-nation.com/training/hepburn-solution-for-strength-and-power
- https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/extreme-powerbuilding-doug-hepburn.html
- 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)
- Here’s a great discussion around the Hepburn Method, including some program reviews https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/5y06fg/training_tuesdays_hepburn_method/
Alternatively, check out the book Doug Hepburn’s methods:
