Some examples of the equipment Mr. Hepburn designed and built at a reasonable price, and he would build to your specifications, the size of your space, as well as freely offer suggestions on how to better utilize that very same space. I wish I woulda had money to buy some back then, but no matter, what I had and now have is more than fine and dandy and I am grateful for it.
The Weightlifter's Prayer
by Doug Hepburn
I know I'm not wrong and the struggle is clean
I'll keep pushing on and I'll never turn mean
There aren't many who can see how I've tried
There's a lot that think they know me deep down inside
You're certain to win if you push right on through
And if you never give in your dream will come true
Please spare us your cynicism, and refrain from crapping on the man.
"Find your platform, your starting poundage, a weight that you can do 15 sets of 2 reps with comfortably; this would be a weight that you could do 4 reps with if you forced yourself as if in competition.
"Build up to 15 sets of 3 reps by increasing the total number of reps performed in your previous workout by one each succeeding training session, until you can do the 15 sets of 3 reps.
"Then, in your next forthcoming workout start at 15 x 2 and repeat as above.
"Apply this principle to each exercise.
"You should develop the same forceful drive and explosive power used in the clean . . . in all your lifting."
"Competitive lift: Do each lift every third day, one at each training session, separate upper and lower body lifts alternatively every session.
"You can "tinker" with light exercises, such as curling afterwards but no more."
"Develop an affinity between yourself and that which you believe to be the cause of your existence. This alone can increase your athletic potential 10 to 40 percent."
"Finally, I was forced to admit to a realization, one that my father, a heavy drinker had told me about. I knew now that I had lost control of my mind and destiny. The sickness had pervaded my being. It seemed there was no way out, a cul de sac, as it were.
"So there's a purgatory after all.
"I remember as a boy how I relished my plan to go fishing. As Poe would say, never more . . . what a joy it was then but now such a plan ends in a drunk wandering in a gray underworld.
"And I remember the psychiatrist, smiling knowingly, saying to me, 'And how is your sylphlike form today?' Now, I know what he meant.
"Well, I got myself into it. How in the hell do I get out of it? I suppose that answer lies 'in the laps of the gods' and I was absolutely right.
"At this crucial part of my dilemma two men entered into my life at the Pinewood Hospital in Vancouver and set the scene for my escape attempt from the clutches of that infamous 'Mr. John Barleycorn' who represented my nemesis."
- Excerpted from a play written by Doug Hepburn, titled "The Trip."
Enjoy Your Lifting!
That 15 sets of 2 likely jumped out at you. It's meant for advanced lifters only, those who are already VERY familiar with this slow-burn, don't bust your keester approach.
ReplyDeleteThe statement about lifting with speed as you do in a clean is golden, on all the lifts you choose for a "Hepburn-style" (there's a misnomer for ya), and they will necessarily be chosen from the none-too-long list of compounds that work here.
It's a completely different approach than what bodybuilding based guys will be used to. I had one fellow email me, a real decent guy, who had done nothing in his life but the, you know, physique-building stuff. He alternated between high intensity (intensity here being effort not percent of max) layouts with few sets and ball-busting extended set stuff, and very high volume, six-day-a-week programs with the emphasis on pump and burn.
He wanted to get away from that, build strength as he was approaching 40 then, and his nerves were burned more than Joan of Arc's, and he agreed to give this kind of slow-burn (all this burning!) way a try for a year or so and see how it suited him.
It's a very hard transition to wrap your head around for some and I figure the best way is to do "not enough" rather than "too much" at the outset. It's also a temperament thing. No way would any sane person tell this guy to go with 15 sets of 2's working slowly to 3's. It just wouldn't last for long and it's a foolish idea for a man like this. I would like to get to something else about that in the comments following. Blah blah blah. ANOTHER comment? Spare me.
Okay, here's what I suggested, and I don't know crap when it comes to determining just what would suit someone other than me; never would say I do owing to understanding the dissimilarities in each human being and how we change day by day.
The plan was for him to put on the brakes hard, to get used to taking it chill, ditch the fucking energy drink crap and try to wrap his head around lifting without psyching in the least using a progression in which the stressors are added so gradually they're not even noticed until one day months down the line the progress is there. "Wha happened!"
So, as small as this load seems, this is what he did:
Lift six days a week, he was already doing that and I figured he wouldn't stop doing it no matter. Do one big lift each of the six days. You all know the drill . . . Squat one day / Press the next / Something like a high-pull row the next / Curl ("what, no arm work?" leads to "fuck this bullshit" quickly with a guy like this, let's be realistic) / Regular deadlift or SDL depending on his preference) / Bench, or bench variation (if you're not going to compete and benching either hurts or you don't even like it, why in hell are you doing it? / and he rested on the seventh day.
Very, VERY small amount of volume to get him used to not working too hard and hopefully help with his nerves healing themselves. A crazy small amount of volume, you might say, but that's the whole idea.
Only 7 sets a day, after warmups, only one lift a day.
3,2,2,2,2 going up one more rep (added at the beginning and not the end, thank you so much) to 3,3,3,3,3.
6,6, going up one more rep (as above) to 8,8.
Both the lower and higher rep affairs will call for a weight increase simultaneously so it doesn't get too confusing.
Don't jump the gun. Go slow and enjoy the ride. Eat well, take a brisk walk sometime each day you train and breathe deep while doing it. Not so deep you're a pain in the neck to anyone around you, just take in some air and enjoy your walk. Get used to not stressing yourself about lifting.
After several poundage increases you should be getting a little used to this type of lifting, so put two of the upper body exercises together and do the progression in the same way. Drop one day of lifting, owing to putting two together and now you're lifting five days a week. Not the two presses yet on one day, a press and the curl.
ReplyDeleteAfter several more poundage increases put two of the lower body exercises together so you're now lifting four days a week. DON'T JUMP THE GUN AND KEEP YOUR LIFTING CHILL AND STRESSLESS. There's no question you can do all the sets and reps each session and there shouldn't be with this.
After several more poundage increases put all three upper body exercises together but continue to lift four days a week . . .
After several more poundage increases put all three lower body exercises together and continue to lift four days a week . . .
Now your layout is, for example, Press, Curl, Bench on two days of the week (divided up as if you were a sane person), and Squat, Row, Dead on two other days of the week. Space them out, again, as if your were a sane person.
Time has passed at this point and your poundages have miraculously increased during that period without you really noticing it much. Your body will be healed somewhat and it's time for more.
Stay with it, keep at it, keeping cool at all times, and after a few more poundage increases expand the sets of the upper body workouts to 8 sets of 2's working to 8 sets of 3's. Don't bust a gut! Add weight very slowly and enjoy the ride and the feel of lifting this way.
After a few more poundage increases do the same with the lower body stuff.
Keep adding weight slowly.
After quite some time that 15 sets of 2's working towards 15 x 3 will be more understandable and doable, or feasible if you're a grammar nut.
He never got back to me after the first two months or so, and that's the thing with this slow burn approach. It can be absolutely lifeless and boring for some people, yet extremely enjoyable for others, and there's only one way to find out which lot you fit into.
No lifter lifts only one way his entire life, and there is not one "Doug Hepburn Way" to "correctly" do this, and the same goes for all the rest. That's absurd, and it's clutching at straws the aren't there. Sure, as an example, Mr. Hepburn's articles, interviews, bookets, book written by some other guy and all the rest of it changed over time and were also created for different goals. I figure I'm familiar with about 10%, maybe, of the training recommendations he gave. It would have been nice to been bright enough to phone him more often than I did and I was an idiot not to. But then, water under the bridge only flows one way and it's long gone to the sea now.
ReplyDeleteThere is not One Hepburn Method and there never was. He himself trained in a myriad of ways, using variations on a basic theme, sticking to the framework of this "the rep is King" approach. Anyone who tells you otherwise might like to familiarize themselves a little more with the history of this deal, or any other for that matter, and consider the fact that others were of course using such methods long before he or Charles Smith made them more public in their own ways.
What the hell garbage is this. Cripes, three lifetimes on this slow-blow, er, slow-burn nonsense and I'll add what . . . 10 lbs. to my lifts? Bullshit! And look how fat this Hoopburn guy is. I can't resist making fun of even my own comments.
ReplyDeleteDoug recommended adding three socks and a pair of mockingbirds to the bar once a week. THAT is the actual Hepburn Method, you idiot! Cancel my subscription immediately and return my not-money.
DeleteDid he mean clean sweat socks and how heavily feathered are the birds? How should I adjust my macros for this? Are the birds living because that would change the ACTUAL resistance and its curve. What peck and sweat-sock schemes are recommended? Filthy socks weigh more. Is microloading with threads and small wool fibers permissible? Can a guy get lucky with anything more interesting than the neighbors dog if he follows this protocol? Their cat was okay and my stitches come out Wednesday. Sorry Doug, and stop laughing! Please send more of your protein powder but this time I'd like the Vanilla from Valhalla flavor and how's the boar taste over there? Watch your step with that goat mead, Brother.
DeleteOh for the love of God. Load that bar with birds wearing filthy sweat socks and get to it! Sheesh, it's obvious and it's all already here, you moron.
DeleteThe difference between well-meaning humor and goal-destroying cynicism is obvious. I hope.
DeleteOr, as the ancient wisdom doth futilely lament through crumbling and time-wracked corridors, "Hope springeth infernal"...
DeleteHey Joe! Fortunately for me so does some kinda internal Light deal.
DeleteHave a good one over there, buddy. The day awaits, I'm still breathing and alive (as far as I can tell)
and there's diamonds to be found among the coal and all that ash-in-mouth crap out there.
Okay then . . . on a vastly more important and serious note: On September 20th, we indulge on Pepperoni Pizza Day as we recognize the most popular pizza ever created. A little early for me over here at 5 a.m. but hey, the day, she's young.
DeleteWhat's the, duh, macros with that? Will I live longer without pepperoni pizza as part of my "dietary regimen?" Will it make my body unattractive to absolute strangers? Will my oh-so-important lifts suffer from eating it? How will the farts smell to said strangers in public? Can I get lucky with inanimate objects used as sexual friends if I consume it? Is the condom biodegradable? What will the offspring be like? I NEED HELP OVER HERE WITH THIS! Is there an app that can tell me what to shove into my mouth and then shite out? What spices can a "bodybuilder" use and still look like a grotesquerie? Will pepperoni pizza negatively affect my peptide balance and how many slices can the average pin-addict muscle-moron eat on a cheat day. What type of asswipe should I use in my quest to get ripped glutes, a tighter butt, better gains and more plates on a long and tubular bar? These fecking things matter to me!!!
DeleteSend links and info! Please help me! I'm outta bacon and I need them sausages asap.
DeleteIMPORTANT DIETARY SIDENOTE HERE FOR JOE S AND ANYONE ELSE READING THIS!!!
DeleteI've been on the six cigarettes and a hot coffee breakfast plan for decades and am gettin' a little tired of all my health conscious friends dying off and leaving the planet. G is for genetics, B is for blind, and M is for the money made selling people lies.
Yes, the GBM plan. "Get Bonkers, Motherfucker." Oddly enough all the supposed "logic" of the human race and its overly large mind has done little or nothing to change our basic human nature for the better. Did Neanderthals treat one another any better than we do? Nope, but we have indoor plumbing, so there Smarty. Were their tools any less valid to them than ours of today? No-sir, but we have civil war and divisive hate-creating software of all sorts that allows us to believe it'll all wind up for the better if only everyone would see things like me Me ME! Were they any further from their version of God because only a handful of grunts were the whole of their spoken language? Nah, I highly doubt it but we has the words, however poorly they're used lately or how rapidly the whole of language is being intentionally degraded and we're steered away from reality toward the digital-illusion in order that blah blah blah true reality and all its resources can be rape-and-pillaged for the profit of the few. Are we any happier or do we believe we are of any more worth than those earlier men who had no clue and had no noise, er, symbol, I mean word for "worth." ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY IDIOT! We has progressed oh so much and our lives are so soooooo much better thanks to our "logic" you Ted Kaczynsky loving luddite leaning shit-for-brains fool of and idiot. Have the modern methods of food production erased a lot of famine from the earth? Yesh, but-ta, hang on here . . . at 8-plus billion and growing by the second maybe famine, pestilence, and the rest of the scaries have a reason for existing we may discover soon when we're gnawing at each others' young just to survive when it's all used up and stocked away in the larders of the rich and famous. Bottom line . . . how the fuck did them Neanderthal buggers find their way back to their literal mancaves with nothin' but a peabrain and come to think of it how in hell does one use that word "literal" properly ?
DeleteDamn you Andy Rooney, Lewis Black and all the rest of you smartass yahoos! Where's my bleedin' straightjacket! Get the ghost of Harry Houdini on the line and tell that asshole he promised to give it back.
DeleteAnyhow . . . have a good one today!
Delete