BEHIND THE BLOCK: BUILDING SERIOUS STRENGTH WITH THE HEPBURN METHOD
allegiate’s modified hepburn method
A central theme of our training system is relying on the tried and true methods of our forefathers of strength. This block’s forefather is Doug Hepburn.
Doug overcame being physically handicapped and countless other challenges to become a world champion lifter.
Hepburn also had to fit in his training with a full-time job. This is far more similar to our situation than an elite athletes with unlimited resources and time.
His methods were based on a minimalist approach using little exercise variation, simple progressions, and hard work.
The results produced by his methods show that you can achieve world-class results with limited time. You just need to know what to do.
So let’s explore what we are doing this block.
The Method: 4 Heavy Singles + Back off Sets
The original Hepburn Method is 8 sets of 1 heavy rep followed with a back off of 4 sets x 5 reps, on two antagonistic (push-pull) exercises.
The method was crafted in a dingy weight room in Canada filled with homemade equipment. Hepburn’s focus was building serious strength without wasting time.
We like this focus.
And so we want to leverage it with our own modifications.
our modified scheme is 4 heavy singles followed by 2 back-off sets of 5 reps.
But there is a lot more to lifting than sets and reps.
Let’s take a look at some keys to success.
1st Key to Success: More Rest = More Strength
Last block we intentionally created a very acidic metabolic environment. Your body has a natural endocrine response to this acidity. This response includes increased testosterone, growth hormone and insulin sensitivity.
While an acidic environment is great for muscle-building, the nervous system does not like this.
With the increased bump from the endocrine system you may feel like your nervous system is ready to crush, but it isn’t.
Increased hydrogen ions from poor CO2 removal can limit fast-twitch muscle fiber recruitment.
And our bodies can’t produce ATP as efficiently, So…
in order for us to build strength safely, we will need to increase rest.
By increasing rest, we can limit the fatigue and acidity that compromises our force production.
2nd Key to Success: Increasing Muscular Demands and Managing Nervous Demands
The higher intensity of this block will be hard on our nervous system.
We do this by adding 5/0/X/0 tempo. This means we are controlling the eccentric portion of the lift for 5 seconds.
The tempo decreases the impact on the passive structures (connective tissue) and keeps us honest with the loads we use.
The end result is more challenge on our muscles and managing the stress on the nervous system so we can train safely and effectively.
3rd Key to Success: More Muscle Recruitment With “Potentiation”
Another key component of this block is the concept of potentiation.
Potentiation = activating higher threshold motor units/muscle fibers through near maximal intensity lifts.
We know that multiple sets will recruit more and more motor units and muscle fibers.
The potentiation from high intensity single repetition sets followed by less intense multi-rep sets will effectively stress a lot of muscle fibers.
The caveat is that the singles are heavy, but sub-maximal. We want to use the resulting activation for our back-off sets. Not just burn out on the 4 heavy sets.
By doing this we will get the benefit of lifting heavier loads, while limiting the risk associated with those heavier loads.
But even with this strategic scheme we still need to manage our loads on week 1 and “reload”.
4th Key to Success: “Reload” to Recover and Adapt
If we just go ham and max out every session we will get hurt. If we do not get injured we will eventually reach a plateau from poor progression. How do we avoid this? Reload.
Reload = period of decreased intensity and/or volume to help us restore and adapt.
The combination of last block’s higher volume and density followed by an intensification block is hard overall on the system. So in order to maximize safety and progress, we are using a reload.
As the block continues we will add load and intensity appropriately.
Above all else we want to be smart and take a proactive approach on safety and performance.
Some of this happens organically, but a strategic approach will help ensure maximal adaptation.