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Doug Hepburn Powerbuilding

Intermediate 2 to 9 weeks 4 days/week Doug Hepburn Powerbuilding Olympic Weightlifting Strongman

The powerbuilding method credited to Doug Hepburn, the Canadian weightlifter and strongman who won the 1953 world weightlifting title, as Lift Vault lays it out in its free spreadsheet. You pick one weight and keep it for the whole phase. The reps climb instead, one set at a time, and only when the top of the scheme is done does the bar get heavier. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load.

What this program is

Four days a week, two lifts a day. Squat and bench on one day, deadlift and overhead press on the next, so each lift comes round twice a week. There is no snatch or clean and jerk in it. It also sits on the Olympic weightlifting and strongman shelves, because Hepburn was both a weightlifter and a strongman. It programs no strongman events either.

Day 1 Squat Bench Press Day 2 Deadlift Overhead Press Day 3 Squat Bench Press Day 4 Deadlift Overhead Press

Hepburn's own extras were heavy rows, chin-ups and dips. The spreadsheet lists them as optional and gives no sets or reps, so the app names them in the notes rather than prescribing them.

How the reps climb

Each session one more set gets an extra rep. In Program A's Power phase you start at 8 sets of 2, then do 7 sets of 2 and 1 set of 3, then 6 and 2, and so on until all eight sets are triples. The weight never moves inside the phase. Every lift climbs the same ladder on its own day:

Session 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sets 8x2 7x2 + 1x3 6x2 + 2x3 5x2 + 3x3 4x2 + 4x3 3x2 + 5x3 2x2 + 6x3 1x2 + 7x3 8x3

When a phase is done you add 5 to 10 lb to the bar and start it again from the bottom. The spreadsheet's notes say Hepburn first ran his power and pump work in the same session, and later advised burning out on the Power phase, usually three or four runs of it, before switching to the Pump phase.

The two programs

	Power phase	Pump phase
Program A	8x2 up to 8x3 at 80% of your 1RM. 18 sessions.	3x6 up to 3x8 at 60%. 14 sessions.
Program B	5 singles up to 8 singles at 90%. 8 sessions.	6x3 up to 6x5 at 60%. 26 sessions.

Program B has the heavier, shorter Power phase, one more single each session rather than one more rep, and the longer Pump phase. For Program A's Power phase the spreadsheet asks for two to three minutes of rest between sets.

At a glance

Discipline	Powerbuilding, also listed under Olympic Weightlifting and Strongman
Method	Doug Hepburn, as laid out in Lift Vault's spreadsheet
Experience level	Intermediate
Length	One phase: 2 to 7 weeks. Power then Pump: 9 weeks.
Training days	4 per week
Equipment	Barbell and rack
Loading	A fixed percentage of your 1RM for the whole phase (80, 90 or 60 percent)
Price	Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes

Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.

How it works in Ægir Iron

When you load it you pick Program A or B and a phase: Power, Pump, or Power then Pump. Power is the default, because that is the order Hepburn later recommended. Each row is priced from the 1RM you saved for that lift, so the weight is already on the screen and rounded to the plate.

A step like 7x2 and 1x3 shows as two rows of the same lift, so you can log the doubles and the triple separately. When the last session of a phase is done, Advance Cycle puts 10 lb on the bar for squat and deadlift and 5 lb for bench and press, and runs the phase again at the new weight. A lift you logged as a miss stays where it was.

The spreadsheet has two cells that break its own pattern: the first overhead press session reads 8x3 instead of 8x2, and squat and bench never reach their final 8x3 in Program A's Power phase. Ægir Iron follows the pattern in both places. Lift Vault's page also says Program B's Pump phase is the same as Program A's, but the Program B tab and its own note give 6 sets of 3 up to 6 sets of 5, and Ægir Iron follows the tab.

Original source

Ægir Iron's template is built from this source. Under it is what the template takes from it.

Risley K (2026). Doug Hepburn Powerbuilding Methods. Lift Vault spreadsheet.Doug Hepburn's power and pump phases: one weight held for the phase (80, 90 or 60 percent of a 1RM), a rep added each session from 8x2 to 8x3, 5 to 8 singles, 3x6 to 3x8 or 6x3 to 6x5, then 5 to 10 lb addedThe add after each phase, 10 lb on the bar for squat and deadlift and 5 lb for bench and press

Start Doug Hepburn Powerbuilding

Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerbuilding (it is also under Olympic Weightlifting and Strongman), then choose Doug Hepburn Powerbuilding from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.

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