For the first two years of my powerlifting training, I had basically followed my training partner, Imogen’s plan written for her by Tom Sheppard. During 2023 Imogen and I had started to train several times a week with the husband and wife duo of Dave and Jackie Langridge. Dave and Jackie are competing in the sport, both extremely experienced, strong and train hard. Jackie holds British and World records in her weight and age category and Dave has started down an intense training plan on equipped lifting.
Tom had started Dave on a Hepburn training programme which is extremely tough and demanding and is designed to fatigue the athlete and push muscles to the extreme. It involves taking 85% of a lifter 1RM and doing several reps per set with 3 minute rest periods between the sets. Once the sets e.g. 3 sets of 3 then 2 sets of 2 are done the weight is reduced and the number of sets reduces but the reps in each set increases. The final sting in the tail is holding the bar at knee level (deadlift) or just off the chest (bench press) for 15 seconds, locking out and doing AMRAP. A tough programme. If the programme is completed that week, you move to the next stage which increase the reps in each section. A four week program means max out and then continue at your new 1RM.
I decided to join Dave on the Hepburn program written by Tom in February 2023. Training 3 times a week for 2 hours a session along with Imogen and Jackie (plus other Phoenix Performance team members on a team training night) I made steady progress.
Having completed the training programme by August 2023 I went for my 1 rep max. The bench press programme was particularly difficult and I could not complete the first section in its entirety so every week I tried again. After about 6 weeks I was able to move on and then the progress flowed.
I was extremely pleased with my progress. On Deadlift my previous PB was 155kg in February 2022, by August 2023 this had increased to 175kg. On Bench-press I had managed 75kg, but had reached a 1 RM of 90kg in August 2024.
Bench-press PB 90kg
Deadlift PB 175kg
