singles...program...

[cal]

has anyone tried a singles program...

like hepburn, casey...etc many strength legends used to in the old days...oh yeah and charlie ahrens...

someone on goheavy posted a routine using singles...and says he benched 525 at 260 RAW and CLEAN. if thats true very very impressive, but actually believable...

 

[bigokie]

Doug Hepburn, Bob Peoples and Paul Anderson all used singles. No one can say that they weren't strong. They were all big and strong before steroids.

If you are interested in singles training and the like you should get Brooks Kubik's book Dinosaur Training. It has many routines based on the old school routines.

 

[Arioch]

This is slightly off topic but the number one reason I would recommend Dinosaur Training is as a motivational piece. It is a very good read. This is not true of oh-so-many training books.

The Adventures of Lope Delk, Powerlifting Basics, Texas Style, by Paul Kelso, is another one that I would put in this category.

As for the ability to continue on a straight singles program, it would depend. Some people have the CNS recovery ability to tolerate the repetition, some do not. This is one of the strengths of the Westside program, where max effort is performed twice a week, but the exercises are rotated regularly.

I do think singles are of critical importance for everyone interested in getting strong.

 

[cal]

have read the book...
great reading...

just never tried it bc i didnt think i had enough of a base to really...

 

[Arioch]

I think it can help quite a bit in the short term, especially for those who are not used to straining under a one rep max. Like all things, YMMV.

 

[Deciever]

sounds interesting.... Whats a sample program like?

 

[b fold the truth]

I remember Gary Frank saying that he was gonna go heavy all year round last year. He was not serious. He realizes that you must change often and that the body can only do singles for so long.

B True

 

[ballast]

I've had good success with a modified version of Doug Hepburn's singles routine.His original routine was three progressively heavier sets of 5's to warm up.This is followed by 5 singles with a max weight.Following the singles, he did 5 sets of 5 using 50 ibs less than he used for the singles.Once all the singles and all the fives were completed, Hepburn added 5-10 pounds and started over.The modified version is 3 warm ups of 5,3 singles, and 3 5's.This has worked well for me on front and back squats as well as presses.