Plague of Strength

Part One of this series gave all of the ins and outs of powerlifting’s favorite man crush, Roger Estep. Likely known far more for his physique than the fact that he was one of the single greatest squatters of all time, Estep stands as the ready counterpoint to anyone who wants to talk about how much better bodybuilders look than powerlifters.

I gave the most exhaustive treatment on Estep ever written in Part 1, but I recently had a fan of the site drunkenly send pics of an article on Estep that he uncovered in his dad’s old bodybuilding mags. The following is an occasionally illegible beginner program for powerlifters, which you might be interested to find contains a shitload of bodybuilding, because prior to the invention of the internet, powerlifters weren’t drooling fucking retards who feared hard work more than rich college girls fear work of any kind. This shit might not blow your socks off, but it might be of interest in that it involves more than just the big three lifts, which is nigh on fucking heresy at this point with new jack lifters.

As to the hyper blurry page, my buddy Darren is drunk more than he’s sober, so I’m not sure a clearer image is in the offing, but I shall post it if I get one. In the event I can’t, know that I can’t even find an internet reference to this article, so we should all feel privileged to have this much.

Here is the TLDR of the program recommendation for those of you with short attention spans or shitty eyesight. The first four months’ program is basically illegible, but seems to just be 3 x 8 on the big three rather than 3 x 8; 2 x 5- the remainder of the program is the same. Also of note is the fact that you stop being a beginner after a year of training, so stop running dumbass beginner programs endlessly with the belief they’re going to magically yield results on the fourth fucking attempt. You’re not Harry Potter and the program you keep reusing likely fucking sucks anyway.

Estep’s Three Days a Week Beginner Program

Abdominal Work: Leg Raise– 50 / Crunch– 50 / Jackknife– 50

Squat– Two warmup sets (15 reps and 8 reps).  Work sets: 3 x 8, then add weight and do 2 x 5

Bench Press– Two warmup sets (15 reps and 8 reps).  Work sets: 3 x 8, then add weight and do 2 x 5

Seated DB Curl– 3 x 8

Incline Tricep Extension– 3 x 8

Deadlift– Two warmup sets (15 reps and 8 reps).  Work sets: 3 x 8, then add weight and do 2 x 5

DB Row– 3 x 8

Behind the Neck Press– 3 x 8

Shrugs– 4 x 6 

Calf Raise– 3 x 12

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