If you want to gain weight and build super-human strength, then it only makes sense to study the habits of one of history’s most famous strongmen, the late Doug Hepburn.
Way back in the early 1950′s — before steroids and before modern bench shirts — Doug Hepburn bench pressed 500lbs.
He could squat and deadlift 800lbs. And did a standing shoulder press with 450lbs.
Not bad for a guy born with a clubfoot and fused ankle.
How did a man build so much size and strength way back in the 1950′s, before creatine, whey powders and steroids?
The answer is surprisingly simple:
Eggs.
Lots and lots of eggs.
After high school, Doug went to work on a chicken farm.
Part of his meager salary was all of the eggs he could eat.
And Hepburn took full-advantage of this “perk:” He ate 58 eggs and drank a 1/2 gallon of whole milk EVERY DAY.
That’s over 500 grams of protein per day.
In hindsight, it’s clear that eggs were a big part of Doug Hepburn’s success.
And it’s no wonder why. Eggs are one of ultimate muscle-building foods.
Just one extra-large egg contains 7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fat.
You already know how important protein is for muscle-growth, but fat is crucial.
Dietary fat provides energy and boost testosterone.
Plus, perhaps best of all, there are so many ways to eat eggs.
You can swallow them raw (quick), cook ‘em up (tasty) or hardboil them
and have a take them on the road (portable).
So if you’re having trouble building muscle and putting on weight, start eating more eggs.
If it worked for Doug Hepburn, it can work for you.
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Wonderful tip. Send more tips
Great idea– except for the enormous amount of cholesterol in eggs. Heart attack waiting to happen…
What age did he live to? Surely that many eggs is bad for you though??!?!
Interesting tid-bit, but what about it raising your blood cholesterol too much?
Ah, I was waiting for someone to bring up the cholesterol factor.
Conventional wisdom dictates that eating foods high in cholesterol raises the cholesterol in your blood stream, right?
But that’s not true.
New research is showing that it’s not the high fat foods that raise your cholesterol. It’s the carbohydrates and sugar.
Consider this quote from Dr. James Howenstine:
“In England during the 1800′s, persons ate lots of saturated fats like butter, lard, meat, milk and eggs and there were almost no heart attacks discovered by reviewing London hospital records”
I also recommend you check out this article by Anthony Colpo, titled, “Why the Low-Fat Diet Is Stupid and Potentially Dangerous.”
http://www.anthonycolpo.com/low_fat_diet_dangerous.html
(Anthony also sells a book called “The Great Cholosterol Con” if you really want to dive into the subject.)
Also, I was waiting for someone to say, “But Doug Hepburn was fat!” Yes, he was fat. But probably not from the eggs. Hepburn admitted he had an addiction to chocolate cake.
And remember, when trying to become the strongest man in the world any additional weight helps.
Hepburn died of a perforated ulcer at age 74.
The cholesterol issue will probably pop up over and over again on this blog because many of the old timers ate copious amounts of fat while today’s modern doctors still believe that fat is the devil.
But I urge you to start doing your own research on the subject because you’d be amazed how often the “conventional wisdom” is dead wrong.
how about separating the eggs and just using the whites, like the two Barbarian brothers used to promote ? They didn’t look like they had a weight gain problem.
Because then you would miss out on all the good qualities from the yolk.
And I don’t think you can attribute the success of the Barbarian brothers to egg whites alone.
Remember, they trained during the 1980′s when almost everybody in bodybuilding was juiced to the gills.
Not saying that they did or did not use steroids, there’s no way to tell for sure. But Hepburn made his gains before steroids came on the scene so I think his advice is more valuable for the natural trainer.
Matt is right, fats are not our enemy. I read on the high fat content, an article written by Dr. Ruth horrine.le the high fat content, gives you more muscle mass at the same time it burns body fat.
Matt,
You are right on about the egg issue and the relationship to cholesterol. I have belived for years that this was nothing but a myth and it is! Also the crap about the yellow in egg whites. That is the best part about the egg!
I at one time fell for the thing of the egg white only and it was the worse thing I ever did. The dam egg whites tore up my stomach and I would go running to the bathroom not long after I ate them! So my advice would be, eat the whole egg
and enjoy the benefits it has!
people need to stop listening to bs the egg scare if you eat more cholestorol you will have a heart attack , cholestorol is your main hormone pluse if you dont eat cholestorol your body will manufacture more my cousin would eat 12 eggs a day & his cholestorol was its lowest in his life when he followed that habit
Eggs are wonderful. Avoid as much as possible to use the other tasty ingredient, i.e. salt. Mrs. Dash doesn’t do too bad, pepper is OK (in useable quantities – avoiding the sneeze factor). I love ‘em, eat ‘em every day, in all forms hard boiled-best for a busy guy. As for fats-Omega 3 are the best, can get in pills or better yet, tasty Salmon, but as stated fats are not bad. Inactivity is the enemy, period!!
I myself like hardboiled eggs with pepper and mustard. I plan to consume quite a few this weekend.
Of course is the cholesterol and heard subject a scam but i
think it´s also related to the genetics of people and how much they can consume any nutrient.
Also i read that Doug Hepburn ate a lot of bananas when he was working on a farm.
On the other hand on bodybuilding.com (no ad
) a Marvin Eder interview. And he said that he could not overeat like others. He was at one time at Ed Yaricks house where a lot of fresh made burgers were offered to the guests (bodybuilders ) and Marvin Eder had to run to the bathroom after trying to eat a lot of burgers. Yet he built a fantastic physique with unbelievable proportions.
I started training when I was 19 at 60kgs (132 pounds) and 6’2 height; and from my experience I can tell you that Fat is definitely not the enemy.
Here’s why…
I was training for about 3 years I made about 28kgs gain. (61.6 pounds in the first two years!) and it was getting more and more difficult to gain more weight; At 21 I was a healthy 88kgs of lean muscle. I barely saw any gains for months at a time and my weight would not move for an entire year! A whole year of training flew by and I barely saw a gain, how depressed I felt..
Keep in mind I was skin and bone from the start; so as you can imagine Matt it was such a struggle to gain fat and muscle to begin with. After several injuries from sports I had to stop training entirely for a whole year. But since I was still eating so much and didn’t exercise I gained a bit of a belly and fat around my rib cage and legs and arms and all around that I didnt even know could exist on me.
Keep in mind that I actually didn’t gain that much weight during my year break, it was about a 4kg increase thus now weighing at 92kgs at the age of 22. After my break I went back into training (last December).
When I first went back into the gym I was lifting higher reps and lighter weight just to re-build my core strength and aim to get rid of that extra bit of fat (I was not doing any cardio at all). After 2 months passed I weighed my self and was at 86kgs; losing an amazing 6kgs of fat in just 2 months.
Unfortunately I did lose a bit of muscle during my break, so it wasn’t like I was back to my ‘old self’. I weighed at 86kgs now again, but I was no longer lean and still had a bit of fat on me that I never had before, ever.
So after two months of training and losing that excess fat and re-gaining a bit of my core strength back I decided to start lifting heavy again (8-10 reps, 6-8 reps, switching up with one rep MAX on different days).
Three months and two weeks have passed; now at 96kgs (yes 22 pound gain in 3.5 months), the heaviest I’ve ever been; still with a belly and a bit of fat here and there but its solid and my muscles are bigger than ever. I couldn’t ever imagine how easy it would be to gain muscle with fat and lift heavier and heavier each week.
3 Months ago I was lifting 12.5-15kgs (27.5 -33 pounds) for dumb bell press incline. Now I’m pushing out 30kgs(66 pounds) with an easy 8-9 reps!!!
You NEED fat to gain muscle its a simple fact. Fat doesn’t convert into muscle that’s impossible they are two different cells, fat cells and muscle cells.
I guess what I’m trying to say is thank god for muscle memory and the year break to gain a bit of fat! So if you ever feel like fat is the enemy it is quite the opposite, embrace it.
P.s. Sorry for the long post…
I used to get very cheap eggs, my ex worked on a farm, and for over two years i ate 70-100 whole eggs per week, my doctor insisted on checking my cholesterol and it was the low end of normal
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