By Dr. Greg Shepard

and then go home.

That’s crazy. cleans,” say the throwers. our way, at a local gym. history. the 8-12 people. tinue. and bought equipment. set of 1-12 system. they found out and stopped us. survived for some twenty years. program. away to another gym. prised. been critical. did it their way.

What do they say? tem.” seventies. exercise.

8-12 system. to mess around. great strength coach, Dan Riley. intensity. tion during that set. and Michigan. increased for the next workout. player’s progress. machines or free weights. their football teams.

“All I did,” bench 600 pounds.

12 reps?” when the coach is watching.”

That answer speaks volumes. right.” Whew! tem. has survived. before a Penn State grad called.

Bench. tell the Jason Buck story. ence.

“We hated it.”

SET OF 8 - 12 Co football stories ever. as the previous season. fatigued. better.”

Development Program and is What a difference. comments. starting. the off-season.

Dan Riley’s Program. all out training. few:

Wow!

Redskins. well for our first two categories. do the one set 8-12 program.

Redskin program rave reviews.

“T really like Coach Riley,” records. stated Jason. “He's very strict on technique. computerized.

Program. angles. very big on variety. ing power. ability to even workout. in pairs. track down than the “Fugitive”. representing all fifty states. level.

Dan Riley changed that. room is a fun place to be. Riley is fun.

The most obvious is age. one season. older, it is harder to recuperate. only 21 years old. age on our team is 28. drained. program. fat. pists, the trainer and myself. tract.

Imy belt. school level? the same for pro football players. ferences besides just age.

Prevention Program.

4.25 forty weighing 275 pounds).

Eaton is an example. with high school athletes. just one more season. harder than anyone else.

Maintenance Program. category. extremely limited benefits in these important areas. Picture this. much do you Bench?” come.

135 pounds 12 times.” ly attainable guarantee: overcome plateaus. says he can Bench 200 pounds. use some variety. exercises. concept development. easy in a high school situation. school.” month. you do a BFS type program. My last point is the confactor.

Tricep Pushdowns, etc. program. months per year. or Clean. tion. crazy intervals. the coach and his teammates.

300, 400 and 500 pounds. are more dangerous. letes.

Jerk Press. pounds.

Standard is 300 pounds.

Bar or Dead Lift. forced to do the one set of 8-12 program will constantly hear how stupid it is to do from bodybuilders, power lifters, olympic lifters and the big majority of college athletes. people are right or wrong does not matter. The salient fact is, can your program stand that greater tendency to get into a bad position. Thus, higher reps could be more dangerous than lower reps. However, I would agree there is more potential for serious injury on a single rep Bench or Squat Max than doing reps in the 8-12 range. stress again that correct technique should be emphasized on ter what system you are using.

Another high school difa great winning tradition, you may not be adversely affected by doing one set of 8-12 reps; however, if your record is mediocre or losing, I'd say you are leaving yourself wide open for trouble grou may never be able to overference is that of the volunteer effect. college athletes have scholarships. scholarship. works his athletes most of the time in an off-season mode.

Therefore, in my opinion, the one set of 8-12 system, loses much of its effectiveness experienced by the pro teams. In conclusion, the one set of 8-12 system has a proven place in the pro ranks as shown beautifully by Dan Riley. High school and college coaches can Jearn much from men like Coach Riley. Things like keeping workouts shorter in duration, coaching hard and demanding great technique, keeping accurate records, using a lot of variety and just plain gettin’ after it. However, to truly reach an athlete’s fullest potential at the high school or college level and to give their team the best possible chance to win, you can’t do the one set of 8-12 system.

From BFS Magazine — Winter 1993. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).