In case you’ve ever felt caught between chasing power and chasing dimension, you’re not alone. Most lifters ultimately face the facility vs. hypertrophy dilemma. Do you load up the bar and get stronger, or chase the pump and carve out extra muscle? The PHAT exercise program presents a 3rd path: do each.
PHAT stands for Energy Hypertrophy Adaptive Coaching, and it’s precisely what it seems like: a program designed to mix heavy, compound power work with high-volume bodybuilding-style coaching. It’s demanding. It’s lengthy. And it’s not for everybody. However for lifters who can deal with the workload, PHAT delivers a novel mix of dimension and power that’s arduous to match.
What Is the PHAT Exercise?
The PHAT program is a five-day coaching cut up that divides your week into two heavy energy days and three hypertrophy-focused periods. Right here’s the way it breaks down:
- Day 1: Energy Higher
- Day 2: Energy Decrease
- Day 3: Relaxation
- Day 4: Hypertrophy Again & Shoulders
- Day 5: Hypertrophy Legs
- Day 6: Hypertrophy Chest & Arms
- Day 7: Relaxation (non-obligatory)
The primary two days middle on compound lifts, assume bench, squat, deadlift, and RDLs, with heavy loading and low rep schemes. These are traditional power periods designed to construct uncooked capability. And in the event you’re a powerlifter, try to be fairly acquainted with the best way to program these.
Then after a relaxation day, the subsequent three periods shift towards hypertrophy days. That is high-volume, muscle-specific work. Meaning extra units, extra reps, lighter weights, and a concentrate on fatiguing the goal muscle.
The outcome? A coaching type that builds each the bottom (power) and the construction (dimension) of your physique, in the event you can deal with the restoration calls for for higher physique energy, decrease physique energy, and focused hypertrophy days.
PHAT vs. PHUL: What’s the Distinction?
It’s straightforward to confuse PHAT with PHUL (Energy Hypertrophy Higher Decrease), however they’re not fairly the identical. PHUL runs on a four-day cut up, alternating higher and decrease periods twice per week. The motion selection is tighter, and the general depth is barely extra manageable, making PHUL an excellent choice for informal lifters or newcomers seeking to mix power and dimension.
PHAT, created by Layne Norton, ramps issues up. The five-day cut up will increase coaching frequency and quantity, typically hitting muscle teams two to a few instances per week. That larger frequency is right for hypertrophy, assuming your restoration, diet, and sleep are dialed in. It additionally provides extra train selection, which helps practice totally different fiber angles and preserve joint well being.
Backside line: PHUL is a stable alternative for newcomers and intermediates. PHAT is healthier suited to intermediate-to-advanced lifters who can deal with longer periods and a heavier weekly workload.
Is PHAT Coaching Proper for You?
Let’s be trustworthy. PHAT is just not a plug-and-play routine for everybody. In case you’re new to lifting, the sheer quantity and construction would possibly overwhelm you. In case you’re somebody who struggles with consistency, 5 lengthy periods per week will not be sustainable.
However in the event you’ve been lifting for a number of years, know your manner round a barbell, and are searching for a brand new problem, PHAT can completely ship. It’s particularly worthwhile for lifters who need to preserve progressing on their large lifts whereas additionally chasing dimension within the mirror. You’ll get the depth of a powerlifting cycle with the amount wanted to drive hypertrophy.
That stated, PHAT does have its trade-offs. Coaching for each power and dimension on the identical time is a balancing act. Push too arduous on one finish, and the opposite could undergo. Because the video factors out, power is available in seasons. You possibly can’t maximize each concurrently, however you may make stable progress on every—in the event you keep constant and handle fatigue.
Exercise Size and Development
Right here’s the opposite factor about PHAT: It’s time-consuming. Count on your energy days to take 90 to 120 minutes. The hypertrophy periods can be a bit shorter, often 60 to 90 minutes, relying on what number of isolation actions you embrace and the way tight you might be with relaxation durations.
The excellent news is that PHAT has no built-in expiration. It’s not a six-week crash program. It’s a framework for constructing muscle mass and creating larger stregnth. You possibly can cycle rep schemes, rotate actions, and progressively overload throughout blocks. It adapts with you so long as you proceed to get better and make progress.
Coaching Solutions
Listed here are a number of workout routines you possibly can work into the PHAT coaching program. I will make suggestions primarily based on what I’ve seen work and workout routines that focus on the muscle tissues you need to hit throughout this particular sort of exercise.
Pull-Ups
Pull ups construct upper-body pulling power whereas closely concentrating on the lats, traps, and biceps. As a compound, body weight motion, they reinforce management, coordination, and muscular endurance. You possibly can load them with a belt for lower-rep power work on energy days or use larger reps for hypertrophy periods. Pull-ups additionally provide a vertical pulling angle, complementing the horizontal rows generally utilized in PHAT. In case you’re aiming for a large, well-developed again, pull-ups are one of the vital efficient instruments you possibly can embrace.
They can be utilized as a part of the PHAT program, too. And sure, you are able to do quick pull-ups as a substitute of sluggish pull-ups in the event you’re engaged on explosiveness. Most packages will suggest sluggish pull ups although, or a mixture of each quick and sluggish.
Leg Curls or Leg Extensions
Select leg curls or leg extensions for decrease physique days. Extensions goal your quads, and curls goal hamstrings. That makes both an choice for decrease physique hypertrophy coaching.
Leg extensions emphasize the quads via knee extension with minimal joint pressure, making them good for high-rep units to totally fatigue the muscle. Leg curls isolate the hamstrings and could be carried out seated, mendacity, or standing to hit totally different angles. Each actions assist steadiness the decrease physique, cut back harm danger, and help power positive aspects in squats and deadlifts by reinforcing the supporting musculature.
Leg Press
Leg press is is a worthwhile addition to the hypertrophy leg day in your PHAT exercise as a result of it permits you to practice the quads, glutes, and hamstrings with heavy hundreds in a managed, secure place. In contrast to squats or lunges, the leg press removes the steadiness and coordination element, letting you focus purely on muscular effort. That is good for high-volume, hypertrophy-focused units.
It’s additionally simpler on the decrease again, making it an excellent follow-up to extra taxing compound lifts from earlier within the week. You possibly can regulate foot placement to emphasise totally different elements of the leg, making it a flexible and joint-friendly solution to drive leg progress. It is also a nice alternative for decrease physique energy coaching. That is only a query of reps, pace, and weight.
Dumbbell Presses
Dumbbell presses work properly on hypertrophy days as a result of they permit for a larger vary of movement and improved muscle activation in comparison with barbell urgent. In addition they assist handle power imbalances between sides, forcing every arm to work independently.
On chest-focused hypertrophy days, dumbbell flat or incline presses are perfect for high-rep units that totally fatigue the pecs whereas minimizing joint stress. In contrast to barbell work, dumbbells allow you to regulate your wrist and elbow positioning for higher consolation, making them a joint-friendly choice for lifters coping with shoulder or elbow sensitivity.
We have talked about how dumbbell presses assist bench press. That alone needs to be cause to contemplate it for a PHAT program. The principle cause to contemplate it, at the very least as a powerlifter, is that it is sensible to work variations of the bench press into your programming.
Bench Press
You would possibly embrace bench press in your PHAT exercise, particularly in your upper-body energy day, as a result of it’s a foundational compound raise that builds general upper-body power by concentrating on the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
It suits completely with the low-rep, high-intensity focus of energy days, permitting you to progressively overload and observe power positive aspects over time. Bench press additionally units a stable baseline of urgent capability, which might improve hypertrophy-focused actions later within the week by pre-fatiguing the muscle and enhancing recruitment in higher-rep isolation work.
Dips
Dips are scalable. You need to use body weight for larger reps or add weight for power. They usually provide a extra pure joint path than barbell urgent, decreasing pressure whereas nonetheless pushing depth. That is key for upper-body hypertrophy days.
There’s an entire information on the best way to do chest dips. However the principle takeaway right here is you can work totally different muscle tissues by making a number of modifications in the best way you do them. In case you lean barely ahead, dips concentrate on the chest whereas partaking the triceps and shoulders. In case you keep extra upright, you may focus much less on chest activation and improve the demand of your triceps.
Cable Rows
Together with cable rows in your PHAT exercise, significantly on hypertrophy days, is a brilliant transfer as a result of they provide constant pressure all through the motion, making them glorious for totally activating your lats and higher again. In contrast to free-weight rows, cable rows place much less stress in your decrease again, which is right after heavy compound lifts on energy days.
In addition they enable for larger management, higher mind-muscle connection, and safer execution throughout high-rep units, which aligns completely with the hypertrophy focus of days 3 to five in PHAT. Plus, they’re straightforward to change with totally different grips and attachments, letting you goal particular areas of the again whereas decreasing overuse from repetitive actions.
Dumbbell Rows
Dumbbell rows are one other sensible inclusion into the PHAT exercise program. They let you practice either side of your again independently, serving to to appropriate imbalances and enhance general symmetry. They aim the lats, rhomboids, and traps whereas additionally partaking the core for stability.
In comparison with barbell rows, dumbbell rows provide a larger vary of movement and extra management over the motion, making them best for higher-rep hypertrophy units. They’re additionally joint-friendly and simple to change by adjusting torso angle, grip, or help, making them one of the vital versatile and efficient back-building instruments within the PHAT program.
Cranium Crushers
Cranium crushers are addition to the PHAT exercise for hypertrophy chest and arms day. They’re best for high-rep units, managed eccentrics, and rest-pause methods.
Plus you are able to do them with EZ-bar, dumbbells, straight bar, or cables. So there’s each cause to incorporate them no matter what sort of gymnasium you are understanding in.
After all, there are a lot of different workout routines to contemplate in the event you’re doing the PHAT exercise program. Romanian deadlifts, Pendlay rows, dumbbell shoulder presses, and stiff-leg deadlifts included. Strive a number of to seek out what works, of labor with a powerlifting coach to find out the most effective particular person program for your self.
The PHAT exercise is just not straightforward. It requires self-discipline, restoration, and a critical dedication to your coaching. However in the event you’re the type of lifter who thrives on excessive effort and enjoys each pushing large weights and chasing a pump, this program is perhaps the right problem.
In case you’re a newbie, think about beginning with PHUL or a extra primary higher/decrease cut up. However in the event you’ve been coaching for some time and need to break via a plateau, PHAT is perhaps precisely what your coaching wants.
Have you ever tried PHAT or PHUL? What labored for you—and what didn’t? Drop a remark, share your expertise, and let’s preserve the dialog going.
