PHAT: Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training

During the first 2 days of the week you will focus on big power movements for your upper and lower body like squats, front squats, deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, and box squats for lower body. Barbell and dumbbell presses and rows as well as weighted pullups for upper body. Your goal should be to stay in the 3-5 rep range for 3-5 working sets on the compound movements (only use one power movement for lower body, presses, and pulls/rows, i.e. don’t do squats and front squats in the same workout). Make sure you rest enough in between sets to completely recover and be ready for your next heavy set. If that means you need to take 5-6 minutes between sets then so be it. The purpose of these workouts is to move maximum weight! Save short rest periods for your hypertrophy days. On your power days you need to have a POWER mentality. Move the heavy ass weight at all costs! A good way to make consistent progress is to rotate your power movements every 2-3 weeks. A few sets of assistance exercises can be done for smaller body parts like hamstrings (though deadlifts and squat will involve significant hamstring recruitment), calves, shoulders, and arms.

During the first 2 days of the week you will focus on big power movements for your upper and lower body like squats, front squats, deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, and box squats for lower body. Barbell and dumbbell presses and rows as well as weighted pullups for upper body. Your goal should be to stay in the 3-5 rep range for 3-5 working sets on the compound movements (only use one power movement for lower body, presses, and pulls/rows, i.e. don’t do squats and front squats in the same workout). Make sure you rest enough in between sets to completely recover and be ready for your next heavy set. If that means you need to take 5-6 minutes between sets then so be it. The purpose of these workouts is to move maximum weight! Save short rest periods for your hypertrophy days. On your power days you need to have a POWER mentality. Move the heavy ass weight at all costs! A good way to make consistent progress is to rotate your power movements every 2-3 weeks. A few sets of assistance exercises can be done for smaller body parts like hamstrings (though deadlifts and squat will involve significant hamstring recruitment), calves, shoulders, and arms.

On your hypertrophy days you should do some speed work (6-8 sets of 3 reps) with 65-70% of your 3-5 rep max to start your workout with the power exercise you used earlier in the week. For example if you did squats for 3 sets of 3-5 reps with 300 lbs earlier in the week. Then you would do 6 sets of 3 reps on squats with 195-210 lbs with an emphasis placed on moving the weight through the concentric phase of the lift as quickly as possible. Do not go too heavy on your speed sets; if you cannot move the weight explosively then it is too heavy! Rest no longer than 90 seconds in between each of the speed sets. This builds explosiveness and speed and may stimulate growth as well. Even though you are using less weight, you should still be applying maximum force to it. To elaborate on this point, you can apply the same force to 250 lbs that you apply to 400 lbs, 250 lbs will just move faster, and that is the point you want your body to be explosive. If you have access to chains or bands they can be VERY helpful in building your explosiveness. If you choose to use them however you may want to lower the weight you are using to compensate for the increased loading at the top end of the movement.

On your hypertrophy days you should do some speed work (6-8 sets of 3 reps) with 65-70% of your 3-5 rep max to start your workout with the power exercise you used earlier in the week. For example if you did squats for 3 sets of 3-5 reps with 300 lbs earlier in the week. Then you would do 6 sets of 3 reps on squats with 195-210 lbs with an emphasis placed on moving the weight through the concentric phase of the lift as quickly as possible. Do not go too heavy on your speed sets; if you cannot move the weight explosively then it is too heavy! Rest no longer than 90 seconds in between each of the speed sets. This builds explosiveness and speed and may stimulate growth as well. Even though you are using less weight, you should still be applying maximum force to it. To elaborate on this point, you can apply the same force to 250 lbs that you apply to 400 lbs, 250 lbs will just move faster, and that is the point you want your body to be explosive. If you have access to chains or bands they can be VERY helpful in building your explosiveness. If you choose to use them however you may want to lower the weight you are using to compensate for the increased loading at the top end of the movement.

On your hypertrophy days you should do some speed work (6-8 sets of 3 reps) with 65-70% of your 3-5 rep max to start your workout with the power exercise you used earlier in the week. For example if you did squats for 3 sets of 3-5 reps with 300 lbs earlier in the week. Then you would do 6 sets of 3 reps on squats with 195-210 lbs with an emphasis placed on moving the weight through the concentric phase of the lift as quickly as possible. Do not go too heavy on your speed sets; if you cannot move the weight explosively then it is too heavy! Rest no longer than 90 seconds in between each of the speed sets. This builds explosiveness and speed and may stimulate growth as well. Even though you are using less weight, you should still be applying maximum force to it. To elaborate on this point, you can apply the same force to 250 lbs that you apply to 400 lbs, 250 lbs will just move faster, and that is the point you want your body to be explosive. If you have access to chains or bands they can be VERY helpful in building your explosiveness. If you choose to use them however you may want to lower the weight you are using to compensate for the increased loading at the top end of the movement.