PHAT?? Can anyone explain the program to me and how to do it at home?

I ran PHAT last fall during bulking. I'd say it took about 2 weeks of playing around with the weights to figure out where I needed to be. A lot of that was due to the shorter rest breaks for the power days and the even shorter rest breaks for the hyper days.

Once I got the weights figured out the rest of that cycle, the 2nd 4 week cycle was just getting conditioned to keep the pace. Lots of huffing and puffing going on.

It wasn't until the 3rd cycle that I started increasing weight or reps. Like jumping 10lbs on hack squats and lower the reps down, then, once I got all the required reps (and didn't feel like dying, lol) bump the weight and repeat.

I will point out that (for me) there is no way I could run this in a deficit, too much volume and intensity (plus I'm 48). Bulking, yes, maintenance, probably.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the program and will run it again next fall. Made some good size and strength gains.

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

I have played with the idea of running PHAT and/or PULL at some point. But, have never done it. Yet. I do like the idea of "playing with the weight" at first. If you have never done this sorta thing then you will likely guess wrong and regret it.

Very true. I have most of my logs from lifting and used the weights from the last round of 531 as a basis for figuring out what to use. From there I looked at the volume and backed off, probably more than I needed to, but it set me for getting it right. I'd rather back off too much and build back up than to go overboard and set myself up for failure.

on the leg curl: deadlifts (esp. stiff-legged) get the hamstrings pretty well.
Squats definitely get my quads almost universally.

mutantspicy wrote: »

piperdown44 wrote: »

I ran PHAT last fall during bulking. I'd say it took about 2 weeks of playing around with the weights to figure out where I needed to be. A lot of that was due to the shorter rest breaks for the power days and the even shorter rest breaks for the hyper days.

Once I got the weights figured out the rest of that cycle, the 2nd 4 week cycle was just getting conditioned to keep the pace. Lots of huffing and puffing going on.

It wasn't until the 3rd cycle that I started increasing weight or reps. Like jumping 10lbs on hack squats and lower the reps down, then, once I got all the required reps (and didn't feel like dying, lol) bump the weight and repeat.

I will point out that (for me) there is no way I could run this in a deficit, too much volume and intensity (plus I'm 48). Bulking, yes, maintenance, probably.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the program and will run it again next fall. Made some good size and strength gains.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it and It is very helpful. I'm coming off a really high volume hypertrophy program that I created using my own modified version of Body Beast (got rid of the weird stuff and used the pacing and set structure). That routine is dumbbell centric lower weight but way more reps, I turned it into a 6 day 2xPPL split. So volume won't be an issue for me. For the me the struggle is the power days. I'm not used to doing pure strength lifting and I have to get used to longer rest cycles and upping my intensity. Its been a long time since I've done this kind of lifting. Its going to take me a cycle or two to find my weight and improve my grip strength to do the heavier loads.

It appears you did 4 week cycles? Did you alternate the main lift within each cycle or did you change the main lift after each cycle?

So I'm planning to alternate between Deadlift / Squat / Front Squat for lower. and Flat / Incline / Shoulder press for upper. The question is how long to stick with each lift, I'm thinking 3 to 4 weeks per lift.

Main lift did not get switched at all but some of the accessory items did. Here's an example of one week. Power days, main lift 3 mins rest between sets, 2 mins when switching lifts, accessories 75 secs between lifts. I supersetted a lot of the lifts too. Lat pulldown and rows for example. Hyper days were 75 secs rest between sets and between switch lifts.

Upper Body Power Purpose Set Scheme
Bench Press Power Pushing 4 sets of 3-5 <-set 85% of max
Lat pull down Assistance Pulling 2 sets of 6-10
Horizontal Row Auxiliary Pulling 2 sets of 6-10
Weighted Dips Assistance Pressing 2 sets of 6-10
Pendlay Rows Power Pulling 3 sets of 3-5
Dumbbell Shoulder Press Assistance Pressing 3 sets of 6-10
Cambered Bar Curls Auxiliary Curling 3 sets of 6-10
Dumbbell Skull Crushers Auxiliary Extension 3 sets of 6-10

Lower Body Power Purpose Set Scheme
Squats Power Pressing 4 sets of 3-5 <-set 85% of max
Barbell Hack Squats Assistance Pressing 2 sets of 6-10
Leg Extensions Assistance Extension 2 sets of 6-10
Deadlifts Assistance Pulling 3 sets of 3-5
Leg Curls Assistance Curling 2 sets of 6-10
Standing Calf Raise Auxiliary Calf 3 sets of 6-10
Leg Press Calf Press Auxiliary Calf 2 sets of 6-10

Back & Shoulders HT Purpose Set Scheme
Pendlay Rows Speed Pulling 6 sets of 3 <-70% of weight from UBP day
BOR Hypertrophy Pulling 3 sets of 8-12
Seated Row Hypertrophy Pulling 3 sets of 8-12
Braced Dumbbell Rows Hypertrophy Pulling 2 sets of 12-15
Close Grip Pulldowns Hypertrophy Pulling 2 sets of 15-20
Dumbbell Shoulder Press Hypertrophy Shoulder 3 sets of 8-12
Dumbbell Upright Rows Hypertrophy Shoulder 2 sets of 12-15
DB Side Lateral Raises Hypertrophy Shoulder 3 sets of 12-20

Lower Body HT Purpose Set Scheme
Squats Speed Pressing 6 sets of 3 <-70% of weight from LBP day
Hack Squats Hypertrophy Pressing 3 sets of 8-12
Leg Press Hypertrophy Pressing 2 sets of 12-15
Leg Extensions Hypertrophy Extension 3 sets of 15-20
Romanian Deadlift Hypertrophy Pulling 3 sets of 8-12
Lying Leg Curls Hypertrophy Curling 2 sets of 12-15
Seated Leg Curls Hypertrophy Curling 2 sets of 15-20
Leg Press Calf Press Hypertrophy Calf 4 sets of 10-15
Standing Calf Raises Hypertrophy Calf 3 sets of 15-20

Chest & Arms HT Purpose Set Scheme
Dumbbell Press Speed Pressing 6 sets of 3 <-70% of weight from UBP day
Incline Dumbbell Press Hypertrophy Pressing 3 sets of 8-12
Incline Chest Press Hypertrophy Pressing 3 sets of 12-15
Pec Deck Hypertrophy Fly 2 sets of 15-20
Cambered bar Curls Hypertrophy Curling 3 sets of 8-12
DB Concentration Curls Hypertrophy Curling 2 sets of 12-15
Hammer Curls Hypertrophy Curling 2 sets of 15-20
OTH Rope Tri Extension Hypertrophy Extension 3 sets of 8-12
Tri Pressdowns w/ Rope Hypertrophy Extension 2 sets of 12-15
Tri Pulldowns Hypertrophy Extension 2 sets of 15-20

mutantspicy wrote: »

Thank you very much Piper! I see you kinda set it up the way I did. I'm not sure if I can sustain both squat and deadlift on the same day especially on deficit. And also doing heavy dumbell squats and barbell DL's I don't have the grip strength for that yet. So thats why I probably will cycle them as Layne suggested. I guess I will play it by ear. The first 3 or 4 weeks will probably have a number of adjustments until I get into a flow.

And that why, at a certain point in the lifting session, I pull out my Versa grips and continue on. I'm not going to let a fatigued grip impact the rest of my posterior chain or pulling movements.
Just wish I had bought the medium size instead of the large.

Oh, and those deadz were only at 70% due to fatigue from squats.