Layne Norton PHAT Series
Day 1: Upper Body Power
Day 2: Lower Body Power
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back and Shoulders Hypertrophy
Day 5: Lower Body Hypertrophy
Day 6: Chest and Arms Hypertrophy
Day 7: Rest
TIPS:
* There are several dozen forms of the PHAT program but the basic premise is the same. Each muscle gets worked 2x/week. The first 2 days of the week are split into upper and lower body power days. This is followed by a rest day. Then 3 days of traditional hypertrophy orientated bodybuilding training.
POWER DAYS
1) LOWER BODY
- squats, front squats, deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, and box squats
2) UPPER BODY
- Barbell and dumbbell presses and rows as well as weighted pullups for upper body
3) AUXILIARY
- leg extensions, glute ham raises, good mornings, standing + seated calf rises
- dumbbell presses, upright rows, curls, and skull crushers for upper body
* 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
* rest enough in between sets to completely recover and be ready for your next heavy set
* rotate your power movements every 2-3 weeks
HYPERTROPHY DAYS
* 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 (the one BIG compound exercise)
* Rest no longer than 90 seconds in between each of the speed sets
* After you finish with your speed work for the day you should train basically like you normally would for a bodybuilder. Your rep range should be 8-20 and keep your rest periods to 1-2 minutes between sets. I would increase the volume of these sessions by approximately 50-75% compared to your power days
* I only recommend going to absolute failure on the last 1-2 sets of each exercise once you have adapted to the routine. On prior sets stop 1-2 reps shy of failure.
**** For the first 2-4 weeks you should NOT train to failure at all until your body becomes accustomed to the volume and frequency.
THE WORKOUTS:
UPPER BODY POWER DAY
Pulling Power Movement: Bent over or Pendlay rows: 3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance Pulling movement: Weighted Pull ups: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary Pulling movement: Rack chins: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
Pressing Power Movement: Flat dumbbell presses: 3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Weighted dips: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Seated dumbbell shoulder presses: 3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary curling movement: Cambered bar curls: 3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary extension movement: Skull crushers: 3 sets of 6-10 reps
LOWER BODY POWER DAY
Pressing Power Movement: Squats: 3 sets of 3-5 reps
Assistance pressing movement: Hack Squats: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance extension movement: Leg extensions: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
Assistance pulling movement: Stiff legged deadlifts: 3 sets of 5-8 reps
Assistance pulling/curling movement: Glute ham raises or lying leg curls: 2 sets of 6-10
Auxiliary calf movement: Standing calf raise: 3 sets of 6-10 reps
Auxiliary calf movement: Seated calf raise: 2 sets of 6-10 reps
BACK + SHOULDERS HYPERTROPHY DAY
Pulling Power Exercise speed work: Bent over or Pendlay rows: 6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Rack chins: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Seated cable row: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Dumbbell rows or shrugs bracing upper body against an incline bench: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Close grip pulldowns: 2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Seated dumbbell presses: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Upright rows: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy shoulder movement: Side lateral raises with dumbbells or cables: 3 sets of 12-20 reps
LOWER BODY HYPERTROPHY DAY
Lower Body Power Exercise speed work: Squats: 6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Hack squats: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Leg presses: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy extension movement: Leg extensions: 3 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy pulling movement: Romanian deadlifts: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy curling movement: Lying leg curls: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy curling movement: Seated leg curls: 2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy calf movement: Donkey calf raises: 4 sets of 10-15 reps
Hypertrophy calf movement: Seated calf raises: 3 sets of 15-20 reps
CHEST + ARMS HYPERTROPHY DAY
Pressing Power Exercise speed work: Flat dumbbell presses: 6 sets of 3 reps with 65-70% of normal 3-5 rep max
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Incline dumbbell presses: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy pressing movement: Hammer strength chest press: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy fly movement: Incline cable flyes: 2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Cambered bar preacher curls: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Dumbbell concentration curls: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy curling exercise: Spider curls bracing upper body against an incline bench: 2 sets of 15-20 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Seated tricep extension with cambered bar: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Cable pressdowns with rope attachment: 2 sets of 12-15 reps
Hypertrophy extension exercise: Cable kickbacks: 2 sets of 15-20 reps
