Is The PHUL Workout Good For Building Muscles?
PHUL stands for Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower. It is a form of workout that categorizes your exercise session into four groups: upper and lower power and upper and lower hypertrophy.
The PHUL workout is ideal for those looking to improve their muscle growth and increase their strength through working out.
The PHUL program is typically for those who are leaning more towards bodybuilding combined with strength training. Here’s a typical PHUL workout schedule for one week:
Day 1: Rest
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Upper Power
Day 4: Lower Power
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Upper Hypertrophy
Day 7: Lower Hypertrophy
Some of the popular exercises that go into a PHUL workout are:
- Skull crusher
- Bent over row
- Barbell squat
- Barbell Bench press
- Barbell dead lift
- Barbell curl
- One Arm Dumbbell Row
- Incline Dumbbell bench press
- Seated cable row
- Overhead press
- Leg Curl
- Leg extension
- Leg press
- Calf raise
- Calf press
- Dumbbell lateral raise
- Cable triceps extension
Division of the PHUL workout:
The PHUL workout is done four days a week. These four days are divided into two days each for power and hypertrophy workout sessions:
Power days:
The power days include those exercises that use the traditional compound movements. It aims to engage all the muscle fibers during the training.
The number of reps during power days is relatively lower than the other two days. This is so that you will focus on lifting heavier weights even if the reps are less. This includes overhead press, bench press, deadlifts, and back squats.
Hypertrophy days:
The Hypertrophy days include exercises with higher reps that focus on individual muscle groups in your body.
It does incorporate the conventional compound movements as well, but they are at a lighter intensity than the power days’ reps.
The hypertrophy days are divided into upper body and lower body workout days, but they may also include chest workouts on both days.
Principles of the PHUL workout:
Frequency:
PHUL workout believes that the elevation of muscle protein synthesis goes up to 48 hours even after training.
Therefore, your muscle groups should be hit on an almost regular basis, with the target being one specific muscle group twice a week. This routine will ensure that you are working for both maximum strength and ideal size.
Power:
The PHUL workout is a four-day training routine in a week; out of these four days, two days are purely only for strength training.
To achieve optimal strength, size, and shape, you must use these two days for progressive overload. Not only this, but you should also manage your time under pressure or tension by using more weight for the hypertrophy days in your PHUL workout routine.
Compounds:
The main focus of The PHUL program is targeting the significant muscle movements in the body. This is to ensure optimal progression for all your major muscle movements.
The PHUL workout also involves some isolation movements, but the bigger overall goal is to improve your significant lift performance and increase muscle growth.
Hypertrophy:
The other two days out of the 4-day training program in a week will focus on hypertrophy. In this way, you can see a significant change in your strength as well as muscle size.
The Science Behind The PHUL workout:
Brandon Campbell is the founder of the PHUL program. His intention of bringing this work out into the world was that he wanted to incorporate the real-world training experiences with science, which is believed to have a better and more significant effect on your workout sessions.
Although the science behind the PHUL workout can be complicated to understand, applying this workout in your life is quite simple.
Progressive overload is fundamental to achieving hypertrophy. You can manipulate your body’s muscles to respond in a certain way to the exercises you are doing.
This is done by adding specific weights and volume to the workout routine successively. You need to exert a heavy emphasis on progressive overload throughout your PHUL training program for you to be able to achieve hypertrophy.
Scientifically, you can say that hypertrophy is how you can increase the size of the fibers in your muscles which lets you benefit from the strengths you already have.
It is, in simple terms, the enlargement of your muscular cells. Hence, the result of hypertrophy is a change in muscle size.
To achieve this through PHUL training, you need to balance the intensity of your training with the frequency of your workout sessions.
When you have a clear-cut balance between machine workouts, free weights workouts, and bodyweight workouts, you can expect a significant change in your strength and size of muscles. Don’t forget to include proper rest and adequate nutrition in your diet while following the PHUL workout routine.
Results of the PHUL workout:
Research shows that PHUL training is an excellent alternative to a regular workout because PHUL workout is designed to utilize the period in which the body releases protein post-workout.
It also uses multiple training sessions throughout the week, focusing on specific muscle groups and targeting strength and growth in a balance.
Overall, the PHUL workout is effective and promising for people because the training session allows protein synthesis to happen around the clock when you are actively participating in the program.
However, it is not to say that just the workout alone will help you get the results you want. The results also rely primarily on the protein and nutrition you take during the training period.
Why is the PHUL workout not for Beginners?
- It requires compound lifts that need the person to have a high level of mobility which beginners may not have. This also poses a risk to the inexperienced user.
- Also, the PHUL workout requires power days when you have to do a lot of heavy lifting. Beginners tend to miss the importance of posture when doing such lifts, thus posing a risk for spinal injuries.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the PHUL workout:
Advantages of PHUL workout:
- You get to have a split routine where you can focus on a specific muscle group for one day.
- You exercise hypertrophy which is not targeting with just conventional exercises
- There is a balance between strength and bodybuilding, which will give you more rapid and better results
- The PHUL workout is a professional workout used by some of the best bodybuilders and lifters.
Disadvantages of PHUL workout:
- You will have to learn a lot of movements when you get into the PHUL workout.
- The PHUL workout is not for beginners, as it requires vigorous exercise routines and prior knowledge of different poses and movements.
