Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog!

In the following five blog entries, one posted daily from Monday through Friday, I will give a description of a different workout routine for each day. These workout routines will be part of a comprehensive workout program which you can use to gain both strength and size and become more physically fit.

The program that I will be detailing further and further with each post is called a PHUL program. PHUL stands for: Power, Hypertrophy, Upper, Lower. But what does all this mean? Well, the first two letters, P and H, describe two different strength training goals that the corresponding exercises will help you achieve. The next two letters, U and L, describe the two parts of the body that the program will help you strengthen; your upper body and your lower body.

As the week goes on, I will go into more detail about what the goals of the program are, how to progressively overload your body as the weeks go on if you choose to follow this program, and the benefits of following a versatile program like PHUL as opposed to following a program which only addresses one possible fitness goal.

Stay tuned for more information and thanks for reading my blog!

-Keith


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Day 5 - Lower Body Hypertrophy

It's Friday, and that means that today's workout will be the last one of the week. Today will be a lower body hypertrophy workout. Just like yesterday's, it will focus on low weight and high reps. Going forward, this PHUL program is a 12 week program. So continue each week with these workouts, and gradually increase the amount of weight and number of reps. If the low end of the sets and reps this week was tough for you, repeat the same weight and reps next week and go from there. If you find that it is getting easier for you, slowly increase the weight and reps until it becomes challenging again. Day 5 - Lower Body Hypertrophy Front Squat - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Barbell Lunge - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Leg Curl - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Leg Extension - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Seated Calf Raise - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Back Extension - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Cable Crunch - 3-4 s...
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Day 1 - Upper Body Power Workout

Today, Monday, will be the first day of the PHUL workout program. The workout today will focus on the upper body. It will be a power workout, which means the goal is to increase power and strength rather than size. As such, we will keep the rep ranges low and the weights high. You will see the term "% 1RM" not just in this blog but in the others this week as well. This refers to the percentage of your one rep maximum for that exercise. In other words, take the amount of weight that you can lift for a single rep, multiply it by the percentage, and lift that weight for the amount of sets and reps specified. For example, if your bench press maximum was 200 pounds and you wanted to do 3 sets of 6 at 70% 1RM, you would multiply 200 by 0.7 and get 140 pounds as the weight. Monday - Upper Body Power Bench Press - 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps @ 75-85% 1RM Incline Dumbbell Bench Press - 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps @75% 1RM Bent Over Row - 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps @ 75% 1RM Lat Pulldown - 3-4 se...
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Day 4 - Upper Body Hypertrophy Workout

We have now entered day 4 of the PHUL workout program, which means that we have officially left the strength/power domain and entered hypertrophy training. The main goal of hypertrophy training is to build and tone muscle. Hypertrophy literally means the increase in volume of a muscle tissue. So, as inferred from the definition, that is what today's and tomorrow's workouts will focus on. Quite the opposite of strength and power training, hypertrophy training will focus on lifting lower amounts of weight at a lower 1RM percentage, but increasing the reps. Repeated repetitions means repeated contractions and repeated stress on the tissues. This will force the muscle tissue to grow, and help us achieve the results we want by engaging in hypertrophy style training. Day 4 - Upper Body Hypertrophy Incline Dumbbell Bench Press - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Dumbbell Pectoral Fly - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% of 1RM Seated Cable Row - 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps @ 50-60% o...
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