Heavy weight? Light weight for volume?

[FourOneDeuxFitt]

Started PHAT, sort of yesterday. Basically just hit the power upper body and today will hit power lower body. This will get me my numbers for the lifts to officially start this program a week from today as I fly home day after tomorrow.

I modified it some and added DL to the mix as I love my DLs. I am sure I will tweak a little here and there to fit my goals.

Looking forward to seeing the results in 12 weeks.

Your gonna really enjoy that program. I surely have made some of the best strenth progress of my life running it the past 6 months. Cycle the power movements every 3 weeks or so to keep your body guessing. Normally would swap out barbell squats and deadlifts. Seen you said you added them into the program. I’ve tried doing squats as my power movement and deadlifts later in the workout and vice versa and honestly it just became too much especially on my lower back. By switching it around and focusing on one for a few weeks straight really gave me the ability to make good progress from week to week. A staple I would do on leg day/ power lower body along with barbell squats were SLDL with either barbell or dumbbells. Really added a lot of size to my hamstrings.

 

[Btcowboy]

I am doing SLDLs on lower body power days but added standard DLs to upper body power and hypertrophy days. Yesterday being upper power I am sure feeling it today lol. My plan was a DL variation 4x a week which may be too much as I am to do RDLs on lower hypertrophy days.

 

[SuperSwede]

I do the push/pull/legs training.
8-12 reps for volume.
I like dropsets in certain exercises/bodyparts, like biceps, triceps, chest.
Squeesing the muscle.
Works for me.

 

[FourOneDeuxFitt]

I am doing SLDLs on lower body power days but added standard DLs to upper body power and hypertrophy days. Yesterday being upper power I am sure feeling it today lol. My plan was a DL variation 4x a week which may be too much as I am to do RDLs on lower hypertrophy days.

Yeah I would honestly cut that deadlift volume in half bro. You don’t wanna put too much on your lower back for one doing DL on power upper body and then the following day smashing heavy squats and robbing yourself of maximum performance with squats ya know. If anything maybe do them and on hypertrophy Days for lower body and skip SLDL that day and just hit SLDL on your power lower body days and add a set or two of whatever hamstring exercise you choose to compensate a bit and every couple weeks swap squats for dead’s on power lower body and throw squats into the DL place in your hypertrophy day for lower body and just go back and forth with it.

 

[Btcowboy]

Yeah I would honestly cut that deadlift volume in half bro. You don’t wanna put too much on your lower back for one doing DL on power upper body and then the following day smashing heavy squats and robbing yourself of maximum performance with squats ya know. If anything maybe do them and on hypertrophy Days for lower body and skip SLDL that day and just hit SLDL on your power lower body days and add a set or two of whatever hamstring exercise you choose to compensate a bit and every couple weeks swap squats for dead’s on power lower body and throw squats into the DL place in your hypertrophy day for lower body and just go back and forth with it.

I agree just did lower body power and although my squats were solid tonight, including the sldls I don’t see it being sustainable and yeah lower back is tight lol. I will definitely scale the dls back, and make it work.

Thanks a bunch

 

[Sparkyp]

what exactly is the 'PHAT' program?? (i could just google it but i prefer human interaction)lol

 

[FourOneDeuxFitt]

what exactly is the 'PHAT' program?? (i could just google it but i prefer human interaction)lol

Program that consists or two “power days” normally reps are in the 3-5 range (explosive) and 6-10 range for accessory movements. Followed by 3 hypertrophy Days which fall in the 8-10 and even as high as 15-20 range for some accessory movements. Split is power upper body, power lower body, off, back/shoulders, chest/arms, legs, off

 

[Btcowboy]

I would suggest googling it as it will take you to Lane Nortons site on it. There is a download that sets it up for you. Also you can through Google get an excel formatted sheet that is set up to the program. Also Android has an app to track as well.

Basically 2 power days to build strength 3x5 heavy weight, a day the 3 hypertrophy days 70 percent of your heavy say 3x8-12 for helping build size.

 

[Sparkyp]

thank you to both responses...
man, 3-5 reps seems so much easier than what i do now. i set aside 1 day just for DLs. i'm so stiff in the morning (4am) that i do maybe 2-3 warmup sets of 135-175lbs (15) reps each then creep up to 405lbs but in 15lb increments doing as many reps as possible ntrying to build strength. my thinking was to do as heavy as i could and as many as i could to get stronger. i'm thinking this is not the way now..lol

 

[Btcowboy]

thank you to both responses...
man, 3-5 reps seems so much easier than what i do now. i set aside 1 day just for DLs. i'm so stiff in the morning (4am) that i do maybe 2-3 warmup sets of 135-175lbs (15) reps each then creep up to 405lbs but in 15lb increments doing as many reps as possible ntrying to build strength. my thinking was to do as heavy as i could and as many as i could to get stronger. i'm thinking this is not the way now..lol

Well I thought I needed to add another couple rounds of deads meaning 2 days with deads then a day off and then 2 days with deads. Let me tell ya big mistake on my part lol. The numbers may not seem like much but i am sure others will attest it will be a lot. Any reviews i have read on it say stay the course and get through the frost 4 weeks and you will be happy you did. I am gonna do at least 12 weeks on it. I think it will be awesome program as it is majority of the lifts I do anyways just done a bit different. You are able to change it up a bit to suit yourself but as I found out be cautious. I got my starting stats and can't wait to see my mid and 12 week stats.

 

[Sparkyp]

alright i'm sold... i'll look into it

 

[tenpoundsleft]

@Sparkyp


By the term “hypertrophy” would pertain to a different rep range normally in the 8-12 area and workload being used as well for your working sets. There’s a few different ways to go about hypertrophy training but the main “focus” in it is building muscle. Where as in my case my “power” workouts are lower reps between 3-5 and using a weight that only allows me to get no more than 5 reps per set and focusing more on building strength and power throughout different compound movements. When I hit my “hypertrophy” days later in the week I only use 75-80% of the weight I use for my 3-5 rep max on power days if that makes sense. And I train normally 5 days a week but sometimes take an extra rest day and will only train 4 days some weeks. All depends on how my body feels

How do you vary this depending on off or on cycle?

I have this mental thing about going to the gym every day - but I don't do more than 30-45 minutes of actual work. That gets my glycogen depleted and gets me good and tired.

So I'm curious how people vary rep/set count and training frequency depending on whether they're on or off?

(my goal is hypertrophy btw)

 

[Sparkyp]

ok, i need to retract my post... theres no way what i'm doing now is compared to PHAT... that shit looks insane... my WILKS score is slightly under 300 also.. whats killing my score is bench press. i can't push anymore than 135lb due to my torn ac joint at the moment.. i think i'm going to try my own spin of then PHAT program maybe doing it for 6 weeks or doing it for the full 12 weeks but twice a week and at 70% or something... fucking injuries are so aggravating

 

[Btcowboy]

ok, i need to retract my post... theres no way what i'm doing now is compared to PHAT... that shit looks insane... my WILKS score is slightly under 300 also.. whats killing my score is bench press. i can't push anymore than 135lb due to my torn ac joint at the moment.. i think i'm going to try my own spin of then PHAT program maybe doing it for 6 weeks or doing it for the full 12 weeks but twice a week and at 70% or something... fucking injuries are so aggravating

Haha I knew ya would bro..... I am 2 days in and love it so far.

 

[Btcowboy]

ok, i need to retract my post... theres no way what i'm doing now is compared to PHAT... that shit looks insane... my WILKS score is slightly under 300 also.. whats killing my score is bench press. i can't push anymore than 135lb due to my torn ac joint at the moment.. i think i'm going to try my own spin of then PHAT program maybe doing it for 6 weeks or doing it for the full 12 weeks but twice a week and at 70% or something... fucking injuries are so aggravating

And yes injuries suck I have a shoulder issue I work through it to hold back my bench

 

[FourOneDeuxFitt]

How do you vary this depending on off or on cycle?

I have this mental thing about going to the gym every day - but I don't do more than 30-45 minutes of actual work. That gets my glycogen depleted and gets me good and tired.

So I'm curious how people vary rep/set count and training frequency depending on whether they're on or off?

(my goal is hypertrophy btw)

To be honest with you my training doesnt vary much whether I’m on or off cycle. The only thing that really does change a bit is my ability to recover as quickly from heavy/intense training. I always take a deload week about every 6-7 weeks where I’ll do the same routines but only train at about 70% of my max for lifts. Which gives me enough to recover a bit more that week and still maintain well. Other than that I keep my intensity high and train hard.

 

[Sparkyp]

And yes injuries suck I have a shoulder issue I work through it to hold back my bench

Shoulders are bad body parts to injury. I’ve had a lot of injuries. This is brutal. I shit you not, I couldn’t even reach over to get my seat belt nor reach around to wipe my ass. Fucking brutal. After 10 months I’m just starting to be able to dumbbell press. Bench puts to much pressure on. Even the fucking bar alone is painful still

 

[Btcowboy]

Shoulders are bad body parts to injury. I’ve had a lot of injuries. This is brutal. I shit you not, I couldn’t even reach over to get my seat belt nor reach around to wipe my ass. Fucking brutal. After 10 months I’m just starting to be able to dumbbell press. Bench puts to much pressure on. Even the fucking bar alone is painful still

I for the most part DB press as it’s more comfortable for me and I workout alone so no need for a spot.

 

[Docd187123]

How do you vary this depending on off or on cycle?

I have this mental thing about going to the gym every day - but I don't do more than 30-45 minutes of actual work. That gets my glycogen depleted and gets me good and tired.

So I'm curious how people vary rep/set count and training frequency depending on whether they're on or off?

(my goal is hypertrophy btw)

You’re not fully depleting glycogen with 30-45min workouts. I would guess that most of us here never fully deplete glycogen unless doing it specifically pre contest.

If you want to go to the gym every day that’s totally doable, you just need to adjust the daily volume to suit that. Basically you do a lot less work each day but make up for that with the frequency (going everyday).

 

[Btcowboy]

How do you vary this depending on off or on cycle?

I have this mental thing about going to the gym every day - but I don't do more than 30-45 minutes of actual work. That gets my glycogen depleted and gets me good and tired.

So I'm curious how people vary rep/set count and training frequency depending on whether they're on or off?

(my goal is hypertrophy btw)

I think if you take a look at a program like PHAT you will see how Layne Norton looks at training. With him being both powerlifter and bodybuilder he put together this adaptive training that gives the best of both worlds and shows how they fit together.

Hypertrophy higher reps lighter weights. Strength lower reps higher weights. Not saying you won't get stronger doing g hypertrophy workouts or bigger doing strength workouts but if you think about it they both go hand in hand.

As for on or off cycle training, as I have not been on a cycle yet I can't really answer that. I foresee me doing the same regardless of on or off. Infact I have my first cycle on the way and will continue this program on and off. However i dont plan on being off but rather cruising.