# PHUL routine - strength and hypertrophy



## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Just been reading up on this routine and it seems decent. Combines some heavy strength work with higher rep hypertrophy work throughout the week.

https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout

Anyone on here tried this? how did you get on either by doing it on a bulk for size or on a cut for definition?

As it says a range of 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps - should you try and do the maximum of 4 sets of 10 reps or does it mean mix it up (say 2 sets at 10 reps and 2 at 6 reps?) Just want to understand the key points of the directions when there is a range there of sets of reps for each exercise.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Yes it's a sensible approach but stop looking for new routines while you're cutting!


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## Charlee Scene (Jul 6, 2010)

Pick a routine and stick to it stop trying loads of different routines, and what do you mean by definition? As everyone keeps saying it's not going to make you lose weight your diet will take care of that, right now you should be concentrating on holding onto muscle


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## nWo (Mar 25, 2014)

My advice to you would be to be consistent at this stage, mate. Pick a routine and stick with it for a good while. When you're advanced, you can switch your program for 6 week stints at a time, but for now the best way to gauge progress is consistency.


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Cheers guys

i stuck to dorian yates for a good while but when i had chiropractor session recently he introduced me to their PT who said my 3x8 routine wouldnt help me and to try higher reps/drop sets etc

this PHUL one just seemed to wrap up still hitting everything twice a week but also incorporates some low rep strength stuff and upper rep range hypertrophy.

Just want to nail one so i can try and lose BF and keep the very little bit of muscle i may have to come thro once leaner!!


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## Charlee Scene (Jul 6, 2010)

Baggy said:


> Cheers guys
> 
> i stuck to dorian yates for a good while but when i had chiropractor session recently he introduced me to their PT who said my 3x8 routine wouldnt help me and to try higher reps/drop sets etc
> 
> ...


 Why would 3 x 8 not work? He/she possibly thinks higher reps and dropsets will burn more calories but that's not what you want, your diet will do that and the weight training is to hold on to muscle, it's not hard pick a program and stick to it they all work if you progressively get stronger, phul is a routine I have done in the past and works well, it mixes strength with hypertrophy, I would do that and stick to it and try and up the reps and weight when possible mate


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## superdrol (Aug 9, 2012)

But I say you'll lose more fat doing 4x15... no wait, 3x10... nope 5x5 is best, the thing is opinions are like arseholes, everyone's got one! And everyone is probably right when they say train with consistency and you'll lose fat on a cut, but you seem intent on trying everything and anything and not giving anything 6 months... my actual opinion is pick one and stick to it!

what single routine have you enjoyed the most? feel like you've got the most out of?? Do that


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## nWo (Mar 25, 2014)

Baggy said:


> Cheers guys
> 
> i stuck to dorian yates for a good while but when i had chiropractor session recently he introduced me to their PT who said my 3x8 routine wouldnt help me and to try higher reps/drop sets etc
> 
> ...


 Ahhh, yes, chiropractors and PTs, two of the most respected professionals on the planet and always experts in the matter of building muscle  Sure they know more than Dorian.

/sarcasm.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Baggy said:


> Cheers guys
> 
> i stuck to dorian yates for a good while but when i had chiropractor session recently he introduced me to their PT who said my 3x8 routine wouldnt help me and to try higher reps/drop sets etc


 Was the suggestion for higher reps made with injury recovery/prevention in mind? If so it may have some merit for you. If it was general advice for everyone in terms of how to gain muscle size then then to be frank the 'PT' doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Ultrasonic said:


> Was the suggestion for higher reps made with injury recovery/prevention in mind? If so it may have some merit for you. If it was general advice for everyone in terms of how to gain muscle size then then to be frank the 'PT' doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.


 Hi mate it was suggested by him to do higher reps plus drop sets to aid cutting and to build muscle via hypertrophy.

I like the look of PHUL and will stick with it now

*** can i just check, when it says for example 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps what are u actually aiming for? 4 sets of 10 in an ideal world? Id like to just nail a certain set/rep target and then build from there but would like to know what the ideal number is within that range please ***


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Charlee Scene said:


> Why would 3 x 8 not work? He/she possibly thinks higher reps and dropsets will burn more calories but that's not what you want, your diet will do that and the weight training is to hold on to muscle, it's not hard pick a program and stick to it they all work if you progressively get stronger, phul is a routine I have done in the past and works well, it mixes strength with hypertrophy, I would do that and stick to it and try and up the reps and weight when possible mate


 Cheers mate yes going to blast this routine now and go for it. Can i ask what rep/set you did within the recommended range they talk about in this programme?


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

I'mNotAPervert! said:


> Ahhh, yes, chiropractors and PTs, two of the most respected professionals on the planet and always experts in the matter of building muscle  Sure they know more than Dorian.
> 
> /sarcasm.


  good point


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Baggy said:


> Hi mate it was suggested by him to do higher reps plus drop sets to aid cutting and to build muscle via hypertrophy.


 OK, that's not so silly then. Just so long as they weren't saying 3x8 wouldn't build muscle.

As I gave you more detail about in another of your threads, total training volume (sets x reps x weight) is probably the most important factor for hypertrophy: more volume broadly = more hypertrophy. That's not to say this is the only factor. More volume will also burn more calories, although personally I would never let this dictate my training. Higher reps tends to allow people to do more volume. This may have been where the PT was coming from.



> I like the look of PHUL and will stick with it now
> 
> *** can i just check, when it says for example 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps what are u actually aiming for? 4 sets of 10 in an ideal world? Id like to just nail a certain set/rep target and then build from there but would like to know what the ideal number is within that range please ***


 There is no IDEAL. As I believe Mingster pointed out to you what really matters is to consistently make progress in the gym for a long period of time. Even if there was some perfect routine, if you hated it and so didn't stick with it, it would be useless to you.

If you can recover and make progress from 4 sets then yes this would probably be better than 3. The same applies to 5 vs 4 sets etc. This is the max recoverable volume argument. BUT you don't want to end up doing so many sets you end up really not pushing yourself at the start as you're consciously or subconsciously saving more energy for later.

While you are cutting, your ability to both train and recover will be reduced though, and so now isn't the time to be trying to push this.


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Thanx again for a detailed response.

I will pick a rep/set range within the guidlines and use that as my base and build my weights (once bulking) on those ranges


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Baggy said:


> Thanx again for a detailed response.
> 
> I will pick a rep/set range within the guidlines and use that as my base and build my weights (once bulking) on those ranges


 Don't not increase weight of you feel you are able to BTW, just know this is going to be harder to achieve while cutting.


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Ultrasonic said:


> Don't not increase weight of you feel you are able to BTW, just know this is going to be harder to achieve while cutting.


 Cheers mate. Yeah for now id like to jist maintain weights where poss and creep up if/when

Where it says 3-4 sets of 6-10 i will do some at say 4 sets of 8 and some 3 sets of 10 etc


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Baggy said:


> Cheers mate. Yeah for now id like to jist maintain weights where poss and creep up if/when
> 
> Where it says 3-4 sets of 6-10 i will do some at say 4 sets of 8 and some 3 sets of 10 etc


 The point of the range is partly that you might be able to do 10 reps at the start but fewer at the end. When you can do 4 sets of ten you then increase the weight but not by so much that you end up doing fewer than 6 reps.

(There are lots of ways of doing this sort of thing but this is the simplest and I think most common )


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

Ultrasonic said:


> The point of the range is partly that you might be able to do 10 reps at the start but fewer at the end. When you can do 4 sets of ten you then increase the weight but not by so much that you end up doing fewer than 6 reps.
> 
> (There are lots of ways of doing this sort of thing but this is the simplest and I think most common )


 That makes more sense. So aim for the max reps and sets in the range (4 sets of 10 for example) and when u get there top weight up and try and do it again starting at what u can do perhaps 4 sets of 7 or 8 etc

think i will try and do the max amount of sets though where possible


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## superdrol (Aug 9, 2012)

Baggy said:


> That makes more sense. So aim for the max reps and sets in the range (4 sets of 10 for example) and when u get there top weight up and try and do it again starting at what u can do perhaps 4 sets of 7 or 8 etc
> 
> think i will try and do the max amount of sets though where possible


 Do 4 sets and you'll probably do 10 in the first set, 9 in the second, 7 and 6, once you get to ten it's the end of that set, next set aim for ten, always aim for ten, as he says when you get to 4x10 add 2.5kg and you'll be back to aiming for ten and failing, so maybe 10,9,8,7, your always aiming for ten reps but failing somewhere before and building reps up to 10...


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## Baggy (Jan 7, 2011)

superdrol said:


> Do 4 sets and you'll probably do 10 in the first set, 9 in the second, 7 and 6, once you get to ten it's the end of that set, next set aim for ten, always aim for ten, as he says when you get to 4x10 add 2.5kg and you'll be back to aiming for ten and failing, so maybe 10,9,8,7, your always aiming for ten reps but failing somewhere before and building reps up to 10...


 Yeah perfect thanks mate. So for every set/rep range they suggest in the original link u want to be aiming for the max reps and sets they suggest


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## Jordan08 (Feb 17, 2014)

No program is better than the other, if you are not looking for strength gains. Diet and frequency of the workouts would dictate your growth. No need to complicate it.


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## Jordan08 (Feb 17, 2014)

Ultrasonic said:


> The point of the range is partly that you might be able to do 10 reps at the start but fewer at the end. When you can do 4 sets of ten you then increase the weight but not by so much that you end up doing fewer than 6 reps.
> 
> (There are lots of ways of doing this sort of thing but this is the simplest and I think most common )


 Can you please elaborate it a bit more?. When you say "You might be able to do 10 reps at the start but fewer at the end", is it with same load or increasing load?


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Jatin Bhatia said:


> Can you please elaborate it a bit more?. When you say "You might be able to do 10 reps at the start but fewer at the end", is it with same load or increasing load?


 Same load. I assume this for any routine that doesn't explicitly say otherwise.


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