Upper and lower power hypertrophy program guide

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Have you ever dreamed of combining the best of both worlds: bodybuilding and powerlifting? This is exactly what the PHUL (Power Upper Lower Hypertrophy) program offers you. The Strength Building program designed by Brandon Campbell aims to maximize strength development and muscle hypertrophy. But how does it work? Above all, how can it help you achieve your goals?

What is the PHUL program? ?

PHUL is a training program that helps build muscle strength and size. Whether you are a man or a woman, this program is for you, as long as your goal is to gain strength and muscle size. Its principle? Combines the best of strength training and hypertrophy for optimal results.

Principles of the PHUL program

PHUL, which stands for Power Upper Lower Hypertrophy, is a training program based on a training frequency of 4 days per week, over the recommended duration of 12 weeks. Each training session lasts between 45 to 60 minutes. You will need basic bodybuilding equipment: barbell, dumbbells, machines.

The program is designed to alternate strength and hypertrophy exercises. The idea is to take advantage of both mechanical stress (related to strength training) and metabolic stress (related to hypertrophy training).⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾.

The importance of frequency and exercises

In the PHUL program, each muscle group is used twice a week. Why ? Because muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is essential for muscle growth, remains high for up to 48 hours after training. Therefore, exercising each muscle group twice a week allows you to improve this process, while obtaining sufficient recovery.

The program also focuses on compound exercises, which are movements that work several muscle groups at once. These exercises are essential for progressing and gaining strength and muscle mass. However, isolation exercises are also included to target specific muscle groups or areas.

Strength training days

Two days a week, the PHUL program focuses on strength training. The goal is to increase the workload over time (linear progression principle) and maximize mechanical tension. These two factors are necessary to gain strength and increase the size of your muscles.

Hypertrophy training days

In addition to two days of strength training, the PHUL program devotes another two days to muscle hypertrophy, i.e. increasing muscle size. The goal of these sessions is to maximize metabolic stress, which is a major factor in hypertrophy. Therefore, they are more bodybuilding-oriented training sessions, with high training volume and shorter rest times.

Some recommendations

To follow the program correctly BeanIt is important to respect some basic principles. First, adapt your training volume to your level and abilities. If you are new to this program, it is recommended that you start with a lower volume and increase it gradually.

Next, be careful not to overuse muscle failure. The idea is not to exhaust yourself every session, but to always have a reserve for the next workout. So it's best to finish your sets feeling like you can do one last rep.

However, to achieve maximum results, gradually increase loads over time. The goal is to gradually increase the intensity of your workouts to continue stimulating muscle growth.

Abdominal exercises can be done at the end of the workout or on rest days.

Finally, feel free to modify the exercises according to your needs and preferences. While compound exercises should remain the core of your program, you can replace some isolation exercises with other movements if you wish.

PHUL TRAINING PLAN

Day 1: Upper body strength
Day 2: Lower body strength
Day three: rest
Day 4: The upper body swells
Day 5: Lower body swelling
Day six: rest
Day seven: rest

Training tips : Do not neglect preparation before carrying out your session. Before doing the first exercise, start with some joint warm-up, then do a specific warm-up: 2 or 3 light series of the first exercise, increasing the load, until you reach the effective load that you will maintain to perform your exercise. series. Take a maximum of 5 minutes of rest between each exercise. As the training weeks progress, remember to increase the load according to your RPE.