PHAT Workout Plan: Build Muscle & Strength

Layne Norton is a successful bodybuilder, a two-time IPF World Champion, a five-time powerlifting champion in the Nationals, and holds a P.h.D. in nutritional sciences. So, when someone like that creates a training program, we take notice.

Layne PHAT program has been around since 2008 and has become a staple for anyone who wants to make gains and isn’t afraid to work hard. So, let’s take a look at what it is, how it works, and whether it’s something you should try.

What is the PHAT Workout Split?

PHAT (power hypertrophy adaptive training) is a 4-day powerbuilding program designed to build muscle and strength. The first two are power workouts designed to develop strength on the big lifts; the latter three are geared more toward hypertrophy for the back, shoulders, lower body, chest, and arms.

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A Deeper Look at PHAT (Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training)

Layne’s PHAT training is essentially a 5-day program that shares some similarities with the popular PHUL (power hypertrophy upper lower) split. Both are powerbuilding programs with days dedicated to hypertrophy training and strength development. 

However, PHAT is a more advanced workout program that features heavier strength workouts as well as more volume on hypertrophy days. The weekly split looks like this:

Monday – Upper Body Strength/Power (upper body power training)
Tuesday – Lower Body Strength/Power
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Back and Shoulders Muscle Gain
Friday – Lower Body Muscle Gain
Saturday – Chest and Arms Muscle Gain
Sunday – Off

Strength days revolve around heavy lifting on compound lifts like barbell rows, pull-ups, bench press, dips, curls, tricep extensions, squats, hack squats, stiff-leg deadlifts, and even leg extensions and calf raises.

Hypertrophy days are also quite challenging. While you lift slightly lighter weights, you must still select the loads carefully, push yourself hard on each set, and do multiple exercises, each for two, three, or four sets.

Example PHAT Workout Routine

Note: These workouts are taken from Layne’s original program (which you can download on his website by joining the free newsletter). 

However, you can choose other exercises, so long as you adhere to the Type for each movement, displayed in the left column on the tables below:

Save this workout to your Hevy app profile:

1. Open hevy.com and log in with your Hevy app credentials. Skip if you’re on your phone with Hevy installed.
2. Click this link and tap the blue Save Routine button.

(All workouts come with an automatic rest timer for each exercise.)

Save this workout to your Hevy profile.

Save this workout to your Hevy profile.

Save this workout to your Hevy profile.

Save this workout to your Hevy profile.

This program is not for the faint of heart. It’s high-volume, it’s tough, and it will push you super hard––after all, it mixes powerlifting and bodybuilding, and it is designed to build muscle mass and strength.

The idea behind this approach is that it’s hard to bench press 300+ lbs, squat 500 lbs, and deadlift 600+ lbs unless you’re jacked. So, by working hard on strength days and hammering your body with a lot of volume, you have no option but to grow.

In Norton’s words, “Probably the most important thing heavy training can do is increase your overall capacity for muscular growth through significant strength gains. Training with lower reps and heavier weights is going to stimulate far greater increases in strength than training with light weights for higher reps.”

And:

“But by increasing your strength, you will increase the amount of weight you will be able to lift when you train with a higher rep, ‘bodybuilding style’ training, which will increase your potential for growth.”

For example, if you develop impressive back squat and quad strength, you will be able to lift more weight for reps on exercises like the hack squat, leg press, and leg extension.

Layne struggled with leg growth in his early bodybuilding days, so by adjusting to this type of training, he saw impressive growth and managed to win several powerlifting medals and bodybuilding competitions.

Other Important Training Details

Now that we’ve covered the why and how of PHAT, let’s discuss some additional things you’re probably wondering about:

Rest Periods Between Sets

Layne recommends taking as long as necessary to recover between sets. If that means resting for 5-6 minutes between your heaviest and toughest sets, so be it. The goal is to perform as well as possible on each set, not to rush through the workout. This also aligns with research suggesting longer rest to optimize growth and strength gain.

Shorter rest periods should be reserved for your muscle-building days. Rest for up to three minutes between volume sets and push yourself hard to maintain your performance. For example, if you lift eight reps on set one, you should ideally do the same number on the last set.

Rest periods for isolation exercises are standard: one to two minutes between sets.

With Hevy, you can set a rest timer for each movement and trigger it as you mark each set as complete.

Exercise Selection

PHAT isn’t that different from other programs when it comes to exercise selection. It still boils down to picking the best movements that align with your goal and being mindful of how you combine them in a workout.

Layne recommends only doing one power movement (the heavy, low-rep, compound lifts at the start of a session) for the lower body, pressing, and pulls/rows. For example, pick only one barbell squat variation; don’t do back squats and front squats in the same workout.

Auxiliary exercises support the main lifts or target specific muscles for additional volume. These include leg extensions, glute-ham raises, Good mornings, calf raises, dumbbell presses, curls, triceps extensions, and similar.

Weight Selection

Weight selection is also not that special and still comes down to common sense, prioritizing safety and good form. Pick weights you can lift for the recommended reps and do each rep with proper form and through a full range of motion.

For example, if the program calls for 8-10 reps, pick a weight you can lift for at least eight reps on all the sets without having to hit failure or compromise your technique. 

Layne recommends using around 85% of your 3-5 rep max for hypertrophy work, where you might do four sets of 8-10 reps. For instance, if you bench press 220 lbs for sets of 3-5 reps, lift 185 lbs for sets of 8-10 to do quality volume work.

Once you have finished the main volume work for the day, train as you usually would, using rep ranges between 8 and 20, and rest for one to two minutes between sets.

RPE and Training to Failure

Layne recommends pushing super hard on the heavy sets during strength days, but being mindful of your technique to avoid injuries. 

He also recommends not going to failure on hypertrophy days because, paired with the high training volume, you’re likely to overtrain fast. 

You should only go to absolute failure on the last one or two sets of each exercise, and only after you’ve gotten used to the scale of the program (which, according to Layne, means not going to failure in the first two to four weeks). 

Here is a PHAT workout. I’ve added a * on the exercises where it might make sense to go to failure on the last one or two sets:

For the most part, stay 1-2-3 reps shy of failure. While this can feel counterproductive, it’s still hard work (enough to cause a disruption and promote growth) without overwhelming you or forcing you to rest for several minutes between hypertrophy sets.

Plus, by leaving a little bit in the tank on hypertrophy days, you can push as hard as possible on strength workouts.

You can track your effort across all sets by logging RPE in Hevy. That way, you can easily see how hard you’re lifting and what you did in the previous workout.

Progression

Layne doesn’t explicitly say how to progress on this program, but it’s likely double progression, where you lift a weight until you hit the top of the rep range on all sets before increasing it by the smallest amount possible.

For example, let’s say Day 1 calls for three sets of 3-5 reps on the barbell row. You’re using 100 kilos and manage to get five reps on all sets with reasonably good form and minimal use of momentum. Next week, add 2.5 kilograms and work up to 3 sets of 5 again.

The same applies to all other movements in the program, though you will mostly progress on the big, heavy lifts, and not so much on the lighter isolation work.

Deload Weeks

Layne recommends deloading every 6-12 weeks. If you feel fresh, recovered, and able to train hard, do 7-8-10 or even 12 weeks before deloading; however, if you feel run down, unmotivated, and excessively sore, deload more often––say, every 6 weeks.

A deload would involve one to three weeks of lighter training (60-70% of the weight you usually lift) to maintain strength while allowing for active recovery.

If you feel particularly run down, you can also reduce the volume to a degree. You could cut out some of the exercises or reduce the number of sets per workout.

Here is an example of how you might reduce the volume:

A Couple of Thoughts on PHAT

Don’t get us wrong: PHAT is excellent for what it’s advertised to do. It’s a hardcore program that will push you to your limits and help you grow, provided you recover well (by eating enough calories and protein, getting enough sleep, and so on).

However, there were a couple of things that stood out to me. First, it was the exercise order, which was okay, but it could be done slightly differently. 

To use Day 2 as an example:

Here, we have two compound lifts, an isolation exercise (leg extensions), followed by a deadlift variation. It would make more sense to organize the workout so that all the compound lifts go first, and then you proceed to isolation work:

On that note, it would also make more sense to do free-weight compound lifts and then proceed to machine compound lifts, and finally do isolation exercises:

With this change, deadlifts go from the fourth exercise of the workout to the second. This makes more sense because the movement is more technical, and accumulated fatigue in the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and lower back can affect your technique. 

On that note, the second critique relates to the number of exercises. While this is a high-volume powerbuilding program, there are five workouts, each easily lasting 70-90+ minutes. It would make more sense to reduce the volume to a degree to make the program more suitable for intermediate and advanced lifters.

Additionally, even if you’re fine with the volume in the PHAT routine, it might make more sense to consolidate it a bit. Do fewer exercises and more sets on each. 

That way, you would have more time to get into a rhythm with each movement and establish a good mind-muscle connection over multiple sets. Plus, you wouldn’t need to use as many gym machines (could be a plus if you work out during rush hour).

For instance:

The number of sets remains the same, but we go from ten to seven exercises, which is cleaner and more practical.

That said, you can make some tweaks to the program if you feel the need and see what works best for you. Remember that this is a free plan that’s designed to work on average, so it may not be ideal for your unique circumstances.

Conclusion

PHAT is not for the faint of heart. It’s challenging and only suitable for experienced, well-rested, and highly motivated trainees who are willing to put in the effort to squeeze out every bit of progress possible. 

The program is intelligent, purposeful, and backed by science, as well as Dr. Layne Norton’s expertise.

Before you go, download the Hevy app to log your PHAT workouts and track your progress on each lift you want to improve.

Hevy – Workout Tracker

Create and log your workouts with Hevy and track your progress.

Create my workout

Hevy – Workout Tracker

Create and log your workout with Hevy and track your progress

Create my workout