PHUL Vs PHAT Vs PPL – UPDATED 2022 – A Complete Guide

When you’re trying to decide on a new workout routine or a workout plan, you’ll probably be comparing a few. These plans are usually month-long routines. You need to commit at least a week or two to find out if they’re a good fit for you.

If you’re comparing 3 workout plans like PHUL Vs PHAT Vs PPL, you could be wasting time if you decide not to continue with them after 1 – 2 weeks.

For this reason, we’ve compared the PHUL, PHAT, and PPL workouts. This updated guide will outline the differences between these 3 routines, how to do them, and who benefits most. Keep reading for everything you need to know!

 

PHUL Vs PHAT – A Complete Guide

PHUL, PHAT, and PPL are all surprisingly similar, but with some nuanced differences that you need to understand. Comparing all three at once could be overwhelming, so we’ll start by comparing two of these, the PHUL Vs PHAT.

Let’s start with PHUL. The acronym here stands for Power, Hypertrophy, Upper, Lower. This is talking about the type of workouts you’re doing, and in what order. So, with this routine, you’ll start with power workouts, then workouts that promote hypertrophy, then upper body, and finally lower body.

The PHUL follows a week-by-week plan. The order here is essential. If you’re following this workout plan, your week might be split like this:

MONDAY – Power workouts for upper body
TUESDAY – Power workouts for lower body
WEDNESDAY – Rest Day
THURSDAY – Hypertrophy workouts for upper body
FRIDAY – Hypertrophy workouts for lower body
SATURDAY – Rest Day
SUNDAY – Rest Day

It’s worth bearing in mind that this is just a template. You might want more or fewer rest days. The important part is the order of workouts.

You can also switch upper and lower body days when you’re doing power workouts and hypertrophy workouts. The reason that this template has them in this order is to mimic the structure of ‘upper body before lower body’.

This is essential to building a mind-muscle connection. If you can train your body to associate building muscle with a schedule, then it will help you to break the mental barrier between you and building muscle.

On the other hand, there’s the FAT exercise. As you’ve probably guessed, this is also an acronym. In this case, it stands for Power, Hypertrophy, Adaptive Training.

The PHAT has a bigger focus on hypertrophy and high-intensity training rather than specific areas of the body. This means that PHAT is more of a generic framework that can be applied to whichever muscle group you’re currently focusing on training.

It’s not uncommon for the routine to be used in the context of a whole-body workout too.

The adaptive training part of this routine is a big difference from the PHUL. Adaptive training means that you can modify the order of the routine slightly based on how your body responds.

The workout routine is designed around the idea that after so long, your body will hit a plateau in training as it becomes comfortable with the exercise. Through adaptive training, you can overcome this by breaking the routine and keeping your muscles on their toes, so to speak.

A typical week of a generic PHAT routine might look like this:

MONDAY – Upper body strength workouts
TUESDAY – Lower body strength workouts
WEDNESDAY – Rest Day
THURSDAY – Hypertrophy training for back and shoulders
FRIDAY – Hypertrophy training for lower body
SATURDAY – Hypertrophy training for chest and arms
SUNDAY – Rest Day

PHUL Vs PPL – How Do They Differ?

There’s still one more routine in the same area as the PHUL and the PHAT that you should be aware of. This is the PPL routine.

Another acronym, PPL stands for Push, Pull, Lower. This routine is more specific in the type of workout you do. It makes it clear what equipment you should be using and when, what muscle group you should be working, and when.

The weekly breakdown of the PPL is the simplest of all 3 routines. Here is what it might look like:

MONDAY – Push
TUESDAY – Pull
WEDNESDAY – Lower
THURSDAY – Push
FRIDAY – Pull
SATURDAY – Lower
SATURDAY – Rest

So, what are the key differences between PHUL vs PPL? For one, the PPL only has 1 rest day whereas the template for the PHUL can have up to three. The PPL is also much more self-explanatory and guided than the PHUL.

Overall, the PPL is a good choice for beginners to structured workouts. It provides a sort of training wheels in the form of clear instructions.

Understanding the PHUL Workout Routine

The PHUL workout routine is one of the simplest exercise routines that use hypertrophy training as a core part. If you’re looking to get started with hypertrophy, then this is the ideal routine.

Hypertrophy training is a step on the path to full High-Intensity Interval Training. But what is hypertrophy in the context of the PHUL workout routine?

Hypertrophy is when your muscles begin to increase in size and get stronger and harder. When you build muscle, the process of hypertrophy happens by your muscle fibers breaking.

After repeating this process over a sustained period, your muscles will have a tangible difference in size and strength. The core of the PHUL routine is providing a structured pathway to this.

 

Best PHUL Workout – UPDATED 2022

One of the few points of confusion with the PHUL is exactly which workouts should you be doing at each stage?

The top five best PHUL workout exercises are the barbell calf raises, deadlifts, leg press, hamstring curls, and lat pulldowns.

These workouts will give you a good spread of upper and lower body workouts, and each of them will allow your body to enter hypertrophy effectively.

PHUL Vs PHAT Vs PPL – Closing Thoughts

The benefits of structured workout routines lie in giving you a schedule. When your body can work around the schedule provided in the PHUL Vs PHAT Vs PPL workouts, it allows you to take on each day of training with a clear goal.

If you’re looking for something more personalized to you, check out our workout plans that can fit your needs and your long-term goals.