PHAT vs PHUL

Who it suits. This is an advanced program and the workload is real: five long sessions, over twenty working sets on some days, and every muscle hit twice a week. Run it after you have handled something like PHUL for a few months and recovered well — jumping into PHAT training straight from a novice program usually ends in a two-week burnout. It rewards lifters who eat enough, sleep enough and genuinely enjoy being in the gym. If your priority is purely the powerlifting total, the three hypertrophy days are more assistance than you need; a dedicated strength block serves better.

How it progresses. The power lifts add weight whenever you finish every set within the 3–5 (or 5–8) rep prescription. The speed sets do not progress on their own — they are calculated at 65% of the paired power movement, so every power-day PR automatically makes speed day heavier. All remaining accessory work runs double progression: fixed load, climb to the top of the rep range on every set, then increase. Because squat, dumbbell bench and several other lifts appear on both a power day and a hypertrophy day, each role keeps its own independent working weight — Durata manages those separate progressions per slot and computes the 65% speed loads for you, which is exactly the bookkeeping that makes people give up on running PHAT from a spreadsheet.

Every set of PHAT See it run

Who it suits. PHUL suits a lifter who has finished a linear-progression program and wants both numbers and a physique — the classic powerbuilding profile. Four days is a manageable commitment, and because the heavy and volume work live in separate sessions, no single workout is crushing. If you only care about your total, a dedicated strength program will get you there faster; if you never want to touch a heavy triple, a pure bodybuilding split fits better. PHUL is for the large group in between. It is also the natural warm-up act for PHAT, which extends the same power/hypertrophy idea to five harder days.

How it progresses. The two kinds of day progress differently, and keeping them straight is where most people slip when running PHUL off a spreadsheet. On power days the four big barbell lifts add weight whenever you complete all prescribed reps at the top of the 3–5 range. On hypertrophy days everything runs double progression: keep the load fixed, push each set toward the top of its rep range across sessions, and add weight only once every set gets there. Note that the leg curl appears on both lower days at different rep ranges — it carries a separate working weight for each. Durata tracks both progression rules and both leg-curl weights automatically, so each session opens with the right targets already filled in.

Every set of PHUL See it run