Guide · training splits
PHAT: the five-day Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training split
PHAT stands for Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training, a five-day split by Layne Norton. Two heavy days early in the week train the upper and lower body for strength; three higher-rep days later in the week train back and shoulders, legs, and chest and arms for size. It is demanding, and for people who recover from it, it covers everything.
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Key takeaways
- Five days: Upper Power, Lower Power, then Back & Shoulders, Lower and Chest & Arms hypertrophy days.
- Power days are heavier with longer rests; hypertrophy days have more exercises and higher reps.
- Every muscle is trained twice a week: once heavy, once for volume.
- It needs five sessions and good recovery. If four days is your limit, PHUL is the same idea.
What PHAT is
PHAT is the five-day cousin of PHUL. The two power days are the same idea: the big compound lifts, heavier, with long rests. The difference is in the hypertrophy half of the week. Instead of one upper and one lower volume day, PHAT has three, split by body part: back and shoulders, legs, then chest and arms. That gives every area a dedicated session with enough exercises to work it from more than one angle.
The name comes from the idea that the programme adapts: the heavy days build strength that raises the loads on the volume days, and the volume days build muscle that raises the heavy days. The weekly rhythm is heavy, heavy, rest, volume, volume, volume, rest.
What goes on each day
These are the five days of IronBuddy's PHAT preset, a simplified version on machines and dumbbells. Power days use 10 reps and 2-minute rests on the main lifts; hypertrophy days 12 to 15 reps with 60 to 90 seconds.
| Day | Exercises (sets × reps) |
|---|---|
| Upper PowerHeavier upper-body compounds | Machine Chest Press 3×10 · Chest-Supported Row 3×10 · Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3×10 · Lat Pulldown 3×10 · Machine Shoulder Press 2×10 · EZ-Bar Curl 2×12 · Cable Triceps Pushdown 2×12 |
| Lower PowerHeavier leg compounds | Leg Press 3×10 · Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 3×10 · Hack Squat 2×10 · Seated Leg Curl 3×12 · Standing Calf Raise 3×12 |
| Back & Shoulders HypertrophyLats, upper back, rear and side delts, biceps | Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown 3×12 · Seated Cable Row 3×12 · One-Arm Dumbbell Row 2×12 per side · Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3×15 · Reverse Pec Deck 3×15 · Cable Biceps Curl 2×15 |
| Lower HypertrophyQuads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core | Hack Squat 3×12 · Hip Thrust 3×12 · Leg Extension 2×15 · Lying Leg Curl 3×15 · Seated Calf Raise 3×15 · Cable Crunch 2×15 |
| Chest & Arms HypertrophyChest, biceps, triceps | Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3×12 · Machine Chest Press 3×12 · Cable Fly 2×15 · EZ-Bar Curl 3×12 · Incline Dumbbell Curl 2×15 · Cable Triceps Pushdown 3×12 · Overhead Cable Triceps Extension 2×15 |
The two power days are shared with PHUL. If you move between the two programmes, your logged numbers for those days carry straight over.
How to lay out the week
The standard week
Week: Upper Power, Lower Power, rest, Back & Shoulders, Lower Hypertrophy, Chest & Arms, rest (Mon / Tue / Thu / Fri / Sat)
Suits: The layout PHAT was written for: the two heavy days first, a rest day, then the three volume days.
Weekend off
Week: Upper Power, Lower Power, Back & Shoulders, rest, Lower Hypertrophy, Chest & Arms, rest
Suits: People who cannot train Saturdays. Three days in a row is tolerable because the third is an upper day after a lower day.
Four days, rotating
Week: Any four of the five in order, then carry on from the fifth the week after
Suits: A busy week now and then. Do not drop the same day every time, or that body part falls behind.
Who it suits
- Intermediate and advanced lifters with five days a week and the sleep and food to recover from them.
- People with a lagging body part. A whole day for back and shoulders, or chest and arms, is room to add sets where you need them.
- Not for: beginners, or anyone whose week has four slots or fewer. PHUL or an Upper Lower split gives the same twice-a-week frequency in four days.
How to track PHAT
- Power days by weight, hypertrophy days by volume. The estimated 1RM chart tells you whether the heavy days are working; the volume chart and your rep counts tell you about the volume days.
- Same day, last week. With five different days, the only comparison that lines up is each day against itself a week ago. IronBuddy's workout summary does that per exercise when you log.
- Count weekly sets by muscle. PHAT spreads chest over two days (Upper Power and Chest & Arms) and back over two (Upper Power and Back & Shoulders). Muscle Balance on Home adds them up, so you can see whether an area is getting too little or too much.
- Recovery first. On a five-day split, falling numbers on Friday and Saturday usually mean too much, not too little. Drop a set from the volume days before adding anything.
The progressive overload guide explains how to add weight and reps without guessing.
Running PHAT in IronBuddy
IronBuddy includes PHAT as one of its ten preset splits, with the exercises above, a rep range and a rest time on every exercise. It is a five-day preset; use Edit Week to put the days on Mon / Tue / Thu / Fri / Sat or whatever your week allows.
- Open Splits, filter the presets if you like, and open PHAT.
- Tap Set active. Home shows this week's days with their status, and Edit Week puts each day on the weekday you train.
- Swap any exercise for one your gym has. The first time you edit a preset, IronBuddy saves your version under My splits and leaves the preset as it was.
- Open each day from Home, enter reps and weight (and any drop sets or supersets), then tap Log workout. The summary compares every exercise with last time.
- Check Progress for best weight, estimated 1RM and volume per exercise, and Muscle Balance on Home for your weekly sets per muscle group.
The 7-day free trial includes the whole workout tracker: workout logging, progress charts, body metrics, the full library of 800+ exercises, every split and your own custom splits. Buying IronBuddy for €6.99 keeps everything unlocked after the trial, and adds export and import of your data, a local copy of your data kept on your phone, share cards, a customizable Home and accent colors. In both the trial and the full version, Android's own backup protects your data if Google backup is turned on. See training splits in IronBuddy for screenshots of the presets, filters and week editor.
PHAT questions
How does this differ from Layne Norton's PHAT?
The original PHAT uses 3–5 reps on barbell lifts for the power days and starts the hypertrophy days with a fast, light 'speed' version of the power lift before the volume work. IronBuddy's preset keeps the five-day structure and the power/hypertrophy split but uses 10 reps on the power days, 12–15 on the hypertrophy days, no speed work, and machines and dumbbells throughout. It is a simplified version for lifters who are not yet doing heavy barbell work.
PHAT or PHUL?
PHUL is the four-day version: two power days and two hypertrophy days. PHAT adds a third hypertrophy day, so the volume days become back and shoulders, legs, and chest and arms instead of upper and lower. If four days a week is what you have, PHUL; if you have five and recover well, PHAT.
Can a beginner run PHAT?
It is a lot. Five sessions a week with five to seven exercises each is more volume than most beginners need or recover from. Start with a three-day full body plan or Upper Lower, and come to PHAT once the heavy days feel like something you want more of, not something to get through.
A note on safety
This guide is general training information, not medical advice. Choose loads and a weekly layout that suit your experience and recovery, and speak to a qualified professional if you have an injury or a health condition.
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