Power & Hypertrophy (PHUL)

PHUL is Brandon Campbell’s four-day upper/lower routine for strength and muscle gain. Upper and lower body are each trained once with heavier work and once with higher-rep volume. The Full Gym variant stays close to the exercise selection and rep ranges published in 2013; the Free Weights variant replaces cable and machine movements with catalog-available barbell, dumbbell, and bodyweight alternatives.

Who is this plan for?

• Intermediate lifters who can reliably train four days per week
• Comfortable performing barbell bench press, barbell squat, barbell deadlift, barbell bent over row, and barbell overhead press
• Goal: improve strength on the main lifts while also building muscle
• Full Gym requires a barbell, dumbbells, cables, and machines; Free Weights uses a barbell, dumbbells, and bodyweight movements

How it works

• Four-Day Rotation: Upper Power, Lower Power, Upper Hypertrophy, Lower Hypertrophy. Upper and lower body are each trained twice per week; place rest days between sessions as needed.
• Loading Ranges: The main lifts on power days use 3–5 reps, while the remaining movements range as high as 15 depending on the exercise. Hypertrophy days work mostly in the 8–15 rep range.
• hitPR Progression: For weighted exercises, completing the current target on every set raises the target by one rep. After completing the top target on every set, load increases and reps restart at the bottom. Bodyweight substitutions in Free Weights raise their rep target by one after a successful session.
• Missed Targets: After three consecutive missed targets for the same weighted exercise, load is reduced by 10% and reps reset to the bottom of the range. For bodyweight substitutions, three consecutive missed targets reduce the rep target by two.
• Original vs. Adaptation: Campbell calls for progressive overload but does not define a fixed double-progression or deload algorithm. Those rules are hitPR’s implementation; the Full Gym exercise selection stays close to the published template.

Pros & Limitations

Muscles trained

Avg. hits per week · Primary 1.0 · Secondary 0.5

Variant