WORKOUT A: FOUNDATIONAL MASS TRAINING

EXERCISE	REPS
Squats	15 – 12 / 10 / 8 / 6
Deadlift	15 – 12 / 10 / 8 / 6
Pull Ups	Total 30 reps
Bench Press	15 – 12 / 10 / 8 / 6
Military Press	15 – 12 / 10 / 8 / 6

How Long?

You should continue on this training program for 8 weeks. That will be long enough for you to should some real improvement in your strength and muscle gains, but not too long to bring on diminishing returns due to over familiarization.

At the end of eight weeks, take a complete week off from training before moving into your Phase Two program.

Phase Two: Peripheral Heart Action Training

Peripheral Heart Action Training has been around since the 1940’s, when it was developed by Dr Arthur Steinhaus. It was popularised in the ‘60’s by Mr Universe title holder Bob Gajda. PHA is designed to keep the blood circulating around the entire body during the workout. Even though it may sound like circuit training, it is actually a very intense and a very effective way to pack muscle mass onto your body. Unlike circuit training, PHA requires that you use heavy weight and that you stick with good form.

This is a great workout option for hard gainers. PHA training will give your muscles an amazing pump. By shunting the blood around the body, you will also be receiving some important neuromuscular effects. The varied rep and target muscle scheme creates greater neurological pathways to the working muscle. This increases blood flow to the muscle.

PHA training is built around compound movements – like the ones you’ve been using during your Phase One training. A major goal of your workout will be to shunt the blood around your body. Because you will be doing consecutive sets for different body parts, you will be allowing the target muscle more rest than with conventional training. This will allow you to use neat maximal strength output on each and every set.

With PHA training you need to be focusing on making your workout more intense with each and every session. Here’s how to do that:

• push out more reps with the same weight
• do more sequences within the same time space
• put more weight on the bar

Performing PHA training with basic, compound multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses will be extremely hard work. In fact, the reason that PHA training is not used more frequently is simply that it is too damned hard for most people to be able to handle for any length of time. But you’re not most people – right?

How Does PHA Work?

Peripheral Heart Action training involves doing tri-sets of exercises. This means that you do one set of an exercise, then move directly to another exercise for a different body part, followed by a final exercise for a third body part. After a rest period, you go on to your next tri-set. The workout usually consists of two or three of these tri sets to work the entire body.

In this program you will be completing three sets of two tri sets per workout. This is intense training, as you move straight from one exercise to the next without any rest. At the end of your tri set, you rest for two to three minutes before you move to your next set.

You will be training every other day on this program. Remember that the exercises that are grouped together in your tri set is not for the same body part. You will be either performing Workout 1 or Workout 2, alternating them each workout.

The PHA Rep Scheme

A unique aspect of the PHA System that you are about to embark upon is the tailored rep scheme. Each exercise in a tri set has its own rep count. Here’s how it works:

Exercise One: The first exercise that you will do in each tri set will be done for 5 reps. That means that you will be using a very heavy weight on that movement. You should not go to failure, however.

Exercise Two: The second exercise will be done for a rep count of between 8 and 12. Start with a weight that will allow 8 good reps. As you get stronger, increase the reps until you can do 12. At that point increase the weight to the extent that you are again only able to pump out 8 reps.

Exercise Three: The third exercise in your tri set will involve doing between 15 and 20 reps. This will gorge the muscle with blood, providing an amazing pump.