P.H.A. Journal - Bodybuilding Discussion on Bodybuilding.net Personal Journals

triqqey · 03-29-2007, 05:35 PM

Thought I'd give this a try (made famous by former 1966 Mr. America Bob Gajda)
Basically, this is the original circuit training, before Nautilus machines butchered the idea.

Theory:

Quote:

If you refuse to join a spinning class and the idea of spending one minute on an elliptical machine makes you see red, give PHA training a try. PHA stands for Peripheral Heart Action and is the forerunner of what is commonly called circuit training today. Former Mr. America Bob Gajda is generally credited with having developed this method in the late 1960s; many notable strength athletes have used it to increase endurance and shed fat while maintaining muscle. John McCallum sang its praises in his Keys to Progress and Bruce Lee used it to develop his rippling muscularity. One of the key differences between this type of training and more conventional cardio is the resistance. Since the focus of PHA is resistance training, you will be much more likely to keep your hard-earned muscle as you shed the fat.

PHA training is dramatically different from conventional “body part” training. In a typical weight training routine, several sets of exercises are done for a particular body part before moving on to the next body part, typically with rest intervals between the sets. In PHA, the entire body is trained in such a manner that no localized “pump” is achieved. The idea is to provide uninterrupted blood flow throughout the body while taking no rest in between sets. By eliminating rest periods, you can see that you will either a) be doing the same amount of work as a typical workout, but in much less time or b) be doing three of four times as much work in the same amount of time. Therein lies the brutal beauty of PHA.

The continuous motion will sufficiently tax the cardiovascular system to build endurance while the lifting of weights simultaneously stresses the muscles. You are going to expend a tremendous amount of energy, and that translates into fat loss. Cut back on your calories a bit (drop the daily gallon of milk) and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you lean out

Goals: Looking to increase my athletic performance and overall health.

Info: 22 years old ; 5'10" ; 190 lbs ; 17.8% bf ; avid tennis player

Workout Plan: MWF - PHA workout ; TTh - high-intensity cardio; SaSu - low-intensity cardio

Diet: South Beach Diet (because I can eat all the lean meat I want!) + PWO Shake
Supplements: Chromium Picolinate, MSM, Centrum Performance Multivitamin, ZMA, Calcium, TwinLabs Whey Protein, Ripped Fuel (basically the same as two cups of coffee)

also thinking of adding Citrulline Malate for endurance

Exercises: Alternating between sequences with for 40 to 45 minutes, resting 3 minutes between sequences

Sequence 1: Bench Press, Lat Pulldown, Military Press, Squats, Swiss Ball sit-ups

Sequence 2: Incline Bench, Seated Row, Upright Row, Leg Extension, Side Crunches

Sequence 3: Decline Press, Bent-Over Rows, Lateral Raise, Front Squats, Roman Chair Sit-ups

Sequence 4: Pec-Dec Flyes, T-bar Rows, Front Raise, Weighted Lunges, V-ups

**all exercises 1 x 8-12 at comfortable weight

Cardio:
high-intensity - (30 minutes) shuttle run, 100 meter sprints, 1 mile interval running

low-intensity - either 1 hour on bike or 2 mile slow jog

-------------------------

This should increase my athletic performance, but any thoughts on whether or not this would be overtraining will be appreciated.

hrdgain81 · 03-30-2007, 07:56 AM

Nice, looking forward to seeing your progress

Eric3237 · 03-30-2007, 08:21 AM

I'm wondering if this circuit routine actually coincides with your goals very well. If your primary focus is athletic performance then some of it could be replaced with other things that are more suited to training the body as a unit. Also it is a misconception that circuits only involve weights. When it comes to athletic conditioning you can mix in other things that fall more on the cardio side, albeit at a high intensity.

I'm no expert on circuits but some of this seems to fall more in body composition rather than athletic conditioning and health. I'm talking about things like leg extensions, upright rows, etc. It may translate into fat loss as the article says but may not be the most efficient thing in terms of athletics, for which, imo, you're better off focusing on functional movements. Also some power movements could be thrown in.

I certainly undersand that certain other goals may overlap.

hrdgain81 · 03-30-2007, 12:40 PM

^^ good point, but the only staple that i see missing is DLing, and I dont know that I would do that in a circuit. As long as you keep your heart rate up, and your rest intervals low I dont see how this wouldnt get the job done.

oh and I didnt see this before, I would replace "pec deck" with just flys of some sort ... pec decks will fuck up your shoulders something aweful.

ChinPieceDave667 · 03-30-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrdgain81

^^ good point, but the only staple that i see missing is DLing, and I dont know that I would do that in a circuit.

Any deads would be good, regular, stiff, roman. Also, if your feeling adventurous, cleans Or DB snatches are fantastic for keeping the heart rate up .

triqqey · 03-30-2007, 03:29 PM

Yea, I thought about adding in cleans in place of some of the exercises.
Eric, are you suggesting doing this circuit with compound movements?
Oh and hrdgain thanks for the advice. I didn't know that Pec-Dec would mess up the shoulders, just wanted to take the easy way out ;) (I know, I know, best results don't come from easy training)
Besides, I wouldn't mind a better body composition that is just as efficient... swimsuit season is almost here!

triqqey · 03-30-2007, 03:32 PM

Oh yea, and I already took the "before" pics. About 3 weeks from now I'll take "half-way through" pic, then "after" pics when the full 6 weeks are done.
I'll post the "before" and "half-way through" pics in 3 weeks, no point putting them up right now, nothing to compare to.

Eric3237 · 03-30-2007, 03:46 PM

Well different circuits are designed with different goals. So like you say your primary goal may be athletic fitness but body composition may be a side goal. But I wasn't speaking of things that were mssing but more about things that could be replaced by more functional movements and, as I said, other things like sprints or even rowing.

When you say athletic to me that means not only are you going for aerobic endurance but that the specific movements have a purpose also that relates to athletic fitness. What I was talking about was things like Dave mentioned.

You mentioned Pec Deck. Messing up the shoulders is one thing. The other thing is how does pec deck have to do with athletic improvement. The answer...it doesn't. It's a bodybuilding machine (and not a very good one). You'd be better off throwing in some clap pushups or something...I don't know.

Same thing with leg extensions.

triqqey · 04-02-2007, 12:13 PM

ok ok, I gotcha.

**update**
this sucks, but I gotta wait a week or two before starting this program because I got mono

. grrrr, hopefully I won't have too hard a time getting back into the swing of things after.
This journal is postponed till then

_Wolf_ · 04-02-2007, 02:58 PM

what's mono?

03-30-2007, 07:56 AM	#2 (permalink)
hrdgain81 Rank: Light Heavyweight Experience: 5-7 Years Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,534	Nice, looking forward to seeing your progress
	hrdgain81's Sig:"Its clear why the journey was so painful, metamorphosis, this is what I changed to, and god I'm so thankful" - Nas APT ProWristStraps www.TheLocalSpots.com Built for young professionals on a budget. AIM: TLSCEOMI

03-30-2007, 08:21 AM	#3 (permalink)
Eric3237 Moderator Rank: Heavyweight Experience: 7-10 Years Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,253 Country: Gender:	I'm wondering if this circuit routine actually coincides with your goals very well. If your primary focus is athletic performance then some of it could be replaced with other things that are more suited to training the body as a unit. Also it is a misconception that circuits only involve weights. When it comes to athletic conditioning you can mix in other things that fall more on the cardio side, albeit at a high intensity. I'm no expert on circuits but some of this seems to fall more in body composition rather than athletic conditioning and health. I'm talking about things like leg extensions, upright rows, etc. It may translate into fat loss as the article says but may not be the most efficient thing in terms of athletics, for which, imo, you're better off focusing on functional movements. Also some power movements could be thrown in. I certainly undersand that certain other goals may overlap.
	Eric3237's Sig:Unexpected and inevitable are not synonomous. Anybody can talk a lot. Smart people listen... -Son's first grade teacher

03-30-2007, 12:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
hrdgain81 Rank: Light Heavyweight Experience: 5-7 Years Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,534	^^ good point, but the only staple that i see missing is DLing, and I dont know that I would do that in a circuit. As long as you keep your heart rate up, and your rest intervals low I dont see how this wouldnt get the job done. oh and I didnt see this before, I would replace "pec deck" with just flys of some sort ... pec decks will fuck up your shoulders something aweful.
	hrdgain81's Sig:"Its clear why the journey was so painful, metamorphosis, this is what I changed to, and god I'm so thankful" - Nas APT ProWristStraps www.TheLocalSpots.com Built for young professionals on a budget. AIM: TLSCEOMI

03-30-2007, 03:29 PM	#6 (permalink)
triqqey Rank: Member Experience: > 1 Year Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Podunk, USA Posts: 191 Country: Gender:	Yea, I thought about adding in cleans in place of some of the exercises. Eric, are you suggesting doing this circuit with compound movements? Oh and hrdgain thanks for the advice. I didn't know that Pec-Dec would mess up the shoulders, just wanted to take the easy way out ;) (I know, I know, best results don't come from easy training) Besides, I wouldn't mind a better body composition that is just as efficient... swimsuit season is almost here!
	triqqey's Sig:"The iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The iron will always kick you the real deal. The iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends come and go, but 200 pounds is always 200 pounds." -Henry Rollins

03-30-2007, 03:32 PM	#7 (permalink)
triqqey Rank: Member Experience: > 1 Year Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Podunk, USA Posts: 191 Country: Gender:	Oh yea, and I already took the "before" pics. About 3 weeks from now I'll take "half-way through" pic, then "after" pics when the full 6 weeks are done. I'll post the "before" and "half-way through" pics in 3 weeks, no point putting them up right now, nothing to compare to.
	triqqey's Sig:"The iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The iron will always kick you the real deal. The iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends come and go, but 200 pounds is always 200 pounds." -Henry Rollins

03-30-2007, 03:46 PM	#8 (permalink)
Eric3237 Moderator Rank: Heavyweight Experience: 7-10 Years Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,253 Country: Gender:	Well different circuits are designed with different goals. So like you say your primary goal may be athletic fitness but body composition may be a side goal. But I wasn't speaking of things that were mssing but more about things that could be replaced by more functional movements and, as I said, other things like sprints or even rowing. When you say athletic to me that means not only are you going for aerobic endurance but that the specific movements have a purpose also that relates to athletic fitness. What I was talking about was things like Dave mentioned. You mentioned Pec Deck. Messing up the shoulders is one thing. The other thing is how does pec deck have to do with athletic improvement. The answer...it doesn't. It's a bodybuilding machine (and not a very good one). You'd be better off throwing in some clap pushups or something...I don't know. Same thing with leg extensions.
	Eric3237's Sig:Unexpected and inevitable are not synonomous. Anybody can talk a lot. Smart people listen... -Son's first grade teacher

04-02-2007, 12:13 PM	#9 (permalink)
triqqey Rank: Member Experience: > 1 Year Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Podunk, USA Posts: 191 Country: Gender:	ok ok, I gotcha. update this sucks, but I gotta wait a week or two before starting this program because I got mono . grrrr, hopefully I won't have too hard a time getting back into the swing of things after. This journal is postponed till then
	triqqey's Sig:"The iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The iron will always kick you the real deal. The iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends come and go, but 200 pounds is always 200 pounds." -Henry Rollins

04-02-2007, 02:58 PM	#10 (permalink)
_Wolf_ Rank: Light Heavyweight Experience: 3-5 Years Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas Posts: 3,504 Gender:	what's mono?
	_Wolf_'s Sig:Training Log APT Pro Wrist Straps

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