PHA Training

Time for the Gym Team to get together for what we like to call staff training! This week was Paddy’s turn to put us through our paces. His training topic was PHA (peripheral heart action) training.  PHA training is a combination of weight training and cardio which results in a far greater energy expenditure per workout. By putting exercises in a certain order for example lower body, upper body, lower body, your cardiovascular system which consists of your heart, lungs and blood vessels, has to work extra hard to divert blood to your working muscles. After these resistance exercises we ended with 3 minutes of high intensity cardio! The two circuits that Paddy planned are detailed below.

Circuit 1                                                   Circuit 2

Dumbell Bench Press 8-12 Reps                 Romanian Deadlifts 8-12 Reps
Dumbell Squats 8-12 Reps                         Dumbell Shoulder Press 8-12 Reps
Lat Pulldown 8-12 Reps                             Dumbell Lunges 8-12 Reps
3 Mins on the Treadmill                             3 Mins on the Bike

As you can see from the circuits, it follows a specific layout of alternating upper and lower body, finishing off with 3 minutes of intense cardio.

We paired off Paddy and Dan, Oli and Joe. We all aimed to complete the circuit 3 times. Both circuits were different with circuit 1 focusing on the upper body, where circuit 2 really hit the legs hard. We all lifted heavy with no break inbetween exercises and then straight on to the cardio. The 3 minutes on the bike can only be described as painful! We were keeping our RPM above 100 the whole time with a resistance of 15. At this intensity your legs just cannot help to fill up with lactic acid and it’s up to you to push through this. But once you have finished one round its straight back to Romanian Deadlifts again with all this lactic acid still in your legs. At this time your heart is beating extremely hard and your metabolic rate is sky high! During this circuit Oli and Joe were extremely close to being ill due to pushing themselves extremely hard, especially on the bike. After 3 rounds Joe had to run outside to get some air. It was an intense circuit! Circuit 2 was different and focused more on the upper body, but the cardio section had a different feel to it aswell. The treadmill really tested the heart and lungs and your abillity to take in oxygen and redistribute it around the body.

All in all this was an extremely different training system that we all were not used to. This is great as you can never stop learning in this industry. We all have different strengths as Personal Trainers. I know a couple of us will try and intergrate this into our normal training regime. Do not do PHA training everyday as it will put too much of a strain on the body, 2-3 times a week will be plenty.                    

Please speak with one of us for more details on the programme!

Joe