Have you ever noticed that there are typically two camps of people in a gym? One is the weightlifters and the other is the cardio crew.
While a few seamlessly drift between the two, most gym-goers tend to prefer one camp or the other. But the reality is that both forms of exercise have important health benefits that we don’t want to lose out on. How do we get the muscle and body-strengthening benefits of weightlifting and the cardiovascular benefits of aerobics without exercise taking too long? Enter, Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) training, a type of circuit weight training that can give you the benefits of both worlds in half the time.
What is Peripheral Heart Action training?
PHA training is a system developed by Dr. Arthur Steinhaus in the 1940s and popularized in the 1960s by Bob Gajda, who won Mr. America. PHA is basically an intense form of circuit training that alternates upper-body and lower-body exercises throughout the circuit. This training system distributes blood flow between the upper and lower extremities, improving circulation. Unlike bodybuilding where you might do several sets in a row for the same muscle group, the goal according to John McCallum, author of “The Complete Keys to Progress,” “is to increase your circulation enormously without congesting your muscles. You pump blood through your muscles rather than just into them.”
Benefits of PHA training
• Improved cardiovascular endurance. PHA is not only excellent for muscle tone, but it also improves cardiovascular endurance. PHA training helps improve cardiovascular health by keeping the heart rate elevated throughout the workout.
• Increased calorie burn. PHA training is designed to elevate your heart rate throughout the entire workout, resulting in a higher calorie burn per minute of exercise. By working multiple muscle groups and keeping the heart rate up, PHA training can help you burn a bit more calories than other, less vigorous, exercise styles.
• Time efficient. This type of workout is like a superhero, sneaking in a full-body workout in half the time of your typical gym session. Rather than resting up to 90-120 seconds between sets, you put that time to good use training muscles in another part of your body. And rather than needing to do another workout entirely to get your cardiovascular system trained, it is working quite hard throughout your weight training workout. It is like getting the benefits of two workouts for the price of one.
PHA sample workout
The keys with PHA training are to focus on compound exercises and to move from one exercise to the next as quickly as possible. Feel free to take one-minute breaks in the beginning between each exercise and reduce the breaks gradually over time until you are not resting at all in between each set.
A PHA circuit works really well when you cover the four basic body movements (squat, hinge, push, pull) and something for the abdominals. Alternate between the upper body and lower body moves for sets of 8-12 repetitions or so. When you can do 3-4 circuits of 12 repetitions for all the moves, try to add a little weight next time. You can work out like this two or three times per week, depending on your fitness level, how quickly you recover and what you do on your off days. Here is a sample routine:
1. Squat (any variation), 8-12 reps.
2. Overhead or lying dumbbell press, 8-12 reps.
3. Stiff-legged deadlift or kettlebell swing, 8-12 reps.
4. Pull-up, pull-down or row (any variation), 8-12 reps.
Rest as needed and repeat the circuit 2-3 more times and finish with
5. Crunches or leg raises, 15-20 reps.
Final thoughts
PHA training can be incorporated into your workout routine by designing circuits that target multiple muscle groups (as in the sample above), working at high intensity for short periods and varying the exercises within the circuits to keep things challenging and exciting.
With its proven effectiveness and efficient results, PHA training is an excellent option for anyone looking to reach their fitness goals, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned fitness enthusiast. If you have any questions about designing your own result-producing routines, don’t hesitate to call (706) 278-WELL and ask for a member of the personal training staff. We’d be glad to help you.
Aaron Mendez is a fitness consultant at the Bradley Wellness Center.