I've found that when it comes to routines, this subreddit does not have as good of resources compared to the powerlifting/olympic lifting subs, and that most of the threads posted on this topic usually involve a majority of comments saying things along the lines of 'The details of the routine don't really matter' which is extremely unhelpful. So I'm going to put together a list of popular hypertrophy programs that I am aware of, and hopefully others have some programs and links they can contribute
​
Layne Norton’s PHAT- This is a very popular program. It involves lifting 5 days per week, two days focused on power with upper body and lower body, and 3 days focusing on hypertrophy with chest+arms, back+shoulders, and legs. I ran this as an intermediate to great results. My only complaint is that is doesn’t have specific percentages/progressions/autoregulations built into the routine
http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-...ll-powerhypertrophy-routine-updated-2011.html
You can also get an updated version of this routine by putting in your email on his website.
​
Layne Norton’s PH3- This is a daily undulating periodization program in which you lift 5x a week, including bench press and squats 3x a week, deadlift 2x a week, and includes hypertrophy accessory work as well. This program is more focused on the big 3 but has enough accessory work which you can certainly customize, and I really like its built in autoregulation. It also includes blood flow restriction training, which you can replace with low-weight high-volume isolation exercises if you’re not a fan of or do not want to try BFR. Layne only recommends this routine for advanced lifters.
This routine is on bodybuilding.com but unfortunately was placed behind a paywall, although with some searching you can find the spreadsheets put online for free. I’m not going to link those as I’m not sure about this subreddits rules.
​
Nsuns- I have not personally ran this programming, but it is a version of 5/3/1 that has been modified by user Nsuns. It differs in that it is built more on weekly progressions versus a month long cycle, and has a higher frequency of the lifts versus 5/3/1 where you only hit the main lift 1x a week. There’s quite a few spreadsheets and also has its own subreddit. It is more of a powerlifting based routine but has programmable accessory work to focus more on hypertrophy.
https://liftvault.com/programs/powerlifting/n-suns-lifting-spreadsheets/
​
Jacked and Tan 2.0- Another program I have not yet been able to personally run. It is a block periodization routine by GZCL. It is a 4 day a week program based around a Squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press variety, and has an optional 5th day for weak points or areas you’d like more volume. From there you program in tier 2 and tier 3 lifts each with specific rep schemes, and the tier 2 and tier 3 lifts you do in higher rep ranges compared to your main lifts. This program is very popular on reddit, and I can see why due to how detailed the writeup is and how customizable the program is.
http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.com/2016/07/jacked-tan-20.html
​
Jeff Nippard’s PPL and Upper-Lower program: If you’ve been on this subreddit for any length of time, then you’ve certainly seen one of Jeff’s videos. Two of his more popular routines right now are both 6x a week. The first is push-pull-legs that you run each group twice a week, and an upper-lower split that you run each 3x a week. He has a similar though not exact same routine on his youtube channel, but it only covers one day of each and not the full program. He sells the full versions of each as ebooks on his website. I’m sure you could find PDF’s if you wanted to, but again I won’t directly post links as I don’t want to potentially break subreddit rules, plus I’m all in favor of content creators making a living.
https://www.youtube.com/user/icecream4PRs/playlists
​
Deep Water by Jon Anderson- I have not personally tried this routine, but he has what looks like the full version of his routine on his website as an ebook. It doesn’t personally pass the eyeball test for me, but there are quite a few people on reddit that swear by it.
https://www.jon-andersen.com/
​
Blueprint to Mass- A bodybuilding.com program based on Arnold’s routine. You lift 6 days per week as chest+back, shoulders+arms, legs, repeat. This program eventually gets up to insane volume, with a lot of techniques like drop sets and super setting the same muscle group in order to get so much volume in. I'm natural and ran this to amazing results, but that amount of volume is NOT for everyone and not sustainable for multiple cycles. Towards the end of the program, as a 155 pound male I was doing 245# bench for 10 sets of 4 following by a stripping method, then 5 sets of 6 for incline bench, followed by 5 sets of 12 of DB flyes supersetted by crossovers. And then I still had to do back after that. And then shoulders and arms the next day. And 3 days later repeat the same chest/back workout again. Again it is insane volume and actually kind of hard to recommend because of that, but listing it here anyway to be thorough.
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arnold-schwarzenegger-blueprint-trainer-i.html
​
Any others you think should be mentioned here? Let me know
USER SUGGESTIONS
PHUL- My commentary- Looks like Layne Norton’s PHAT but is 4 days instead of 5
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
Iron Buff-
“Autoregulation based on sets. Body part focus blocks. Comfortable weekly volume counter.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OUw3dRHzeZTCRWB0sP34ZS-4T7MGiwHF/view
https://www.reddit.com/r/IronBuff/wiki/bodybuilding
The Best Damn Workout Plan For Natural Lifters by Christian Thibaudeau
“Pretty much based on the belief that you should train a muscle as often as possible.”
My commentary- Looks pretty low volume based on current research. It also uses techniques like rest-pause and drop sets for the last working set, which I’m skeptical of after listening to Dr. Eric Helms talk about those intensity techniques and their lack of evidence. But I’m just a guy on the internet so maybe ignore me
https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-best-damn-workout-plan-for-natural-lifters
Reddit PPL
Eric Helms bodybuilding program-
https://rippedbody.com/novice-powerlifting-program/
https://rippedbody.com/intermediate-bodybuilding-program/
​
Layne Norton’s PHAT- This is a very popular program. It involves lifting 5 days per week, two days focused on power with upper body and lower body, and 3 days focusing on hypertrophy with chest+arms, back+shoulders, and legs. I ran this as an intermediate to great results. My only complaint is that is doesn’t have specific percentages/progressions/autoregulations built into the routine
http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-...ll-powerhypertrophy-routine-updated-2011.html
You can also get an updated version of this routine by putting in your email on his website.
​
Layne Norton’s PH3- This is a daily undulating periodization program in which you lift 5x a week, including bench press and squats 3x a week, deadlift 2x a week, and includes hypertrophy accessory work as well. This program is more focused on the big 3 but has enough accessory work which you can certainly customize, and I really like its built in autoregulation. It also includes blood flow restriction training, which you can replace with low-weight high-volume isolation exercises if you’re not a fan of or do not want to try BFR. Layne only recommends this routine for advanced lifters.
This routine is on bodybuilding.com but unfortunately was placed behind a paywall, although with some searching you can find the spreadsheets put online for free. I’m not going to link those as I’m not sure about this subreddits rules.
​
Nsuns- I have not personally ran this programming, but it is a version of 5/3/1 that has been modified by user Nsuns. It differs in that it is built more on weekly progressions versus a month long cycle, and has a higher frequency of the lifts versus 5/3/1 where you only hit the main lift 1x a week. There’s quite a few spreadsheets and also has its own subreddit. It is more of a powerlifting based routine but has programmable accessory work to focus more on hypertrophy.
https://liftvault.com/programs/powerlifting/n-suns-lifting-spreadsheets/
​
Jacked and Tan 2.0- Another program I have not yet been able to personally run. It is a block periodization routine by GZCL. It is a 4 day a week program based around a Squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press variety, and has an optional 5th day for weak points or areas you’d like more volume. From there you program in tier 2 and tier 3 lifts each with specific rep schemes, and the tier 2 and tier 3 lifts you do in higher rep ranges compared to your main lifts. This program is very popular on reddit, and I can see why due to how detailed the writeup is and how customizable the program is.
http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.com/2016/07/jacked-tan-20.html
​
Jeff Nippard’s PPL and Upper-Lower program: If you’ve been on this subreddit for any length of time, then you’ve certainly seen one of Jeff’s videos. Two of his more popular routines right now are both 6x a week. The first is push-pull-legs that you run each group twice a week, and an upper-lower split that you run each 3x a week. He has a similar though not exact same routine on his youtube channel, but it only covers one day of each and not the full program. He sells the full versions of each as ebooks on his website. I’m sure you could find PDF’s if you wanted to, but again I won’t directly post links as I don’t want to potentially break subreddit rules, plus I’m all in favor of content creators making a living.
https://www.youtube.com/user/icecream4PRs/playlists
​
Deep Water by Jon Anderson- I have not personally tried this routine, but he has what looks like the full version of his routine on his website as an ebook. It doesn’t personally pass the eyeball test for me, but there are quite a few people on reddit that swear by it.
https://www.jon-andersen.com/
​
Blueprint to Mass- A bodybuilding.com program based on Arnold’s routine. You lift 6 days per week as chest+back, shoulders+arms, legs, repeat. This program eventually gets up to insane volume, with a lot of techniques like drop sets and super setting the same muscle group in order to get so much volume in. I'm natural and ran this to amazing results, but that amount of volume is NOT for everyone and not sustainable for multiple cycles. Towards the end of the program, as a 155 pound male I was doing 245# bench for 10 sets of 4 following by a stripping method, then 5 sets of 6 for incline bench, followed by 5 sets of 12 of DB flyes supersetted by crossovers. And then I still had to do back after that. And then shoulders and arms the next day. And 3 days later repeat the same chest/back workout again. Again it is insane volume and actually kind of hard to recommend because of that, but listing it here anyway to be thorough.
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arnold-schwarzenegger-blueprint-trainer-i.html
​
Any others you think should be mentioned here? Let me know
USER SUGGESTIONS
PHUL- My commentary- Looks like Layne Norton’s PHAT but is 4 days instead of 5
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
Iron Buff-
“Autoregulation based on sets. Body part focus blocks. Comfortable weekly volume counter.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OUw3dRHzeZTCRWB0sP34ZS-4T7MGiwHF/view
https://www.reddit.com/r/IronBuff/wiki/bodybuilding
The Best Damn Workout Plan For Natural Lifters by Christian Thibaudeau
“Pretty much based on the belief that you should train a muscle as often as possible.”
My commentary- Looks pretty low volume based on current research. It also uses techniques like rest-pause and drop sets for the last working set, which I’m skeptical of after listening to Dr. Eric Helms talk about those intensity techniques and their lack of evidence. But I’m just a guy on the internet so maybe ignore me
https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-best-damn-workout-plan-for-natural-lifters
Reddit PPL
Eric Helms bodybuilding program-
https://rippedbody.com/novice-powerlifting-program/
https://rippedbody.com/intermediate-bodybuilding-program/
