T Nation

Crossfit and Building Mass?

Beginners
#1

I’ll start this post by sharing a little info about myself…I have been doing crossfit for about a year now. I’m 6’4" 230lbs (I still have a bit of fat to lose). My CF gym does a lot more powerlifting than the WOD from the main page on crossfit.com. I enjoy this style of working out and I love the benefits I have seen thus far. I dont plan to switch to a bodybuilding routine but I would like to add some more lean mass while continuing with crossfit.

What would you guys suggest adding to my current routine in order to acheive this? Have any of you here done this, if so what routine did you use? Thank you for any info you can share.

#2

It’s hard to give you advice for the following reasons:

  1. You claim to be doing crossfit(CF), but more powerlifting than CF’s Workouts of the Day (WOD).

So… what does that mean? What does your actual training look like? Fill in the details and don’t leave it so vague.

  1. You want to gain lean mass, but you seem preoccupied with your body fat level when you say “I still have a bit of fat to lose”. In the short term these two goals are at conflict with one another. Either work on leaning out or on gaining muscle. Combining the two rarely produces the results one would hope for.

All that being said, the advice is always the same. If you’re not gaining muscle mass make sure you get enough protein and calories in your diet and that you lift relatively heavy and challenge yourself in the gym.

If you aren’t making any progress you must make incremental changes to your diet (upping calories to gain weight or lowering calories to lose weight); and possibly training.

Good luck.

#3

Sorry for the vague post about my workout details. I work out at a CF affiliate and we have added powerlifting in addition to the WOD. 3 or 4 days of the week we do 5-5-5 of either bench, press, squat, deads or cleans then do the CF WOD.

Im not so concerned with losing fat right now as I am with packing on muscle (I know the 2 dont really work together). I want to increase size in my upper body (arms, chest, back, shoulders).

Would you guys recommend adding in some more body building/powerliting to my routine? If so when/how should I do this? What about hgh or test? I’ll get back to recording all my workouts and will post a link to my log.

#4

Until you reach your new body building goals I suggest you keep the power lifting component of your workout intact; but replace the CF/WOD segment with bodybuilding friendly exercises, sets and reps. You don’t have to follow those extreme Flex-Magazine routines, just pick something sensible that targets the muscles you want to work on and allows you to make consistent strength gains. There are no secret routines, despite what some may have you believe; so just start with the basics and make adjustments according to your progress or lack thereof.

From your original post you seem reluctant to drop your WOD, but consider this (from my what I’ve seen):

  • Most big guys currently using WOD never built their mass using WOD.

  • Most big guys currently doing WOD came from a different background and then switched to WOD to drop fat and improve their conditioning.

In regards to diet, it comes down to how much you are eating to meet your goals. Adequate protein and nutritious foods should be eaten first; but don’t limit yourself if you’re having a hard time getting enough calories.

Good luck