Getting Bigger/Stronger for Crossfit Using 5/3/1

I have been doing crossfit for about 2 years now and i would like to get alot stronger and a bit bigger so i can compete but as most people now its hard to do if all you do is metcons!! I was thinking of doing 5/3/1 beyond or the boring but big cycle, which do you think would benefit more in my training?

Also what would be the best way to introduce it into my training? just straight up doing the cycles on the specified days and then training crossfit on the other days or trying to work them into what i do already?

You may catch a lot of flak for mentioning crossfit :wink:

However, I would say that if you want to get big and strong, you should probably ditch the crossfit. I say this because I too had a number of training goals which weren’t ‘get big and strong’, and I did crossfit/endurance training and all other sports appropriate to them. When I decided that the goal was to ‘get big and strong (while maintaining athleticism/GPP/Endurance)’, I found that I was distinctly average at all of them.

It is only over the last 6 months that I have started to ‘get bigger and stronger’ by making the weights my primary goal. I have set some strength goals and everything else either contributes to that (and stays), or hinders that goal (and gets thrown out).

I think that unless you are genetically gifted, if you try to have too many goals, you will only ever be average at them. Otherwise, you might find yourself being distinctly average at everything.

Of course, I do not wish to question your goals, rather suggest that in my (limited) experience, if you want to get big and strong. Maybe you should focus on that particular goal? I have and I am loving the strength/size gains.

Covered in 5/3/1 page 85.

531 second addition he offers a tempkate for this purpose

[quote]Boilerroom wrote:
Covered in 5/3/1 page 85. [/quote]

In the 2nd Edition FYI.

[quote]daniel4738 wrote:
You may catch a lot of flak for mentioning crossfit :wink:

However, I would say that if you want to get big and strong, you should probably ditch the crossfit. [/quote]

Why would he “catch a lot of flak”?

He said specifically that he wants to get stronger to be more competitive in his sport (Crossfit). He didn’t say he’s doing Crossfit to get big and strong. There’s a big difference.

OP, don’t do BBB or anything high volume like that, that’s crazy. Just lift 2-3 days a week, keep it basic and low volume, and drive the weights up on the big lifts. Hard enough to ride two horses with one ass, trying to ride three (big, strong, better at xfit,) is not going to work.

If you can, keep the strength portion separate and narrow in focus.

I would suggest you eat a lot.

[quote]Ramo wrote:

Why would he “catch a lot of flak”?

He said specifically that he wants to get stronger to be more competitive in his sport (Crossfit). He didn’t say he’s doing Crossfit to get big and strong. There’s a big difference.

[/quote]

I say this because similar questions I have asked have been met with some flak - for instance over-head squats being refered to as over-head masturbaters, people suggesting that their wives/girlfriends only do barbell complexes when they are pregnant. There was also a comment on Kettlebell swings which I cannot seem to remember.

And like I said, I had no intention of questioning his goals. But from my own (admittedly limited) experience, getting big and strong for something else makes it a subsidiary goal by definition.

It seems to me like Crossfit is the number one goal and ‘getting big and strong’ is subsidiary to that. With myself, it was only by realizing that my real goal was to be ‘big and strong’, did I make that my number 1 priority (and subsequently see my lifts go up).

CrossShit

Top level crossfit competitors admit they don’t train using crossfit. 5/3/1 would be a great way to get stronger overall to be more competitive in your sport. I’d use one of the templates that has the Oly lifts or at least one of the power clean templates.

I’m not sure why this is so hard to grasp. OP wants to compete in CrossFit. He didn’t say he wants to get as big and strong as he possibly can; he said that he wants to get bigger and stronger expressly for the purpose of being more competitive in CrossFit (Ramo already hit this point). It’s not all that different from a guy that wants to get bigger and stronger to be better at football, or at wrestling, or another sport.

OP did not mention a current height or weight, but hypothetically speaking, if he’s 5’10" and 155 pounds, he could very easily gain some quality mass without ditching CrossFit altogether. Do some heavy lifting (a low-volume 5/3/1 variant would work fine) plus some sport-specific stuff (in this case, CrossFit WODs and event practice, much the way a football player would do some football drills or a wrestler would drill & wrestle) while eating a whole lot of predominantly clean foods high in protein, good carbs, and moderate amount of good fats. Profit.

Haven’t watched this so I can’t comment on it but OP might find it useful:

Thanks for the imput i’ll look at page 85 and watch this video!! thanks for the opinions on what to do, i think ill end up doing 531 beyond for 3 of the days with 2 wods a week to maintain my fitness.

OP, look up Gant Grimes Hybrid Program. I gained about 12lbs over the course of 12-15 weeks. It just requires that you eat a lot.

Rich Froning, the multi-year crossfit games winner, has said in a few interviews that I have seen/read that he uses 5/3/1 as his method of strength training, and does several WODs a day in his training for conditioning.

Which is no surprise because 5/3/1 FUCKING WORKS.

I think that’s a huge black hole in many crossfit “boxes” programing…they focus 100% on “constantly varied” conditioning methods (which is fine IMO) and give NO consideration to progressive strength programing. For most people, this starts out being fine, because they’re out of shape at the start, so progress is made. As time goes on…STALL.

That’s why the crossfit elite athletes at the games have to supplement the traditional “crossfit conditioning” with strength training…and why Mark Rippetoe eventually parted ways with CrossFit…not enough progressive strength programing.

[quote]T_rev wrote:
I have been doing crossfit for about 2 years now and i would like to get alot stronger and a bit bigger so i can compete but as most people now its hard to do if all you do is metcons!! I was thinking of doing 5/3/1 beyond or the boring but big cycle, which do you think would benefit more in my training?

Also what would be the best way to introduce it into my training? just straight up doing the cycles on the specified days and then training crossfit on the other days or trying to work them into what i do already?[/quote]

Have seen some good tidbits scrolling through here already, but I applaud your realization that you won’t get bigger/stronger solely on the metcon work.

I’d suggest boring but big. Take about an 8-12 week block and cut back on the metcon/WODs (to allow for the recovery to Grow!). Don’t have to condition as much as you normally might if you are doing multiple sets of 10…there’s just something about that rep number.

Maybe some specific event work or tabata with the prowler to maintain some basic “conditioning” as part of your accessory selection or on off lifting days (again, think more active recovery than killing it–meaning probably not tabata on an off day).

Go Get 'Em

Drop the metcons to no more than one or two per week, do a 4 day 5/3/1 cycle and spend at least 3 days working the Oly lifts. Then 8-12 weeks before a comp, start transitioning to hitting 8-10 metcons per week.

What are your performance goals?

There’s a big difference between, “I would like to get alot stronger and a bit bigger so i can compete” and, “I need to deadlift 500 and clean 300 so that I can compete”.

A 500 lb deadlift is tangible. You can draw a line from wherever you are now to 500 lbs and see all the points you need to hit along the way and develop a training plan to achieve it. “Alot stronger and a bit bigger” is vague. You could technically do dumbbell curls and tricep kickbacks 5 days a week and achieve that goal but it won’t win you any crossfit trophies.