Getting stronger from following the WOD, but not bigger

Hello people,

I have been following the WOD for 5 months now and I am making good progress on a lots of areas!

- front lever went from flat tuck to straddle

- ugly swinging muscle ups are now strict

- shoulders are getting stronger from cast wall walks ( went from 2*5 to 1*10!) and HS wall runs

However I notice I'm not getting any bigger. I don't know why? I am @ 75kg - 9% bodyfat for over 1,5 years now. I really want to go to 80-85kg!

I dont really know much about programming so I was hoping someone could advise me on this matter.

I follow the upper body WOD's 3x a week. I do my squats 1x a week.

So:I really want to follow the WOD but I also wont to put on some serious muscle and go to to 80-85kg! What should I change?

I have posted my diet below for extra info:

- oat meal with whey isolate and raisins + multivitamines

- 3x brown bread with chicken, lettuce, tomato or 3x scrambled eggs with tomatoes & paprika + milk + 2x fruit

- lean beaf/chicken/ fish with pasta or potatoes and veggies

-BCAA + amino acids

TRAINING

- Again lean beaf/chicken/ fish with pasta or potatoes and veggies

- 500 gr of curds with nuts and honey

There are some excellent posts by Slizzardman about the differences between strength and hypertrophy training. Check out http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6425&p=57546&hilit=hypertrophy#p5754.

My understanding and experience is that the WOD are designed for developing strength and power; the amount of reps, sets, and time under tension are all set to build strength, not size. You'll certainly gain more muscle mass gradually with strength training and a proper diet, but if what you're primarily after is hypertrophy then trying out one of the regimens detailed in the threads on hypertrophy is probably your best bet.

Thank you for the link Aurele! The article of Slizz is very insightful and very profound. However I am still a bit confused.

If you want a more hypertrofy WOD. How would it look in practice?

Take monday and tuesdays WOD for example. How would you make it a more hypertrofy WOD :?:

MONDAY

Complete 3 sets each:

1 Embedded BL + 5 Tempo FL Rows

1 Embedded XR L-sit + 5 Tempo XR PPP Plus

1 Embedded FL + 5 Tempo HLL V to L

TUESDAY

Complete four rounds:

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

3 HeSPU

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

5 Wall PL Pushups

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

10 Swinging Dips

Someone? :|

Getinthecar said:

Take monday and tuesdays WOD for example. How would you make it a more hypertrofy WOD :?:

MONDAY

Complete 3 sets each:

1 Embedded BL + 5 Tempo FL Rows

1 Embedded XR L-sit + 5 Tempo XR PPP Plus

1 Embedded FL + 5 Tempo HLL V to L

TUESDAY

Complete four rounds:

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

3 HeSPU

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

5 Wall PL Pushups

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

10 Swinging Dips

Monday:

A)Complete 3 sets of

1 Embedded BL + 5 Tempo FL Rows

THEN:

Complete 4 sets of 4 FL rows using a body position you can perform 7-8 reps with, taking 60s rest between sets.

B) Complete 3 sets of

1 Embedded XR L-sit + 5 Tempo XR PPP Plus

THEN:

Complete 4 sets of 4 XR PPP using a position you can perform 7-8 reps with, taking 60s rest between sets. Alternative: weighted push ups on floor or XR.

C) Complete 3 sets of

1 Embedded FL + 5 Tempo HLL V to L

Complete 4 sets of 4 HLL variation that you can perform 7-8 reps with, taking 60s rest between sets. Alternatives: inverted situps, weighted decline situps, other ab work.

Tuesday is not appropriate to try and shift towards hypertrophy. The one exception would be to take the HeSPU out of the rounds and do them separately at the end for 6-10 sets of 3-4 reps with whatever variation you can do 8 reps with 60s rest. That may include some head elevation for many at first.

It is also appropriate to simply do a single set of each non-isometric or low leverage element to complete failure in 5-8 reps, doing the slowest possible negative on the failed rep. I am personally in favor of the approach I outlined, but the truth is that for absolute best results you should switch those up every few workouts.

Well I am bulking up but not gaining weight, I loose fat slowly a kind of body recomp...(I ve been very loose on my diet this 3 months!), so one thing will be balancing the other. But people is noticing the change

Nice, omegant! Body recomp is always the most impressive thing to watch in my opinion!

Tuesday is not appropriate to try and shift towards hypertrophy.

aha, cause of the high amount of isometric exercises in it?

So.. ring strength WOD's like below also would not be appropriate to try and shift towards hypertrophy...

3 sets of Galimore, L-sit press shoulder stand, XR HSPU, negative Reverse MU down to an inverted hang, hanging L-sit, 360 Pull

5x15 seconds FL

5x15 seconds XR Strap HS

5x15 seconds German Hang

It is also appropriate to simply do a single set of each non-isometric or low leverage element to complete failure in 5-8 reps, doing the slowest possible negative on the failed rep. I am personally in favor of the approach I outlined, but the truth is that for absolute best results you should switch those up every few workouts.

I got ya :wink: Thanks Slizz

It's just massively unsafe to try and work a bunch of volume on straight arm stuff. That's the main reason tuesday is a bad day to try and re-work for hypertrophy, too much planche to do so safely. You will most likely find out that performing one hypertrophy-based workout every 5-7 days per muscle group and just working the WODs as prescribed for the other days that involve the same muscle groups will work best for you.

Getinthecar said:

Someone? :|

It is kind of obvious but it also generally helps to eat above maintenance calories if you are trying to build muscle,

at least on hypertrophy days. Check out the nutrition threads.

I'm not saying what to eat but if you are eating enough to supply basic and growth needs, and still not

growing over time, you have eliminated one potential problem.