Great video as always dude! Just a thought: are there studies showing a DEcrease in muscle mass and/or strength after a period of no training? For example, if athletes opted to focus on other muscle groups for a time. Might be an interesting vid.
Thanks. YES there is evidence for this. Check out this study, they trained one muscle group in isolation and saw that the trained muscle group increased in size, while the untrained ones (unrecruited) DECREASED in size. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38687626/ Will have to make a vid about this, stresses the importance of a well structured training program.
I really enjoy all the videos I've watched from you. Do you do online coaching? I have adhd and switch my structure to often 😅, I want to take my training to the next level and evolve in crossfit and you speak about things I have thought about for a long while!!
How about a cycle of 2 weeks. 1 week Push-Pull-leg-rest-Push-pull-leg Then a week with 3 or 4 Wods. I am struggling because with the PPL split most days I am to sore to do a proper WOD.
The reasoning on the 30% load during metcons has a problem: 30% load works for hypertrophy only if you take each set to exhaustion. This doesn't (or shouldn't) happen during MetCons. IMO a better alternative is to add one or two BB days a week or add BB exercises after the WOD as accessories to make sure we get the minimal effective dose as described in your video
Oh I think many people, including myself reach exhaustion, both muscular and cardiovascular at the end of a metcon. Certainly more experienced athletes. I would argue, even when you'd not reach complete exhaustion at lower weights, there will be some hypertrophic stimulus because of the super high volume. Agreed to add the body building sessions for extra effect, athough my experience is that there is not much BB left once I went super hard after a METCON :).
very informative video! but i am just wondering does heavy sets of snatches/c&j count as compound movements like squats/deads in terms of muscle building?
Thanks, hard to say as we do not have experimental data to show this potential difference. However, I would say that when you do snatches in a workout under fatigue, they WILL have some muscle building capacity due to the BFR - effect as discussed in the video. If you would do slow, long time under tension compound movements in isolation (not in a workout), they have more muscle building capacity than doing snatches (fast, explosive).
Great video! Watched it last week. I had a question regarding this. If i only have 4 days to train and main focus is strength but you still want to do some actual crossfit, what would be a good structute for that?
Focus on strenght in all sessions. Two pure strength (no metcon), two strength + metcon where the metcon is short and intense, targetting the same muscle groups as during the strength part.
Ineed, this video is mostly focussed on building muscle mass - which does not 1 to 1 correlate with building strenght. When you want to build pure strength as a CF athlete, you have to put even more emphasis on stength work (heavy and fast) and trim down even more on metcons. Because metcons per se will not build pure strength (at least not as much as they build muscle).
@@wod-science Got it. But I think my question really is: how can you build strength without building muscle? Just curious about the physiology behind that.
@@wod-science I came here to ask the same. As an ultra runner, I want to be strong, but I don't want to get any bigger. I mean .. if you wanted .. you could do a whole video on this ..
Great question. Likely both are not entirely the same, because with doing 1 sets every 2-3 days throughout the week, you'll have sustained increase in muscle protein synthesis (building muscle proteins / mass). While if you do one time 3 sets and then rest for 6 days, the effects dies off.
Thanks for the great video. I am on a somewhat similar program (3 p.m. lifting sessions mon/wed/fri, 2 a.m. WODs tue/sat, 1 a.m. pure conditioning thu). What was the thought behind the rowing intervals in the am/pm split training day (4min on/3min off @93% FTP)? I am more familiar with longer intervals at that intensity (from cycling), say 10-20min, although 93% is at the upper end of the sweetspot-range. But: Whoever it was programmed for - a 340 Watt FTP on the RowErg! - nice job!
Those numbers come from own experience in hybrid atheltes. Different background and training than endurance athletes. These intensities are hitting 7-8 RPE on the 'on' intervals which is what we want. Yes, this particular athelte is a beast.
For anyone not familiar with Functional Threshold Power (FTP) or how it is tested: an FTP of 340 Watts on the rower means that athlete is capable of holding a pace of about 1:39/500m for 20 min (at least if the most widespread testing protocol was used) and should result in a 5k row time below 16:30min.
As I aged and started more METCONs, I reduced my Sets, so called Bro-Volume, and make more Effective Sets, more Intence, closer to musclefailure - this really was necessary cause my recovery has changed a bit - The 1st Week-Plan u showed Gommar, is exactly how I split. After the heavy sets I do a small Metcon, which includes smaller more Isolated Muscles… there I can gain more over the factor: Metabolic stress instead of mechanical intensity like in the strength part. I usually do the most sets for my back, not more then 12/week … legs & presses are only 8/week and I gained more muscle in comparison to my past „bro-gym-days“.
5:40 but that's not really considered progressive overload. You add more work but if you are stronger now that at the beginning those new sets aren't overloading you much?
Progressive Overload does not have to be weight on the bar. Adding volume is a great way to also overload from a hypertrophy perspective. Obviously if you get stronger you would also adjust either weight or reps per set so that effort stays the same.
Yep. That goes back to what I said in the beginning of the video. Training volume can be 1. sets per week OR (and that's even a better way of defining it) 2. sets x weight on the bar. The groups that added 4 and 6 sets per week did have progressive overload, even when they did not add more weight, they added more volume.
@@wod-science Exactly. I like to use RPE as a measure for sets. So instead of X sets with weight Y on the bar I would say X sets with RPE Y (RPE being a constant). That way volume is the only variable. Also weight is relatively unimportant for hypertrophy as you are also saying in the video (30% 1Rm is enough to create a good stimulus).
A mesocycle of 4 days of lifting while hitting 3 wods days in the evening sounds like a good split.
Fantastic video! Will definitely apply this after my race in October during strength building
Appreciated. Which race you'll be doing?
@@wod-science cascais 70.4 triathlon, so now starting focussed prep and a bit weightloss:)
Banger Video.
This is gold! Thank you
Great video as always dude! Just a thought: are there studies showing a DEcrease in muscle mass and/or strength after a period of no training? For example, if athletes opted to focus on other muscle groups for a time. Might be an interesting vid.
Thanks. YES there is evidence for this. Check out this study, they trained one muscle group in isolation and saw that the trained muscle group increased in size, while the untrained ones (unrecruited) DECREASED in size.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38687626/
Will have to make a vid about this, stresses the importance of a well structured training program.
@@wod-science thanks for sharing! Really appreciate it!
I really enjoy all the videos I've watched from you. Do you do online coaching? I have adhd and switch my structure to often 😅, I want to take my training to the next level and evolve in crossfit and you speak about things I have thought about for a long while!!
Yes, starting-up a consulting service at the moment.
Can you email info@wod-science.com? Then we arrange an intro meeting.
I have sent a email 😊@@wod-science
How about a cycle of 2 weeks. 1 week Push-Pull-leg-rest-Push-pull-leg
Then a week with 3 or 4 Wods.
I am struggling because with the PPL split most days I am to sore to do a proper WOD.
Yes, you can separate those sessions. Soreness should go away over time if you implement progressive overload.
The reasoning on the 30% load during metcons has a problem: 30% load works for hypertrophy only if you take each set to exhaustion. This doesn't (or shouldn't) happen during MetCons. IMO a better alternative is to add one or two BB days a week or add BB exercises after the WOD as accessories to make sure we get the minimal effective dose as described in your video
Oh I think many people, including myself reach exhaustion, both muscular and cardiovascular at the end of a metcon. Certainly more experienced athletes. I would argue, even when you'd not reach complete exhaustion at lower weights, there will be some hypertrophic stimulus because of the super high volume.
Agreed to add the body building sessions for extra effect, athough my experience is that there is not much BB left once I went super hard after a METCON :).
@@wod-science I may be weird but after a metcon, doing BB exercise relaxes me 🙂
Thank you very much for all this information.
Glad it was helpful!
very informative video! but i am just wondering does heavy sets of snatches/c&j count as compound movements like squats/deads in terms of muscle building?
Thanks, hard to say as we do not have experimental data to show this potential difference. However, I would say that when you do snatches in a workout under fatigue, they WILL have some muscle building capacity due to the BFR - effect as discussed in the video.
If you would do slow, long time under tension compound movements in isolation (not in a workout), they have more muscle building capacity than doing snatches (fast, explosive).
Great video!!
Great video! Watched it last week. I had a question regarding this. If i only have 4 days to train and main focus is strength but you still want to do some actual crossfit, what would be a good structute for that?
Focus on strenght in all sessions. Two pure strength (no metcon), two strength + metcon where the metcon is short and intense, targetting the same muscle groups as during the strength part.
Great video, Gommar. Can you explain what happens physiologically in strength vs. hypertrophy training though?
Ineed, this video is mostly focussed on building muscle mass - which does not 1 to 1 correlate with building strenght. When you want to build pure strength as a CF athlete, you have to put even more emphasis on stength work (heavy and fast) and trim down even more on metcons. Because metcons per se will not build pure strength (at least not as much as they build muscle).
@@wod-science Got it. But I think my question really is: how can you build strength without building muscle? Just curious about the physiology behind that.
@@wod-science I came here to ask the same.
As an ultra runner, I want to be strong, but I don't want to get any bigger.
I mean .. if you wanted .. you could do a whole video on this ..
@@acook213heavy singles or doubles,
RIR 2-4, add some low rep plyos
Very interesting video. Does it have the same effect doing 3 sets during the same workout or 1 set for 3 workouts?
Great question. Likely both are not entirely the same, because with doing 1 sets every 2-3 days throughout the week, you'll have sustained increase in muscle protein synthesis (building muscle proteins / mass). While if you do one time 3 sets and then rest for 6 days, the effects dies off.
Thanks for the great video. I am on a somewhat similar program (3 p.m. lifting sessions mon/wed/fri, 2 a.m. WODs tue/sat, 1 a.m. pure conditioning thu). What was the thought behind the rowing intervals in the am/pm split training day (4min on/3min off @93% FTP)? I am more familiar with longer intervals at that intensity (from cycling), say 10-20min, although 93% is at the upper end of the sweetspot-range. But: Whoever it was programmed for - a 340 Watt FTP on the RowErg! - nice job!
Those numbers come from own experience in hybrid atheltes. Different background and training than endurance athletes. These intensities are hitting 7-8 RPE on the 'on' intervals which is what we want.
Yes, this particular athelte is a beast.
For anyone not familiar with Functional Threshold Power (FTP) or how it is tested: an FTP of 340 Watts on the rower means that athlete is capable of holding a pace of about 1:39/500m for 20 min (at least if the most widespread testing protocol was used) and should result in a 5k row time below 16:30min.
As I aged and started more METCONs, I reduced my Sets, so called Bro-Volume, and make more Effective Sets, more Intence, closer to musclefailure - this really was necessary cause my recovery has changed a bit - The 1st Week-Plan u showed Gommar, is exactly how I split. After the heavy sets I do a small Metcon, which includes smaller more Isolated Muscles… there I can gain more over the factor: Metabolic stress instead of mechanical intensity like in the strength part. I usually do the most sets for my back, not more then 12/week … legs & presses are only 8/week and I gained more muscle in comparison to my past „bro-gym-days“.
You seem to have figured it out. Great thinking there.
5:40 but that's not really considered progressive overload. You add more work but if you are stronger now that at the beginning those new sets aren't overloading you much?
Progressive Overload does not have to be weight on the bar. Adding volume is a great way to also overload from a hypertrophy perspective. Obviously if you get stronger you would also adjust either weight or reps per set so that effort stays the same.
Yep. That goes back to what I said in the beginning of the video. Training volume can be 1. sets per week OR (and that's even a better way of defining it) 2. sets x weight on the bar.
The groups that added 4 and 6 sets per week did have progressive overload, even when they did not add more weight, they added more volume.
@@wod-science Exactly. I like to use RPE as a measure for sets. So instead of X sets with weight Y on the bar I would say X sets with RPE Y (RPE being a constant). That way volume is the only variable.
Also weight is relatively unimportant for hypertrophy as you are also saying in the video (30% 1Rm is enough to create a good stimulus).