If you’re like me then you like functional fitness training, and you want to focus on building muscle mass. As you might know, I’ve just released my 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, and I’ve been working my way through each session. While it’s a lot of lifting, I’ve been feeling like I should add in a few WODs for bodybuilding, to maintain my conditioning. I created this supplemental program to pair with the hypertrophy work I’ve already programmed. Keep reading to see how this works.
I should point out that my most popular program is my 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program, and I still think that it’s a great place to start for intermediate and advanced athletes. It’s about 70 percent muscle building, and 30 percent WODs. If you compare it to a traditional bodybuilding program you’ll find it’s roughly double the volume. It was my first very popular program where I wrote WODs for bodybuilding, and it’s hard!
This left me in a conundrum. I really like the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, and it has even more volume. I specifically wrote that program to build body parts that traditional functional fitness programs often neglect. The 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program focuses heavily on the shoulders, and upper body musculature. I find that many functional fitness athletes spend less time on those muscle groups than they should.
As I worked my way through my program, I still wanted to do some quick WODs for bodybuilding after the lifting. I ended up just making something up on the spot and going for it. Needless to say, even for someone who’s written thousands of WODs, this isn’t the best way to go about your programming! This lead me to creating the 20 WOD supplement which pairs with each session of the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program. Don’t worry, I’ll release a supplement for all sessions of the full 12 week program. Let’s talk about the ground rules for the 20 WOD supplement.
If you want to check out the premium version of my 8 week program, with all the coaches notes, precentages, and more, here it is.
20 WODs for Bodybuilding: The Ground Rules
I would not recommend jumping into this program if you are new to functional fitness or lifting. This program has a lot of volume, and it’ll be way too much. Even if you’ve dabbled with functional fitness, you should really consider my 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program first.
Based upon my own experience with the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, I’ve found that each session takes around 45-60 minutes. I generally take around a 5 minute break and then start warming up for the WOD. Once the WOD is over, I always throw in a 10 min easy walk/cycle to cool down. There’s good research that indicates this helps recovery.
I don’t mind adding the WOD in at the end, but you have to recognize that you won’t be able to put out max effort after the the lifting you’ve already accomplished. If you really want to hit the WOD hard, I would recommend a completely separate session. It should be separated by at least 3 hours. Here are some ground rules for this 20 WOD supplement.
- Only attempt this program if you have at least one year of hard training in the gym
- You can do the 20 WOD Supplement right after the lifting or in a separate session
- Expect lower WOD performance due to the volume of lifts
- You can try drinking a Gatorade or a sports drink to maintain energy throughout the session
Without further ado, let’s get into the 20 WODs for bodybuilding.
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20 WODs to Supplement the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program
This supplement is written so you will do WOD 1 with session 1 from the bodybuilding program. I’ve also made sure that each session compliments the body parts you’re working on in the bodybuilding style lifts. Some days it will be the same muscle groups you’ve worked, and other days it’ll be a completely different movement pattern. You can download the 20 WOD supplement below.
Click Here to Download the 20 WOD Supplement to the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program
20 WOD Supplement Program Analysis
Feel free to modify or scale the movements as desired. In general, you want to go with the most similar movement as what was originally written. Check out this article so you can learn to scale workouts correctly. If you pay attention to the WODs, you’ll notice a few trends.
First, I haven’t included any long WODs. There’s no point, as you’ve already done a lot of lifting, and you don’t need to duplicate that work with even lighter weights. It’s just a waste of effort. That means that each session is quick and hard.
If you like this kind of program, but want to work on building equal parts muscle and conditioning, then check my 12 week program out.
Gaining More Muscle with the 20 WOD Supplemental Program
If you recall from the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, there are three drivers of hypertrophy, or muscle building. They are: mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. The bodybuilding portion of the program really hits mechanical tension, and muscle damage. When you lift heavy weights for high volumes you will always nail those two. However, it can be a little harder to achieve metabolic stress.
The 20 WOD supplemental program is designed to create metabolic stress. WODs are ideally suited for this, as they have limited rest, and high power outputs. This naturally yields metabolic stress. While I have no data to prove this, I would expect those athletes that can do the supplemental program with the bodybuilding program will actually achieve greater gains. I need a few of you all to do both and report back on your results before we can be sure of this!
Final Thoughts
You will need to make sure you are prioritizing your recovery, if you’re choosing to do both programs. I recommend checking out my nutrition calculator, and following the macro recommendations on the muscle gain tab. You need to eat the right amount so you gain muscle, without gaining unwanted body fat.
As long as you’re sleeping 7-8 hours a night, and staying hydrated, I would expect you can show great results following the supplement to the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program. If you have any questions or comments put them in the comment section below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training!
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Cool work. Thanks. Can you give an estimate for time cap for the WOD. What time should be reserved in a tight family father day 😉
Most of these WODs should be in the 8-12 minute range with many shorter. I don’t think any would be over 15min. If they are I would suggest scaling.