You now have 60 savage WODs for bodybuilding that will help you build muscle, and burn body fat. These workouts are designed to compliment my most popular free bodybuilding program. They will help you pack on muscle mass, and maintain your conditioning. Each WOD is short, intense, and very high power output. Keep reading to see the full program.
As I stated above, the 60 savage WODs for bodybuilding are an addendum to my 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program. That program has three parts which you can see here: part one, part two, part three. That training program has no CrossFit workouts, or functional fitness style training. It is a pure bodybuilding workout program, built upon a lot of research, and trial and error.
Even though the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program is very high volume, there are some people out there that want to do that program, plus traditional WODs (workout of the day). This prompted me to write the 20 WODs for bodybuilding series, culminating in this workout plan, where I’ve combine all three parts so you have a total of 60 WODs for bodybuilding. A little further down on you’ll find the download for all WODs. Here’s a quick overview for these WODs
60 Savage WODs for Bodybuilding Overview
- Not designed to be a stand alone program
- Includes heavy weights and lighter weights
- Designed to avoid interfering with bodybuilding program
- Can be done at the end of each hypertrophy session
- Able to achieve high intensity if done in second session
- Most WODs are 7-10 min in length
- Designed for intermediate to advanced lifters
- You can build strength but this isn’t a strength training program
The first thing you need to know is that you can’t just do these WODs by themselves and expect to build much muscle mass. They’re designed to compliment the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, in a few specific ways. The WODs help create metabolic stress, which is one of the key drivers of hypertrophy, and they will help maintain your conditioning. If you just want to build muscle mass and don’t care about conditioning, just do the bodybuilding program. However, if you’re a functional fitness athlete, you can do both.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this is a ton of lifting volume, when doing both programs. If you don’t have a fair amount of experience in the gym, then I might recommend a different program. Give my 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program a shot. It will build muscle mass, and conditioning, but won’t have you in the gym twice a day. The details are below.
We’ve covered some of the reasoning behind this program, now let’s cover what an individual gym session should look like. Things like your warm up, and cool down really matter. They will impact how well you are able to build muscle size.
How to Combine 60 Savage WODs for Bodybuilding With the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program
As a coach, I get a lot of questions on how to complete each training session, or how much you should rest between different parts of the program. Because our priority is muscle building, we will complete our body building programming first. In the graphic below, we are looking at session 41. The bodybuilding work is on the left, and the WOD is in the top right.
I’m not going to rehash what the color coding means, or why there’s no reps or weights specified in the red blocks. Those are a superset, to be done in a specific manner. Go to part three of the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program if you want those details. I’ve also covered rest periods for the bodybuilding work there too.
As I stated earlier, you can do the bodybuilding work, and the WOD in one session, but that’s going to really impact the amount of intensity you can bring to the WOD. If you want to do it this way you should be drinking some carbs, in whatever sports drink you like, during your session. Research has shown that this preserves muscle glycogen, and will allow you to workout harder towards the end.
If you want to perform this program with max intensity, then you need to do this program in two sessions. I recommend separating them by at least 4 hours. This will allow your body to recover, and you’ll benefit more from the WOD.
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How Should You Warm Up?
Each session should begin with a reasonable warm up. I advise my athletes to do 3-5 minutes of jogging, incline walking, rowing, assault bike, or any other full body cardio movement. This will increase core body temperature, and allow you to perform better once you get into the workout.
Next, you’ll need to move into your specific warm up. This warm up will increase your nervous systems efficiency for the muscle groups you will be using during the session. In session 41, the bodybuilding program is shoulder, and back dominant. I would probably do something like 20-30 reps of strict press with just the bar, focusing on moving it quickly. I’d do the same amount of reps of ring rows to warm up the back. After that, you can start your Arnold presses.
There are tons of coaches that will have you going through a much more detailed warm up and they aren’t wrong to do so, but this is the best way I’ve found to get into working out quickly. Next we’ll talk about our cool down.
How Should You Cool Down?
The cool down is the most neglected portion of any session. This is a shame, because research shows that you can build more muscle mass if you cool down correctly. You don’t have to do anything crazy, just jump on a stationary bike, or other cardio equipment, and move for 10 minutes at a very easy pace.
This has a couple of benefits. First, you’ll find that you feel better leaving the gym. This is because you’re helping your body clear metabolic waste products from the hard work you’ve just done. It kick starts the recovery process. This will insure that you’re ready for your next session much sooner than you otherwise might be.
We’ve covered how to combine these two programs for best results. Now, let’s take a look at the final piece of the WODs for bodybuilding addendum. After that we’ll talk about nutrition, which will be key.
60 Savage WODS for Bodybuilding: Sessions 41-60
This is the final piece of the three part series. The download below will include all three 20 WOD portions, so make sure you start on page three, otherwise you’ll be experiencing a strong sense of deja vu. The PDF is a Dropbox download, so you can use that, or if you’re at work and your IT department sucks, you can screenshot the image for sessions 41-60. They’re the same thing.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE 60 WODS FOR BODYBUILDING PDF
You can see that each session matches with the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program. Session 41 goes with WOD 41, and so on. Make sure that you’re taking at least 2 rest days per week. This program is written as a five day split. You can do all five days in a row, and take two days off, or you can do something like 3 days of work followed by 1 rest day, 2 days of work, then 1 rest day.
Astute readers will notice I’ve made a few changes to the programming style for these WODs, compared to the previous 40 sessions. I’ve done this to keep our primary focus on building muscle, without overtraining.
The total amount of work in the bodybuilding program is very high, with the inclusion of the super sets. This means I can’t give you a WOD that taxes those same muscle groups. Most research shows that you only need 40-60 hard reps per muscle groups, 2-3 times per week. Some body parts can stand more training than others, but this a good rule of thumb. Yes very advanced lifters need higher reps, but not as many as you’d think.
If I programed a lot of push jerks for session 41, after you’ve already done a lot of direct upper body work (presses and pull ups), then you would rapidly become over trained. You could do these reps, but you won’t benefit from them, as your body has to repair the damage you’ve done to the muscle. If you dig too big of a recovery hole, your body can’t be ready to train again in a few days. It’s better to program a power clean, which is more lower body dominant.
I’ve picked compound exercises or full body functional movements, that don’t target the same muscle groups as the bodybuilding program. I’ve also chosen slightly lighter weights than I otherwise might have. This will allow you to attack the WOD a little harder, and aid your recovery. Most importantly, it will allow you train those same muscles hard in a few days. Next let’s talk about eating correctly for this program.
How Should You Eat to Gain Muscle?
You need food to provide the building blocks to repair muscle. Each macronutrient provides specific chemical compounds that allow you to continue with this difficult training plan. Protein will rebuild and repair the damage to your muscles. Carbs provide energy, once they’re converted to glycogen, to power hard anaerobic exercise. Fats provide the elements that allow you to create hormones, especially testosterone.
The most effective way of eating to gain muscle, is to eat a sufficiency of each macronutrient, with a small energy surplus. Intermediate and advanced (natural) lifters won’t be able to build muscle mass, and burn fat at the same time. No matter what Instagram tells you, that’s the reality of it.
I recommend you download my Ultimate Nutrition Calculator spread sheet. Navigate to the muscle gain tab, and put your info in the red sections. It will then recommend your total caloric intake, and your macro split. You can also use it to estimate your caloric expenditure, for each workout session. It can also track your body fat. It’s pretty great tool.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve paid attention, you’ll notice that this program is quite the under taking. You have to be really dedicated to pull off both portions of this plan. As DJ from GBRS group says, this isn’t a low commitment lifestyle. There’s more to bodybuilding than biceps curls, bench presses, and isolation exercises!
If you get into this program, and you think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, I’ve still got you covered. Try my 12 Week Muscular Growth Program below. You can still build serious muscle mass, and conditioning, but it isn’t as insane as this program. Otherwise, you can check out any of my other programs after you’ve finished this one, so you can keep the gains train rolling.
If you have any questions or comments put them below and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there, and get training!
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