Crossfit and Gym Training

ashleearoha

Hey, I havn't posted here before but I was hoping to get some answers on this topic.

I was a gym junkie for a while before I switched to crossfit last year. I love crossfit but I have noticed I have lost muscle and I don't look like how I want to look, I want to build up muscle and for it to be noticeable.

Don't get me wrong, crossfit has made me stronger and it gave me abs which I hadn't really had before. I want to continue with crossfit but also integrate a gym program as well. I admit its more for aesthetics. I love crossfit for making me strong and giving me endurance but I want sexy glutes, quads, shoulders, biceps...all that stuff.

Would cutting back crossfit to 3-4 times a week and also adding in a gym program to do 3-4 times a week help me build muscle? Or will I end up being overtrained and lose more!

heybales

Consider this.

To get a good lifting workout out that requires the body to go to overload and cause micro-tears, means you are doing the lifting with fresh muscles to really overload with weight, and then the 24-36 hr recovery time to actually repair and stronger.

Could you design a week to allow that to happen with CF, so the same muscles weren't used day after day?

I'd wager you'd likely get jack-of-all-trades, master of none situation.

I'm sure you could arrange a 2 x weekly full body lifting schedule, and then put a CF day away from that, and have traditional rest days between them all.

Or a CF day, rest day, and then 4 days in a row of alternating upper/lower split, then rest day again.

But would 1 day of CF be enough for you?

But 3 days of CF and lifting? I'd suggest only if you did the lifting first, and attempted the CF immediately following with whatever strength you had left.
That way the lifting got fresh muscles to lift as heavy as you really could, and you got a rest day between lifts.

butterbear1980

Ashlee you are so awesome. First thread I've seen of a female cross fitter complaining she isn't getting enough muscles . I wonder if upping intake/bulking would be a goid idea? I look forward to Sara and SS response to this thread.

butterbear1980

Bump

MrGonzo05

I don't view Crossfit as strength training. Crossfit will help a complete novice get stronger and build muscle, but then, so would just about anything. I'm not trying to convince you not to do Crossfit, as you said you enjoy it. My suggestion is to get on a strength training training program that will help you achieve your goal to build muscle, and do Crossfit for fun, work it in best you can without burying yourself in the process.