Crossfit for a skinny guy?

[Preston Sprimont]

Hi all.

I'm fairly new to crossfit. I've read a lot and have been cramming my brain full of new techniques and theories (and I plan on continuing to read articles--I invested in the CF journal subscription) and I have been doing some (scaled) WODs from the mainsite for a short while now (rather inconsistently because of school and lack of a gym when I'm not at school). I'm also coming off of a back injury, so I'm taking it slow-ish.

Anyway, I'm 21 years old, about 6' and 160lb. Pretty low body fat, but a skinny build and a fast metabolism that make weight and strength gain a bit of a challenge. I started my fitness journey a few years ago at about 130lb, but after spending a summer lifting heavy and eating preposterous amounts of mostly clean food, I've gotten myself up to a healthier bodyweight--but I could still use some more. I've spent the past few years jumping around different training programs (tabata stuff, starting strength) and learning the basic lifts, but because of recurring injuries, travelling, and bad excuses I haven't stuck with anything long enough to see big results.

I stumbled across crossfit and I love what I've read so far... my understanding of fitness has been changed forever (no joke). So I want to follow crossfit to some extent, but I have the feeling that just doing the WODs won't increase my strength as much as I would like (considering the higher percentage of metcons). So I'm thinking of doing a crossfit/strength training fusion and I am looking for ideas.
I want more strength, more knowledge, more weight, more mobility, and more fitness. So any ideas that will help me reach these goals are more than welcome!

Thank you in advance.
Preston

[Kevin Bean]

With your history of injury and "newness" I'd suggest just easing into plain Jane Crossfit. Try it for a couple of months and see where it takes you. It took me to a 350 deadlift with no extra work on the side. It's not monsterous but that's where the gains slowed for me and I decided it was time to add some extra strength work.

In the meantime you'll find what does and doesn't work for you, what needs more work or less and you may have a better grasp of programming.

What I'm saying is just give it a try, you've got your whole life to get strong.

[Tamara Cohen]

Welcome, Preston.

I would consider looking at either Justin's 70's Big Program or CFFB. That will let you keep the heavy lifting and add smart, short metcons. Certainly, you need to worry about doing things appropriately with your back injury. And, keep eating. That's important.

[Eric Montgomery]

Another vote for CFFB or 70s Big S&C, since your goals are to get bigger and stronger while still doing some CFish stuff.

[Jason Wallis]

If you gained 30 lbs over "a summer," you did something right. With your age and history of injuries, I would recomment that you have someone who knows what they're doing look at your form on each lift, injuries are for us old people. Heavy compound lifts, lots of clean food, and short intense metcons should get you moving in the right direction.

[Chad Anderson]

You understand what you need to do. Now do it. For 6 months, consistently. Getting strong is not for the weak!




BTW- I love preposterous amounts of good food during a strength phase! Who am I kidding, I love lots of good food all the time!

[Preston Sprimont]

Kevin - You think that just straight crossfit is enough for considerable strength and weight gains? A 350 deadlift is a dream for me! Did you start CF with a good strength base? I'm coming from a still-shaky understanding of programming (I think that's the proper term). Obviously, going with it and seeing what works for me is the best answer, and I do intend to do that. But for the time being, any new knowledge and advice is fine by me!
And good point, that I have my whole life to get strong. I need to keep reminding myself of that!

Tamara and Eric - CFFB is Crossfit Football? I've seen it mentioned but haven't looked into it. Time to do that I suppose! Is 70's Big a program with workouts like SS or CF or just a general strength oriented blog?

Jason - Yeah. Heavy things, lots of food, and GOMAD (probably closer to 3/4 GOMAD) put on the pounds in a good way.
I'll see if I can find someone who knows what he or she is doing to check my form (I've certainly become keenly aware of it after injuries--silver lining), but for the most part I'm a lone wolf in the gym and I'm the most fitness nutty among my friends.
As far as combining strength training and CF, would you suggest doing one or two compound lifts and then a metcon WOD each workout day, or would you suggest alternating days between strength training and WOD-ing? (with rest days, of course)

Chad - 6 months straight CF?
And amen. Eating is tough work sometimes though!

[James White]

Originally Posted by Preston Sprimont

Tamara and Eric - CFFB is Crossfit Football? I've seen it mentioned but haven't looked into it. Time to do that I suppose! Is 70's Big a program with workouts like SS or CF or just a general strength oriented blog?

+1 for 70's big if you wanna get strong and add size.

It took my squat from a 315# 2x5 to a 340# x 10 just yesterday.

My DL went from a 365# x 5 to a 505# x 1.

Bench was even better. 165# for 3x5 to a 215# x 11. That program is full of win. I got bigger than I wanted to, but stronger than I expected to. So I'm good with it.

Here's the program in all its glory:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...CI6VmcwL&pli=1 (WFS)

[Nalin Prabhu]

James-
How do you figure a starting weights and increases each week?

[Preston Sprimont]

Originally Posted by James White

+1 for 70's big if you wanna get strong and add size.

It took my squat from a 315# 2x5 to a 340# x 10 just yesterday.

My DL went from a 365# x 5 to a 505# x 1.

Bench was even better. 165# for 3x5 to a 215# x 11. That program is full of win. I got bigger than I wanted to, but stronger than I expected to. So I'm good with it.

Here's the program in all its glory:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...CI6VmcwL&pli=1 (WFS)

Thanks for the link. It looks pretty straight forward. So I suppose any ordinary metcon WOD could be used for the "conditioning" portion of the program?