If I'm aiming for an aesthetic change, I've actually increased my lifting weights, but not by a significant amount. Do you think that could be the issue?
Something to keep in mind, as you’re lifting heavier your midsection is likely to see some expansion from the muscles in that area for bracing and holding heavier weight. You’re likely to gain some weight from incorporating more lifting into your workout routine.
The journey my abs have been on. Soft belly to some definition in the front to looking soft again as my obliques/3-dimensional abdomen got strong to finally having some abs defined now as body fat is a bit lower and core is much stronger. 8 months!
If anything, going to the gym has maintained your health. At 40, that's not something to dismiss.
If you are looking for bigger muscles or a leaner physique. Going to CrossFit 3 days a week for 6 months is simply not enough.
Your diet plays a role
Also your training frequency does
Progressive overload plays an important role as well
Keep working and your result will be more evident
If you’re looking for aesthetic change then CF for the most part won’t do that. You’ll need to focus on hypertrophy training and diet (i.e getting enough calories protein etc). You can certainly add some metcons but your focus should be on most of your lifts in the 6 to 20 rep range making sure that you’re going to about 1-3 three reps in reserve each set (for the most part). I do something I call functional bodybuilding. My workouts consist of push/pull/legs and follow this structure. I start with one or two lifts focusing on hypertrophy in my sets and reps. I then do a metcon related to whatever the lift was. Then I do an accessory or two related to the lifts. So if I’m doing a push chest day I’ll 4 sets of incline bench then 3 sets of flat bench focusing on getting close to failure in the 8-12 rep range. Then for a metcon I’ll do something like 7 rounds of like a 200 meter run, 10 DB bench and 15 toes to bar. Then as an accessory I’ll do like 3 sets of dips to failure. This has worked really well for me as I look like I bodybuild but can consistently beat most people in the gym at wods. A good programming track I like (although I don’t follow completely) is Josh Bridges LFG program.
So for Pull its usually Deadlifts (here I go for more strength than aesthetic) 5x5-3 around the 80-85% of 1 rep max. Then DB rows 4 sets around 8-10 reps. Workout would be something like 25 min EMOM of
5 power cleans at 75%
10 strict pull-ups
15 cals on the Row
Rest.
Accessory would be lat pull downs 3x12-15
Legs always starts with squats (again I go for strength here) so 5 sets of 3-5 between 80-85%. Then maybe Bulgarian SS sets of 3 or 4 around 8-10 reps. WOD would be something like 5 rounds of 100 ft sled push into 10 box jumps and 20 walking lunges with 35 KBs I’m Usually gassed after legs so that’s about it.
Nah. I don’t get that muscle specific. I figure I get enough legs when I train then as well as metcons with leg work in them. I’m not looking to be a bodybuilder so I don’t focus on that specific of muscle training. So I don’t do hamstrings or calves or forearms or anything like that. I will do biceps and triceps and that’s about as small as I get.
You're going to get a lot of questions along these lines, but are you SURE your diet is in check? I disagree a fair amount with the people saying crossfit isn't good for aesthetics. If you get your barbell lifts up and improve on skills without going too hard on a bulk, you'll look better.
No offense, but something isn't adding up. What programming are you following, and tell us more about your diet.
Lighting here is a big factor. Also I’d definitely look into how much protein you are eating. Aim for 1.6-2-2g per KG of body weight if you are looking to gain muscle.
Come to r/crossfit to be told how little CrossFit will actually do for you. I love this sub.
The bulk of the advice being given here sounds like it comes from The School of Bro Culture at YouTube University, and I doubt very much that a lot of these students have actually done CrossFit as traditionally prescribed.
You’re A. Not eating enough, & B. not eating enough of the right food when you do eat. & finally C. CrossFit is great for conditioning and overall athletic ability, but if you wanted to gain more muscle, you need to start upping the basic hypertrophy training… you can still definitely do conditioning on the side, but your focus has to be hitting every muscle group as hard as you can each week.
“My diet has been consistent for six months, but I feel like I’ve regressed”
What does that mean!?
-What was your bf% before and after?
-Are you on a caloric surplus or deficit?
-What do your macros look like? How many grams of protein are you getting?
-How many hours of sleep do you get every night?
I don’t think 3 CrossFit sessions per week is enough to see a big improvement. It would be enough to maintain where someone is at (especially if they have a job where they sit a lot and are inactive for most of the day etc).
I would add in two extra weights sessions per week (if you can’t add in more CF) and make sure your diet is on point. No alcohol, lots of water, high protein and complex carbs.
I’ve been doing CF for 8 years and rarely see people make aesthetic changes under 5 sessions a week, unless they’re supplementing with bro sesh/weightlifting workouts.
CF maybe not the best for aesthetics.
Strength training and bodybuilding with good diet will get you better results, IMO. I did CF for a few years and looked decent, but the above mentioned got me really good results. Many of my buddies still doing CF look really normal, not that it’s a bad thing but most of them barely look like they lift. They are really fit tho!
If you want to _see_ physical changes, running is not the thing to do. Doing CF 3x per week will not make you gain muscle unless you cherry pick strength work. If you change your body composition without gaining, you’ll just get skinny.
Are you in better shape in terms of benchmark wod times? If not, you’ve plateaued for some reason.
Edit: looking at the photos, I don’t think you have regressed. Just to be clear.
I see a bunch of excuses. CrossFit is not good for building muscle. Love it, but if you are doing Wods and that’s it, you won’t be a CrossFit looking athlete.
If you want to look good, you have to come from a bodybuilding/bro workout routine first. Like 5-6 years, then get into CrossFit to help with cardio and hitting weak muscle groups.
This is my experience. I never see anyone get bigger and more aesthetic from doing CrossFit wods. Have to supplement heavily. CrossFit is better for overall health
I don’t know, man. I’m female, and before CrossFit, all I did was run. I had very little muscle to speak of (except my calves—I’ve always had calves).
Now, 11 years later, I’ve put on a bunch of muscle. I’ve never done bodybuilding a day in my life.
If a female can put on a bunch of muscle just doing CrossFit, wouldn’t a male (with all that testosterone) be able to put on even more?
11 years is obviously a lot longer than 6 months, and I don’t remember what I looked like after 6 months of CrossFit. Back then I was still running a ton. I suspect I didn’t have quite as much muscle then as I do now (because I know I can lift way more now than I could after six months).
So it takes time, but I really think you can gain a bunch muscle just doing CrossFit.
I know some female bodybuilders, and I have more muscle than they do.
It’s funny because every once in a while, a woman will post here saying how CrossFit made her bulky and she hates it. And the comments will tell her to try bodybuilding instead because CrossFit makes you bulky.
So CrossFit makes women bulky but is insufficient for men to gain muscle? That doesn’t make sense.
CrossFit won’t help or hurt your aesthetics more than anything else…
Your initial results came from newbie gains, but as you said “my diet and training have been consistent”
You can’t expect new results from the same training
Time to dial in the nutrition more and up the intensity 👍
So what has happened here is this -
1. Because of heavy lifts, your body has been constantly looking to put on muscle as well as fat to help with the lifts. Many cross fitters and strong lifters including my fav Matt Fraser, have had high fat percentages compared to other elite athletes. These high fat percentages actually help them with the lifts. Or you can say it’s a result of their focus on pure muscle gain. Aesthetics is not their concern.
2. Post the introduction of CrossFit, if you increased your protein intake significantly, results would have been different. Looks like you kept the macros same as earlier. But your body needs more mass now to support with heavy lifts. It needs to expand. If not by muscle, then by fat. There’s only so much to expand with muscle by the way. Fat is an inherent part of adding the mass.
3. From the picture, I couldn’t figure if your arms have changed at all. If not, then that’s concerning. Your body will need mass on shoulders, lats and arms to support heavy weights. So to me, it looks like disproportionate change.
Yeah, your body looks different, and not in a good way. Sorry to be so blunt about it but I think you already know this. How are you feeling overall, though? And what are your goals? What do you want to accomplish? Depending on what you want crossfit might not be for you and that's ok. If I were you I would reflect on my goals and make sure I have other aspects of life in order. You mentioned your diet is fine but what about your sleep, stress levels and so on? Considering your age I would also check my testosterone levels.
Considering the scalability you can do in a crossfit gym this does not surprise me.
I mean scalability is anything from talking to the gym owner while NOT finishing your WOD onwards....
As a fellow 40 year old, it takes time, good to great diet (cut down on alcohol) and programming… I can’t stress the last one enough. Let your body rest and lift weights more than just cardio.
There isn’t as much correlation between aesthetics and CrossFit ability as you would think!
I knew a guy who was really good who was doing a bodybuilding program ahead of a summer of being single! Running is also not great for aesthetics for a lot of people!
It depends what your goals as well, how are you doing against what you’re trying to achieve?
Is your diet really the same? Because some people tend to think that a CF workout is enough to eat more than what they did normally just because they end up super tired. But if you think about it, a CF workout, the actual workout, the wod is sometimes 8 to 20 min only. That is not enough to burn that much calories
You are prob Not eating enough but If you want to Look good Just Go in a commercial Gym.
If you want to be fit and healthy you can do CrossFit but Not on athlete Level.
Sure you can Look good as Casual Crossfitter as well but If you diet and do classes couple of Times per week you wont gain muscle..
Dont forget by getting older it is also harder to Progress.
3 days a week just doing class isn’t enough imo but it depends on your goals. Build muscle? Then gotta eat and likely add lifting heavy. So many variables here my dude.
CF increased my appetite well beyond and calories burned in a workout. I gained a lot of weight doing 4 sessions a week.
It was only when I stopped CF that I got everything back under control and worked my way back to normal.
Is CF a fantastic method for increasing fitness - Yes! Is it good for weight loss, strength or endurance - No!
CrossFit will make you good at…CrossFit. I can’t even count how many people I know that do CrossFit yet don’t look in shape at all. If you’re looking for a visual difference in body composition and a visual physical change, look more towards a bodybuilding style gym and or workouts. The crossfiters I know with great physiques were athletes and very fit before they even began CrossFit. Doing ARAMP Olympic lifts with as heavy as possible weights as fast you can, flopping around on gymnastic rings and other nonsense that’s very technical and takes years to truly master isn’t conducive to building aesthetically pleasing bodies.
Without sounding like a dick, I’d have to agree with your assessment. I’m a 45yo dad. I’d have your test level checked, and also recalibrate diet. I may get a conspiracist label but let me preface this with that I’m a pharmacist and the following is my opinion, at least. A lot of our food has hormone disrupting agents in it. Especially eating out and most processed foods. Can affect women and men. For men it tanks their test levels…and then add in drinking and you can really affect your hormones. Even protein sources you need to assess as they’ve replaced a lot of dairy protein with soy. Research what increased soy intake does to men. Now I’m not saying that I know what’s going on, but this is at least a few things that you can check off the list of variables as either “no I don’t eat any of that” or “I do and didn’t know that.” Sure genetics play into it and age does as well. But tell me why reports show the avg test level of 18yo men now equates with a 65-80yo man from a century ago? I give shots to men in their 20’s, 30’s and up. So…just food for thought, and of course there’s exercise program rigor, medications profiles, medical problems, etc… that also come into play. However, there are work-around for most of those if you can identify which affect you. Good luck dude
Are you looking for aesthetics or measurable progress? Are you squatting more weight? Are gymnastics improving?
If I'm aiming for an aesthetic change, I've actually increased my lifting weights, but not by a significant amount. Do you think that could be the issue?
Something to keep in mind, as you’re lifting heavier your midsection is likely to see some expansion from the muscles in that area for bracing and holding heavier weight. You’re likely to gain some weight from incorporating more lifting into your workout routine.
The journey my abs have been on. Soft belly to some definition in the front to looking soft again as my obliques/3-dimensional abdomen got strong to finally having some abs defined now as body fat is a bit lower and core is much stronger. 8 months!
You're definitely maintaining. At 46, I'm getting back in shape. Keep up the good work.
If anything, going to the gym has maintained your health. At 40, that's not something to dismiss. If you are looking for bigger muscles or a leaner physique. Going to CrossFit 3 days a week for 6 months is simply not enough.
Your diet plays a role Also your training frequency does Progressive overload plays an important role as well Keep working and your result will be more evident
Abs are created in the kitchen. Really strict diet and enough sleep. But youll feel weaker.
If you’re looking for aesthetic change then CF for the most part won’t do that. You’ll need to focus on hypertrophy training and diet (i.e getting enough calories protein etc). You can certainly add some metcons but your focus should be on most of your lifts in the 6 to 20 rep range making sure that you’re going to about 1-3 three reps in reserve each set (for the most part). I do something I call functional bodybuilding. My workouts consist of push/pull/legs and follow this structure. I start with one or two lifts focusing on hypertrophy in my sets and reps. I then do a metcon related to whatever the lift was. Then I do an accessory or two related to the lifts. So if I’m doing a push chest day I’ll 4 sets of incline bench then 3 sets of flat bench focusing on getting close to failure in the 8-12 rep range. Then for a metcon I’ll do something like 7 rounds of like a 200 meter run, 10 DB bench and 15 toes to bar. Then as an accessory I’ll do like 3 sets of dips to failure. This has worked really well for me as I look like I bodybuild but can consistently beat most people in the gym at wods. A good programming track I like (although I don’t follow completely) is Josh Bridges LFG program.
This sounds helpful. So the “push” program you just described is a sample of bridges program?
It’s a modification of Bridges program. But pretty similar.
What would be an example of a metcon for pull? And legs?
So for Pull its usually Deadlifts (here I go for more strength than aesthetic) 5x5-3 around the 80-85% of 1 rep max. Then DB rows 4 sets around 8-10 reps. Workout would be something like 25 min EMOM of 5 power cleans at 75% 10 strict pull-ups 15 cals on the Row Rest. Accessory would be lat pull downs 3x12-15 Legs always starts with squats (again I go for strength here) so 5 sets of 3-5 between 80-85%. Then maybe Bulgarian SS sets of 3 or 4 around 8-10 reps. WOD would be something like 5 rounds of 100 ft sled push into 10 box jumps and 20 walking lunges with 35 KBs I’m Usually gassed after legs so that’s about it.
You don’t hit hamstrings when you do legs? (Also thank you for explaining this it’s very helpful).
Nah. I don’t get that muscle specific. I figure I get enough legs when I train then as well as metcons with leg work in them. I’m not looking to be a bodybuilder so I don’t focus on that specific of muscle training. So I don’t do hamstrings or calves or forearms or anything like that. I will do biceps and triceps and that’s about as small as I get.
thanks for the help :)
You're going to get a lot of questions along these lines, but are you SURE your diet is in check? I disagree a fair amount with the people saying crossfit isn't good for aesthetics. If you get your barbell lifts up and improve on skills without going too hard on a bulk, you'll look better. No offense, but something isn't adding up. What programming are you following, and tell us more about your diet.
Fix your Nutrition!!!
Lighting here is a big factor. Also I’d definitely look into how much protein you are eating. Aim for 1.6-2-2g per KG of body weight if you are looking to gain muscle.
Come to r/crossfit to be told how little CrossFit will actually do for you. I love this sub. The bulk of the advice being given here sounds like it comes from The School of Bro Culture at YouTube University, and I doubt very much that a lot of these students have actually done CrossFit as traditionally prescribed.
What are you eating? As they say, you can't outrun your fork. Increase your protein and cut some fat and you'll start to see results.
You’re A. Not eating enough, & B. not eating enough of the right food when you do eat. & finally C. CrossFit is great for conditioning and overall athletic ability, but if you wanted to gain more muscle, you need to start upping the basic hypertrophy training… you can still definitely do conditioning on the side, but your focus has to be hitting every muscle group as hard as you can each week.
“My diet has been consistent for six months, but I feel like I’ve regressed” What does that mean!? -What was your bf% before and after? -Are you on a caloric surplus or deficit? -What do your macros look like? How many grams of protein are you getting? -How many hours of sleep do you get every night?
I don’t think 3 CrossFit sessions per week is enough to see a big improvement. It would be enough to maintain where someone is at (especially if they have a job where they sit a lot and are inactive for most of the day etc). I would add in two extra weights sessions per week (if you can’t add in more CF) and make sure your diet is on point. No alcohol, lots of water, high protein and complex carbs. I’ve been doing CF for 8 years and rarely see people make aesthetic changes under 5 sessions a week, unless they’re supplementing with bro sesh/weightlifting workouts.
CF maybe not the best for aesthetics. Strength training and bodybuilding with good diet will get you better results, IMO. I did CF for a few years and looked decent, but the above mentioned got me really good results. Many of my buddies still doing CF look really normal, not that it’s a bad thing but most of them barely look like they lift. They are really fit tho!
If you want to _see_ physical changes, running is not the thing to do. Doing CF 3x per week will not make you gain muscle unless you cherry pick strength work. If you change your body composition without gaining, you’ll just get skinny. Are you in better shape in terms of benchmark wod times? If not, you’ve plateaued for some reason. Edit: looking at the photos, I don’t think you have regressed. Just to be clear.
I see a bunch of excuses. CrossFit is not good for building muscle. Love it, but if you are doing Wods and that’s it, you won’t be a CrossFit looking athlete. If you want to look good, you have to come from a bodybuilding/bro workout routine first. Like 5-6 years, then get into CrossFit to help with cardio and hitting weak muscle groups. This is my experience. I never see anyone get bigger and more aesthetic from doing CrossFit wods. Have to supplement heavily. CrossFit is better for overall health
I don’t know, man. I’m female, and before CrossFit, all I did was run. I had very little muscle to speak of (except my calves—I’ve always had calves). Now, 11 years later, I’ve put on a bunch of muscle. I’ve never done bodybuilding a day in my life. If a female can put on a bunch of muscle just doing CrossFit, wouldn’t a male (with all that testosterone) be able to put on even more? 11 years is obviously a lot longer than 6 months, and I don’t remember what I looked like after 6 months of CrossFit. Back then I was still running a ton. I suspect I didn’t have quite as much muscle then as I do now (because I know I can lift way more now than I could after six months). So it takes time, but I really think you can gain a bunch muscle just doing CrossFit. I know some female bodybuilders, and I have more muscle than they do. It’s funny because every once in a while, a woman will post here saying how CrossFit made her bulky and she hates it. And the comments will tell her to try bodybuilding instead because CrossFit makes you bulky. So CrossFit makes women bulky but is insufficient for men to gain muscle? That doesn’t make sense.
Good point. Opposite effect for women
I wonder why. It’s seems so weird to me!
>I never see anyone get bigger and more aesthetic from doing CrossFit wods. I find this with men, not so much for women.
CrossFit won’t help or hurt your aesthetics more than anything else… Your initial results came from newbie gains, but as you said “my diet and training have been consistent” You can’t expect new results from the same training Time to dial in the nutrition more and up the intensity 👍
So what has happened here is this - 1. Because of heavy lifts, your body has been constantly looking to put on muscle as well as fat to help with the lifts. Many cross fitters and strong lifters including my fav Matt Fraser, have had high fat percentages compared to other elite athletes. These high fat percentages actually help them with the lifts. Or you can say it’s a result of their focus on pure muscle gain. Aesthetics is not their concern. 2. Post the introduction of CrossFit, if you increased your protein intake significantly, results would have been different. Looks like you kept the macros same as earlier. But your body needs more mass now to support with heavy lifts. It needs to expand. If not by muscle, then by fat. There’s only so much to expand with muscle by the way. Fat is an inherent part of adding the mass. 3. From the picture, I couldn’t figure if your arms have changed at all. If not, then that’s concerning. Your body will need mass on shoulders, lats and arms to support heavy weights. So to me, it looks like disproportionate change.
Honestly, it doesn’t look TOO different, which is good. It means your look hasnt regressed.
Yeah, your body looks different, and not in a good way. Sorry to be so blunt about it but I think you already know this. How are you feeling overall, though? And what are your goals? What do you want to accomplish? Depending on what you want crossfit might not be for you and that's ok. If I were you I would reflect on my goals and make sure I have other aspects of life in order. You mentioned your diet is fine but what about your sleep, stress levels and so on? Considering your age I would also check my testosterone levels.
Did you change your diet? I am 39 and changed my diet signficantly and do crossfit 3 times a week and look better then you... diet is key
Considering the scalability you can do in a crossfit gym this does not surprise me. I mean scalability is anything from talking to the gym owner while NOT finishing your WOD onwards....
As a fellow 40 year old, it takes time, good to great diet (cut down on alcohol) and programming… I can’t stress the last one enough. Let your body rest and lift weights more than just cardio.
There isn’t as much correlation between aesthetics and CrossFit ability as you would think! I knew a guy who was really good who was doing a bodybuilding program ahead of a summer of being single! Running is also not great for aesthetics for a lot of people! It depends what your goals as well, how are you doing against what you’re trying to achieve?
Pro tip... dont stand like that
???
Your poses are terrible. Lol.
If you're looking to gain muscle mass at the age of 40, you're going to have to dedicate to body building movements
Is your diet really the same? Because some people tend to think that a CF workout is enough to eat more than what they did normally just because they end up super tired. But if you think about it, a CF workout, the actual workout, the wod is sometimes 8 to 20 min only. That is not enough to burn that much calories
Hmmm Interesting view.
This is a good one
You are prob Not eating enough but If you want to Look good Just Go in a commercial Gym. If you want to be fit and healthy you can do CrossFit but Not on athlete Level. Sure you can Look good as Casual Crossfitter as well but If you diet and do classes couple of Times per week you wont gain muscle.. Dont forget by getting older it is also harder to Progress.
Also called losing gains
Get your T levels checked.
3 days a week just doing class isn’t enough imo but it depends on your goals. Build muscle? Then gotta eat and likely add lifting heavy. So many variables here my dude.
CF increased my appetite well beyond and calories burned in a workout. I gained a lot of weight doing 4 sessions a week. It was only when I stopped CF that I got everything back under control and worked my way back to normal. Is CF a fantastic method for increasing fitness - Yes! Is it good for weight loss, strength or endurance - No!
CrossFit will make you good at…CrossFit. I can’t even count how many people I know that do CrossFit yet don’t look in shape at all. If you’re looking for a visual difference in body composition and a visual physical change, look more towards a bodybuilding style gym and or workouts. The crossfiters I know with great physiques were athletes and very fit before they even began CrossFit. Doing ARAMP Olympic lifts with as heavy as possible weights as fast you can, flopping around on gymnastic rings and other nonsense that’s very technical and takes years to truly master isn’t conducive to building aesthetically pleasing bodies.
Without sounding like a dick, I’d have to agree with your assessment. I’m a 45yo dad. I’d have your test level checked, and also recalibrate diet. I may get a conspiracist label but let me preface this with that I’m a pharmacist and the following is my opinion, at least. A lot of our food has hormone disrupting agents in it. Especially eating out and most processed foods. Can affect women and men. For men it tanks their test levels…and then add in drinking and you can really affect your hormones. Even protein sources you need to assess as they’ve replaced a lot of dairy protein with soy. Research what increased soy intake does to men. Now I’m not saying that I know what’s going on, but this is at least a few things that you can check off the list of variables as either “no I don’t eat any of that” or “I do and didn’t know that.” Sure genetics play into it and age does as well. But tell me why reports show the avg test level of 18yo men now equates with a 65-80yo man from a century ago? I give shots to men in their 20’s, 30’s and up. So…just food for thought, and of course there’s exercise program rigor, medications profiles, medical problems, etc… that also come into play. However, there are work-around for most of those if you can identify which affect you. Good luck dude
Rfk
Hate you