No one ever complained that they were too strong and muscular. That’s why you’re reading this article. Gaining muscle mass can be a complex issue, with a million programs that you might follow. This article is going to organize my best hypertrophy programs and break them down for for athletes of all experience levels. Keep reading for all the details.
If you’re familiar with my programming style, you’ll know that I like to write functional fitness programs with the specific intention of gaining strength and muscle mass. For this article, we are going to focus on my programs that are designed to develop muscular size, in a functional manner. What’s the point of having muscle and only barely being able to use it!
I should also point out that many of these programs will also develop your strength. However, they aren’t primarily intended to do so. Newer athletes will easily gain strength and muscular size, where as more advanced athletes will need a tailored strength program to keep gaining strength.
First, let’s cover the programs for newer athletes. When I say newer athletes, I don’t mean someone who’s never walked into the gym. I mean athletes who haven’t done this style of functional hypertrophy training before. If you aren’t solid on the basic lifts, then I would recommend working out with someone who can teach you the ropes safely.
Make sure you follow the links for each program to get the full details that you will need to execute the program correctly. I’m not going to rewrite everything here. Make sure you go to those specific programs where all of your questions should be answered.
If you do have questions you can put them in the comments section and I will get you an answer. Now, let’s get to the programs!
Hypertrophy Programs for Newer Athletes
The best thing about being a new athlete, to functional hypertrophy training, is that you can can gain muscle mass with relatively little volume. In fact, most new athletes start off way too hard, and are actually slowing their rate of growth. For that reason, I recommend my 12 week muscular growth program first. Here is a sample week of training.
This is still a very difficult program. Each day starts with two compound lifts, and finishes with a hard WOD. If this program seems a little too much, you might want to check out this program first. It’s ok if a few of the movements are unfamiliar. You can check out this article, where I cover how to correctly scale a workout, ensuring you get the maximum out of it.
Follow the link above to get the full 6 weeks of part one. If you like that program then you should check out part two of the muscular growth program. It’s a little harder, and it will keep the gains going. If you think this might be a little too basic for you, then you should take a look at my intermediate programs. They get a lot harder!
If you want the full 12 week program in one PDF with detailed percentages and coaching advice you can get that here!
Hypertrophy Programs for Intermediate Athletes
These programs are designed for athletes that have at least a year in the gym. They are high volume, and the weights are challenging as well. Don’t be afraid to try the beginner program first if you’re on the fence.
For athletes who are ready for this level of programming, I always recommend my 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program. This program starts out as a 4 day per week program, but you will have much more work each day than the beginner program. Check out one of the cycles.
You can see that each day has a specific focus. You will be performing 2-4 compound movements, and accessory movements as well. At the end of each session, you will be doing a shorter WOD. WODs are surprisingly valuable tools to maximize muscular growth. Research has shown that metabolic stress does increase muscle size.
While this program is only 4 days per week don’t expect that it’s going to be easy. When I designed this program I checked it against a standard bodybuilding program, and I found that it’s roughly double the total volume. You should expect to be very sore.
Like my muscular growth program, this program is several parts long. I recommend that intermediate athletes complete part one, and part two first. As you’ll see, part three is best reserved for advanced athletes.
If you want the premium version of this program, with daily coaches notes, and goals to aim for, then get it here!
Hypertrophy Programs for Advanced Athletes
I generally don’t write a lot of programs for advanced athletes, as there aren’t a whole lot of them. Sure, many lifters think they are advanced, but in all honesty they are best served with simpler training methods, rather than advanced methods that are too complex for their training experience.
My most advanced hypertrophy training program is Part 3 of my 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program. This program starts to mix in specific percentage based work that really pushes the intensity relative to one rep max. Here is a week of training.
It’s obvious that this program is more specifically tailored to advanced athletes. I often specify the percentage of one rep max you will need to use, or I will specify how much rest you can take. Advanced athletes will need this level of detail in order to keep progressing.
While having a good program is important, it isn’t enough by itself to increase muscle mass. You need to pay attention to your nutrition and and recovery.
Nutrition
This isn’t a complicated topic, but I’m constantly surprised how often good athletes aren’t even conversant in the basics of nutrition. I recommend you check out my ultimate nutrition guide where I break down calories, macros, and more.
Next you should check out my nutrition calculator. It will give you a good starting point for your calories, and macro nutrient requirements to gain muscle mass. If you want to see exactly how much mass you can gain, then this calculator should help you predict that quite accurately. Now, let’s talk about recovery.
Recovery
This isn’t a complicated area either, but the internet might convince you otherwise! You need to sleep 7-8 hours a night, and you need to drink water. These two basics, combined with the nutrition guidance above, will give you everything you need to gain muscle.
If you like functional programs and want to get our 3 free training guides, then click here to join the Tier Three Team. It’s totally free, and thousands have already received their strength programming, fat loss, and their bonus guide.
However, if you are doing the basics correctly you might check out this article on scientific recovery methods. Similarly, there is some evidence that training with tights, and wearing them after training can enhance your recovery as well.
Final Thoughts
These are some of my most popular programs, and as of this writing they’ve been viewed around half a million times. There is nothing about them that is complicated. They just require you to execute them as well as you can, and take your nutrition and recovery seriously. If you can do those things you will show progress. Now get out there and get training!
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