The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program

If you’ve been around gyms for any length of time you’ve probably asked yourself which is better, functional fitness or bodybuilding?  Trick question nerds, there really is no difference between the two, or at least there shouldn’t be.  Keep reading to see why you should do this 8 week functional bodybuilding hybrid program.  Fair warning, I hope you don’t mind high volume.

Historically bodybuilders and functional athletes haven’t gotten along well.  Functional Athletes believe that bodybuilders care nothing for functional movements, or athletic performance. Where as bodybuilders generally view functional athletes as skinny nerds that try to kip everything.  If you are reading this website, then you are smart enough to realize that neither of these stereotypes holds much truth.

I can tell you from personal experience that a lot of bodybuilders have done incredibly well in functional fitness, and the few I’ve had walk into my home gym are generally very strong and do very well in most WODs as compared to their non bodybuilding peers.  Sure they need some energy systems works, but so do we all.

Bodybuilding and hypertrophy (muscle size), is incredibly important for athletes looking for peak performance.  In fact, for intermediate and advanced athletes gains in muscle size explain 65% or more of the variability in overall strength, and no one is arguing that strength is unimportant for fitness.

Research has shown that strength is one of the key predictors of performance in workouts that involve any kind of weightlifting like: Grace, Isabel, Linda, and dozens more. As far as I’m concerned getting stronger is a necessity. To do this we must gain muscle mass.

The problem, up until now, is that to gain muscle mass you had to train just like a bodybuilder, which left very little room for WODs and more traditional metabolic conditioning.  This is why I’ve decided to put together an 8 week program that is designed to increase your muscle mass, while maintaining the conditioning you’ve worked so hard for.

The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program

Before we can get into the details and of the program we need to first discuss some other key aspects that will all you to be successful with it.  You know, things, like nutrition and recovery.

Nutrition 

Many functional athletes have a skewed understanding of nutrition.  Sure they’ve done many diets like paleo, zone, keto etc, but they don’t really understand what goes into those diets, and they don’t yet have a firm grasp of the basics.

We can help with that.  First I would recommend reading the ultimate nutrition guide, so you will understand the principles behind eating like an athlete.  I would then recommend you download this calculator that will help you track your progress, and calculate your macros, as well as overall energy requirements.

With these two resources you will understand what is and isn’t appropriate to eat, as well as how much energy you will need to gain muscle mass.  The goal for us isn’t just to eat everything in sight, putting on fat and muscle.  We want to put on as much muscle mass as possible with as little fat mass as we can get away with.

Recovery

This is the most crucial aspect of a training plan to manage.  Read that again.  If you don’t recover from the work you’ve done, then you’ve just wasted your time doing it in the first place.

There are two factors that affect recovery, the amount of overall work you do in the gym, and the positive recovery factors, like sleep and nutrition, that you do to prep for the next session.

I have taken care of the plan portion, ensuring that the total volume and intensity of the program is not too much nor too little, but you can greatly help out your recovery by checking out this article discussing the science behind it.

If you love fitness and want our three free guides on creating WODs, building strength, and losing fat like an athlete then click here to join the Tier Three Team. Over 7,000 already have.

The 8 Week Plan 

Now that we have the preparatory items out of the way we can move onto the nuts and bolts of the program.


Cycle 1 

This is the first 2 weeks of the program, and as you can see we have 4 compound exercises and some accessory work thrown in there as well.  This pattern will continue for the whole 8 weeks, with modifications to the sets, reps, and exercises as we progress.

This program is designed to be done 4 days per week.  These other three days are crucial to recover from the high volume of lifting.

Week 1. Note Reps on the WOD for day two should be 15 DB snatches
Week 2

Each movement should be between 60-80% of your 1RM. In the initial weeks, I would recommend erring closer to 60% and as you feel more comfortable with this volume, you can up the intensity.

You should feel like you could do one or two more reps at the end of each set if you really had to.  There are no sets going to failure in this program, as those sets eat up a lot of your recovery budget.

Week 3
Week 4

Week 3 is the highest volume week for the first cycle, and week 4 is a deload.  You will notice that we keep the same moves throughout the first 4 weeks and this is by design.

Your body takes about that long to adapt to the movements which means that we need to switch them up for the next 4 weeks to continue to drive muscular development.

If you want to the full program then pick it up below!

Cycle 2 

This cycle has many of the same movements but the sets, reps, and intensity have all been increased as total volume is a key factor for hypertrophy.  You will notice that the volume isn’t as high as many pure bodybuilding programs, because they often do too much per sessions, and aren’t really benefiting from the amount of volume they are doing.

Week 5
Week 6

The more astute readers will also notice that there are some non traditional moves in there as well i.e rope climbs and cable extensions.  These are important because we do need to drive hypertrophy to these particular muscle groups as they are used very heavily in functional fitness.

Week 7
Week 8

Following the same template from the previous cycle, we can see that the third week is the most challenging, and the fourth is a deload.

What Results Can You Expect? 

This program is heavily based off of a previous article that looked at over 200 hypertrophy studies.  In that article, we gave some estimates of daily muscle gain, and based off the particulars of this program you can expect somewhere in the range of 4-8% muscle mass increase.

There is a range because some people are great responders to high volume, and others not so much.  This will also depend on how seriously you’ve taken your nutrition and recovery practices.

This type of cycle is great for the beginning half of a training year.  You can then follow it up with something like this excellent strength program for functional athletes, which will help convert that muscle mass you’ve gained into functional strength.

If you have any questions put them in the comments section where I can answer them quickly.  Now, get out there and train!

If you crushed this program then start Part Two of the Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program.  It gets even harder.  Yay!!

If you still have some questions or want to learn even more about adding muscle mass then check out the ebook!



The opinions and information expressed in this article are solely those of the author and are not affiliated with any corporation, group, public or private entity.This web site is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by Crossfit Inc. All product and company names are the registered trademarks of their original owners. The use of any trade name or trademark is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the trademark holder of their product brand.

120 thoughts on “The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program”

  1. Are you doing the exercices in superset? Because I see that we train antagonist muscles. And what is the optimal rest time between sets in your opinion.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Superset if you like, but I’d probably take at least 30 sec or so moving between exercises. The goal isn’t really to kill yourself metabolically, just get a nice pump and push a lot of quality reps. Otherwise I’d probably do 90 sec between sets or so.

      Reply
  2. Nice and intense plan. Just one question, I see that some days there is a great interference between exercises for example doing high reps in bench press and Db press in the same day or bent over row and Db row the same day, is this necessary for developing Hypertrophy?

    Reply
    • Good question. There isn’t any interference between different muscle groups. The key here for hypertrophy is that we achieve enough volume and intensity on each muscle group to promote growth. Pairing opposite muscle groups allows for more intensity as you would rapidly tire those muscles with 8 or more sets straight.

      Reply
    • Interference in physiological terms generally refers to two types of training that that are very dissimilar and will interfere with the bodies adaptation to either stimulus. An example of this would be jogging and heavy back squats. Two get better at either the body needs to very different adaptations which interfere with each other.
      If you are asking do these exercises affect one another, absolutely they do and they should. We need enough volume on the muscle group to promote growth. One exercise would not be enough to do so.

      Reply
      • Hi. Looks awesome and exactly what I’ve been searching for! I’m a firefighter and I feel like I was neglecting functional fitness in favour of just doing 5×5 or 5/3/1. Anyways what are the benefits of buying the program vs the free one? (Free one looks pretty awesome)

        Thanks

        Reply
        • The biggest difference is the coaching notes. I include things like the percentages, rest periods, and goals to shoot for. You will also get structured warmups as well. If you’re on the fence try the first weeks free, then pick up the premium version if you like it. Should work well for fire fighters I would think!

          Reply
  3. Love that you keep coming out with awesome programs like this for us to try out! I haven’t found a planned program of yours that I don’t like! Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  4. Great work Jake. Question. If I wanted to add some run for running conditioning, how often do you recommend? Or would you recommend to follow your 8 week running programming or your sandwich running program? Thanks

    Reply
    • GHD’s are an ab exercise, Push Jerks are an olympic lifting movement. Death by snatch means you do one rep on the 1st minute, 2 on the 2nd …increasing until you can’t make it. STOH is shoulder to overhead meaning any lift from shoulder to over head is ok. RDL is Romanian deadlift. If you aren’t familiar with the moves check out youtube. They have some good tutorials.

      Reply
  5. In the second cycle there is a barbell walking lunge. In the first it’s “just” a walking lunge. Does this mean it’s a bodyweight movement?

    Reply
    • Good question. Barbell walking lunge should be performed with the bar for weight. Walking lunge is still weighted but could be with dumbbells or a bar, whichever you’d like.

      Reply
  6. Love your programming. We work out in our garage and have just about everything to do crossfit workouts. We don’t have a GHD or a machine to do cable triceps. What would be a good replacement for both? Could sit ups with a 14 or 20 lb wallball be a good replacement for GHD sit ups?

    Reply
    • The best replacement for GHD is you have a bench is to sit sideways on it with your feet anchored and do situps going all the way down to the ground and back up. Its like 90% the same as a ghd. For the triceps push down you could get a cheap elastic band and do push downs on that. Or you can actually by a pulley, cable, snap rings and a cheap push down bar to make your own. I did and I think it cost like 40 bucks and works well.

      Reply
  7. Hey Jake! Question on the metcon for week 1, day 2…how many DB snatches per round? Also for general metcon scaling, should we scale to a weight that enables us to keep moving (I.e less rest)?

    Reply
  8. Hi,

    In the first week on the second day, there’s a WOD but i can’t see the reps for the dumbell snatches. Is there something i dont get or is it just missed 🙂 ?

    Best Regards
    Felix

    Reply
  9. Awesome program Jake!

    Quick question, if I wanted to do some running for conditioning, could I add the 3 day running program and replace a few of the WODs with some of the running sessions?

    Reply
    • You could do that. Just know that running generally causes the most interference with hypertrophy. You’ll still gain size but you’ll need to eat more, and make sure that you’re recovery is very good.

      Reply
  10. Any general tips for scaling the WODs? I’m usually pretty exhausted after the lifting portions to do the Metcons RX or honestly at all. Should I just do one on a rest day? Love it so far!

    Reply
    • Mike I would try a couple options. First make sure you take 10 actual minutes after your last lift before you start warming up on the WOD. You’ll be surprised how well you feel. Secondly It won’t hurt to have a somewhat sugary sports drink. Like those half sugar gatorades. They really do help out on a long workout session. Otherwise it can take a few weeks for your body to get used to that amount of volume. Keep up the good work.

      Reply
  11. I‘ve problems with the weight. For week 1 start with 60% and then? How to increase? Similar to 5×5 but then the rep scheme changes?

    Reply
    • Don’t worry to much about progression. Because the reps increase from week to week you can try a 10 pound jump on compound movements, and a 5 pound jump on the smaller ones each week. Part of training for hypertrophy is learning to feel what weights you can move on any given day.

      Reply
  12. This program seems like exactly what I am looking for with 1 half of my goals (build muscle and strength).

    The other part is maxing my 2 mile run in April. Would it be detrimental to mix sprints or distance runs on recovery days? I know this is a tricky combo trying to build muscle/increase cardio fitness.

    Reply
  13. Jake, just to give you a heads up, I am finally enjoying a programming that adds bodybuilding exercises and some WOD. That was always an issue for me.

    What programming should I start right after finish this one?

    thanks a lot!

    Reply
    • Absolutely,

      I will jump on that and yes, I wanna gain some size.
      Probably I should do the strength and go back to bodybuilding.

      thanks so much!

      Reply
      • Hi Jake,

        since I need get some some volume too, do you think its a good plan follow this sequence?

        1 – 8 WEEKS CROSSFIT BODYBUILDING HYBRID PROGRAM
        2 – 6 WEEKS MUSCULAR GROWTH FOR CROSSFITTERS
        3 – 9 WEEKS CROSSFIT STRENGTH PROGRAM

        Reply
        • I’m curious about how this worked out for you, would you recommend to someone trying to gain strength with a little size while maintaining some level of fitness?

          Reply
    • Hey, thanks for the great programming. This is the perfect thing I’ve been looking for to help me. I just have one question. I don’t have access to a rope for the rope climbs; if there a sub exercise I could change it to? Thank you in advance.

      Reply
      • If you can tie a rope to a sled then pull it that is the best. Otherwise something like ring rows or ring pull ups would work well.

        Reply
  14. Just to clarify: day 1, week 1 I do 1 set of bench then do 1 set of bent over rows and then back to bench? Or is it 3 sets of bench followed by 3 sets of rows? Thank you!

    Reply
    • That is up to you. If you want to keep moving a bit faster then you could super set. If you want to maximize the amount you can lift then go through and do all three sets of one exercise before moving on. No issue either way.

      Reply
    • Brett, I am very simple about warm ups. I like to do some running, rowing, cycling, for 3-5 minutes. Then I warm up with the bar and increase into my work sets. Nothing fancy here lol.

      Reply
  15. Hi Jake! I’m loving your website. I’ve been looking for a way to combine body building and crossfit together and this is perfect! Just several questions:
    1) Is it ok to separate the chunks into morning and evening sessions? For example, do two chunks in the morning and do the other chunks in the evening?
    2) I’m currently participating in crossfit classes and doing class WODs with the coach and ppl. Do you think it’ll be ok to do your program WODs after the class WOD? I do feel like I always have some energy left over for some more.. or will doing two WODs defeat the purpose of this program..?
    3) I’m also aiming for a bit of fat loss (gained too much weight) so I would like to incorporate some HIIT and cardio. Do you think it’s ok to do these during the rest days?

    Thanks.
    Sely from South Korea 🙂

    Reply
    • Sely thanks for the kind words. Regarding your first question you can separate as you like. I do not recommend doing two different programs, it’s just too much. If you are making progress with your gyms stuff then continue on, otherwise try mine. Don’t try and gain weight and lose fat at the same time. Pick one then do the other. It always works much better. Look around on the site I’ve got several fat loss programs and tons of other types as well. Let me know if you have more questions.

      Reply
  16. Thanks for this programming, that’s exactly what i was looking for. The explanation is easy to understand and very interesting too. I’m doing CF for 5 years now but i stopped gaining relevant muscle mass a few years ago.
    Can’t wait to start this one, hopefully i can gain some muscle mass and get stronger.

    Reply
  17. Hay Jake, great looking program gonna give it a shot. I use to powerlift gonna try something NEW. So I’m reading this LEFT TO RIGHT NOT STRAIGHT DOWN? Just asking ?.

    Reply
  18. Thinking of jumping in on this program.
    What you thinking of if i DO one Day extra each week with Oly lifting. Or just add before on a couple of days each week.
    Im doing alot off oly lifting complex and just love it.

    Reply
    • I think it’s doable. I’d try a week without oly lifting to see how you like the volume. By then you should know if you want to add a separate day or add it on to one of the workouts.

      Reply
  19. Hey Jake!
    Thanks for another awesome program, started it yesterday to build some muscle after the Open! I have been following your previous programs and I have been only satisfied! Keep up the good work!

    I have just one question about the fourth day of each week, which is a lower body day, but in each week there is the Cable Triceps Extension. Is there a mistake? Also there are weeks that you input that in both the first day (which is upper body, seems normal) and in the fourth day. Thank you in advance for your answer!

    Best regards, Radoslav!

    Reply
    • Thanks for the kind words Radoslav. Those tricep extensions should be in there. It’s a somewhat neglected muscle group and muscular size wise it is about 2/3rds of your arm so you can’t have big arms without it. Let us know how it turns out.

      Reply
    • Pick what you want. Cut or build muscle. The two are generally mutually exclusive. You can do this program for either but what you eat depends on your goals.

      Reply
  20. Hey Jake! Awesome Program I’m a cross fitter but joined a new gym that doesn’t offer it but has a Crossfit Box so I was so happy to see your program! Just a few questions:
    1- Is it ok if alongside this program I do cardio classes 3x a week as I’m trying to lose weight also (these classes are done before your program)
    2- for the rest days can I do some HIIT training for 1 of the rest days and test the other 2 days?
    3- You didnt mention if we need to do a Warm up before your workouts? I’ve been doing my own crossfit style warm ups but do you recommend anything else and how long should a warm up be???
    Sorry for so many ??? N Thx again for this Awesome Program! Denise

    Reply
    • Thanks for the kind words Denise.
      1. It depends on your goal. If you want to lose weight while doing this program then cardio is fine. I would recommend it after this program if possible, or before by several hours. If you want to gain muscle I wouldn’t recommend that much cardio.
      2. Rest days should be rest. Adding in more work will be counterproductive
      3. Warm ups are a given. I recommend 3-5 minutes cardio then warming up the muscle groups you will use with calisthenics.

      Reply
    • Michael, I’d make sure that your arm is recovered before starting this program. It’s very high volume and it might aggravate your biceps. If you find it doesn’t bother your arm you could sub a clean pull, or something like a good morning if you want to take the arms completely out of it.

      Reply
  21. Hey! Thanks for getting back to me. Much appreciated. It’s as good as it’s going to be. Fortunately, it was the upper part. I can do pull-ups, rows, curls. I’m just afraid to go after it with cleans. Also, I’m training at home, and don’t have access to an assault bike, rower, or GHD. Any suggestions there?

    Reply
    • No worries Michael. I had a team mate that had a similar injury and he was able to do a fair amount while recovering. I would lay off heavy deadlifts and pulling in general like cleans. I think heavy good mornings are probably your go to for low back work. You could also do some taller box jumps for power production as well. If you have the space to run then sub a run for the same time duration that you would have done the assault bike. For example 15 cal assault bike is around a minute, so that would translate to 200-300m run. If you can’t run then do the same time duration of burpees or jump rope. Hope that helps.

      Reply
  22. Hey, Jake. First week on the program, and I am very much liking it. I am getting my ass kicked, not going to lie.

    As many folks are, I am working out from home. I don’t have access to GHD, rower, or bike. Looking for good subs for these, as well as what you’d suggest as the sub for muscle-ups; seems like everyone has a different opinion on what to sub for those.

    Thanks. Great program so far!

    Reply
  23. Hi Jake.

    I love your progam. It is exactly what I was looking for, in order to improve my perfomance. Therefore, I would like to thank for sharing the programs.

    I have just two questions:

    When you establish repetitions for an exercise like lunges, step ups, dumbell biceps or triceps, I mean, when you exercise one side of your body and then the other one, are the repetitions in total or should I do 10 repetitions with my left side and then 10 repetitions with the other for example?

    And, you have set the same number of repetitions for each set for each muscle group per day. Does it mean that I should increase the weight during the next sets? For example: during the same session, I have to do bench press, 3×12. For the first set, I put 55 kg. Should I keep using this weight for the rest of the sets during the same session or add more weight gradually? Then, in the next week I would add more weight, of course, and keeping the method.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Pablo these are good questions. As to your first, 3×10 lunge means each leg gets 10 lunges for example. You can try and increase weight across sets or if you know what load you’ll use then pick the same load for all sets. The goal is to make it challenging. Enjoy !

      Reply
  24. Jake,
    This is awesome. Exactly what I have been looking for. I have been doing some Crossfit style workouts lately. It has been fun. Yet getting hypertrophy has been not so much. It looks like you have definetly hit the mark with this. I will be trying the first 2weeks, and then seeing if it works for me ,and purchase if so. Btw. I have looked for something like this for a while. Most say it can’t be done. I hope to prove them wrong by using your program .
    Also great idea for the GHD at home with bench. Never would have thought that.

    Reply
  25. Hi Jake,
    This type of programme is exactly what I’m looking for, i wail probably purchase the premium however I was wondering after the 8 weeks do you have other workouts I can continue with similar to this one and what the process is with paying for that?

    Reply
    • Yep if you go to the bottom of this page, you’ll see there is a part two. It also has a premium program. There is a part three as well.

      Reply
  26. Hi Jake, I just finished the hybrid program part one, I’m glad I did. Amazing how fast my body transfered to the current muscular form it is in right now.
    I have one question, should I recalculate my 1rm before moving to the hybrid program part two? Best regards from the Netherlands

    Reply
    • Hi Natalie. There is no difference for females. The WODs are scaled for male/female and the weights are the same intensity on the lifts. Give it a shot and see how you like it!

      Reply
  27. Hey Jake, looks legit.

    I am in the middle of your free program for functional fitness athletes (fitness competitors program) and I love it. I am thinking about not doing part 3 of that program and starting this hybrid program instead as it works better for my goals and time.

    Given that I have completed the first two sections of the fitness competitors program (and seen some good gains) would you recommend doing this hybrid program or would you recommend a different one of yours? I am looking mostly for size gains and aesthetics, as well as about 4 days in the gym a week, one session per day instead of 5-6 days.

    Reply
    • If you want to build mass then this is the program for you. The last parts of the competitors program are more cardio and WOD focused and less focused on building muscle and strength. I think the hybrid program is probably your best bet.

      Reply
  28. Hey Jake

    Currently in the 3rd week of the Program and just did the lower body workout. I felt super exhausted after the 4×10 Squats and could barely muster the strength for the 5×5 Deadlifts for which I can usually do 150kg for at least 6 reps and yesterday 5×140 were almost feeling like a 1rm attempt.
    I was wondering if you recommend switching the DL with the Stiff Legged DL, change the sets & reps altogether or maybe even something as simple as decreasing the weight.

    Sorry for the long message and thanks for your feedback.

    Reply
    • No worries Daniel. Heavy sets of 10 will really take it out of you. I see you have two real options. One you can cut some of the reps down on the squats, or do the deadlifts first and then squats. You might find doing the squat later actually helps. Don’t be afraid to modify this for less volume if needed. Something like 4×6,8,10, 10 can work well too. Hope that helps.

      Reply
  29. Hey Jake,

    Was wondering where would be a good spot to add or sub in squat cleans? Swap with deads or squats every cycle?

    Reply
  30. Hey Jake,

    In 4 weeks I’ll finish your 12 week muscle builder (using for fat loss) I’ll have exactly 15 weeks until the open. My plan is to grab the premium program of this to put on a bit of size, followed by your 7 week open prep course. What are your thoughts on that?

    Cheers,

    Pat

    Reply
  31. Hi Jake, I purchased the 8 week functional body building hybrid programme but I’m having problems accessing it could you help ?

    Reply
  32. Hi Jake, this will be the 4th of your programmes that I will do, and I’ve loved every one, so thank you for that! But one quick question – am I right in thinking that I’d need to purchase the premium version to be able to see weeks 3 and 7? They’re blurred out on this page.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  33. Hi Jake,
    thank you for the awesome work, you have been training for something close to five years now, your programs are something else!
    One quick question on the walking and barbell lunges portion of the program the number of reps is for each leg or total reps?

    thank you

    Reply

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