From Dominique: Is our CrossFit programming as-is sufficient for hypertrophy (assuming someone trains 5-6 days a week), or would one interested in hypertrophy need to do additional work? If the latter is the case, then what would you advise for tacking on sufficient volume for hypertrophy without compromising recovery? What is the “minimum viable dose” here?

One thing to get straight out the gate: all training is hypertrophy training and will increase your lean tissue mass. Even cardiovascular training will induce hypertrophy in the main muscle groups used (calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps in running; lats and pectorals in swimming for example), including the heart. That said, there are different degrees of hypertrophy depending on the demands of the activity. Generally speaking, the higher the intensity (relative to maximum muscular strength, anaerobic capacity, or VO2max), the greater the hypertrophic response. If the intensity is not as high, the lower the hypertrophic response. 

The oft used example is comparing distance runner physiques with sprinter physiques but there is the bias of comparing the most sickly looking marathon runner with the most jacked sprinters who also moonlight as running backs for a college football team. A better comparison within track & field is looking at the throwing disciplines. Generally speaking, javelin and discus throw athletes have less muscle mass than shotput and hammer throw athletes because of the demands of the sport. The lighter implements (javelin, discus) do not require as much maximal strength to throw as the heavier implements and therefore do not require as much muscle mass nor maximal strength.

Now, how does this apply to our programming at CrossFit NYC? To answer your question, yes, our programming is sufficient to induce hypertrophy, but only up to a certain point. If you are happy with your hypertrophy gains, then just keep on trucking doing what we are doing in the regular scheduled programming. If you want to stimulate your muscle growth further, then you may have to take some liberties with the programming and adjust accordingly. 

The first step would be to bias your effort towards the Strength portions of our workouts. Put more emphasis on taking your strength exercises within a few repetitions short of failure every workout. Skill based movements like the Olympic lifts do not need to be that high, as the goal here is practice and the Olympic lifts by themselves are poor exercises for hypertrophy. 

Secondly, bias your Conditioning elements towards the more intense side. It is very important to note that intensity is not based on what you feel is hard or intense training. Breathing hard, sweating, and lactic acid burn are not indicators of intensity. We are talking about objective intensity in relation to maximum voluntary muscular contraction/motor unit recruitment, anaerobic threshold, or even VO2max. Intensity here creates the metabolic stressors to force our bodies to adapt to the demands we place on it. The higher our intensity, the less work we can perform per set or per workout. Five sets of five repetitions on a back squat is a much more intense workout (and much more favorable to induce strength and hypertrophy) than performing 300 air squats. Quality trumps quantity here.

So how do we create a more intense Conditioning workout that is biased towards hypertrophy? Let us take the benchmark workout “Cindy” (20min AMRAP of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats). This 20 minute AMRAP is already pretty challenging of a workout for most people, especially if you are moving fast enough to achieve 20 or more rounds as I have done. If I were to bias “Cindy” towards hypertrophy development I would keep the reps the same and perform weighted pullups, weighted pushups or dips, and heavy goblet squats while keeping the repetitions the same. My performance is going to drop from 20 or more rounds to 10 or fewer rounds, but this variation on “Cindy” is going to be much more productive at increasing my muscle mass than the traditional workout.

Lastly, one thing to keep in mind for hypertrophy is that it is a SLOW process. It takes a lot of time and effort to gain muscle mass. I have been weight training consistently for over 20 years and I have the genetics to go along with it. I worked hard and am lucky to have started when I was a teenager with all the hormones available to me thanks to puberty.