GVT and Crossfit
GVT and Crossfit can be combined if you have 2 to 3 hours a day to spare. Otherwise, pick one of the programs according to your needs. Especially beginners have a tendency to want too much too quickly.
What are your goals
Why are you looking for German Volume Training and Crossfit? Are you trying to get ripped for the summer? Do you have a bodybuilding competition coming up? Do you want to be big, strong and agile? Whatever brought you here it is important that you are clear about the goals you have. The clearer your goals are the better the results. The fussier your goals become the less satisfied you will be. The main goals in fitness are
- Looks
- Performance
- Health
If you are all about looks your ideal is defined by the media or peers. You want to look like the models on the posters or in the movies. At least you want to look like your peers whom you care most about. Diet will be the main driver to achieve this goal. If you want that six pack prepare to be hungry. You will be tired and malnourished to get to 10% body fat. Some are lucky and are genetically predisposed to suffer less to get there. Most of us will have a hard time. This is why not every one of your neighbors looks like a Greek god. Your choices will not be always healthy or help your performance in the field.
If you are all about performance you mainly care about results. You want to hold that trophy or scratch out that record on the whiteboard. You work hard to get there. Intensity and Injury are your companions on the road to success. Food becomes a fuel to your ambition but not the main ingredient. Your choices won’t be the healthiest and you don’t care how you look. You just want to win and that is what you care most about.
The last group is mainly interested in health. Exercise is a tool to stay fit. You will avoid the extremes. Hunger and Injury are not part of your routine. You might not break records but you also don’t care. Yoga, meditation and diet fads are your friends.
German Volume Training
German Volume Training is one of the most popular hypertrophy programs out there. Because of its popularity, you will find many variations. My personal favorite is
- 10 repetitions for
- 10 sets at
- 60% of one repetition maximum with
- 30 seconds rest in between
With this template, I was able to pack on 2.5kg of muscle in a month. To achieve this I used the
Machines like the leg press, leg curl or lat pulldown are also an option. If you prefer dumbbells adjust accordingly.
The main advantages of GVT are its simplicity and effectiveness. I have yet to find a program which is so easy to understand and made me grow that fast.
The biggest disadvantages with German Volume Training are the time it takes and lack of clear progression. If you take two minutes of rest between sets you will spend 20 minutes at the gym picking your nose. This is why I Iike the 30 seconds of rest. Between 100 repetitions per exercise, it can also become very hard to determine how to progress.
Crossfit
Crossfit is a special form of interval training that has developed over the recent years. It leans heavily into barbell exercises incorporated in demanding circle training. It originated as a training program for the military. The main idea is to get as much work done in the shortest amount of time.
Crossfit is highly effective to lose weight and make you more resilient. This will show in lower times to recovery and enhanced endurance.
The biggest advantages of Crossfit are its versatility and effectiveness. You will always be challenged and do something new. Your body will start to change quickly. Everything is measurable and comparable. This makes it especially interesting for someone who is competitive.
The biggest disadvantages of Crossfit are its complexity and high risk of injury. Crossfit is simply not made for beginners. You can clearly see that the sport assumes a high fitness level and proficiency in losing a barbell. It has become more mainstream but it can’t deny its origins in the highly trained military.
Can you combine GVT and Crossfit
You can if you have the time. The most likely scenario is you won’t. Then you have to decide what is most important to you. If you want to pack on muscle fast and can also ramp up a diet to match go with GVT. If you want to be a kick-ass all around ninja go with Crossfit. Combining both only comes in question if you have 2-3 hours a day to spare for training. Unless you are a professional football player I doubt that you can or want to invest so much time.
Further reading
- Can you mix German Volume Training and Stronglifts 5x5
- German Volume training 4-week review
- German Volume Training vs Wendler 531
- German Volume Training vs Stronglifts 5x5
- German Volume Training for CrossFit
- How to prepare for German Volume Training
- Is German Volume Training better than Stronglifts 5x5
- Smolov vs German Volume Training
