Author: Remson

The Perfect Full Body Home Workout With Resistance Bands

Post author By Remson
Post date February 4, 2021

Tribe By Noire

The Perfect Full Body Home Workout

2020 has completely reinvigorated the buzz around home fitness and along with that we’ve witnessed the rebirth of the resistance band industry. I saw this coming before the lockdowns started and sprung into action to create a whole game plan for building muscle and burning fat from home with minimal space and equipment. Let’s take a look at full body home workouts.

Fat Burn & Full Body Workouts

Full body workouts are the best way to maximize fat loss while building muscle because you’re targeting every muscle group in the body rather than just 1 or 2. Using more muscle groups within a workout forces more stimulation of your nervous system and a faster metabolic rate. All of this combined maximizes caloric burn.

The ideal fat loss method when it comes to full body workouts is the use of super sets and giant sets in conjunction with time intervals.

Super sets are when you do 2 exercises back to back as a pair with little to no rest time between them.
Giant sets are when you take 3 or more exercises one after in a group with little to no rest time between them.
Do each exercise on a fixed time interval of 60 seconds. Try to keep your rest time between exercises to a minimum of 10-15 seconds.

Full Body Workouts For Muscle Building

The most important training factors that drive muscle growth are intensity, frequency, and volume. With full body training you can utilize all 3 of these factors in a very time efficient way.

Intensity is how hard you push a muscle or muscle group in a given set or training session.
Frequency is how often you train a muscle or muscle group.
Volume is how many sets and reps you use to train a muscle, or muscle group.

Full Body Workout Structure

Every Workout should be centered around compound exercises that target multiple muscle groups at the time. Each exercise fits into 1 of 7 categories.

Squatting/lunging – targets quadriceps and glutes
Hip Hinging- targets lower back, glutes, hamstrings
Horizontal Pressing – targets chest, shoulders and triceps
Vertical Pressing – targets shoulders and triceps
Horizontal Pulling – targets lower back, upper back, biceps
Vertical Pulling – targets upper back and biceps
Spinal Flexion/Trunk Rotation – targets abs and obliques

Each workout should have 6-8 exercises grouped together in giant sets, or super sets. With the right amount of intensity and rest time, you can finish the workout in 20-30 minutes. Here’s an example.

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Play

Banded Prisoner Squat
Banded Standing Leg Curl
Banded Upright Row

3 Giant Sets

Banded Row
Banded Push Up
Banded Bicep Curl

3 Super Sets

Banded Wood Chop
S. Leg Hip Bridge + Leg Extension

*Do each exercise for 60 seconds (per side if it’s a unilateral exercise), or for a rep total of 16-20 reps (per side if it’s a unilateral exercise).

*Keep the rest time between 10-15 seconds between sets.

Looking for a good set of bands for a good price?

This is a good package that comes with everything you need to have a versatile and effective home workout. You can even train outside like I prefer to do.

The handles make it easy to grip the bands
The door anchor allows you to do pull downs, wood chops, and leg curls if you don’t have anything to tie the band around.
The ankle cuff is the ideal tool for leg curls, leg raise, and kick backs.
Everything fits in a fairly small bag, which makes it convenient for tavel.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags 30 minute workout, Full Body Workout, home workout, muscle building, resistance bands, weight loss

Nutrition & Supplements

The Best Way To Deal With Food Cravings

Post author By Remson
Post date December 7, 2020

Tribe By Noire

The Best Way To Deal With Food Cravings

In my 10+ years of coaching I’ve learned that excess weight gain is almost exclusively driven by food cravings. When you think of your food cravings, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s sweets like cakes, pies, or doughnuts. Maybe other times it’s heavier things like Mac n Cheese, pizza, or something simpler like chips and dip.

Whatever your cravings are, they all can be traced back to 3 main things.

The 3 Ingredients Of Food Cravings

Sugar | Salt | Fat

Every single one of the foods you crave has at least 2 of these 3 ingredients, I guarantee it.

Understand that this goes way deeper than just taste. These cravings are directly linked to your emotions, chemical reactions in the brain, and the messages that certain gut bacteria and parasites may be sending to your brain.

Let’s start with your emotions

Sugar cravings are driven by a low energy, or low vibrational state. This can be caused by lack of sleep or poor sleep quality, under eating and/or overworking, general feelings of sadness, and depression. Sugar acts on us in 2 main ways.

Sugar turns into glucose in the body which is our primary source of energy. when energy is low, sugar serves as a quick boost.
Sugar causes an endorphin release in the brain, which makes us feel good. This ends up turning into a sugar addiction over time.

Salt cravings are driven by anxiety and depression. Studies show that elevated levels of sodium inhibit stress hormones that are normally released in stressful situations. Add crunchy foods to the mix and you have something that is irresistible, like chips.

Fat cravings are a bit different because no one actually craves fat in and of itself. there’s a few different high fat food sources, nuts, avocado, and oil, but there’s one source in particular that ends up being super addictive, dairy.

Ice cream, cheese, and creamer are in almost every single food people typical crave and end up binging on. Dairy has a protein in it called casein which acts on the brain as mild opiate. When processed into cheese, this addictive property becomes heightened. Dr. Neal Bernard refers to it as “dairy crack“

Get Your Fix & Drop Body Fat

I’ve got all kinds of good news for you! To start, I just want to let you know that you don’t have to cut sugar, salt, or fat from your diet. You don’t even have to limit your food intake. No this is not an ad for a special supplement, or meal replacement shake.

All you have to do is find smarter replacement for your sugar, salt and fat and combine them in a way where you can enjoy great taste and eat until you’re full. Let’s talk about sources.

Sugar

A big mistake that people make is trying to cut all forms of sugar from their diet. This is a horrible idea for someone who battles with sugar cravings. The demonizing of sugar in my opinion can create a toxic relationship with food.

Our bodies, especially our brains primarily run on sugar, which is why we need plenty of it. The caveat here is that sugar needs to be packaged with other essential nutrients that regulate it.

Sugar needs to be accompanied with fiber, water, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. All of these nutrients are essential for regulating blood sugar and insulin levels.

It works similar to how car traffic works in terms of speed limits. If there’s nothing regulating the sugar you consume, it’ll all just spill into your blood stream at one time causing a massive spike in insulin levels, follow by a severe drop in blood sugar, ending in an energy crash.

Doing this repeatedly will put you on a chaotic roller coaster that not only shows up on the scale, but also manifests in your mood, and overall health.

Having a stable and gradual release of sugar (glucose) into your bloodstream allows to have more balance and sustained energy levels. In addition this will also inhibit cravings.

So what should your sugar sources be?

The short answer is fruit, sweet juicy fruit! Fruit is nature’s multivitamin and/or medication. A good template is 1 serving of 5 different types of fruit. This can be a mixture of fruits that have a variety of traits.

sweet (berries)
mildly sweet (watermelon)
citrus (orange)
bitter sweet (grapefruit)
non sweet (cucumber)

Try to have a variety of colors on your plate like a beautiful painting. The variety insures that you’re getting an abundance of all the nutrients you need while stimulating your taste buds to the fullest extent. Make love to your gut.

Salt

Unfortunately it’s a very common belief that salt is bad for you because it causes hypertension. Some people goes as far as to say you should avoid salt at all costs, but scientific research on this issue shows that this just simply isn’t the case.

When people refer to salt, they’re often talking about sodium, which is is an essential electrolyte that helps maintain the balance of water in and around your cells. It’s important for proper muscle and nerve function. It’s even important to maintain stable blood pressure.

Salt is good stuff, but the source is what makes the difference. Roasted salted nuts are my personal favorite for satisfying that salty and crunchy craving. Peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, brazil nuts are all great alternatives to things like potato and corn chips. The main reason for this is the fiber and nutrient content of the nuts. Potato and corn chips are mostly just empty calories that easily lead to over eating.

A second good option is to drizzle a sauce or dressing with a bit of added sea salt, or himalayan salt on to some raw or steamed greens like spinach, spring mix, bok choy, or kale. The sauce can be anything from tahini sauce, to a spicy curry sauce with a bit of lime juice.

Fat

This is probably the biggest struggle because in terms of weight management. You want to lose fat, but you also need to consume fat, so it’s a bit of a love hate relationship. I’m feeling a bit repetitive here, but once again, the source matters.

I almost put fat and salt in the same category because of how well they go together when it comes taste and food combination. For example, the roasted salted nuts I mentioned earlier, which are a great source of fat. Another example guacamole with some added sea salt, or himalayan salt, lime juice, diced onions, and bell pepper. Mixing this in with a few cups of raw or steamed greens is a phenomenal meal that will definitely satisfy the craving for fat and salt.

The Objective

Ultimately everything is about food choice. you want to be able to get all of the nutrients you need to reach your goals, and improve your gut health, while still being able to scratch that itch for whatever cravings you may have.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags binge eating, diet, fat loss, food cravings, meal plan, plant based diet, vegan diet, vegan diet plan, weight loss, whole foods

Fitness & Training

Get A Home Gym For Under 100 Dollars

Post author By Remson
Post date January 24, 2020

Tribe By Noire

Home Gym Under $100

Throughout my years of coaching I’ve learned that one of the biggest obstacles that people face is not being able to consistently make it to a gym. Either the commute takes too much time, the gym is too crowd, or there just isn’t a gym anywhere near by. Whatever the reason may be, your next best option is training from.

Of course this comes with a new set of problems like knowing what equipment to get, having enough space for it, and having the budget for it at all. Here’s the solution people. In this short article I’m going to explain the following,

What equipment to get and the best prices
The reason for each piece of equipment
How to use each piece of equipment

For this home gym you’ll need 6 things, the most expensive thing will be 30-$35. The cool thing is that all of this stuff can fit easily into a duffle bag, which means you can train anywhere.

Foam Roller

A foam roller is good for massaging and loosening up tight muscles. Doing this will help improve range of motion and overall ease of movement.

Simply lay down over the foam roller with the it making direct contact with muscle you want to target and roll it back and forth for 15-30 seconds.

One of these costs around $20. Get one Here

Resistance Bands

With resistance bands you can target every single muscle in the body through a vast variety of compound movements and isolation exercises.

You can get a set of 4 bands, each one having differing degrees of resistance, ranging from 15-60 pounds.

Get a set of these for $30. Get one here

Door Anchor

The door anchor allows you to fix a resistance band to a door to do various exercises in the same way you would with a cable machine at the gym.

This will allow you to do exercises like lat pull downs, chest flys, leg curls, wood chops, etc. It has a foam backing so it won’t mess up your door.

Get one of these for $8. Get one here

PVC Pipe

A 20-24 inch PVC pipe can be used as an extremely cost effective straight bar to use in combination with resistance bands.

You can get one of these at any hardware or home improvement store like Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

This can cost 50 cents to a $1.

Mini Bands

These Mini bands, also know as hip circles are a great way to target the glute medius, which sits above your glute maximus. If you’re trying to develop a fuller more round booty, this is a great tool to get.

This is also a great tool to use for developing hip stability and fixing certain knee issues that are a result of weak glutes.

You can get a set of these for around $17. Get a set here

Ab Wheel

The ab wheel is exclusively an ab training tool, but in my experience is quite possibly the best ab training tool you can get.

Not only does it provide a good core training workout, but it also is a great means of determing how strong your core actually is.

You can get one of these for $10. Get it here

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags fitness equipment, home gym, home workout

Fitness & Training

The Most Important Factor In Training For Fat Loss

Post author By Remson
Post date May 14, 2019

Tribe By Noire

The Most Important Factor Of Fat Loss Training

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags fat loss, HIIT, training strategies

Fitness & Training

Bodybuilding Specific Full Body Training

Post author By Remson
Post date May 3, 2019

Tribe By Noire

Bodybuilding Specific Full Body Training

Typically when we think of bodybuilding specific training we think of a workout routine where you train each muscle group once a week, maybe twice. As the science of training advances we learn new ways of training. One method that is rising above the rest is full body training. The key advantage to full body training is that it allows you to train all muscle groups more frequently throughout the week, which leads to more growth. The thing we gotta talk about is, how do we apply this to bodybuilding?

The Bodybuilding Body Part Split Method

A typical body part split routine is 5 days per week, targeting each muscle group once or twice per week. This method of training relies on a high enough amount of total volume within the range 10-20 sets per week on each muscle group. The total amount of set volume can even be as high as 30 sets weekly for very advanced competitive bodybuilders.

Men's Routine

Chest & Biceps

Barbell Incline Press
Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Incline Press
Dumbbell Chest Press
Cable Chest Fly
EZ Barb Bicep Curl
Dumbbell SPider Curl
Weighted Sit Ups

Back & Triceps

Barbell Hang Row
Dumbbell S. Arm Row
Cable Lat Pull Down
Cable Close Grip Pull Down
Dumbbell Pull Over
Dumbbell Tricep Extension
Cable Tricep Push Down
Hanging Leg Raises

Legs

Barbell Hip Bridge
Barbell Back Squat
Barbell Romanian Deadlift
Plate Loaded Leg Press
Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
Seated Leg Curl
Prone S. Leg Curl
Cable Wood Chop

Shoulders

Barbell Overhead Press
Dumbbell Arnold Press
Dumbbell Front Raise
Dumbbell Upright Row
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Reverse Fly
Cable Face Pull
Supine Leg Raise Arc

Arms

Barbell Close Grip Bench Press
Barbell Supine Tricep Extension
Cable Tricep Push Down
Body Weight Dip
Barbell Bicep Curl
Dumbbell Alternating Curl
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Dumbbell Reverse Curl

Women's Routine

Glutes & Hamstrings

Resistance Band Crab Walk
S. Leg Hip Bridge
Barbell Hip Bridge
Barbell Sumo Deadlift
Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlift
Seated Leg Curl
Prone S. Leg Curl
Cable Wood Chop

Chest & Shoulders

Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Chest Press
Dumbbell Incline Press
Dumbbell Arnold Press
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Reverse Fly
Cable Face Pull
Supine Leg Raise Arc

Back & Biceps

Barbell Hang Row
Dumbbell S. Arm Row
Cable Lat Pull Down
Cable Close Grip Pull Down
Dumbbell Pull Over
Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Prone External Knee Tuck

Legs

Barbell Hip Bridge
Barbell Back Squat
Barbell Romanian Deadlift
Plate Loaded Leg Press
Dumbbell Lateral Lunge
Walking Lunge
Prone S. Leg Curl
Cable Wood Chop

Shoulders

Barbell Overhead Press
Dumbbell Arnold Press
Dumbbell Front Raise
Dumbbell Upright Row
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Reverse Fly
Cable Face Pull
Supine Leg Raise Arc

The Bodybuilding Body Full Body Method

With the full body method you can reach the same amount of training volume while achieving 2-4 times the frequency toward each muscle group. Simply take a few of the most effective exercises per muscle group and 1 in for each training day. Here’s an example of what that would look like.

Men's Routine

Day 1

Prone S. Leg Curl
Barbell Back Squat
Barbell Incline Press
Chest Supported Row
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Cable Tricep Push Down
Dumbbell Reverse Fly
Cable Wood Chop

Day 2

Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat
Barbell Stiff Leg Deadlift
Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Arnold Press
Cable Lean Back Lat Pull Down
Dumbbell Spider Curl
Cable Seated Face Pull
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 3

Plate Loaded Leg Press
Seated Leg Curl
Dumbbell Incline Press
Dumbbell S. Arm Row
Cable S. Arm Lateral Raise
Body Weight Dip
Cable S. Arm Reverse Fly
Cable Wood Chop

Day 4

Barbell Romanian Deadlift
Dumbbell Walking Lunge
Dumbbell Chest Press
Dumbbell Half Kneeling Press
Cable Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Cable Seated Rope Row
Prone External Knee Tuck

Day 5

Prone S. Leg Curl
Barbell Back Squat
Barbell Incline Press
Barbell Rack Row
Dumbbell Upright Row
Dumbbell Supine Tricep Extension
Cable S. Arm Reverse Fly
Cable Wood Chop

Women's Routine

Day 1

Barbell Back Squat
Barbell Hip Bridge
Prone S. Leg Curl
Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Arnold Press
Dumbbell Row
Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Cable Face Pull
Cable Wood Chop

Day 2

Barbell Romanian Deadlift
Dumbbell S. Leg Hip Bridge
Dumbbell Lateral Lunge
Dumbbell Incline Press
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Cable Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Cable Tricep Push Down
Dumbbell Reverse Fly
Prone External Knee Tuck

Day 3

Barbell Hip Bridge
Seated Leg Curl
Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat
Dumbbell Chest Press
Dumbbell Upright Row
Cable Seated Row
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Cable S. Arm Reverse Fly
Supine Cycling Twist

Day 4

Seated Hip Abduction
Barbell Sumo Deadlift
Dumbbell Walking Lunge
Dumbbell Closed Chest Press
Cable S. Arm Lateral Raise
Cable Lat Pull Down
Cable Overhead Tricep Extension
Cable Seated Rope Row
Crescent Plank

Day 5

Barbell Sumo Squat
Barbell Hip Bridge
Prone S. Leg Curl
Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Half Kneeling Press
Dumbbell Dead Stop Row
Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Cable Face Pull
Cable Wood Chop

Keep in mind balancing intensity levels to avoid burnout from over training. A good way of doing this is undulating intensity levels and staying within an effort level range of 65-85%.

Additional benefits to this method of training is that it works very well with people on unstable schedules, because missing a training day will not derail your progress. Tribe By Noire members get all my full body training programs. Whether male or female, beginner, or advanced, there’s a training program that fits your criteria.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags bodybuilding, full body training, Muscle Hypertrophy Training

Fitness & Training

Full Body Workout Training Structure Explained

Post author By Remson
Post date January 24, 2019

Tribe By Noire

Full Body Workout Training Structure Explained

Full body training has been rising in popularity in the fitness space lately and for good reason. There’s tons of scientific literature demonstrating that full body training is superior to body part split training in terms of gaining strength, muscle, and burning body fat. The primary reason for this is the increased frequency of how many times you’re train a given muscle group per week. Having said all that the next question is, how do you structure your workouts and training weeks. Let me explain.

Muscle Groups Vs Movement Patterns

The typical mindset when approaching training with a body part split is targeting muscles and muscle groups.

Chest + Triceps
Back + Biceps
Legs
Shoulders
Arms

This is what’s commonly known as a “bro split”. Over the years, things advanced to routines like “push pull legs” and “upper lower split”. These all work, but carrying this mindset into a full body training style program is gonna be ridiculous. This mindset will have you in the gym for 2-3 hours doing 14-15 different exercises, in an attempt to try and target each and every muscle from your neck to your toes.

It works much better if you focus on training movement patterns instead. These movement patterns are separated into different categories.

Squat

Back Squat
Front Squat
Split Squat
Lunge

Hinge

Conventional Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bulgarian Deadlift
Good Mornings
Glute Ham Raise
Hip Thrust / Hip Bridge

Vertical Press

Strict Press
Push Press
Single Arm Press
Hand Stand Push Up

Horizontal Press

Bench Press
Incline Press
Push Up

Vertical Pull

Lat Pull Down
Pull Up
Chin Up

Horizontal Pull

Barbell Row
Seated Row
Single Arm Row
Body Row

Spinal Flexion / Pivoting

Wood Chop
Russian Twist
Alternating Jack Knife
Crescent Plank
Leg Raise Arc

Accessory Exercises

Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Lateral Raise
Reverse Fly
Bicep Curl
Tricep Extension

Workout Structure

The week can split into 2 sets, kinda like an upper lower split, except its a set A and set B split. Each set would have it’s own designated movement patterns.

Set A

Squat
Vertical Press
Horizontal Pull
Spinal Flexion / Pivot

+2-3 accessory exercises

Set B

Hinge
Horizontal Press
Vertical Pull
Spinal Flexion / Pivot

+2-3 accessory exercises

You can alternate between set A and set B 4-6 days per week taking rest days when needed. Doing this guarantees the best level of frequency and training volume for achieving the most results. Here’s what it looks like with it all put together.

Day 1

Barbell Back Squat 5×6
Barbell Overhead Press 5×8
Barbell Row 4×10

Super set

Dumbbell Reverse Fly 4×16
Dumbbell Curl 4×12

Core

Cable Wood Chop 4×12

Day 2

Barbell Deadlift 5×6
Barbell Bench Press 5×6
Lat Pull Down 4×10

Super set

Dumbbell Lateral Raise 4×20
Tricep Push Down 4×20

Core

Cable Low To High Fly 4×12

Day 3

Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 5×12
Prone S. Leg Curl 5×16
Dumbbell Half Kneeling Press 4×12
Dumbbell S. Arm Row 4×12

Super set

Cable Seated Face Pull 4×16
Dumbbell Hammer Curl 4×16

Core

Leg Raise Arc 4xAMRAP

Day 4

Barbell Romanian Deadlift 5×12
Seated Leg Extension 5×16
Dumbbell Chest Press 5×10
Lean Back Lat Pull Down 4×10

Super set

Cable S. Lateral Raise 4×20
Body Weight Dip 4xAMRAP

Core

Cable Wood Chop 4×12

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags Full Body Workout, Muscle Hypertrophy Training, Vegan Bodybuilding

Fitness & Training

Top 4 Muscle Building Mistakes Killing Your Gains

Post author By Remson
Post date December 12, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Top 4 Muscle Building Mistakes Killing Your Gains

In my 13 years of being a fitness coach, I’ve noticed that there are 4 mistakes that almost everyone makes when struggling and failing to build muscle. Even if you’re skinny and trying to get big, or your overweight and trying to get lean, you more than likely are doing at least 2 of these. I’m gonna take some time with you explain it in detail and how to fix it.

1. Not Lifting Heavy Enough

This is a mistake that a lot of newbies make, women in particular. Going slow and steady with your progression is the best way, but this doesn’t give you license to start trying to grow your arms with 5 lb dumbbells. You gotta target the right effort level and there’s a solid way of doing that. Let’s measure effort on a scale of 1-10. 1 being as little effort as humanly possible and 10 being much as humanly possible. We call this relative perceived exertion (RPE).

The target range you want to be in on this scale is anything from 7-9. For example, if you’re doing sets of 10, a 7 would be a weight that you can do a max of 13 reps with. A 9 would be a weight that you can do a max of 11 reps with. Using weight any lower than 7 RPE to build muscle is a waste of time. For warms ups, I recommend using a 5 or 6 RPE.

2. Not Doing Enough Sets & Reps

This is pretty common with ego lifters and people who obsess over their 1 rep max. Strength gain is a primary driver of muscle growth, but you’ll plateau real early if the right training volume isn’t present in your program. The rep ranges you should be working with the most are 6-8 reps, 8-10 reps, or 10-12 reps. Smaller muscles like biceps, triceps, forearms, side delts, and calves respond well to rep ranges on the higher end of the spectrum.

Doing sets of 1,2,3 reps should mainly be done toward the end of your training weeks, or the last week of your training program. This depends on what type of program you’re on. However, 1 rep maxes aren’t really that important to test unless you’re powerlifting. If you’re just trying to develop your best physique, focus on hypertrophy. For a better understanding of program structure, take a look at this here.

3. Not Eating Enough

This right here is the number 1 mistake straight across the board! This goes for the skinny and the overweight people. In fact in my experience, over weight people do this the most. We all know that chubby person in the gym everyday working like a navy seal, but struggling to get that body right. Not only will under eating keep you from building muscle, but it’ll keep you from burning fat too.

This has a lot to do with hormonal function, so check this out. You need adrenaline and testosterone in order to burn fat and build muscle. Under eating cause these two hormone levels to plummet. This results in high cortisol and estrogen levels, which encourage fat retention and reduce muscle growth.

Find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is. That’s how much you need to eat in order to maintain optimal bodily function without any exercise. Now add 30% to that number to see how your body responds with training.

Under eating also implies a protein deficit as well, so here’s a good rule to follow. At least 20% of your macros should come from protein. These are very general diet guidelines that may need to be tweaked for you specifically, but this is a good place to start. If this isn’t working you would either have to increase your calories by 5-10% or follow a better training program that fits your lifestyle and goals.

4. Over eating

This is typical with people who view themselves as hard gainers and respond with excessive force feeding. If you’re a skinny newbie to the gym you do not need to do silly things like eat 3000 calories per day, or eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Doing that is a great way to make yourself skinny fat and feel terrible while doing it. Don’t do it!

Here’s what’s going to work much better for you. Multiply your weight by 14 to get your maintenance calories. For example,

let’s say you’re 160 lbs
multiplying your weight by 14 will give you 2240 cal.
20% of that 2240 calories equals 112 grams of protein.
You should be targeting 1.6 – 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of lean mass.

Your body can only recover and build so much muscle at a time, so consuming more than you need will not help.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags muscle building

Fitness & Training

Measuring Strength With RPE Vs 1RM Percentage Training

Post author By Remson
Post date December 3, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Measuring Strength With RPE Vs 1RM Percentage Training

Building strength is paramount to creating a true body transformation. Developing strength is the key to building muscle and as your muscle mass grows, your ability to drop body fat increases. This is why you need reliable ways to measure strength. Anyone serious about getting the most results out there training needs the numbers.

You need to know how much weight you can lift and for how many reps. This is all based on effort and the 2 ways we measure that effort is relative perceived exertion (RPE) and percentage training based on your 1 rep max (1RM).

Relative Perceived Exertion (RPE)

RPE is short for relative perceived exertion. Its a measure of effort on a scale of 1-10 , 1 being the least amount of effort, and 10 being the most. With RPE you choose the weight you use relative to prior experience. Here’s an example.

Your goal is to complete a set of 10 reps.
Using your max effort your’re only able to finish 10 reps @ 225 lbs.
This means that an effort level of 10 RPE is 225.
Your RPE within a 10 rep range is relative to 225 lbs.

Here’s the next logical question. If 225 lbs is a 10 RPE for me, how do I figure what a 6,7,8, or 9 RPE is? Here’s how it works.

10 reps @ 10 RPE means I cannot do any additional reps at that weight.
10 reps @ 9 RPE means I can do 1 additional rep at that weight. (11 rep capacity)
10 reps @ 8 RPE means I can do 2 additional reps at that weight. (12 rep capacity)
10 reps @ 7 RPE means I can do 3 additional reps at that weight. (13 rep capacity)
10 reps @ 6 RPE means I can do 4 additional reps at that weight. (14 rep capacity)

RPE works for more than just sets of 10, but be mindful that anything under 6 RPE is a waste of time. I personally only use a 6 or 5 RPE for warm up sets.

1 Rep Max Percentage Training (1RM)

This method is more commonly used for the big 3 compound lifts like the squat, bench press, and deadlift. It’s also used in Olympic weightlifting for the barbell snatch and the barbell clean & jerk. Unlike RPE, percentage training is all based on effort relative to your 1 rep max. This makes sense for powerlifters, especially competitive ones because its all about how much weight you can lift one time. If you decide to use percentage training, I recommend training in between 70-95% of your 1RM.

CALCULATING YOUR 1 REP MAX

There’s a couple of ways to do this. The 1st method would be to start with a couple sets of 3-5 reps to warm up and then keep doing singles, gradually increasing the weight until you hit your max.

The 2nd way to do this would be more so for newbies to the grind. Run an entry level training program that uses a rep goal system and/or RPE. I have a variety of training programs designed for this at tribebynoire.com. At the end of that program you can calculate your 1 rep max by using a 1 rep max calculator. Go to your app store and search “1RM calculator” and download the one with the best rating. Its that simple! All you’ll need to do is input the heaviest weight you used and how many reps you completed. This is the safest and smartest route to go for new and even intermediate lifters.

When To Implement RPE & 1RM

Some coaches prefer to use RPE and others prefer to use 1RM percentages. Both methods work, but only if they’re implemented correctly. I prefer to use both methods, but for different purposes.

WHEN I USE 1RM PERCENTAGES

I only use this method with the big barbell lifts like the squat, bench, deadlift, and sometimes the overhead press, depending on how advanced the lifter is. The caveat with this method is that it becomes increasingly inaccurate with high reps sets (anything over 8 reps). This is because muscular endurance starts to become more of a factor as the set gets longer.

WHEN I USE RPE

This method works well with exercises that you would never test for 1 rep maxes, like lunges, lat pull downs, or tricep extensions. RPE works well for accessory exercises, and rep ranges of 8 or more.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags power building, powerlifting, strength training, training strategies

Fitness & Training

Exercise Selection And How To Make The Right Choices

Post author By Remson
Post date December 1, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Exercise Selection And How To Make The Right Choices

We all have our reasons for being regulars at the gym. Some people want to go to the gym just to have some adult playtime, while others just want to blow off steam, but maybe you want to create something real. Maybe you’ve made a commitment to yourself to achieve a true body transformation. If you’re working toward developing an athletic defined body that truly reflects the work you put in, then the information I’m giving you here is something you NEED to know.

I’m gonna go point by point through a few key rules and considerations when deciding what to do in your training routine

1. Keep It Simple

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your training is implementing too many variations of the same kind of movement. Choose a primary lift and 1 or 2 accessory exercises for each muscle group and work on developing your strength and technique as much as possible in those exercises. Here’s a few examples of the best exercises for each muscle group.

Glutes & Quads

(Primary) Barbell Back Squat
(Accessory) Barbell Hip Bridge
(Accessory) Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat

Glutes & Hamstrings

(Primary) Barbell Conventional Deadlift
(Accessory) Dumbbell Bulgarian Deadlift
(Accessory) Prone Leg Curl

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

(Primary) Barbell Bench Press
(Accessory) Dumbbell Shoulder Press
(Accessory) Weighted Dip

Back, & Biceps

(Primary) Barbell Hang Row
(Primary) Weighted Pull Up
(Accessory) Dumbbell One Arm Row

Abs & Obliques

Cable Wood Chop
Weighted Sit Up
Hanging Leg Raise

Knowing What's worth Your Time

Starting your 1st set of the workout puts you on the clock and your workouts should only be around 45-60 minutes, 90 minutes at the most. This means you just simply do not have the time to goof around with exercises that yield little benefit. Your primary focuses should be the big compound lifts and 1-2 accessory exercises that help you develop those lifts the most.

Here’s a quick hypothetical for you. If you could only choose 1 exercise to build your chest, which would it be, cable chest flys or Bench Press? The best choice would fit this criteria.

Its an exercise that I can add a substantial load to.
It develops the other smaller assistance muscles.
It won’t cause muscular imbalances.

Do What Your Body Responds To Most

There’s a whole variety of different ways to hit a muscle or muscle group, but the ideal exercise is the one that gives you the most gains. For example, my quads respond very well to the back squat, but yours may respond much better to the front squat. If your primary focus for squatting was getting the most growth in your quads, you would choose the front squat.

Another example would be grip width and stance width.

Bench Press – A more narrow grip on the bench press would target your shoulders and triceps more. A wider grip would activate more chest and shorten the range of motion.
Barbell Rows – A wide grip would target your rear delts and traps a lot. A narrow grip would target your lats mainly.
Sumo Deadlift – This wide stance deadlift is more geared towards developing a rounder fuller butt by targeting your glute medius way more than a narrow style deadlift.
Conventional Deadlift – This deadlift forces you to hinge more at the hip which places more tension on your back and hamstrings.

There’s tons of other examples, but these are some big ones.

Weaknesses and/or Injuries

Injuries are pretty easy to figure out for the most part, but identifying weaknesses is what you may need more of a trained eye for. Examples of weakness would be bad posture, or just bad form in general due to certain muscles not firing the way they should.

Weak quadriceps would cause you to excessively lean forward in a squat. A good remedy for this would be goblet squats, or some kind of front loaded variation. These front loaded variations are meant to get you in a more vertical position that forces you to engage your quads more, rather than compensate using other muscles.

Other indications of weakness would be things like relative strength between lifts. For example, you should be able to row the same weight you bench press. Being able to press more than what you pull is a clear sign of a weak back and this will ultimately lead to injury.

We could talk for a whole hour just on this topic alone, but if you need any further answers, feel free to ask your questions in the comments, or request a consultation here.

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags bodybuilding, muscle building, power building, powerlifting, training strategies

Fitness & Training

Full Body Training Vs Body Part Split Training For Muscle Hypertrophy

Post author By Remson
Post date November 27, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Full Body Training Vs Body Part Split Training

A relatively new debate has risen in the marketplace of fitness in regards to muscle hypertrophy. The most common approach to muscle building for the most part has been body part split routines, but now this method is being challenged by the idea that full body training is actually superior. There are even scientific studies that show full body training is the way to go. There’s a lot of nuance in this discussion, so I’m gonna break this down for you, so you can understand it from every angle.

The 3 Most Important Factors For Muscle Building

Understand that no matter what training split you choose, it will only work if its implemented correctly. In regards to muscle building your program needs these 3 things.

Frequency – This is how many times per week you train a muscle. Ideal frequency should be 2-3 times per week with 24-48 hours in between.
Volume – This is your weekly total of how many sets and reps you do. For hypertrophy, volume should be between 14-20 sets per week.
Intensity – This is how hard you train a muscle within a training session. The weight you use on the big compound lifts should be between 70-85%.

All three of these factors have to be in your program with frequency and volume being the top priorities. The training split you choose will determine the levels that these factors will be implemented at.

Full Body Training

Full body training is pretty self explanatory. On each training day you would target all the major muscle groups with mostly compound exercises that target,

Pressing muscles
Pulling muscles
Lower body muscles
Core muscles

Here’s what a week of training on a full body program would look like.

Day 1

Back Squat
Romanian Deadlift
Bench Press
Pull Up
Overhead Press
Wood Chop

Day 2

Conventional Deadlift
Bulgarian Split Squat
Incline Press
Chest Supported Row
Dip
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 3

Back Squat
Push Press
Hang Row
Close Grip Bench Press
Glute Ham Raise
Weighted Sit Up

Full body training is all about high frequency training and the big compound movements. According to scientific research, full body training yields better results than body part split training because of the high priority on frequency. The high frequency also offsets the fact that volume is not going to be as high as a body part split. Doing 20 sets a week on all the big lifts will burn you out and ultimately cause you to lose muscle and strength. You can reach 15 sets weekly by doing 3 sets on each muscle group on the 3 days of training.

This training split would be ideal for you if,

You only have 3 days to commit to training.
You need to prioritizing training for your sport.
You struggle with being consistent with training.

The Upper Lower Split

The upper lower split is also pretty self explanatory. You alternate between an upper body training day and a lower body training day. Here’s what a week of training on an upper lower split would like.

Day 1

Back Squat
Romanian Deadlift
Walking Lunge
Prone Leg Curl
Cable Wood Chop
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 2

Chest Supported Row
Bench Press
Lat Pull Down
Overhead Press
Spider Curl
Weighted Dip

Day 3

Conventional Deadlift
Bulgarian Split Squat
Walking Lunge
Prone Leg Curl
Cable Wood Chop
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 4

Incline Press
Lat Pull Down
Chest Press
Single Arm Row
Skull Crushers
Hammer Curl

With the upper lower split, frequency is reduced to 2x per week, but its easier to reach a training volume of 20 sets per week. This is the training split I use mostly and what I’ve known to work for most people in my experience. It gives you the benefits of a body part split without sacrificing too much frequency. With this split you also get 3 off days to work on things like mobility and cardio conditioning.

Push Pull Legs

This training split is not for the faint of heart. This isn’t for the people who “just want to build some muscle.” This is for those who are truly dedicated to building a phenomenal physique. The 20 sets of volume is very easy to reach with this training split, and the intensity as well. The main draw back to this training split is that it is 6 days per week.

2x Per Week

Push

Bench Press
Incline Press
Arnold Press
Lateral Raise
Skull Crushers
Weighted Sit Up

Pull

Hang Row
Lat Pull Down
Single Arm Row
Reverse Fly
Barbell Bicep Curl
Spider Curl

Legs

Barbell Hip Bridge
Back Squat
Romanian Deadlift
Bulgarian Split Squat
Prone Leg Curl
Hanging Leg Raise

This type of training split makes room for a great deal of exercise variation and rep schemes. Hitting 20 sets per muscle group shouldn’t be a problem, as long as you do all 3 workouts twice per week. I wouldn’t advise you to do this training split if you struggle with motivation, consistency, and/or a busy schedule.

In conclusion, all methods work well if implemented correctly, but the determining factors in which route you choose depends on your lifestyle and goals..

Tribe By Noire

I’ve created this platform to help you become the most powerful version of yourself through fitness, plant based nutrition, and mindset coaching.

Tags Body Part Split Training, bodybuilding, full body training, mass gain, Muscle Hypertrophy Training, power building, powerlifting, training strategies