Author: Remson

3 Body Transformation Training Strategies You Need To Be Using

Post author By Remson
Post date October 17, 2018

Tribe By Noire

3 Body Transformation Training Strategies You Need To Be Using

I’m sure you’ve seen some really drastic before and after pictures floating around, especially on instagram. On the left would be a guy or gal, flabby, bad posture, and an unenthusiastic facial expression to match. Then on the right is the same person, lean, tanned, and standing tall with a smile from ear to ear. You may look at images like that and think WOW I wonder how they did it!?

As a coach myself with over a decade of experience, I’ve figured it out. We know the diet has to be on point, but no matter how good your diet is, you won’t be able to make that transformation without the right type of training. There’s many different ways to train, but to make a real physique transformation there are 3 strategies you need to be using in order to see consistent results.

1- Rep Goals

The rep goal strategy is where you set a specific amount of reps with a set amount of weight. An example of this would be setting a goal of 24 reps at 185lbs within 3 sets on the bench press. That comes out to 3 sets of 8 reps if you were to do the same amount of reps on each set. Reaching your rep goal serves as an indication that you can go up in weight. You’re not ready to go up in weight if you don’t reach the rep goal.

Using this strategy is one of the best ways I’ve found to track your strength progress without doing 1 rep max tests. This is particularly a good idea for anyone in there first few years of training. You may not care too much about strength, but you will not build muscle without gaining strength.

2- AMRAP (As many reps as possible)

Doing AMRAP sets is how you get the absolute most out of a workout. Not only does this stimulate crazy muscle growth, but it also puts you in serious fat burning mode. There’s 2 main ways to use this strategy and its important to know when and with what type of exercise.

Last set AMRAP

This is ideal for the strength training portion of your workout, especially in combination with the rep goal strategy. Get as many reps as possible on that last set and see how far beyond your rep goal you can get. There’s no reason to stop short.

Body weight training

When using body weight exercises to build muscle, the most important factor is reps. The amount of muscle you build with body weight training is directly correlated to how many reps you can do. As a bonus, this also has a cardio training effect which will result in improved stamina and fat loss.

3- Super Sets

A super set is when you do 2 exercises back to back with little to no rest time between them. This is a smart way to improve time efficiency in your workout, train lagging muscles,, and increase the frequency of how many times you train a muscle group in a week. Here’s a few super set examples.

Lower body Training

Squats & Calve Raises
Stiff Leg Deadlift & Leg Curls
Lunges & Single Leg Hip Bridges
Banded Crab Walks & Hip Bridges

Upper Body Training

Chest Press & Bicep Curls
Rows & Tricep Extensions
Overhead Press & Reverse Flies
Lat Pull Down & Side Delt Raises

Plug in 1-2 super sets towards the end portion of your workouts to maximize muscle growth. Using all 3 of these strategies in each workout is a real game changer, trust me.

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, fat loss, muscle growth, power building

Nutrition & Supplements

Successfully Overhaul Your Diet In 3 Simple Steps

Post author By Remson
Post date October 13, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Successfully Overhaul Your Diet In 3 Simple Steps

I’m writing this because in the fitness and wellness industry, we put way too much emphasis on DIETS. Every time you turn around someone’s pitching a keto diet, a paleo diet, a blood type diet, juice cleanse, etc. Let’s back up a second, get real, and ask ourselves one simple question, “What about just adopting simple eating HABITS?”

The only way your diet works for you is if it’s comprised of practical eating habits that you can sustain. This means not being a slave to your food, not going to bed hungry, and not being crushed by cravings. Let’s talk about these 3 simple steps that will allow you to get your diet on track successfully.

Step 1 - The Observation Phase

Before you start making any changes you first have to identify exactly what you need to change. You may think you’re eating too much when in fact you’re eating too little. You may be eating the right amount of calories, but just making the wrong food choices.

Take a week to track your current eating habits and develop some self awareness. Doing this is a real wake up call. You can start this process by downloading an app on your phone called My Fitness Pal, or chronometer. My fitness pal is a bit easier to use, but chronometer gives you way more information on what you’re eating.

At this point you don’t need to worry about making any changes, just log what you’re eating. By the end of the week you’ll have plenty of data to look at to see where your problems are. Here’s a few things to look out for.

Does your calorie intake fluctuate up and down drastically?
Is your saturated fat, sugar, and cholesterol intake really high?
Is your fiber, vitamin, and mineral intake really low?

Step 2 - The Mapping Phase

Once you can clearly see where the holes are in your diet, you can start mapping out how you would ultimately want your diet to look. Make a simple list of nutrition goals like this.

Set a reasonable calorie goal that you can stay within 5% of.
Set a reasonable balance in your macros according to your fitness goals.
Have a list of at least 5 categories of food that you target daily.

Choosing a calorie goal – First you’d want to find out what your maintenance caloric intake is. Finding out your basal metabolic rate (BMR) will give you that number. You can download a mobile app on your phone for that or google “basal metabolic rate calculator” for the easiest way to do it.

If you want to lose weight, targeting 15% below maintenance calories would be a good idea. However, if you’ve been already under eating habitually and not losing weight, a calorie deficit is not going to be of much use.

If you want to gain weight, targeting 10% above maintenance calories would be ideal. Typically going further above that would cause you to gain unwanted body fat.

Setting macro goals – Typically the best macros are the ones that give you the most variety in your diet, while still getting you to your goals. For example, this is what that may look like.

Carbs – 50-55%
Protein – 20-25%
Fat – 30-20%

Carbohydrate and fat intake will vary from person to person, but in regards to protein calculation, 1 – 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of lean mass would be the range to stay within. Getting above or below will result in a pretty unbalanced diet.

Targeting food categories – This would more than likely be the simplest place to start because its the least technical. All you’d really need to do is pick 5 food categories that are the most beneficial and make sure you eat foods from each of them daily. Here are the categories I suggest.

Veggies
Fruit
Nuts/Seeds
Legumes
Grains

Ideally each meal should incorporate at least 3 of these.

Step 3 - The Implementation Phase

Finally, implementation is done best when its done gradually. Too much at one time becomes overwhelming and food cravings will likely get the better of you. My advice is that you make 1-2 changes a week and see how you do. If you can stay consistent with those changes for the week, add more improvements. Here’s what some of those changes may look like.

WEEK 1

Eat 2-4 cups of fresh greens daily
Track each meal daily

Week 2

Eat 3.5 servings of legumes daily
Reach but do not exceed calorie goal by more than 10%

Week 3

Eat at least 3 servings of fruit daily
Drink at least 64oz of water daily

Week 4

Eat at least 1-2 servings of nuts and seeds daily
Reach your macros daily

Its easy to focus on getting rid of all the bad stuff from your diet, but that requires a focus on all the negative stuff in your diet. That focus on the negative is not good if you’re trying to take a more positive approach to life.

A good alternative is the process of elimination through addition. Focus on adding the good stuff first. You don’t have to deny yourself some of that cake right now, just save it for the end of the day AFTER you’ve eaten all the most beneficial meals first. That way its like a reward for good behavior.

Eventually the food cravings will die out and you’ll have more self discipline.

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 diet strategies, fat loss, muscle growth, nutrition plans, plant based diet, weight loss

Fitness & Training

Developing Strength 1st Before Hypertrophy Training

Post author By Remson
Post date July 2, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Developing Strength 1st Before Hypertrophy Training

Play Video

The correlation between strength & mass

Most of us understand that there is at least some sort of correlation between strength and muscle size, but the question is, if you want to gain muscle size, what’s the most effective way to do it. The strongest people we see tend to have the most muscular bodies, so by that logic we should just train for strength right? That sounds reasonable enough, but the more you study the science on this topic, the more complicated the answer becomes. Stay with me for a bit here as a break down and explain the process.

the 3 steps of physique building

1. cutting phase

Ideally you want to get to your ideal body fat while gaining muscle at the same time. This is especially easier to do for people who are new to the gym. Doing cardio and fancy complicated exercises to get you winded is not really what I advise because we want to cut, not deflate. Instead you’d want to take the fundamental movements like squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and rowing, and do them with some fairly high rep sets like 16-20 reps. Throw some giant sets and super sets in there and you’re good to go.

2. strength phase

Once you’ve cut down to your ideal body fat level, or at least close to it, you need to start developing a real foundation for strength. The primary reason for this is that muscle grows primarily to facilitate strength and force production. Getting stronger increases your capacity for muscle growth. A strength phase of training has 2 primary objectives, which are to increase strength and quantify strength. This phase of training is going to be with pretty low volume with sets typically not exceeding more than 10 reps. By the end of your strength phase you should know your 1 rep maxes for each fundamental lift. Your 1 rep maxes will be the basis for step 3. 8-12 weeks at a time is good duration for this phase.

3. mass phase

This phase is all about hypertrophy, which is the scientific term for increasing muscle mass. Unlike most training programs, this type of training is not focused on increasing the amount of weight you’re lifting in each set. The focus is increasing the amount of reps or sets, from week to week. I suggest working with weight that is either 70% of your 1 rep max, or in between 60-80% of your 1 rep max. The rep ranges I would suggest here are 6-8, and for accessory exercises I would suggest 10-12 or 16-20 reps.

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, mass gain, muscle growth, training strategies

Fitness & Training

Dynamic Warm Up And Mobility Training Guide

Post author By Remson
Post date June 16, 2018

Tribe By Noire

Dynamic Warm Up & Mobility Training Guide

Get The Right Start

We all know what a warm up is, at least some what. To some of us, its a quick 10 minute run on the treadmill, or a couple of basic stretches we learned in high school. Most people are under the assumption that the purpose of the warm up is to obviously… warm up. This is true, but your warm up should do much more for you than just raise your body temperature.

A good warm up should set you up to perform at your best by achieving 3 major goals. Those 3 goals are,

Movement Prep
Increase range of motion (ROM)
Muscular activation

Skipping this process leads to training with poor form which can prevent you from building muscle, gaining strength and ultimately lead to some pretty nasty injuries aka getting snapped up. You do NOT want to get snapped up because that can put you out of the gym for weeks and even months.

Let’s take a deep dive into the dynamic warm up phase and mobility training.

Intro To Dynamic Warm Up & Mobility

At the start of each workout should be exercises that prepare your body to perform the session’s exercises at an optimal level. For example, if you’re squatting, the dynamic warm up and mobility exercises should be specific to the muscles, joints, and movement patterns involved in the squat. The same rule applies to any other movements like pressing, rowing, deadlifting, etc.

Movement Prep

Movement prep is where you perform exercises that mimic the actual exercises you’re getting ready for. This primes your nervous system for that particular movement pattern. An example of this would be doing a body weight squat before doing squats with weight. This also allows you to see and feel your form and make any correction you need to before you get started.

Increase Range Of Motion

Increasing range of motion facilitates ease of movement and greater force production, which can also drastically reduce injury and increase muscular growth. For example, lengthening your hamstrings will get you a better deadlift which leads to strong thick hamstrings and glutes. Lengthening the muscle fibers of your chest will allow you to have greater movement at the shoulder blades, which in turn result in a bigger chest and back.

Muscular Activation

Any compound movement can feel very uncomfortable and lead to injuries over time if certain muscles aren’t firing like they’re supposed to. For example, having inactive glutes can lead to deadlifts being too stressful on the lower back and squats being too stressful on the knees. Inactive upper and mid back muscles can lead to shoulder injuries during bench pressing and shoulder pressing. These are the types of problems that are super common and you’re probably dealing with some of this yourself.

Squat Dynamic Warm Up

There’s a few things to consider when warming up for an exercise like the squat. Whether you’re squatting with a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, or even just body weight, the considerations are pretty much the same.

Hip and ankle mobility
Muscular activation of the glutes and quadriceps
Maintaining spinal extension

6 reps

12 reps per side

Deadlift Dynamic Warm Up

Deadlifts are all about maximizing the strength and efficiency of your hip hinge. Even though deadlifts require a full body effort, the glutes and hamstrings are the primary drivers. A few things to consider when warming up for this movement are,

Hip and hamstring mobility
Muscular activation of the glutes and lats
Maintaining spinal extension

8 reps

12 reps

12 reps per side

Shoulders & Chest Dynamic Warm Up

Warming up for an upper body workout pretty much works the same whether you’re pushing or pulling. The reason for this is the fact that both push and pulling both rely on the efficiency of movement at the shoulder complex. Pushing and pulling are separated into two categories, vertical and horizontal. You can prep for both of these at the same time. A few key consideration here are,

Mobility of the shoulders and scapula in all planes of motion
Muscular activation of all 3 shoulder heads, rotator cuff, and scapula muscles

12 reps

8 reps

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 Flexibility, joint pain, Mobility, training strategies

Nutrition & Supplements

5 Major Tips To Stop Bad Eating Habits Permanently

Post author By Remson
Post date January 31, 2018

Tribe By Noire

5 Major Tips To Stop Bad Eating Habits Permanently

Diet is a big struggle for most people, especially those trying to lose weight. We all at least have some what of an idea of what a good food choice is and what a bad food choice is, but there’s one obvious element to diet that no one really talks about. That element is the psychology behind your food choices.

There are 5 major tips to stop bad eating habits and if you do them long enough, you can get rid of these habits permanently.

Prioritize the right foods
Make good food choices more available
Time your meals in your favor
Setup a reward system
Study what is motivating your eating habits

Prioritize The Right Foods

Just simply cutting out the bad food from your diet doesn’t work so well for most people, and even if it works, it doesn’t work for very long. The reason this fails is because just removing things creates this empty void which eventually leads to intense food cravings. To avoid this pitfall, try eating in order of priority.

Eat the most beneficial foods first and the least beneficial foods after. An example of this could be having a meal packed with fruit, veggies, raw nuts, seeds, high fiber grains, and legumes. Afterwards if you’re still having a craving for the not so beneficial food craving, indulge…a little.

Keep Good Choices On Deck

People tend to make bad food choices simply out of convenience. Stopping off at a fast food spot is way more convenient than cooking your ideal meal. Those of us with busy exhausting schedules are at the highest risk for this, but there is a simple solution to this. Keep good food choices handy wherever you go, this is even more important for people following a vegan plant based, or at least trying to.

Ideally you should be packing your food daily, but for the times that you might have dropped the ball on that, bring filling snack foods that you can just grab and go. These snacks can be simple foods like cashews, almond butter, a bag of apples, dried fruit like dates, some pre-packed carrots and celery with hummus on the side. These are just a few things that you can keep on hand to hold you over until you can get to your ideal meal.

Time Your Meals In Your Favor

One of the worse things you can do is wait until you’re starving to decide what to eat. Get into the habit of planning your meals at least a day in advance. This premeditated approach to diet is going to give you a new level of control over your eating habits that you’ve never had before. I’ve put together an article on meal prep. Check that out here!

Setup A Reward System

Developing all this discipline over your diet and can feel like a real chore at times, and can even be a bit discouraging. You need a way to keep your morale up and stay in the game, so you may want to start thinking about setting some sort of reward system for yourself. The most typical method to this is the “cheat meal”. Basically a cheat meal is that one weekly meal where you allow yourself to eat the things you’ve been cutting out. The problem with the cheat meal is that it can end up becoming a cheat weekend and even the cheat week!

I’ve found a better approach to be a daily reward at the end of the day after you’ve stuck to your meal plan. Have those 4-5 cookies, or that donut at the end of the day, but only after you’ve eaten all the good stuff first. Doing this will make the challenge of impulse control easier because you’ll have something exciting to look forward to.

Study What Is Motivating Your Eating Habits

Its all about self awareness here. What eating habits are you trying to overcome? Now study and identify the mindset that is driving those habits. What is happening in your life when you follow these habits? A lot of us are emotional eaters, but you don’t have to beat yourself up about it. You just need to first practice awareness deliberately and then make the lifestyle changes that are going to help you develop the emotional discipline you need.

If a certain environment is triggering bad eating habits, get out of that environment, or develop a way to protect yourself in it. If a certain person, or people are triggering bad habits, get some distance. At the end of the day you need to develop a solid mindset and protect it. I’ve saved this solution for last because it is the best, but the catch is that it can be the most challenging one.

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 diet strategies, fat loss, mindset, plant based diet, vegan, weight loss

Fitness & Training

3 Steps To Build Your Ideal Body In The Gym

Post author By Remson
Post date January 20, 2018

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3 Steps To Build Your Ideal Body In The Gym

When I say “build your ideal body” I’m referring to a natural, athletic, healthy, human form. Its up to you how lean or muscular you want to look, and how large you want certain muscles to be, but achieving that look in an efficient time frame all boils down to these 3 steps.

For the specifics on how to do this, keep reading below.

Step 1 - The Cutting Phase

The cutting phase is just a simple and sexy way of saying body recomposition phase. I have to make it clear that I am not advocating for cutting in the traditional sense of weight loss. The goal is specifically to reduce BODY FAT not just any ol’ weight loss. You don’t want to lose a lot of weight, but not really lose much body fat because that’s how you end up in the skinny fat category. If you already are in the skinny fat category, give this article a look here.

The cutting phase should be a hypertrophy specific style of training. This style of training will get you to build muscle as you reduce body fat. This is important for building that ideal body you want, fast! In my experience, clients have been able to drop 4-6% body fat in 4 weeks in this phase. Clients who need to lose a lot of weight, lose and average 6-8 lbs a week. Here’s some examples of what that would look like.

4 Week Routine

Day 1

Goblet Squat

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Stiff Leg Deadlift

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Walking Lunges

1 set x 100 reps

Open To Close Hollow

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 2

Barbell Row

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Lat Pull Down

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Chest Press

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Shoulder Press

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Day 3

Goblet Squat

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Stiff Leg Deadlift

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Walking Lunges

1 set x 100 reps

Open To Close Hollow

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 4

Barbell Row

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Lat Pull Down

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Chest Press

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Shoulder Press

3 sets x 10 rep min – 20 rep max

Start with a weight you can do a maximum of 20 reps with
Increase the weight by 5-10% each set
Do as many reps as possible (AMRAP) on each set, with a minimum of 10 reps each set
Rest for 60-90 seconds in between each set

Step 2 - The Strength Phase

After you’ve completed the cutting phase and have dropped a considerable amount of body fat, you should start a strength training program. Even if your goal may not necessarily be to get as strong as possible, this is still a key phase in reaching your ideal body. There are 3 main things that your strength phase should achieve.

Develop a good foundation of strength
Improve your strength capabilities
Accurately quantify your strength

This style of training focuses on a much lower amount of reps, but the weight will be considerably higher. Each training day should revolve around the main compound lifts such as the barbell squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, and row. This type of training will also get you to increase muscle mass and drop body fat as well even though those are not the primary focuses here.

Here’s an example of what this type of training routine would look like.

4 Week Routine

Day 1

Barbell Deadlift

4 sets x 8 reps (last set AMRAP)

Barbell Back Squat

4 sets x 8 reps (last set AMRAP)

Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat

3 sets x 12 reps per side (last set AMRAP)

Supine Leg Raise Arc

4 sets x AMRAP

Day 2

Barbell Row

4 sets x 8 reps (last set AMRAP)

Barbell Bench Press

4 sets x 8 reps (last set AMRAP)

Dumbbell Incline Press

3 sets x 12 reps (last set AMRAP)

Barbell Bicep Curl

4 sets x 12 reps (last set AMRAP)

Day 3

Barbell Overhead Press

4 sets x 8 reps (last set AMRAP)

Pull Up

4 sets x AMRAP

Dumbbell S. Arm Row

4 sets x 12 reps per side (last set AMRAP)

Prone External Knee Tuck

4 sets x AMRAP

Start with a weight you can only do 12 reps with
Increase the weight by 5-10% each set
Do as many reps as possible on the last set
rest for 2 minutes in between each set
Increase the weight each week by 5-10% each week
Decrease the amount of default reps each week by 2 reps
Cut the amount you lift by 30-50% on week 4 to deload

Document all sets and reps and weight you used throughout this process. Week 3 will be the toughest week where you lift the most weight. To calculate your new one rep maxes, download an app called 1 Rep Max on your phone. Input the heaviest weight you did and how many reps you completed. The app will do the calculations for you.

Step 3 - The Mass Phase

The key focus in this phase is filling out your frame by building new lean muscle mass. For guys this would be a concentration on developing the back, chest, shoulders, arms, and thighs. For women the concentration would be on developing the lower body with an emphasis on glutes and hamstrings.

This training phase requires a hypertrophy specific program where the amount of sets and/or reps increase over time. The weight should be around 65% of your 1 rep max (1RM). You should be able to calculate your 1RM and percentages using the data from your strength phase. Ideally, you’d target each muscle group 2-4 times per week in order to fully maximize results. An effective training split for this could be full body, or an upper lower training split.

Here’s some examples.

4 Week Routine (Men's)

Day 1 (Lower body)

Barbell Squat

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Deadlift

4 sets x 8 reps

Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

4 sets x 8 reps

Alternating Crossbody Jack Knife

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 2 (Upper body)

Barbell Row

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Incline Bench Press

5 sets x 8 reps

Pull Up

4 sets x AMRAP

Barbell Curl

4 sets x 8 reps

Day 3 (Lower body)

Barbell Squat

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Deadlift

4 sets x 8 reps

Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

4 sets x 8 reps

Alternating Crossbody Jack Knife

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 4 (Upper body)

Barbell Row

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Incline Bench Press

5 sets x 8 reps

Pull Up

4 sets x AMRAP

Barbell Curl

4 sets x 8 reps

4 Week Routine (Women's)

Day 1

Barbell Squat

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Hip Bridge

4 sets x 12 reps

Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

4 sets x 8 reps per side

Alternating Crossbody Jack Knife

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 2

Barbell Deadlift

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Hip Bridge

4 sets x 12 reps

Close Grip Pull Up

4 sets x AMRAP

Dumbbell Chest Press

4 sets x 8 reps

Day 3

Barbell Squat

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Hip Bridge

4 sets x 12 reps

Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

4 sets x 8 reps per side

Crossbody Jack Knife

3 sets x AMRAP

Day 4

Barbell Deadlift

5 sets x 8 reps

Barbell Hip Bridge

4 sets x 12 reps

Close Grip Pull Up

4 sets x AMRAP

Dumbbell Chest Press

4 sets x 8 reps

Start with 65% of your 1 rep max
Add 1-2 reps to each set every week for 3 weeks
rest for 90 seconds – 2 minutes
Cut the amount of reps down by 30% on week 4 to deload

Phase Duration

The length of each phase depends on what your goals are, and what your level of fitness is. Typically the cutting phase could take anywhere from 8-12 weeks. The strength phase can be done 4-8 weeks at a time and the mass phase can be run continuously over a period of 3-6 months. Do your best to maintain a low body fat percentage throughout the mass phase in order to avoid frequent cutting phases.

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, fat loss, muscle growth, training strategies

Nutrition & Supplements

The 5 Food Groups Of The Whole Food Plant Based Diet

Post author By Remson
Post date December 18, 2017

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The 5 Food Groups Of The Whole Food Plant Based Diet

According to all of the scientific research that I’ve done and the amazing results that I and my clients have achieved, a plant based diet is superior. There are many different ways to structure a plant based diet in terms of macros and timing, but the key is balance and variety.

In this nutrition guide I’m going to explain how to cover all of your macros, vitamins, minerals, and eliminate nutrient deficiencies.

The 5 Food Groups

Fruit is pretty low in calories, but loaded with all kinds of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Most fruit tend to be pretty high in sugar, but those sugar levels are regulated by vitamin C and fiber. The high levels of vitamin C in fruit help to flush toxins out of the body, strengthen the immune system, stimulate collagen production, and connective tissue growth.

Vegetables also tend to be pretty low in calories, but loaded with all kinds of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Vegetables have very low levels of sugar and typically have complex carbs which really stabilize blood sugar levels. Dark leafy greens are really important for healing and improving gut health. Dark leafy greens are a great source of calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and omega 3 fatty acids.

Nuts and seeds are a good high calorie source of protein and quality fats. Nuts are a great food to pair with low calorie foods because of their high calorie content. Nuts and seeds are a great source for minerals like selenium, zinc, and iron. Seeds like pumpkin, chia, hemp, and flaxe seeds are a great source for omega 3 fatty acids.

Grains are very calorie dense and a really easy source for both quick and slow digesting carbs, as well as fiber. The grains with the most fiber are the ones with the slower digesting carbs. An example of this would be white rice vs brown rice. Having more grains in your diet is ideal for high performing athletes and people trying to put on muscle size and strength.

Legumes are big time muscle building foods with high amounts of protein, carbs, fiber, and calories. Legumes are also a major source of B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron. Add a variety of beans, peas, lentils, and even tofu to your diet for optimal protein levels.

Meal Structure

Ideally to have a balanced and robust diet, you want to make sure you’re eating a variety of foods from each of the 5 food groups daily. An easy way of doing this is planning your meals in a way where you are combining 2-3 of the food groups in each meal. Pair low calorie nutrient dense foods with high calorie foods. Here’s a few examples.

MEAL 1

MEAL 2

MEAL 3

MEAL 4

Its a great idea to have your meals become smaller and simpler as the day goes on. Also if you’re trying to lose body fat at an optimal rate, eat foods that are slower digesting foods with a lower glycemic index during the day and then foods with a higher glycemic index at night.

Glycemic index is a measure of how fast a food will spike your blood sugar levels. A lower glycemic index is ideal during the day for managing hunger, energy levels, and improving insulin sensitivity, ultimately increasing fat loss results. Spiking your blood sugar at night will feed your sweet tooth and later will allow you to sleep better at night after you come down from the sugar high.

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

Tags vegan diet, Vegan Meal Prep, Whole Food Plant Based Diet

Fitness & Training

Sets & Reps Guide To Physique Building

Post author By Remson
Post date November 21, 2017

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Sets & Reps Guide To Physique Building

With each exercise, you’d do a given amount of repetitions (reps) and you do that amount of reps for a given amount of sets. For example if you’re doing bicep curls, you could be doing 3 sets of 10 reps, or 3×10. If that sounds confusing for you, think of it as 30 reps divided into 3 sets.

When considering how many sets and reps to do in your training routine you have to consider a variety of different aspects.

What is your training goal?
What muscle fibers are you targeting?
How much time do you have to train?
How much training volume do I need?

Sets & Reps For Muscle Building

In order to effectively increase muscle mass, you need to maximize tension and muscle fiber recruitment during each exercise. There are a few options for getting this done, but in regards to sets and reps there’s 2 options.

Use a heavy load with less reps.
Use a moderate to light load with more reps.

The heavier loads will increase your strength and target your type 2 muscle fibers, which have the greatest potential for size development. Ideally the heavy lifting should come at the beginning of your training session. Lifting heavy after already being fatigued will limit training performance in these big lifts, thus limiting the results.

The moderate to lighter loads will target your type 1 muscle fibers. Training these muscle fibers will increase muscular endurance, blood flow, and improve stability. These lifts are secondary to your heavier lifts being that they perform better under sustained fatigue. An added bonus to training these muscle fibers is the drastically increased blood flow to the muscle that creates “the pump”.

Effectively training both muscle fiber types in the most strategic way will really maximize muscle growth as well as improve strength and performance. Here’s a quick example of what this looks like.

PRIMARY EXERCISES

8 Reps

6 Reps

4 Reps

SECONDARY EXERCISES

20 Reps

16 Reps

12 Reps

Optimal Rep Ranges For Muscle Building

The most common method used for building muscle is choosing a specific number of reps for each set. An example of this would be 1st set for 10 reps, 2nd for set 8 reps, 3rd set for 6 reps. This can work, but a major problem here is that rigidly sticking to the amount reps can cause you to leave a lot of training intensity on the table. Let’s say the goal is 8 reps, but you’re able to squeeze out 12 reps, did you maximize training intensity on that set if you stopped at 8? Did you maximize muscle tension?

If training intensity and maximal muscle tension is what creates the results we want, then the reps should facilitate the focus, not BE the focus. This is why rep ranges are ideal. An example of this would be 3 sets where each set has a rep range of 10-6. Start with a weight that you know you can get a maximum of 10 reps with. Increase the weight on each set and do as many reps as possible (AMRAP) in each set.

Both increasing the weight on each set and striving for the maximum amount of reps each set will allow you to get the most out of every workout. When you put everything together in a full training routine, this is what it look like.

1ST TRAINING DAY

Barbell Squat

3 Sets x 8-4 Reps (AMRAP)

Barbell Deadlift

3 Sets x 8-4 Reps (AMRAP)

Barbell Hip Bridge

3 Sets x 8-4 Reps (AMRAP)

Dumbbell Walking Lunge

3 Sets x 20-12 Reps (AMRAP)

2nd Training Day

Barbell Overhead Press

3 Sets x 8-4 Reps (AMRAP)

Barbell Bench Press

3 Sets x 8-4 Reps (AMRAP)

Dumbbell Incline Press

3 Sets x 20-12 Reps (AMRAP)

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

3 Sets x 20-12 Reps (AMRAP)

3rd Training Day

Barbell Row

3 Sets x 8-4 (AMRAP)

Weighted Pull Up

3 Sets x 8-4 (AMRAP)

Barbell Pull Over

3 Sets x 20-12 Reps (AMRAP)

Dumbbell Reverse Fly

3 Sets x 20-12 Reps (AMRAP)

*NOTE

This just serves as one example of this rep scheme idea just to give you a visual of what it looks like. This is a great setup to follow, but there are many others that also work really.

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, fat loss, muscle growth, training strategies

Fitness & Training

The Push / Pull / Legs Body Part Split Explained

Post author By Remson
Post date November 14, 2017

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Push Pull Legs Training Split Explained

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Push-Pull-Legs Split Explained

There are many different types of training splits to choose from, but right now I’m going to put some focus on one of my absolute favorites. The push, pull, legs training split is a favorite of mine, not just for the results I’ve gotten from it, but also for what its done for my training clients.

Here’s a few ways to tell if this training split is for you.

You’re only able to train 3 days per week.
You get bored with a conventional body part split.
You’re an athlete who practices a sport multiple times a week.
You’re a natural lifter trying to build an impressive physique.
You want to do powerlifting or powerbuilding.

How This Training Split Works

The push pull legs training split is divided into 3 primary training days. On the push training day, you train all of the muscles that produce or assist in pushing movements. These muscles are typically the ones you use in bench pressing, shoulder pressing, and abs. On the pull training day, you’d train all of the muscles that are opposite from pushing. This would be the muscles that you use during rows, pull ups, and deadlifts. The leg day is reserved for all of the muscles you have from the waist down. The primary exercises on the leg day would be squats, lunges, deadlifts, and hip bridges.

In my personal experience and with clients, the best physique results come when the 1st day is legs, 2nd day is push, and the 3rd day is pull, with a rest day between each. Leg day is the most demanding, so prioritizing it on day 1 allows you to come into the gym fresh and fully recovered. Push I put at number 2 rather than pull because push day typical doesn’t call for the use of any of the muscles from leg day.

Here’s some quick examples of how it would look.

LEGS

Squat

Deadlift

Hip Bridge

lunge

PUSH

Shoulder Press

Chest Press

Tricep Dip

Abs

PULL

Row

Pull Up

Bicep Curl

Reverse Fly

How Many Exercises Per Training Day

The answer to this question really depends on what your focus is and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Typically I think in terms of primary and accessory. So as an example, if the focus on push day is to develop bigger, shoulders, you would do 2 – 3 exercises for that muscle group. The Primary exercise would be a barbell press, single arm dumbbell press, and lateral raises. Then you’d use 1-2 exercises for chest triceps and abs. Over all, you’re looking at 5-8 exercises per training day.

Push Pull Legs For Powerlifting

Powerlifting revolves around the big 3 barbell lifts, bench press, squat, and deadlift. This is perfect for a 3 day training split because you can now have each training day dedicated to improving a specific lift. This means you can focus on strength, technique, and volume all at the same time. An important factor for natural lifters is the emphasis on recovery. Having more rest days means you get to go all out on your training days and see consistent gains without reaching burnout.

Here’s an example of what training days would look like.

DEADLIFT

Barbell Deadlift

Single Arm Row

Single Arm Farmers Carry

Hanging Leg Raise

BECH PRESS

Barbell Bench Press

Dumbbell Incline Press

Half Kneeling Single Arm Press

Prone Tricep Press

SQUAT

Barbell Back Squat

Barbell Hip Bridge

Goblet Reverse Lunge

Prone External Knee Tuck

Cardio Conditioning

Cardio is a whole other topic on its own, but to keep things simple I’ll just tell you what I and my clients have seen the most results with. If you’re trying to lose body fat and gain muscle at an optimal rate, while still having a life outside of the gym, do 20 – 30 minutes of high intensity cardio conditioning a week. This can be sprinting, battle rope drills, burpees, etc. You can do this on training days, or non training days. I personal stick to 4-8 minute conditioning sessions 2x per week.

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 growth, power building, powerlifting, training strategies

Personal Development

Strengthening Self Identity To Become A Better You

Post author By Remson
Post date November 13, 2017

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Strengthening Self Identity To Become A Better You

If I were to ask you to explain to me who you are, what would you tell me? What traits do you identify with? What are your beliefs and desires? Are you living in alignment with what you are and how close are you to being your best self?

These can be some pretty difficult questions, especially if you’ve never given it much thought in the past. If you truly want to start being your best self and living your best life, you need to strengthen your self identity.

Being
Deserving
Doing

These three elements are where it starts. Let’s line them up and bridge the gap.

IDENTIFY YOUR BEING

Identifying your being starts with the traits you identify with. These can be how you look, how you sound, and even how smile. This can also be how you behave, how your perceive people and the world around you. What traits do people notice in you? What traits do you notice in yourself? Make a list of all of those traits that people see in you and then make a list of the traits you see in yourself. Compare those lists to each other and see how they line up.

Even though we’re focusing on self identity, its still pretty important to see how people view you. Seeing internal and external points of view can help you see things about yourself that you couldn’t see otherwise. This type of feedback can help you refine your character and improve your social life.

Take a look at all of the traits listed and choose which traits you find desirable about yourself. Those desirable traits are going to go on a separate list and that list is going to play a major role in solidifying your being. As for the traits you don’t want, acknowledge them, but don’t focus on them. Focusing on what you want and what you like is a much more powerful position to work from.

WHAT DO YOU DESERVE?

What do you truly feel you deserve? Do you deserve to be wealthy? Do you deserve to be loved? Do you deserve to be respected and admired? Say what you feel you deserve, whatever it is! Now the next question is, “why do you deserve it?” Go back to your list of traits if you have to.

Understand that in order to deserve something, you have to do, be, or have something that indicates that you do deserve it. If your traits don’t line up with what you feel you deserve, you’ve got some work to do. Become what you need to be to get what you deserve. Do the things you need to do to get what you feel you deserve.

WE ARE DEFINED BY WHAT WE DO

Personal development happens from the inside out. This is why we start with acknowledging our being and our desires, then these things manifest in our doing. A great deal of us are living day to day with our being, deserving, and doing, completely out of alignment. As a result we end up with anxiety and depression. We end up with a head full of conflict.

After you’ve sorted out your being and what you deserve and or desire, you can now look at your habits. If you desire to be wealthy and you know you’re capable of achieving the wealth you want, have you been doing what you need to do to make it happen? If you have traits of brilliance and beauty, is that coming out in your behavior as confidence?

Ask yourself the tough questions and hold yourself accountable. Be deliberate with the moves you make. If you’re not sure what you should do in a given situation, remember your traits and what you know you deserve.

REQUEST A CONSULTATION

Request a consultation and you can speak to me directly and get more solution to your training, diet, and motivational struggles. Let’s start making real change and move forward!