Tag: bodybuilding

4 Exercises For Building A Strong Defined Core

Post author By Remson
Post date August 29, 2017

Tribe By Noire

4 EXERCISES FOR BUILDING A STRONG DEFINED CORE

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Flex | Extend | Twist

In order to effectively train your core, you need to understand how your core muscles function. In my 11 years of experience its become pretty obvious that most people have no idea… well maybe a little. The truth is if you need to do 500 reps of an exercise in order to feel it, stop doing it, or stop doing it the way you’re doing it. In this article I’ll be explaining the following.

The main core training movements
4 exercises for core building
Core exercise video tutorials

The Main Core Training Movements

Your core training should achieve 4 things

Improve your posture
Shrink your waist
Lower your risk of back injury
Add muscular definition to your core.

THE 3 MAIN MOVEMENTS OF CORE TRAINING

Flexion – This targets the Rectus Abdominis. Sit ups, crunches, leg raises, planks, all those exercises that are typically marketed as six pack builders. This is by far the most common form of core training.
Extension – This targets the Erector Spinae. Extension is just as important to train, but often neglected and even when done, its done ineffectively by most. When you train your spinal erectors correctly, it contributes a great deal to the look of your back and the quality of your posture.
Twist – This targets the internal and external obliques (sides). Typically people make the mistake of target these muscles by doing some type of side bending exercise, but that actually targets a muscle on your back called the Quadratus Lumborum. The muscle fibers of the obliques actually run diagonally across the torso. Any movements that you use to target those muscles should follow that direction.

4 Exercises For Core Building

1. OPEN TO CLOSE HOLLOW

This exercise is great way to truly start developing your abs. If you’re doing exercises like sit ups and leg raises and feeling it mostly in your quadriceps and hip flexors, do this instead.

Start by laying on your back. Tuck your knees to your chest as much as possible while rounding out your back, and squeezing your abs.
Keeping the abs engaged, slowly stretch your legs and arms out and away from your torso. Do your best to not let your back arch.
Work within a range of motion that challenges you, but not to the point where you feel back pain.

2. Prone Back Extension

If you’ve been using a hyper extension to target your lower back, STOP! I’ve got a much better idea. This exercise will not only strength your lower back, but it will also strength your mid back, and improve your posture.

Start by laying on your stomach with your palms flat to the ground, adjacent to your sholders.
Pick your chest and pams up from the ground while squeezing your glutes. Keep a neutral neck position throughout the movement.
Hold the top position for 1-2 seconds and then relax.

3. SUPINE LEG RAISE ARC

Rather than twisting frantically side to side with a weight in your hand, give this a shot. Core training should be controlled and strategically paced rather than rushed and jerky. Oblique exercises should be combined with spinal flexion.

Start flat on your back with your legs stretched out 45 degrees away from center with your hips rotated in that direction. Place your arms out to the side, palms down.
Brace your abs and raise your legs 90 degrees to center. Lower your legs 45 degrees to the other side.
Keep your feet together throughout the entire movement and Imagine tracing a large arch with your feet.

4. PRONE EXTERNAL KNEE TUCK

The thing that makes this exercise so effective is that it really works not only your abs big time, but also your Serratus Anterior, Obliques, and Quadratis Lumborum, in synergistic fashion.

Start at the top of the push up position with your shoulders directly over your wrists.
Brace your abs and bring your knee to the outside of your upper arm. Laterally flex your spine to get your thigh to physically touch the outside of your upper arm.
Keep your abs braced while bringing your foot back to the starting position. Each rep should be done at a slow and controlled pace.

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 ab workout, bodybuilding, core training, training strategies

Fitness & Training

Top 3 Strategies For Building Lean Muscle Mass

Post author By Remson
Post date August 11, 2017

Top 3 strategies for lean muscle mass building

Tribe By Noire

Top 3 Strategies For Building Lean Muscle Mass

There are all kinds of different opinions on how to build lean muscle mass. To be honest with you, any strategy can work if you do it for the right amount of time. The catch is that even the greatest strategy will ultimately stop working over time. The smart strategy is to have not just one, or even two, but have 3. Let’s get into the top 3 strategies of lean mass building.

1

Increase The Amount Of Weight

Muscle size will increase as you become stronger. The reason for this is because your body has to adapt to heavier weight . A good example of strength training would be to 5 sets of 5 reps. The idea is that you stick with the same amount of sets and reps, but week after week you increase the amount of weight.

Week 1

5×5 @ 135 lbs

Rest 2-3 mins between each set

Week 2

5×5 @ 155 lbs

Rest 2-3 mins between each set

Week 3

5×5 @ 175 lbs

Rest 2-3- mins between each set

Week 4

5×5 @ 195 lbs

Rest 2-3- mins between each set

This strategy can work for a few consecutive months, as long as you include deload weeks. For those of you who don’t know, a deload week is a training week where you significantly reduce training intensity to recover from training stress. Basically just lift light that week. Ultimately though, this strategy will stop working due to the fact that strength progress will slow down and it will become impossible to continue adding weight to the bar.

2

Increase The Amount Of Training Sets

Muscle size will grow in order to accommodate a greater training volume. Your training volume basically implies the quantity of repetitions you do rather than the quantity of weight you lift. A good example of this training volume strategy would be increasing the amount of sets you do with a given weight from week to week.

Week 1

5×8 @ 135 lbs

Rest 1-2 mins between each set

Week 2

6×8 @ 135 lbs

Rest 1-2 mins between each set

Week 3

7×8 @ 135 lbs

Rest 1-2 mins between each set

Week 4

8×8 @ 135 lbs

Rest 1-2 mins between each set

This strategy can work for a few months as well, but eventually you will have to change strategies because it will be impossible to continually keeping adding sets. Attempting to do so will result in workouts being excessively long and over training which leads to a decrease in muscle mass as well as performance.

3

Increase The Amount Of Training Reps

This strategy is an alternative way to increase training volume. The goal with this strategy is to gradually increase the amount of reps you do in a given set. Unlike strategy number two, this method doesn’t require you to increase the amount of sets you do. The amount of sets you do should actually decrease, which would serve as an indication that you’re strength and muscular endurance is improving. This strategy especially works with body weight exercises like push up and pull ups. Its also a very effective way to train arms, or any single joint muscle.

Week 1

100 rep goal

Complete in 6 sets

Rest 15-30 secs between each set

Week 2

100 rep goal

Complete in 5 sets

Rest 15-30 secs between each set

Week 3

100 rep goals

Complete in 4 sets

Rest 15-30 secs between each set

Week 4

100 rep goal

Complete in 3 sets

Rest 15-30 secs between each set

Before you try this strategy, BE WARNED, this is an intense method and takes tremendous will power. Squeezing out every last rep you can, burns like crazy. Eventually though you’ll have to ease off of this type of training because it can lead to over-use injuries because of the build up in inflammation in the muscle tissue.

Tracking Performance & Channging Methods

Driving muscle is a matter of manual transmission. You gotta know when to switch gears. One of the most common things I’ve seen people do is stick with a certain training method to the point that their progress stalls. The easiest way to avoid this is to track your progress really closely. Typically the first 3 months that you follow a given strategy, you’ll see pretty good results. After that 3 month mark, things can start to slow down. That slow down in progress is an indication that its time to make a change.

In my experience, using two different strategies from opposite ends of the spectrum yield the most results, with minimal sacrifice. The way I would advise you to do this is by splitting your workouts up into 2 phases. The 1st phase would be the low volume heavy lifting, and the 2nd phase would be the higher volume with lighter loads. In most cases this is best way to get the most benefit out of every training session. Here’s what it would look like.

Session 1

Phase 1 (Low Volume/Heavy Weight)

Barbell Back Squat

Phase 2 (High Volume/Low Weight)

Dumbbell Goblet

Prone Leg Curl

SESSION 2

Phase 1 (Low Volume/Heavy Weight)

Barbell Bench Press

Phase 2 (High Volume/Low Weight)

Dumbbell Incline Press

Seated Row

SESSION 3

Phase 1 (Low Volume/Heavy Weight)

Barbell Deadlift

Phase 2 (High Volume/Low Weight)

Barbell Hip Bridge

Prone Leg Curl

SESSION 4

Phase 1 (Low Volume/Heavy Weight)

Barbell Overhead Press

Phase 2 (High Volume/Low Weight)

Lat Pull Down

Face Pull

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, power building, powerlifting, training strategies

Fitness & Training

The Most Important Training Factor For Muscle Growth

Post author By Remson
Post date June 8, 2017

Tribe By Noire

The Most Important Training Factor For Muscle Growth

You can go on google right now and type in “the best way to gain muscle” and all types of different answers will pop up. This is one of the reasons why most people have no idea what to do. What I aim to do here is simplify this topic as much as possible. I’m going to give you just ONE thing to focus on. So let’s talk about the most important training factor for muscle growth.

Focus On The Muscle Contraction

Focus on the muscle contraction! Sounds simple enough right? You see, training just serves as a form of stimulation, so greater stimulation naturally leads to greater gains, assuming you’re eating the right foods and sleeping enough. What I’ve come to notice in my years of training clients is that most people don’t really have this understanding, so they never really focus on the contraction of the muscle they’re targeting. Maybe you’re guilty of this also.

What To Do When You're Not Feeling It

Its actually pretty common for people, especially beginners to not really feel the muscle working. The reason for this is a lack of what we gym rats call “The Mind Muscle Connection”. You have to develop a connection between your mind and whatever muscle your targeting. This can pretty difficult to do during complex movements. Pretty common examples of this are.

Not feeling your butt, or hamstrings during a squat or deadlift.
Not feeling your lats and mostly feeling your biceps in a row or pulldown.
Only feeling your shoulders in a chest press.

If you identify with any of these examples, I’d advise you to take some time out in the beginning of your workout to do some isolation exercises that specifically target those dormant muscles. Some examples of that would be.

Hip Bridges and/or Donkey Kicks to target glutes.
Single Arm Lat Pulldown with a lateral torso flex to target lats.
Neutral Grip Cable Flys to target pecs.

*Become a member at Tribe By Noire to get video tutorials for all of these exercises and more. Extensive training programs are also included.

Take your time with each rep while performing isolation exercises to get the most benefit to your mind muscle connection.

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, fitness tips, mass gain, muscle growth, power building, training strategies

Fitness & Training

3 Reasons To Not Do Cardio Before Lifting

Post author By Remson
Post date May 8, 2017

Tribe By Noire

3 Reasons To Not Do Cardio Before Lifting

One of the most common mistakes that people make in the gym is setting cardio as priority number one. The first thing most people do when they first enter the gym is hop on a treadmill, elliptical, or recumbent bike. In a society plagued with overwhelming levels of obesity, cardio becomes an obsession, due to the belief that its the best and quickest way to lose weight. The truth is, resistance training should be priority number one if your goal is weight loss, and body re-composition. Let’s talk about 3 reasons to not do cardio before lifting.

Lifting is way better than cardio for weight loss

First lets talk about cardio and its primary focus. The purpose of cardio is implied in the name “cardio” as in training your cardiovascular system. There is great benefit to improving your cardio performance, and you’ll even lose some weight from it, but primarily focusing on cardio for weight loss will cause you to neglect training the bodily systems that use the most fat for energy.

Its during rest and other low intensity activities where you burn the most fat. This is why cardio activity like running isn’t the best for fat reduction and definitely not good for your knees. You’re better off walking long distance rather than running. During your workout, your body will use carbs for energy which brings me to my next point. If fat is mostly used during rest, it would be wise to prioritize the activity that causes the most energy usage after the workout (rest). That activity is weight lifting, or resistance training in general.

The reason for this is recovery. It takes longer and requires more energy for the body to recover from lifting than cardio does. I wouldn’t tell you to completely cut out cardio, but if you’re gonna do it, do it at the end of your workout, or on days where you’re not lifting.

3 Reasons To Not Do Cardio Before Lifting

Cardio Before Lifting Will Hurt Your Training Performance

You only have a certain amount of energy to give within your workout, so you don’t want to be wasting it on cardio if you’re trying to build muscle and drop body fat. Lifting or any type of resistance training only builds muscle if the muscle is challenged and stimulated enough. You won’t be able to really challenge your muscle enough if you’re fatigued.

Cardio Before Lifting Will Hinder Movement Quality

When I say movement quality I mean muscular function and range of motion. The reason why this happens is because pre-exhausting the body will cause certain muscles to not fire with the amount of force that they are supposed to. For example, running can cause fatigue and tightness of the quadriceps and calve muscles, often results in excessive stress at the knee joint, hip, and lower back. This will not only hinder movement and create discomfort, but it often results in various injuries.

Cardio Before Lifting Can Lead To Over Training & Muscle Loss

Overall work volume is a big component to effective training. One of the fatal flaws that hold most people back from their fitness goals is doing too much! Doing cardio and then pushing your body through a rough lifting session on a consistent basis can lead to over training and muscle loss. A lot of work and not enough recovery leads to frustration and often causes people to lose motivation and quit. For more info on how over training works, read this.

The Perfect Warm Up

As far as warm ups go, the best way to warm up is to work your way through a couple of dynamic mobility exercises that specifically prep the muscle groups you’ll be using in that training session. For example, if you’re going to be doing legs, prep and get blood flow to the muscles that move your hips, knees and ankles.

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, fitness tips, muscle growth, powerlifting, training strategies, weight loss, weightlifting

Fitness & Training

Top 3 Mistakes In Gaining Muscle Mass

Post author By Remson
Post date May 6, 2017

Tribe By Noire

Top 3 Mistakes In Gaining Muscle Mass

I want to talk about the top 3 mistakes in gaining muscle mass. I get questions all the time about how to gain muscle mass and what the best rep scheme is. Understand that there isn’t a one size fits all kinda program, but there are certain key mistakes that most people make that hurt progress the most.

How Muscle Growth Works

The brain sends an electrical impulse down the spine and through the nervous system.
The nervous system then commands muscle to contract.
That contraction then produces force and creates resistance.

THE 2 REASONS FOR MUSCLE GROWTH

To produce force in order to move the body or other objects in a given environment.
To resist against force from external objects and gravity.

TRAIN & HUMAN ADAPTATION

One thing that the human body does extremely well is adapt to a given environment or lifestyle. These adaptations are a biological survival mechanism that make it easier for us to do what we do. The whole premise of training is to intentionally create these adaptations to get a desired result, like muscle growth.

TRAINING TO IMPROVE FORCE PRODUCTION & RESISTANCE CAUSES MUSCLE GROWTH

In order to facilitate maximal force production and resistance, the body increases the size of its muscle. When you look at the purpose of muscle, it becomes obvious that strength training is the key to muscle growth.

Now that we’ve got that squared aware, let’s talk about the 3 biggest muscle mass killers.

1. Over Training

You want to work hard in the gym and challenge the body to grow, but you can definitely overdue it. This can be doing too many reps and it can also be lifting too much weight. The biggest causes of this is over zealousness and poor or no programming.

Strength training should be tested, calculated, tested, and then recalculated. It shouldn’t be a string of randomly chosen days where you just go to the gym and try to lift as heavy as possible. Get a good strength training program that is no less than 4 weeks and stick to it all the way through. Document the final results and continue from there.

For more on over training, read 6 signs of over training

2. Poor Eating Habits

There are so many different theories on how to eat, when to eat, and what to eat, but I want to dispel some myths about diet in regards to muscle growth.

YOU DO NOT NEED 1 GRAM OF PROTEIN PER POUND OF BODY WEIGHT, OR EVEN HALF THAT

The myth that you need to eat so much protein is straight up bro science and its dangerous. Too much protein intake causes fat gain, kidney disease, cancer growth, and other issues.

In order to calculate your protein intake you need to find out what your lean mass index is. You typically need 1.5 – 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of lean mass per day.

This is a big part of the reason why I recommend following a vegan diet because meat, dairy, and egg eating tends to result in excessive fat and protein intake which results in all of the health issues we have today.

YOU CAN NOT SPEED UP MUSCLE GAIN BY EATING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Muscle gain happens when you’re in a caloric surplus, but excessive eating causes an increase in body fat. The key is to slowly increase your caloric intake. For example, if you’re consuming 1800 calories per day to maintain your current body weight, increase it to a solid 2000 – 2100 calories for four weeks and document your results.

Typically you’ll gain an average of 1 lb of lean mass per month. Anymore than that is more than likely water and fat. When taking measurements, I would recommend circumference measurements, a skin-fold test with calipers, and obviously stepping on the scale.

JUNK FOOD DOES NOT HELP MUSCLE GROWTH

Eating junk food can inhibit muscle growth by bogging down your gut with toxins. Poor gut health hinders nutrients absorption and creates inflammation which leads to excess soreness, and low energy levels. All of your calories should come from nutrient dense foods.

For more info on how to improve gut health, read Fix your gut and lose fat with prebiotics

3. Lack Of Sleep

Muscle does not grow in the gym, it grows at rest. The training in the gym is only to stimulate the muscle to spark the process of adaptation, but the building and repairing of muscle happens in bed with a good night’s sleep.

Lack of sleep disrupts homeostasis which is the body’s natural state of balance. If this balance is disrupted, the body will reduce or even shutdown muscle growth in order to prioritize getting back that natural state of balance. This ultimately leads to over training, so they pretty much go hand in hand.

From what I’ve seen in my own personal journey as well as my clients, is that going to bed in between the hours of 8 and 10pm and waking up between 4 and 6am yields the most results. While following this type of sleep pattern, you may notice that you have twice as much energy as usual, a higher sex drive, more mental clarity, increased fat loss, and an increase of muscle size and strength.

Avoid These Pitfalls By Prioritizing Stress Management

Train with a mindset of self love and gratitude rather than a mindset driven by frustration and discomfort. Learn to enjoy the process and stay focused on all the positive changes you will experience in the future.

Eat foods that heal and cleanse the body and avoid toxic foods at all costs. Take control of your diet by cooking all of your own foods. Take time to be aware of what you eat and have an honest dialogue with yourself about your lifestyle. That is how you begin to break bad habits.

For more on breaking habits, read How to rid yourself of bad habits

Manage your time as best as possible by scheduling out your days. Schedule everything! Set a limit to how much work you’re willing to take on in a given day and set a reoccurring bedtime. Setting boundaries is a great way of reducing the stress in your life.

For more on reducing stress and even reducing negativity, read 7 ways to cut negativity out of your life

Thanks for reading, I appreciate you!

-Remson

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, fitness tips, muscle growth, training strategies

Fitness & Training

The Truth About Squat Depth

Post author By Remson
Post date May 5, 2017

Tribe By Noire

The Truth About Squat Depth

How deep should you squat? This is a question I get very often and its also a pretty loaded question. There is an ideal form of squat depth, but you also have to work within the confines of your mobility all while working to improve your mobility. So let’s dive a bit deeper into the truth about squat depth.

3 Things You Need To Know About Squat Depth

1. We all have the same parts, but we also have those parts in different measurements. Our proportions range differently from person to person which means our squat depth should as well. Even though our depth will range from person to person, it does not serve as an excuse to squat shallow.

2. Ultimately you should be able to sit in a squat position comfortably, pretty much how a toddler normally would. When did we lose our ability to sit in a proper squat position? Probably when we started spending most of our days sitting in a chair. That 90 degree knee bend, inherited from the chair has now become most people’s standard for squat depth.

3. Squatting to full depth is only bad for your knees if you have imbalances like, weak glutes, overly developed quadriceps, and/ or limited ankle limited ankle mobility. If your bottom position feels uncomfortable, mobility is definitely an issue and needs to be addressed on a daily basis.

Learn To Squat Like A Toddler

Watch a one year old squat down to grasp something from the floor. Their feet stay roughly at hip distance, their knees abduct from their mid-line, and their hips drop to a full knee bend. Try to copy it and make note of where you feel the most discomfort.

Rounding of the back and falling backwards is usually a sign of limited ankle flexion. Push your knees out more and lean forward. If you can’t push your knees apart, it means you need to stretch the muscles in the inner thighs.

Grab hold of a door frame, or a pole fixture of some kind and use it to hold yourself up while you practice sitting in that bottom squat position. It may be tedious at first, but if you’re serious about getting good at squatting, you’ll stay consistent and work at this habitually.

Here’s a look at what the technical anatomy of your squat should look like. When working on improving your squat depth, record yourself in video form and see how close to this illustration you get.

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, fitness tips, muscle growth, power building, powerlifting, training strategies, weightlifting

Fitness & Training

3 Essentials To Building A Strong Functional Back

Post author By Remson
Post date May 5, 2017

Tribe By Noire

3 Essentials To Building A Strong Functional Back

Building your back is vital to developing a strong and balanced body, yet so many people neglect it. Its common for people to train the muscles they see the most, like chest, arms, and abs, but understand that your back muscles are just as important and in some cases, should be trained more often than the muscles on the front. Moving forward I’m going to explain the 3 essentials to building a strong functional back.

Some Perks Of Training Back

Training your back will change your posture in a way that will make you stand more upright which will cause you to appear more confident and strong. Your posture actually effects how people behave toward you which is why this is so important in terms of social encounters. Weak back muscles lead to a hunched look that can cause you to look weak and timid.

Developing a strong back can relieve shoulder and neck tension by strengthening the muscles that pull your shoulders down and back in to place. Weak back muscles lead to overactive upper trapezius muscles and this greatly contributes to stress headaches and bunch of other issues.

Improving the strength of your back muscles will increase the integrity of your spine and greatly improve your joint function. This means that you greatly decrease your chances of slipping a disc, or getting a shoulder impingement.

Obviously there is a major aesthetic appeal to developing a strong sexy back. Whether you’re a woman who wants to wear that new backless dress, or a guy who wants that broad shoulder look with the V Taper, I’d advise you to get to pulling.

1st Essential - Horizontal Pulling

Horizontal pulling is basically any kind of rowing motion. The key elements here are scapula retraction and shoulder depression. Good cues to keep in your head for these kinds of movements are to keep your chest out and your shoulders down as you pull towards your belly. Make a double chin throughout the movement to keep from sticking your neck out.

2nd Essential - Vertical Pulling

Vertical pulling is basically any kind of movement where you pull against resistance from an overhead position. The key elements here are scapula retraction/downward rotation, and shoulder depression. This can be pull ups, lat pull downs, high rows, etc. Again, keep your chest out and your shoulders down and make a double chin, but this time you’ll be pulling to your upper chest.

3rd Essential - Spinal Extension & Stabilization

Good examples of spinal extension and/or stabilization would be deadlifts, goodmornings, prone extensions, etc. The unique thing about these kinds of movements is that their primary function in regards to the back is to strengthen the spinal erectors and this requires little to no movement of the arms.

Putting A Back Routine Together

Putting together a back routine is fairly simple. Typically what I’d do is take 1-2 exercises from each of the 3 categories. The weight and reps would be set depending on the current goals of the program.

As long as you structure your workout around the essentials, you’ll be able to put together an effective and balanced back workout.

You can also add unilateral training to your workout structure as well. For more on that topic, give this article a look. 2 reasons why you should use unilateral exercises

Thanks for reading! Get to pulling!

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, fitness tips, muscle growth, training strategies

Fitness & Training

6 Tips To Improve Your Bench Press

Post author By Remson
Post date May 3, 2017

The barbell bench press is the standard for upper body strength which makes it an essential exercise to anyone trying to build upper body strength. It is also essential to do it correctly through a full range of motion, not only for maximum strength and muscular development, but also for joint health. No matter what your sport is, the form for the bench press remains the same and follows the same basic principles. Here are 6 tips to improve your bench press and save your shoulders.

1. Keep A Tight Grip On The Bar

Grip strength plays a large role in strength overall. In regards to the bench press, a loose grip on the bar results in the loosening of the smaller stabilizing muscles in the shoulder. This often result in a lack of control over the bar and even tearing of the shoulder. Keep tight on the bar and maintain control.

2- Keep Your Chest Up

Thoracic Extension (arching your back) is essential to any kind of weightlifting, due to the advantages it provides for torso position. This torso position makes it easier for you to retract your shoulder blades (scapular) to bring the bar down to the sternum. This also allows you to utilize the muscles in your upper back to assist in stabilizing the bar and driving it up to the top position. Think big chest.

3. Tuck Your Elbows At 45 Degrees

Tucking your elbows is also going to give you the ability to use your upper back muscles more and its also going to protect your shoulders. Benching with your elbows flared out is a very weak and risky position because of the lack of leverage and potential impingement at the shoulder joint. Keep those shoulders packed and secure throughout the press.

4- Unrack & Breathe In Deep

IBreathe deep into your belly, hold that breath throughout the rep, and exhale at the top. That deep breath allows you to get oxygen into the lungs while filling up the belly to create pressure, which helps stabilize the torso. Pull big air and push big weight.

5- Back & Hips Should Be Tight With Both Feet On The Ground

No loose bench pressing! People are often so focused on their chest that they forget about the rest of their body. Arch your back, keep your chest up, squeeze your butt, and push your feet into the ground.

6- Keep Tight Until You Rack The Bar

There should be no slack in your body until the weight is racked. Treat the whole lift and every lift like its a thousand pounds.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate you!

-Remson

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Tags bodybuilding, fitness tips, power building, powerlifting, training strategies

Fitness & Training

3 Keys To Building Muscle And Burning Fat At The Same Time

Post author By Remson
Post date May 1, 2017

3 Keys To Building Muscle And Burning Fat At The Same Time

One of the biggest myths in fitness today is the belief that you can’t build muscle and drop body fat at the same time, atleast not a substantial amount. Because of this belief, it is a common practice to alternate between 3 different phases known as bulking, cutting, and maintenance. My goal here in this article is to simplify the process and explain the 3 keys to building muscle and burning fat at the same time.

The Vicious Cycle Of Cutting & Bulking

This vicious cycle will have you bouncing back and forth from one extreme to the next. You want to get lean and sexy, so you neurotically cut calories in efforts to drop weight fast. You drop the weight, and a clothing size or two. You feel good about it for a bit, but the feeling fades when you realize you look flat. You’ve gotta put some muscle on, and add some shape to this now thinned out physique. Popular opinion says you’ve gotta eat big to get big, so you begin doing just that, over eating. You hit it hard in the gym and pack on some good size, but only a small portion of it being actual lean mass. Ladies and gentlemen, the vicious cycle of bulking and cutting.

Debunking the calorie myth

Before we go any further I need to clarify what calorie is and is not. A calorie is not a form of nutrients, it is actually a measure of thermo energy. To be specific it is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. Basically food works in the body much like how gas works in your car. The fuel heats up creating a caloric output (energy use). The more “calories” we consume, the more potential caloric output we have.

Understanding that, we can now see that the only purpose for increasing calorie intake is to have more usable energy. Whatever potential energy we have left over is stored in either the liver, muscle tissue, or fat cells. If you have your calorie surplus too high, you’ll gain body fat. If your calorie deficit is too low, you’ll lose muscle. Sounds simple enough, but this is actually where calorie counting falls on its face.

Are all calories created equal?
Does it matter where the calories come from?
How do you calculate how many calories you need?

I’ve often had clients drop body fat and increase muscle mass by increasing their food intake, so what’s the missing link here?

Quality Over Quantity

When thinking about food, quality comes first. The quality of your food is its macro and micro nutrient balance. A good example of this would be fruit vs cake.

Cake has little to no nutritional value, and very high in “calories”. Cake is known to be fattening because not only is it high in “calories, its also low in fiber, so you end up eating way too much of it before actually feeling full.

Fruit is low in “calories” but loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber which greatly improve energy, recovery, and digestion. This means more muscle growth and fat burn.

The 3 Keys To The Right Gains & Losses

1. NITROGEN SURPLUS

Consuming protein increases the nitrogen levels in your body. This nitrogen is what builds the muscle tissue in the body. Simply put, you will build muscle as long as you have a nitrogen surplus in the body during recovery. Studies show that the optimal consumption of protein per day for muscle building is 1.5 to 1.8 grams per kilogram of lean body mass.

2. TRAIN INTENSE & TIME EFFICIENT

Your training sessions should be fairly quick and intense, typically within 40 – 45 minutes. Having long drawn out training sessions can drastically reduce performance and inhibit your recover because of over use to the nervous system. Your body only has but so much fuel available at a given time so make every minute count.

3. RECOVERY

The body builds muscle at rest almost entirely when you sleep, which is why the best thing you can do for muscle growth is sleep. The body also metabolizes the most fat at rest in order to generate and stabilize your hormones and other functions. Its pretty much impossible to get the results you want without sufficient recovery.

Leave a comment below! Let me know what info you’ve found most useful here and feel free to ask if you have any further questions. Thanks for reading!

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Tags bodybuilding, diet strategies, fat loss, fitness tips, muscle growth, nutrition plans, power building, powerlifting, training strategies, weight loss, weightlifting

Fitness & Training

The Best Training Routine For Muscle growth And Fat Loss

Post author By Remson
Post date April 30, 2017

The Best Training Routine For Muscle growth And Fat Loss

There are those who train and there are those who just workout. Working out is great and all, and its better than just sitting on the couch binge watching your favorite tv show, but training is where the real progress happens. Training implies programming, following a routine to reach a specific goal with efficiency. In this article I’m going to go over the 3 main types of training routines for muscle growth and fat loss as well as the best training routine for muscle growth and fat loss.

The 3 Main Types of Training Routines

THE BODY PART SPLIT

This is where you train each specific muscle group once a week. This is most commonly used by body builders. The purpose is to isolate and stimulate a specific muscle or muscle group as much as possible in a given session and let it recover for the rest of the week. Doing this can help you fine tune your physique specifically for aesthetics on stage. Here’s an example

Monday – Chest & Triceps
Tuesday – Back & Biceps
Wednesday – Rest
Thursday – Legs
Friday – Arms
Saturday – Accessory work
Sunday – Rest

The body part split will vary according to what muscles you want to focus on the most and what your schedule will allow.

UPPER & LOWER SPLIT

With this type of routine, your training days will alternate between upper body and lower body. This will allow you to hit each muscle group at least twice per week. This type of training routine is ideal for anyone needing to practice specific movement patterns because of the increased training frequency of each muscle group. Here’s an example

Monday – Lower Body (Squat & Deadlift)
Tuesday – Upper Body (Bench Press & Pull Ups)
Wednesday – Rest
Thursday – Lower Body (Deadlift & Squat)
Friday – Upper Body (Bench Press & Rows)
Saturday – Accessory work
Sunday – Rest

FULL BODY

From what I’ve seen in my own clients and the studies I’ve read, full body routines are the best type of routine for overall weight loss. Each training day combines upper body and lower body exercises, preferably back to back to raise and sustain the body’s metabolic rate. The higher your metabolic rate is, the more glucose and fat you burn. Here’s an example

Monday – Deadlift & Chest Press
Tuesday – Rest
Wednesday – Squat & Push Press
Thursday – Rest
Friday – Box Jumps & Farmers Carries
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Low intensity distance walk

The Best Of Both Worlds

In my 11 years of coaching I’ve had the ability to test hundreds of different programs with hundreds of different clients, and from that experience I’ve been able to learn what works most.

The body part split works best to build lagging muscle groups, but it definitely isn’t the best way to cut body fat or improve movement quality and strength.
Full body has shown incredible results for weight loss, but muscle growth tends to be slow with this process which means this isn’t ideal for aesthetic purposes.

THE WINNER

The Upper & Lower Split reign supreme in my book. Whether you’re a beginner, or advanced, fat, skinny, or in between, this routine has got you covered. This is a type of routine that mostly use for myself. When I want to gain mass, I just increase the weight load and calorie intake and when I want to lean out, I just increase the rep volume, lower the weight a bit, and drop my calories by a few hundred.

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Tags bodybuilding, fitness tips, power building, powerlifting, training strategies, weightlifting