Tag: mass gain

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

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

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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

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