Tulum Strength Club

Recollecting the Pro Status win of !..
As quads were one of his great asset how thought I would share four basic principles to grow your quads:

1) Nutrition: You got to be in a reasonable caloric surplus for a long period of time especially if you’re a more seasoned athlete

2) Exercice Selection: you want to chose exercise with the most stimulus to fatigue ratio, the most muscle fibers recruitment and/or the ones that affect change in YOUR legs, the most.

3) Training Volume! How many sets and reps per week do you need to factor in to cause Hypertrophy? Quads can take as little as 10 sets per week and go as high as 22 sets per week depending on the individual. If you don’t know your maximum effective volume, take a training cycle to figure it out. Start with 10 sets per week, and then just increase from there. The driver of Hypertrophy is progressive overload in volume. That means each week you want to increase volume in a training cycle. In short, week one do 15 total sets on Quads, for example and then week 2 do 17. Easy.

How many reps? Again for Hypertrophy it’s generally best to stay in the 8-12 reps zone. There’s not a lot of research showing that mixing rep ranges in a workout is beneficial, so keep it simple, and stick to the basics.

4) RPE: This stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. Pretty much 6 is your cutoff for minimal adaptative intensity. That means you’re moving weights that are pretty easy to handle , (ie you have 4 reps in reserve per set). A more ideal RPE to MAXIMIZE Hypertrophy would be an RPE 8. That means you only have 2 reps in reserve, and your intensity is quite high. The last rep or two should be noticeably harder to do, even slower to execute. These are not easy sets. —

How do you measure progress? Use metrics and strength gains. If your legs are getting bigger st the same level of conditioning you gained size. If you’re lifting heavier for a certain rep range, you probable gained some size. Take those two together, and you definitely built mass. Your program worked!
I’ll be posting about exercise selection next...

shows us that hard work pays off!.
Transformation Tuesday!

Three years & a lot of hard work in between these two pictures. The picture on the left was my first check-in photo with then Coach . The picture on the right was taken the day after my first fitness competition by . Surprisingly but perhaps not surprisingly, there is only about a five pound difference between the two photos. But the differences in habits, mindset, & lifestyle are significant & remarkable!

Here are some of the the key differences that I want to share with you:

Photo on Left:
✅ Skipped meals regularly
✅ Afraid of carbs
✅ No pre-workout meal
✅ No post workout meal
✅ Protein deficient
✅ No meal planning
✅ No structured weight training program
✅ Cardio was the priority
✅ No focus on daily movement
✅ No coach
✅ No goals

Photo on the Right:
✅ Eat 5 meals per day
✅ Prioritize carbs and timing of those carbs (currently eating upwards of 200 grams per day)
✅ Always consume a pre-workout meal
✅ Always consume post-workout meal
✅ Structured Meal Plans and Timing of those meals
✅ Prioritize protein at every meal (currently consuming 190 grams per day)
✅ Structured weight training program with focus on progressive overload
✅ Do I have to do cardio?😂
✅ 10k steps per day/average
✅ Work with Coach to keep me accountable & on track
✅ Stage & Pro Card goals! 😜

I am a 47 year old mom, wife, daughter, sister, & friend (would add athlete to this list now 😊) with a demanding career & job. I use to use some of the same excuses that a lot of women in my same shoes use to justify my lack of results, i.e. age, hormones, slow metabolism,
Hypothyroidism, not enough time, energy, or bandwidth.

But, I am proof that these are all excuses & if you really want to make a change in your physique & health, you need to implement some, if not all, the habits listed above. Indeed, “Success leaves clues” & what I am sharing with you has been shared with me by my coaches & mentors who I have enjoyed similar results & successes in their own fitness journey!

If I can do it, so can you!
Grace

Coach-
Team-

From
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I always hear in regards to people in the fitness industry how they get “super shredded” for a photoshoot or competition and then “only share those pics for the rest of the year” essentially being very misleading and promoting that look as “healthy” when in reality it’s not healthy to be extremely lean on a regular basis! ⁣
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So! Like I said previously, leading up to my next competition I want to try to share more than just the before and (tuhhhduhhh) ✨after✨ because there’s sooooo much in between! ⁣
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So here is my current reality! ⬆️⬆️ Progress pics are honestly the least flattering photos ever. If you’ve ever taken one…you know 🤣 No makeup. Harsh lightening. No angles, posing, or contouring - but they’re really the best way to stay honest about your progress! And can provide so much insight if you have a serious goal in mind! I’m up 14lbs since my competition in November! And in what is called a “Build” phase! ⁣
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A build phase can be done for a variety of reasons, but for me the goal is to increase calories that can be used in the gym to put on more muscle, and also used to make my hormones happy, and to become more metabolic, so when I start cutting down again (reducing calories) I can lose more body fat from a higher calories base. *this is also why we say “you won’t get bulky or “big” from weight lifting - weight gain comes down to calories in VS calories out. I’m gaining weight right now because of the calories I’m consuming NOT because of my workouts*⁣
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During a build of course you want to put on as little body fat as possible. But you’d also definitely expect to put on body fat. I’d be lying if I said it’s not a mind f*ck seeing my body change and “gain weight” after working SO HARD to get shredded AF. But honestly I know that if I want to do even better this year it’s a necessary step, and I’m excited to see how strong I can get, and the new package I’ll be able to bring this year! ⁣
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I also see myself as SO much more than a body!!! So I’m easily able to get out of any negative messaging I may tell myself within minutes if I ever start feeling down about it 🥰 ⁣
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Questions? I’d love to answer them!! ♥️⁣
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