“I went home later and cried a little bit, out of frustration. There have been so many things in life I tried and failed at“ – Noemi Henriquez.

Noemi Henriquez Is A Master Yoga Trainer, Certified In Strength & Conditioning Personal Trainer Based Of New York City, With A Bachelors In Exercise Science Working Towards Her Physical Therapist Degree.

In this episode we talk about how Noemi struggled with the muscle up. What changes she made to finally get the muscle up. How she counted calories to lose fat. The lighter you are the easier the muscle up will be.

Noemi begins with how she started with fitness. She found herself with a lot of pent up anger from college. She decided she needed a way to deal with. After a youtube search she discovered, Yoga.

 

After starting Yoga, she moves up the ladder to becoming a master trainer. Her new goal now, was to learn the handstand. Thats why she started training calisthenics. It helped give her the added strength.

After achieving the handstand, her next goal? The muscle up. Now being her training partner and coach I noticed Noemi had the muscle up long before she performed it. She would bring the pull up bar to her chest with a lot of power, one of the important signs of if you are able to muscle up or not. But she still lacked something… She lacked the can do attitude that is so important in calisthenics. I actually made a good video on this topic. I’ll link it here if you are interested. I pointed this out to her, the same concept I laid out in that video. It was over a calm after workout lunch. Noemi took it hard, which is where the starting quote comes from. She felt like she gave up on a lot of goals she had set for herself, and this wasn’t going to be another one of those.

She decided to lose weight. The less you weigh, the easier calisthenics will be. She hired a coach to help her track her macros. Which goes to show you, we could all use coaches. Noemi at this point already has an exercise science degree, and knows how to track calories. The coach provided her with guidance as well accountability.

She started to prioritize pull up training. She was doing them 3-4 times a week, being very mindful not to overtrain. Bringing her max from 10 to 15. She focused on straight bar dips, also bringing her max to 15. In addition she incorporated a bunch of band training. Using a thick one, and a light one.

She ended up losing 20lbs. She realized from tracking calories just how much over she was eating. The whole time under the impression she was eating “healthy foods”. She created a low deficit to preserve the most muscle she can while cutting down on fat. Her calorie goal each day was 1500.  She stressed the importance how she didn’t deprive herself, she ate the foods she liked in moderation, never excluding anything. She would still go out with her friends, but before going out she would make sure to front load her protein goals, and save the bulk of her calories for her out with friends meals. Protein is important to preserve your muscles and suppress your appetite.

Finally she changed her mindset to have the confidence.

Not only did she end up getting her first muscle up, but she got several more after that (7) and winning a calisthenics competition.

The Youtube Video

Time Stamps

Start 00:29

Why Calisthenics 2:25

Why She Couldn’t Muscle Up 4:03

What Changed To Get The Muscle Up 7:30

How To Eat To Lose Weight 12:42

What Noemi Eats In A Day 28:55

Why Reverse Diet 35:45

Her First Freestyle Competition 40:45