Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Spray tan at a tanning place near Lean and Green's. Owner recognized me when I walked in and is a vegetarian guy, super nice, gives me some discounts so I used their spray booth to prepare for my recent pics in LA.

Got a little soft during the end of my time in LA but working on staying hard and veiny rather than soft. Abs went away again too! Dang!

But yeah, sprayed it up this time. Looking to compete in July. Not sure I'll even need to diet much since I'm seeing hamstrings and abs (when I can train them.....small injury now) so I think I can keep bulking as I prepare to compete. We'll see.

Tan is wearing off now. I look funny.

Looking to take a week off from squats to let psoas get a bit better then I'll be back in the rack!

How's your training going homes?

157.5kg (347lbs)

Awesome!

Chewy- awesome lift, but could you do it without support from belt?

No hate here. Ive tried the belt and cant stand the support.

Thanks! That wasn't my hardest lift ever but I doubt I could hit that without the belt.

2 weeks ago I squatted an easy 140kg (308lbs) without the belt, was definitely more there. Could prob hit 145-147.5kg.

I've been using the belt most of the time recently (for last warmup set/work weight) and my beltless max seems to have increased as well. But light days I never use the belt and occasionally on heavy days I'll take a heavyish set without the belt just to keep a good balance.

When you tried a belt, was it the style with the narrow front and wide back or a big, fat powerlifting belt? There's a big difference in how they feel, a wide powerlifting belt gives a LOT more support to keep from caving in forward so long as you keep your abs and obliques flexed tight and always keep air in your belly rather than the chest.

Chewy - pics are great! You look more chubby in face and stronger now, comparing to your profile pic Real beast!

They were the ones with narrow front i believe. I dont like the feeling of me not having my own natural support system. It digs into my abs and makes it feel way too unnnatural. Id rather go a little lighter and be able to do the full rep/exercise rather than something pulling in my [already strong] core for me.

Ive also tried it on deadlifts and hate how the belt cut into my skin.

AKA the smith machine.

nice pix guys!

RC - I'm gonna try the plate thing. That might be like having oly lifting shoes which i haven't broken down and purchased yet. Might give me a better idea if i want to invest in them.

Sweet pics Chewy!

All the best Mary Stella!

Maybe a useful way of testing what you would get from a pair of shoes in terms of better angles, but keep in mind that using plates might give you the angles, but it does not give the stability that you get with a good pair of shoes. Also worth remembering is that a pair of weightlifting shoes has a very long life expectancy.

I have trouble with tight calves too. I've been a runner since age six so naturally my calves are one of my stronger body parts... and when I squat, lunge, whatever, it seems to be working my calves more than my thighs and I can't gain muscle in my quads.

Also need to make sure I'm using the proper squat form... for months I had horrible push-up form... I thought I was so strong, doing elevated pushups, one-arm pushups, etc. Then I fixed my form and I'm struggling to do 15 pushups just from my knees.

From what I've understood having your feet straight isn't all that important. The important part is having your knees go to the same direction as your toes and not letting the knees buckle inward at any point.

Personally I can't even keep a narrow stance and my feet pointing straight comfortably while squatting, so I use almost the same stance as he does in the pictures. I don't really know why, but I'm guessing my wide hips make that stance more comfortable.

Thanks for the advice, IRV.
I think it also depends on how your feet point naturally.. as my husband says I "walk like a Japanese girl" (pidgeon toed and my knees go in a bit too) and I know it hurts my knees to point my toes out.