Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I've been keeping a log on Vegan Fitness for a while now. I thought I'd start posting over here as well. Right now I'm trying a Westside-style split, modified for a strongman-focus. There's a contest in Petaluma, CA on August 23rd, and that's what my training is focusing on right now. I'm not particularly strong (yet), so my main goal with the competition is to gain some experience and, hopefully, embarrass myself as little as possible

Here's the link to my old/current log:
http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=223718#223718

And without further ado, today's training. All weights in pounds.

7/3/08 DE Lower

Box Squat
2 X 5 X 45
5 X 95
3 X 135
10 X 2 X 165

Still not blazing fast, but pretty good. Weight goes up to 180 next week, then I'll switch to some repetition style work instead of dynamic.

Good Morning
5 X 45
X 95
3 X 135
belt on:
1 X 155
1 X 175
1 X 200 PR
1 X 210 PR

I hadn't tried these with a belt before - it made it a lot easier Goal was 200 today, 210 was even nicer. Felt like I might be good for 225 in the next couple weeks.

45 Deg. Back Raise
3 X 20 X BW

My girlfriend was training with me - she lifted after this, and I tried a couple ab exercises with her. Didn't really like either of the exercises I tried, so I basically blew off abs for today.

After we got home we drove over to the park and I did some sprints: 5 X 50 yds, with 30 seconds rest between each one. That should have been easier than it was. Finished with some car pushing, just a short distance down the parking lot and back but it fried my legs. Mission accomplished

- Eric

7/6/08 RE Upper

Today's my dad's birthday. We went on a short hike up by Silver Lake, which was really nice but we got caught in the smoke from all the wildfires (far from us, but sending plenty of smoke to fill up the Sacramento valley and beyond) on the way back to the car and we all ended up with pretty bad headaches from the bad air. And since I was lifting at my dad's place, with no A/C and plenty of the smoky air, the workout was a brief one.

Here's a picture of me and the old guy up on the ridge over Shealor Lakes:



And here's the cupcakes my girlfriend made for him: (they were good!)



Oh yeah, the workout:

Press
2 X 5 X 45
4 X 10 X 95

Too light, but haven't done sets of 10 in, well, forever.

Bent-Over Row
10 X 95
10 X 135
10 X 157
6 X 185

Some grip work and done.

cool stuff. i'm siked to follow your journal. we almost have no strongmen around here.

Thanks, xjohanx.

7/7/08 ME Lower

Spotted a conan's wheel in the gym on my way in today - it's not fully setup, so I didn't have a go, but hopefully it'll be ready for use by next week. I'll get a video

Trained later in the day than usual, and saw some of the powerlifter guys in the gym today. Saw a guy two-board press something around 700 pounds for three reps. Pretty cool.

Platform DL
5 X 45
5 X 135
5 X 185
3 X 225
1 X 275
belt:
1 X 315
1 X 365 equal to previous PR
1 X 375
1 X 385
1 X 395
1 X 405 PR
f X 415

400 lb deadlift is officially easy

Seated GM
5 X 45
5 X 95
5 X 135
5 X 155
5 X 185

One-Leg Romanian DL
15 X 45
15 X 95
2 X 5 X 135

Seated Leg Curl one-leg at a time
15 X 60
15 X 90
15 X 105
15 X 120

I know, I know. But I'm in desperate need of hamstrings and willing to try anything at the moment.

Sidebend
10 X 45
10 X 75
10 X 105
10 X 115

7/9/08 ME Upper

Safe Press

This did not go well. Tried adjusting the yoke a bit because I thought it might be easier to press if the bar was higher - definitely not so. Got up to a tough single @ 155 (made 175 last week), then the gym owner came in and gave me some technique tips and helped get the yoke set at a good height for me. Think I more or less got the technique down pretty ok, but still was weaker today than last week. The contest weight for this is still not finalized, but it's probably going to be 210 pounds. I've got six weeks, but that's going to be a tough # to hit.

Along with this and learning that at the contest the farmer's will probably weigh in at 275 lb/hand for the lightweights (my best so far is 210 or 215/hand), I was getting somewhat discouraged. Figured I'd try out the Conan's Wheel and see how it went.

Conan's Wheel
1 revolution X 100
1 X 200
1 X 300
1 X 400
1 X 490
1 X 550 - Yes! That's the contest weight right there. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OBZXTzT9VU

Axle Clean + Push Press
5 X 33
5 X 77
5 X 99
5 X 127
5 X 143
f X 165 (missed the clean, too heavy for double-overhand)
1 X 165

JM Press
10 X 45
10 X 65
7 X 85
8 X 75

DB Row
5 X 70
5 X 100
2 X 5 X 110

Face Pull
10 X 60
4 X 10 X 80

Some grip work and done. Longest workout in months, I was at the gym for almost three hours.

7/12/08 Event Training

I trained at Powerhouse with Keith (the owner) and his cousin. I didn't keep a detailed log, but we started out with...

Safe Press: My previous best was 1 @ 175. Yesterday I got 2 @ 183 - except that Keith says the yoke weighs 90 pounds, not 75, so the weight would actually have been 198 - close to what it will be at the contest. Either way, it's progress, and I'm pretty hopeful about nailing some reps come August 23rd.

Farmer's Walk + Tire Flip: The gym doesn't have a good size tire yet, so the tire flipping was too light to really count as anything other than a little extra conditioning. The farmer's went well, finally found out the weight of the handles - did 60' @ 225/hand with one turn. Weightwise, that's equal to my PR. Then Keith took it up to 275/hand and I thought, what the hell. Made it 8 feet Contest distance will be 30', I think that's nailable - already pumped that I could even get them up, and still have weeks to work on covering further distance.

Conan's Wheel: Worked up to 2 and a half revolutions with 510 lbs on the apparatus, which Keith said will probably work out to be the same weight-in-hands(arms) as I'll see at the contest. Also did just over one and a half revolutions with 600 lbs loaded on it, which is over the LW contest weight and close to what the HW will be using. According to Keith this is my event - if I can work up to 4-5 revolutions by the contest, I'll have a good chance of either placing highly or winning this event.

Fantastic session overall - three hours saw me going from thinking I was likely to bomb the first three events to actually thinking I can be somewhat competitive come contest time. Pretty cool I'm training with the same group next Saturday as well.

- Eric

7/14/08 ME Lower

Went in with a vague plan and had a vague workout as a result.

Wide-Stance Squat These were solid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxdyLsJhr7Q
2 X 5 X 45
5 X 95
3 X 135
3 X 185
added belt:
1 X 225
1 X 275
1 X 295 slightly high
1 X 305 depth good, PR
f X 315

Then did a power stair/duckwalk type thing, pickup only - basically a loading pin and a two-handed attachment to heft it up. Worked up to 5 @ 350, which was all I could fit on there. Tried some axle zerchers from the floor, 1 @ 123 and 1 @ 213 - which felt way heavier than I expected it to. Messed around with some axle dl and romanian dl, nothing much, then l did some leg ext/leg curl supersets, don't know why really, and ab pulldowns - those were good, did 2 sets of 8 @ 130, which is the heaviest I've gone.

I'll head back in on Wednesday with a better defined plan, and hopefully a better workout. The squat PR was good, but my squat still sucks, so I can't get that excited.

nice going dude. i really like that you post videos. it rules!

Cheers xjohanx

7/16/08 ME Upper

Press
2 X 5 X 45
3 X 95
3 X 115
3 X 125
3 X 135
1 X 145 (f on 2)
2 X 140 (f on 3)
2 X 135

Not quite PR territory, but pretty happy with 8 total reps at or above 135.

Incline Log Press On the advice of Keith. First time doing these.
10 X 70
8 X 114
6 X 136
4 X 151
4 X 160 Surprised I got all these, honestly
f X 170
15 X 114

A couple (literally) pullups and chinups.

Seated Low Row
5 X 140
5 X 160
5 X 180
2 X 5 X 200

Some rear delt work and db hammer curls (biceps have been taking a beating with conan's the last couple weeks).

7/19/08 Events

We were up at my dad's last night for the season premiere of Monk - ate pizza, and then went out in the garage where he'd added bench supports to our squat stands. I worked up to a quick failure @ 207, then dropped the weight and worked back up to a pretty smooth single @ 200. I'm not sure if it just takes me a long time to get warmed up on bench, or I just suck at it Anyway, fatigue from the benching was non-existent today, and training went well.

Safe Press
Worked up to 4 @ 200 lbs. Pretty sweet, getting good leg drive and a solid second dip. Last week only managed 2 @ 198.

Conan's Wheel
Switched to moving clockwise, and for whatever reason it was a lot harder that way Still did okay, got two full revolutions with 510 lbs and one and a quarter with 600 lbs, but need to figure out why it's so much harder facing a different direction.

Farmer's Walk
Up to 275/hand again. Made it the same distance as last time, but with a putdown mid way - so my grip got slightly worse, but I made a second pickup, which I couldn't do last week. Not bad, not good, lots more work to be done

18" Deadlift
Done in the rack. Got up to 1 @ 455, and then 6-7 failures with 495 - I could break it off the rack, but it just stalled a couple inches up. Need to get stronger. Mark made 605 and Keith made 635.

And that was it. I don't think I've mentioned it on here yet, but there's a raw powerlifting competition in town in September I'm probably going to enter. As a 100 kg Junior (20-23) lifter, I can set a state record in the deadlift, which will be cool

7/22/08 ME Lower

Front Squat
2 5 X 45
5 X 95
3 X 135
1 X 155
1 X 185
1 X 205
1 X 225
1 X 235 PR - nice and deep, got ugly about half-way up but made it
1 X 215

SLDL Tried GMs, but left shoulder bothering me just enough from the safe pressing on Saturday to make it holding the bar uncomfortable
5 X 135
3 X 185
3 X 223
3 X 273

Thick Bar Hold I didn't have a clock with a second hand, so just counted the times - most holds probably around 20 seconds
1 hold X 122
4 holds X 152

Ab Pulldown
10 X 100
10 X 130
6 X 140
3 X 140
20 X 110
10 X 120

7/24/08 ME Upper

So-so training today.

Press
lots X 45
2 X 5 X 75
3 X 95
1 X 115
1 X 135
2 X f X 15
f X 145
5 X 95

Ugh. Just wasn't feeling these today. Spent a lot of time warming up my shoulder, which is still bothering me a little bit - felt better after the pressing, but the strength just wasn't there.

Incline Log
10 X 70
8 X 114
5 X 134
5 X 160

Lat Pulldown
12 X 100
2 X 12 X 120

DB Row
8 X 55
8 X 75
8 X 95

Machine rear delts.

7/26/08 Events

Log Press
8":
lots X 70
2 X 3 X 114
2 X 134
1 X 160
1 X 180
12":
1 X 210 PR
2 X f X 215 Ugly cleans, failed the press
3 X 215 PR One good clean, three presses. Highlight of the day.

Conan's Wheel Get worse at this every time I do it
1 X 100
1 X 200
1 X 300
1 X 400
1/2 + 1 X 550
1 X 550

18" Deadlift
5 X 45
5 X 135
5 X 225
2 X 315
1 X 365
5 X 3 X 405 - trying an idea from an article on the Sugden Barbell site - next week I'll try 3 X 2 X 455, and then 2 X 1 X 495 - plan is to nail 500+ at the comp, should be good enough for dead last

Keg Run
2 X 100, 125, 175, 200, 225 lb kegs

Total Workout Time: 4 hours PR

7/28/08
Car pushing: think I only did three runs with the thing, but each run was pretty long and I was properly nauseated by the end

7/29/08

Farmers
2 X 30 ft X 135
2 X 30 ft X 185
30 ft X 225
30 ft X 245 PR for distance. Grip felt pretty solid too, no put downs.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlixo6raKsA

The camera only filmed the runs with 185 lbs for some reason, so the video's kinda useless, but I put it up anyway.

Power Shrug
5 X 50 kg
5 X 70 kg
5 X 100 kg
straps:
5 X 120 kg
8 X 150 kg
12 X 140 kg

DB Row
5 X 60
5 X 80
5 X 100
Had a go at the 110s, but the DBs over 100 lbs at my gym are these "tribar" monstrosities - angular, skinny bars that make it impossible (for me, anyways) to hold on to. So I used straps for:
2 X 5 X 110

Keg Load
Did 15 total loads with a 100-lb keg, just to get myself breathing hard(er). Switched back and forth between bearhugging it up onto the platform, and doing short runs with it across the room.

Ab Pulldown
12 X 90
12 X 110
12 X 130
12 X 140
5 X 150
3 X 150

Done.

7/31/08

Yoke Press
3 X 5 X 90
3 X 110
3 X 130
1 X 150
1 X 170
1 X 190
1 X 210 PR - after letting it down, yoke rebounded into my chin, knocking me over and knocking off my glasses. Got it on camera - it's not half bad
f X 220 Had a few goes at this, but couldn't quite lock it out.
3 X 190
lots X 90 working on the technique

Squat
5 X 45
X 95
5 X 135
5 X 185
belt:
1 X 225
1 X 275
Pretty easy, so..
1 X 315 PR At least another 5-10 pounds in there next time
3 X 275 ATG

Incline Log
10 X 70
8 X 114
4 X 134
2 X 160
2 X 170

Thick Bar Hold
Four holds @ 173

Face Pull
10 X 60
10 X 80
3 X 10 X 100