Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Weighed in yesterday just prior to posing. My weight was the 192 pounds I was looking for the other day. Yeah me. Picked my posing music and put my routine together. For 8 weeks out I am pretty happy with my physique. My posing is getting crisper, which is good since I have always considered myself below average in that category.

Wow, way to go.



This is how I feel, it's how I live my life. It was really nice to wake up this morning and read your reflection, thanks for posting that!

Hey Steve, do you have pre-contest pics? I'd love to see them.....we're all getting close!

Thanks man!

Train hard and be well!

Rob

Guys, just posted some pictures to myspace. Here is my URL myspace.com/stevearntt. For some reason I am having difficulty getting my photos on here. For example this one keeps coming up sideways.

I trained a "new" gym a couple of times last week. It was great. My gym is located in an office building. We are the gym of yuppie resort. I like the folks there, and who doesn't like "free" towel service. That said, the bells only go to 100. I am the only that has done a weighted pull up in there ever. The good news is there is no line for the one squat rack. If it weren't for hammer strength I wonder how much use the plates would get.

I was happy to train in a gym with a real dead pit. There were people there bigger than me. I enjoyed being around other people getting ready for shows that around the same time as mine. The workouts there were really good.

I had a few days with bad sleep and occassional headaches. Okay so much for dieting. I get it, been here before nothing big. Take the pain for a few days and push on through. Got it.

Cardio: Still a yoga baby. I love the stretch, and love the fact that it is no impact cardio. The hot aspect of Bikram is kind of challenging too. I ran the other day for the second time in months. It was a short run, and I was happy to turn in 2 miles in sixteen minutes, then go and some longer softer cardio. I run because the Army makes me, and I like to switch it up a little.

Weights: Since I will be in Europe for a few days with sketchy weight training at best, I am foregoing off days this week in order to break things down pretty hard. Four days off should be adequate for my recovery. My strength has been good with a little loss, but nothing big. I think the off time will allow me to recover fully and come back a little stronger.

A note about England, it will be four days of martial arts with maybe some cross fit thrown in for good measure. I am really looking forward to this.

Today's weigh in was after morning yoga so the number is skewed. I knew it would be, but I want to see where I was with just a little water push. I did nothing unusual other than going to class this morning. Today's numbers was 187 pounds. I did not do a bodyfat measure. I simply looked at myself in the mirror. Lats are huge, getting better separation in my legs. The shoulders are striating, and my beloved abs look decent. I am just starting to see the vein that pops out on the left side of my abs when I get into contest shape. It is faint, but in two weeks it should be popping out.

Weighed in yesterday without the help of a pre-weigh in yoga "push". 190 at five weeks out somewhere in the seven or eight percent range. It was a long training day. I had psoing practice, yoga, back and cardio. I missed tanning, oh well.

Last week I had a great time in England, but was worried several days without a gym might be too much. I had ramped training up pretty hard so that when I hit those days they were essentially rest days. The martial arts training in Englad was perfect, and I really enjoyed seeing everyone again, especially my friend who is incorporating crossfit into his classes. I want to do that, but am not sure what it is going to look like yet. He started the experiment three months, and it is going well.

The numbers are good, I am defintely getting lean, and with five weeks to go I am certain I will be in the best condition of my life. I experimented with trying to deplete on the plane while going to England so I could come in the day before the show, and no way. That hurt. I am not trying that again. I will come into PDX on Thursday. Friday will be shave, tan, pose, and make sure I am in a good place mentally. I might hit a sauna, but really just relax.

My diet is not changing. Still about 2000 calories a day. Mostly whole foods. A few protein powders thrown in for good measure, and a lot of water. I just read Thrive, one of the best nutrition books I have read in a long time. I will probably start shifting my diet more towards that in the coming months after I am in full swing this season. In the past we have had great results mvoing endurance athletes to more bodybuilding looking diets, and Brazier makes sense. He is close to where I am on a lot of things and has thought some other stuff out too.

The new gym has been a god send. I did cardio last night with a woman who is competing in Pittsburg on the same day I am home. I also hit it during a time when there are some big dudes in the house. Nothing like someone stronger than you to make you hit it hard.

Looking great! Nice work.

Mary, that is reall y nice of you.

good stuff, looking swol dude. I get my bf tested in 2 more days hydrostatic. I'm worried i'm still above 7 percent and i'm less than 4 weeks out. I eat more cals then you but my diet is ridiculously high in protein. I should prob lower the total claoric intake though and take in much less protein. You got quite the set of lats. pm you in a sec. i want some advice thanks

Okay five weeks to go. Posing practice and weigh in today. I weighed in at Rob Kreider's gym. I am not convinced his scale is 100%. I came out at 185 pounds, I would peg me a little heavier based on recent weeks weight loss under similar conditions. It is possible that my recent increases in rest have given my metabolism the signal to really kick into gear.

Here is a photo from today's session.

This morning I had my PT test, which is why I gave myself three days off from training. Out of a possible 300 points, I scored 285. Not bad, I missed a couple of sit ups, and my run was not the greatest. I may not have scored 300, but I am hoping when I step on stage I look like I starred in the 300. I know, bad joke.

So this week was a little more rest than normal. It was also a little more restricted in diet since I was not working as hard. I did have a fair amount of cardio with a two day sword seminar, and a lot of walking.

I am starting to restrict my carbs. I know it is early, but I am traveling next week, and if I can get a little ahead of the game I will have three good weeks at home before I need to be in top condition.

I am happy with pretty much everything where it is. I am looking forward to leaning out a few more pounds. Candidly if it means giving up an ounce of muscle at this point, I will hold exactly what I have. If I push ten pounds of water, that puts me at 175 and in good enough condition to beat most novices. I really want to be the biggest guy in the weight class. That said I could get blown out by a short guy who is really well developed with good conditioning. I am not going to worry about it too much since what matters most is that I am very pleased with my accomplishments here.

Only a month until I am back home in Oregon, and I cannot wait.

Time to get back to finishing my second gallon of water today.

On more photo, and no matter what I do they keep coming out sideways. UGH!!!

Looking good man!

I'm going to do my best to come to your contest either as a spectator or competitor!

All the best and see you soon!

Robert

Dude you've got size!

Rob, either way, it will be great to finally meet you. We all gotta stick together, bro. I am excited to see how you and the veg crew do in AZ. I think you guys will be awe inspiring. Keep up the training, and remember to rest.

If we miss each other at the Bill Pearl, let's get together and train in PDX afterwards. I sent you my phone number on PM. I am curious to see what other vegans are doing with diet and training. I have really not changed my training much, but keeping my diet has obviously changed tremendously.


Thanks again for the great site where we can all get together and encourage one another.

Four weeks now. Weighed in at 183 this morning. I am happy. This puts me on target for middle weight.

I started shaving my legs this weekend and am working my tan. Last week my lighting really made me look flat and washed out, so I need to get a better tan.

My training this week has been pretty plain vanilla for me. One hour a day, one body part per day. cardio has been minimal as usual. I am mostly relying on 3 days of yoga per week to cut up along with my diet. I am not completely cardio-free as I do hit the treadmill a few times a week. I just find cardio to be a waste of time if I can get my heart rate high enough during lifting, and I am hitting Bikram consistently. I have been averaging maybe 2 hours a week. Last show I did no cardio leading up to my contest, and I was not doing yoga. The yoga has been great because my flexibility and posing are much better.

My diet remains unchanged, but my workouts will get more fast paced. I have been hitting more super sets and giant sets. This will continue up until the show. The last week will be more yoga, my last weight workout will be Thursday AM. Depending on my conditioning, I may use one last Bikram class Friday night before the show. My last week will be no more than 100 grams of carbs per day. Most of my calories will be healthy fats and proteins. I expect to be on stage at about 172-174 pounds.