Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Workout #38
Wed 2nd September 2009

Overhead Press 5@27.5kg, 5/5/3/2/2@37.5kg
Chin-ups 7/4/2 (10 negatives)
Deadlift 1x5@65kg/75kg/85kg/95kg/100kg
Prone Bridge 1m/40s/35s

Knee feels to dodgy to squat at the moment.
With the overhead press/chins I was concentrating on only taking 1min break between sets. It's as much for consistency as it is for shortening the workout (which was getting closer and closer to an hour and a half). Some days I'd take longer rests, so it's hard to tell when I'm actually making progress. The numbers aren't great obviously, but I'll have to lower the weight a bit to accomodate for shorter rests. Still happy with 7 chins for the first set, felt solid =]

Deadlifts were goooooooood. I was sweating buckets! After 85kg I was reluctant to go for 95kg. After I done them I was like "still got some juice left", and went for the 100kg. I tied a couple of socks round the bar today where my shins usually scrape off, and they helped a lot =] Wore trousers as well rather than shorts.

My planks have been ass recently.

Total stomach suck in the first 2 pics! haha

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My training log

Workout #39
Fri 4th September 2009

Couple of hip stretches
Squats 1x5@35kg/45kg (stopped cause knee felt dodgy)
Bench Press 5@45kg/50kg, 5/4/3/2/2@55kg
Inverted Rows 14/6/4
Push-ups 15/7/7
Reverse Crunch 12/12/9 (5kg counter)

Still knee bother. Bench press was worse than last time, but took less of a rest between sets. Rest was just a bad workout, down to not putting effort in. My core's felt quite weak lately.


Week 14
Bodyweight=173.6lbs

Workout #40
Mon 7th September 2009

Squats (deep) 1x5@20kg, 25kg, 35kg, 45kg, 55kg, 5x5@65kg
Overhead Press 5@20kg/25kg, 3@30kg, 5/5/4/3/3@35kg
Pull-ups 3/3/2 (then 10 negatives)
Prone bridge 1m/35s/1m

The Squats were a big relief today....I'm pretty sure that before today I've been doing high-bar squats Last night I was browsing online, curious what the difference was (last week I caught a glance of myself in the mirror, and wondered how the bar could get any higher). So today I had the bar sitting much lower, but it still felt comfortable. So, on week 14, I've realised I've been doing the wrong squats.

I've been getting sick of fucking my knees everytime I do heavy squats, so it was time to try something different. Deloaded all the way to the initial 20kg and starting squatting ass to grass Felt much better on my knees/groin/even back (back might be because new bar position). 65kg was challenging so used that for work weight. For all the sets I went all the way down to where i have the safety bars setup. I nearly passed out on the last rep haha....it was the most trouble I've ever had with a squat, I got less than half way up and my core/legs just turned to jelly, somehow I managed to get up though.

It was hard walking downstairs, but luckily it's back to being down to muscles and not joints. But I don't want to say anything too soon, I'll see how my knees are doing tomorrow after I've had a sleep.

With overhead presses I stuck to 60s rests, I was so out of breath from Squats though.

Didn't have energy for deadlifts after the Squats. Will either do some tomorrow, or leave them till Friday. I'm thinking about Squatting light on deadlift days, or just don't do Squats on workout B altogether....I dunno yet though.

Pull-ups, bit disapointed - felt like I should be doing more, but still matched my PB.

Prone bridges have sucked again to match my recent attempts.

It's worth mentionning on Saturday my morning weight was 175.8lbs (in my goal range!!). Dropped back down to ~173 today though.

I've ordered stuff to make thrive diet energy bars/recovery smoothies (food processor/ingredients), so looking forward to that =] Will save me ordering clif bars as well.

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My training log

Awesome that yr back on squats! My workouts feel so much more complete when I can do 'em. Question: since you've deloaded, have you noticed if you've gotten any better at pushing yr knees out? I'm trying hard but not sure I'm doing it right/it doesnt feel natural.

By the way, it looks like you may about be ready to move on to dips/harder rows. I waited until I got 3x15 or close to it, but later I noticed SL says to switch when you can get 15 on the first set.

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training//log

On Week 9 I hit my max of 77.5kg 5x5. For a couple of weeks at this point, groin pain and knee pain gradually built up. With heavier weights, when I was pushing up out of the squat, my knees would buckle inwards slightly then back out when I got to the top. So I took a full week off, and started building up again, doing 45kg the first time (with warm up sets), and added 5kg every workout, concentrating on pushing my knees out. So after 2 weeks I was back upto 75kg, and as soon as I was hitting 70/75kg, the pains were coming back.

It's important to note 2 things though. Prob not that important, but I was doing high bar squats (without knowing). But more importantly, after doing deep Squats yesterday, I have to be honest and wonder if I was even getting to parallel - when going deep yesterday, it felt like I was going MILES further down than what I usually do. So I'm starting to wonder if that's what was screwing my knees up (only going to parallel, or not even that far). But saying all this, it's way to early to tell, I'll have to wait till I'm hitting 75kg or so to be sure. Which will take 2 or 3 weeks probably, because I was doing 65kg deep yesterday and it killed me!


I always done push-ups rather than dips because I don't have a good place to do dips in the house (I workout at home). When I started stronglifts I could already do 15 on the first set (barely), so couple of weeks in I moved onto weighted push-ups. Which was the stupidest thing I've done since starting. Because after the weighted push-ups I went back to doing normal ones, and because I added so much bodyweight, I could barely hit 15! Some days I'm not even getting that. So I'm gonna keep at these for a bit till I can at least get 20 on the first set.

And yeah, think I'll start elevated rows next workout

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My training log

Tue 8th September 2009
Deadlifts 5@65kg/75kg, 4@85kg, 3@95kg, 1x5@105kg

Since I missed them yesterday, thought I'd pickup today. New PB =] To be honest, I lifted the 105kg fairly easy, a lot easier than the previous 100kg's. I tried 110 afterwards and couldn't budge it though lol.

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My training log

Workout #41
Wed 9th September 2009

I'm reluctant to even log this "workout"
Squats (deep) 5@30kg/40kg/50kg, 3@60kg, 4@67.5kg
Bench Press 5@45kg, 3@50kg, 5/5/3/3/3@55kg
Inverted Rows (elevated) 11/6/6
Push-ups 9/10/7
Reverse Crunch 3x12 (5kg counterweight)

I had absolutely no energy today. Was tired, a bit hungry. When I reached work weight on the Squats, I was pausing at the bottom of the Squat for whatever reason and I couldn't even finish the first set and just gave up.

Every time I lay down on the bench or floor I just wanted to sleep.

Tried feet-elevated inverted rows today, went smoothly but could've done more.

By push-ups I had nothing left. Every set on the last rep I could've done more - same prob with squats, paused in the down position. My breathing has been crap recently during push-ups.

Reverse crunch's were about the best part of the workout


I have to set new goals soon.
When I started stronglifts my initial goals were hit over 175lbs bodyweight, and squat 5x5 with my bodyweight on the bar. Both I've done (I didn't stay at over 175lbs for any longer than a day, but that's fine because once I hit 170 I realised I didn't want to add any more weight anyway...well, fat).

I need to get my diet sorted out, the last month it's been ass. 50% veg I've been eating is fried, most of the rest boiled. I've only had a handful of days where I haven't missed a meal. Most importantly, I'm not enjoying the food I'm eating; it's the same tasteless crap everyday (cause I got lazy with it). For my big meals 9/10 times I can't even be bothered to have it with sauce or any sort of flavouring.

I'm ready to phase into the Thrive Diet, waiting on some food arriving (most isn't available in supermarkets) - desperately want it now. My food processor arrived, I'm ready to start making new things, but just can't yet

My sleeping has been bad the last week, just adding up and feeling a bit worse everyday - I was not surprised at all by today's workout. Bad eating + lack of sleep = disaster.


Within my new goals I'll have to;
-Set lifting targets and a date
-Set bodyweight target (prob looking to lose 10lbs or a bit more)
-Get eating sorted out, phase over to thrive diet criteria within a certain time (a food log would help for this perhaps)
-Start doing cardio - find an activity that won't clash with recovery, and that i'm not going to pick up minor injuries (which seems to be the case with the few things i've tried so far)

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My training log

Sorry you had a crummy workout, it happens to all of us! I hope your supplies arrive soon, sounds like you have some awesome goals.

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vegan for the win!

I just got an email saying the supplies have been posted, so hopefully tomorrow *fingers crossed*

At the end of the month week starting Mon 28th September, I'll be away for a week with my girlfriend to a log cabin. So I'll set my goals specifically before that, so when I come back I'll have 3 months till the end of the year - I'll set my deadlines for then.

Until then I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing, bring a few thrive meals in, have the holiday, come back motivated.

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My training log

Workout #42
Fri 11th September 2009

Squats 5@45kg/55kg, 5x5@67.5kg
Overhead Press 5@25kg, 3@30kg, 5x5@35kg
Chin-ups 7/6/5 (then 10 negatives)
Deadlift 5@65kg, 4@85kg, 3@100kg, 2@110kg
Prone Bridge 60s/40s/40s

I woke up in a terrible mood today. I was tired, couldn't be bothered eating (did anyway). Was boggy. After watching one of Robert Cheeke's new vids, and then some Andy Bolton vids, got the motivation going, put some music on -adrenaline started kicking in and I was ready to go!

I didn't go as deep as last workout on the Squats, but was still WAY deeper than usual. Last time I hit the safety bars at the bottom, but I found I was spending way too long at the bottom of the moment waiting for this before I went back up. I didn't want to go down fast either to benefit from a 'bounce'. So today I stopped just short, was easier to engage my hip drive - a few reps I did hit the bars anyway, so was still going below parallel as far as I can tell - really need to take a video of myself. Anyways, got them done and was happy - one thing is I my groin felt a bit dodgy today - hope it's not coming to anything.

Overhead Press was fine, I've lowered the weight over the last couple of weeks, just want to try and get out the rut I'm in. I didn't bother with short breaks today - I did not enjoy short, timed breaks before at all.

Chins were awesome today.

I'm really happy with the deadlifts, on tuesday I couldn't even budge 110kg. I'm marking that as a win today, next wednesday I'll see if I can get the 1x5 (I've marked them with a darker green since I'm happy, but didn't hit the 1x5)

I think I need to try bridges more often. They've worsened over time, and I've been stuck about the same numbers for too long.


Something I've noticed recently is i'm majorly unfit. I'm out of breath for most of the workouts, and this is REALLY annoying during sets. Need to take this into account when setting new goals.

Another thing I've noticed recently is my biceps have gone soft! I think I've just got more fat in my arms, but it's so annoying. When I tense, i can squeeze them down quite a bit with my other hand.


I ordered food for some thrive recipes last saturday, and it's STILL NOT HERE. AHHH!! I desperately want to get started.

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My training log

Hey man! It seems your log is at a stand still atm.. You better not be slacking off!!

Hope everything is alright over there in sunny Scotland

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Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

Haha I'm still working away, just didn't update my log yesterday. The weather's actually been great the last week but I haven't been out in it much


Week 15
Bodyweight=173.6lbs

Workout #43
Mon 14th September 2009
Squats 5@45kg/55kg/60kg, 5x5@70kg
Bench Press 5@40kg, 4@45kg, 3@50kg, 5/4/3/3/2@55kg
Elevated Rows 11/8/7
Push-ups 18/9/7
Reverse Crunch 3x12 (5kg counterweight)

Worked really hard, disapointed about bench press though - might go back to 52.5kg on Friday. Reverse crunches I used super strict, slow form - which I'll be doing from now on for this exercise

My supplies finally came 9 days after I ordered them. Made energy bars last night and had one today. Delicious =] Taste like christmas cake.

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My training log

Workout #44
Wed 16th September 2009

Overhead Press 5@27.5kg, 3@32.5kg, 5x5@35kg
Pull-ups 4/2/3 (then 10 negatives)
Deadlift 5@70kg, 4@80kg, 3@90kg, 2@100kg, 1x5@110kg
Prone Bridge 3x60s

Today was awesome!

There was only 2 bad things. 1) The time I took. I still took over an hour for 4 exercises. 2) The 3rd set of overhead presses I managed to hit my chin on the way up, and had bad form for the few reps after it. Technique was really good for first 2 sets - effortless.

Deadlifts have quickly became my favorite exercise. The last couple of reps were a lot of work but I pulled it off.

Prone bridges, finally hit 3x60s. Need to get this again or better next workout!


I had the Thrive Diet recovery drink after workout. Didn't have any hemp oil though so I used more Vega (a scoop, instead of just a tbsp). This made it thicker than I liked but will fix next time. I feel amazing after it though. I usually just want to sleep 30-45 mins after workout - right now I feel great!

So that's energy bars/recovery drinks covered. Think I'll try the 'burgers' or 'pizza crusts' out it next. It's good trying out so many new things just now after pretty much eating the same stuff every day for 14 weeks!

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My training log

haha, I hit my chin doing presses today too. only slightly tho, it didn't really affect my form other than that one rep. nice work on deadlift. almost 1.5x BW no? I think I'm getting close to hitting my max. i'm at almost 95 kg but no failures yet. I think that's about 1.5x for me by the way, where the squats at buddy?

sweet news about yr food supplies. i can't see eating a whole pack of tofu everyday haha

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training//log

Glad you're liking the recipes....I checked that book out of the library awhile ago and I can't remember the name of it, but the curry pizza crust or something like that (is there one with curry?) was good.

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vegan for the win!

I think I caught my nose as well haha. 118kg will be 1.5x bodyweight. However, I'm prob looking to lose weight after holiday in a couple of weeks.

I was toying with the idea of just doing Squats every 2nd workout to see if it helps my legs any. I just didn't feel up for them today. My groin's starting to annoy me ever so slightly again. Just have to see how it goes



Yeah there's a couple with curry =] I'm gonna try pizza's next, should be good! Need to get more supplies ordered up tomorrow

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My training log