Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I usually use my other half's Mac, actually, ha, which is another reason I haven't had the time to work on videos - coursework > v-logs, apparently. If I had more time to actually "edit" the videos and shoot them properly, they'd be of much higher quality. Since I really want to keep doing them, and maybe even focus more-so on them in terms of re-capping training sessions, I might cut some kind of deal so that I can get the Mac more. I did go to school for video editing so I might as well put it to use instead of half-assing it.

PHAT is supposed to run for 12 weeks and I'm currently half-way through number ten. Once that's all done, I was thinking of taking 3-4 days completely off (probably go crazy in the process) and then test lifts, though, maybe I should take longer off or just deload. Any insight on that?



"Rise Above," "TV Party," "Gimme Gimme Gimme," "I'm the One," "Black Coffee," and "Spray Paint" are all Black Flag songs everyone should have on their iTunes, if not their entire discography. In terms of Rollins Band tracks, "Shine," "We Walk Alone," "Disconnected," "All I Want," "Low Self Opinion," and "Love's So Heavy" are all solid.

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"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

I have been in need of something more besides death and black metal and old local bands

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I do because I can. I can because I want to. I want to because you said I couldn't.

I don't make excuses... I make results

If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you

02.22.12
PHAT Week 10, Day 2
Upper-body power day
QvC: XV

To be honest, other than working out there was little of note on Wednesday. I opened at work, I hit the gym, and I ate a lot of food.

Barbell bench press
10x45
5x60
5x70
3x70
3x75
3x80
1x85
3x5x65
Notes: Had two reps at 85 but my ass came off the bench on the second one so I dropped the weight and went for reps.

Standing barbell overhead press
5x45
5x55
3x65
3x70
2x70
1x65
5x45
2x45
Notes: No increases but form is locked in on these, finally. Should have went for 5 reps for reach set but I was hoping to put up 75. Next time.

Rack chins
2x10
Notes: Did these in between the last set of OHP with 70s, probably why the following "set" of 65 was blown. Either way, going to start doing these with weight next week.

Assisted dips
7x70
3x80
12x80
Notes: First two sets were drop-sets. All the benching killed these.

Assisted pull-ups
2x10x90
Notes: These are feeling better. Should be able to do them with only 80 next time around. Sounds weak but ... well, my upper-body is weak.

Seated dumbbell shoulder press
3x10x20
Notes: The time has come to nail 3x10x25 as I anticipated these being a challenge but it felt like nothing.

Tricep pushdowns with v-bar attachment
12x90
10x120
10x110
10x100
Notes: Bench, dips, and then these made my triceps pretty twitchy. I definitely find the v-bar more challenging than the rope. Can dig it.

Farmer's walks
3x900ft with 20lbs
2x528ft with 15lbs
Notes: The people in my gym think I'm crazy for doing these. I love them.

Macros
52/160/190 + untracked salad and some pita and hummus

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

02.24.12
PHAT Week 10, Day 3
Lower-body hypertrophy day
QvC: XVI
The Day Everything Felt Heavy

I woke up with serious DOMS in my legs from what I can only imagine is a combination of lower-body power day and all those farmer's walks from Wednesday. It didn't help too much that I also slept poorly last night and not for very long - seven broken hours. By the time I clocked out from work, I was already dragging ass so I knew I needed to Quaker-up, get to the gym, hit my numbers for squats and deads and leave the rest up to fate - if I got to my assistance work, I got to it. If I didn't, no issue since, what really matters, are S&D.

ATG barbell squats
10x45
3x10x95
Notes: Serious weight decrease from previous hypertrophy days but I'm still tweaking my low-bar form so this is what I'll be working with for 5+ reps from now on.

Barbell deadlifts
5x135
5x155
5x165
5x175
5x155
5x145
3x5x135
Notes: Back starts rounding too much on 180, largely because I'm not upright enough. From the reverse 155 down, weight was dropped when form slipped. The 3x5x135 were cake, though, my lower-back isn't pleased six hours later.

Leg curls
10x100
10x90
10x80
Notes: Meh.

Leg press
2x12x320
Notes: Knees to chest with lots of grunting and spit flying everywhere. All in a day's work.

Calf press on the leg press
3x15x235
Notes: When I was doing these, all I could think about was something my girlfriend said to me yesterday: "Your calves are getting huge." Yep.

Leg extensions
10x40
10x60
2x12x160
12x100
Notes: Still don't focus on the lock-out but I think I'm going to cut these out. I don't want them busting my knees up and I feel like I need to be front squatting somewhere in my routine, even if it's with light-weight/as a warm-up.

Seated calf presses[/i]
15x90
10x90
Notes: Seven second holds for each rep.

Macros
55/150/220
Went out and got a vegan burger wrap with grilled vegetables for dinner so, while I'm good at guessing, I could be off by quite a bit.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

I don't think you really need to take a deload & then spend time doing maxes.

It makes more sense to take them while you are still on a program, doing them after a deload may give you a false number.

You also don't need to 1 rep to get a max. I personally did it while on my 3 day strength program. When it came to my heaviest set is just went balls out on my big lifts, but I always rep till a point where I know the next may take a time to get up, never to failure though.

You can even do it with a comfortable weight & again reps till you struggle, I did this with programming a loadable (is that a word) assistance eg 20 good reps with 50kg on good mornings.

The formula of reps x weight x .0333 + weight is accurate. 

I actually took lower ranges in the hope of holding of a stall eg bench I lifted 100kg for 4 solid paused reps but when I programmed it  I took just 1 rep as a max.

Giving yourself an easier week before 5/3/1 sounds good. I'd recommend just doing 1 lift at a lower percentage then some rehab & stretching. 

_________________
"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler

The Arnold is next weekend. I want to go Sunday. Want to ride together? I'm trying to get a commitment out of a few other Cleveland vegan types.

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an evolving primate

Thanks for all the solid advice - especially regarding de-loading or not. On my next day off (Tuesday), I'm going to map out testing my lifts so I can get going on this program. PHAT's been great, but, after reading through the e-book, I really do think 5/3/1 is going to help me progress quite a bit.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

Let me double-check my schedule for next weekend - I believe that I am, in fact, off that day but I won't be able to give you a 100% accurate answer until around midnight tonight/early tomorrow morning.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

Happy to read you got a lot out of it. I won't rag on sites, magazines posting this & that "killer" routine, at least they'r putting something out there. For me when these program's start trying to rewrite the book of lifting I just  read 5/3/1 again . I honestly can't see myself using another program, just will mix it up by  using different templates from 2nd edition.


Hope the "testing" goes well. I'm sure a deload will get you chomping at the bit to get cracking, just remember the long term goal that your aimng for.

When you choose the template you wish to go with just make sure it's to aid the actual big lift, I know you've already read this but it does make you think about what it is your doing, which can only be a good thing. 

Eg, A guy who I know exclaimed to me he'd just (isolation) curled a 16kg db for 20 reps, on asking him what was the thinking behind that he just gave me the "nobody's home" look.

I did say well done though, at least he is doing something, I just wanted to plant a seed in his head haha

_________________
"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler

Damn, getting to go to the Arnold would be great. Make sure you get lots of photos if you go along!

Looking forward to seeing how you progress with 5/3/1, and how you feel that it compares to PHAT. You've been running that for a while, right?

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1st Place Raw Champs 2011, 2012 (3 raw records)
Training for my first 100 mile running race

WEB: http://jimsty.wix.com/strength-vs-size
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I'm currently still debating between BBB and the David Tate templates as I can see how either would be extremely beneficial for me at this stage in my training. BBB would definitely help with growth and perfecting form; Tate would allow me to target my weak areas a bit more directly. Though, that makes me lean toward running BBB for the first few cycles and then switching it up once I've set up an even more solid foundation after a few months.

Tomorrow will be week 11 of PHAT and the following "final" week will be when I test my maxes in the manner you suggested - do a four day split only doing the "big" lifts and going balls to the wall on those and taking the next week as a light deload to prepare myself for the new program.

And I definitely agree with you about having a program that makes sense, i.e. each lift and exercise serves a purpose. If I've learned anything from PHAT it's that, while I love the volume, a lot of it is unnecessary. If I were focusing on being a bodybuilder, ever lift is important but, for example, the called for 6 sets of calf raises isn't really helping out my squat, you know? It's been a good learning experience, though, and I don't regret seeing it all the way through whatsoever.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

02.25.12
PHAT Week 10, Day 4
Arms and chest hypertrophy day

I didn’t plan on going to the gym Saturday. In fact, I was pretty excited about having a full day off from work and lifting to focus on other meaningful things – like grocery shopping, writing articles/poetry, and catching up on v-logs. Two-thirds of that went according to plan but, since I use the old lady’s MacBook to do all my video editing and she’s been bogged down with papers, the v-logs are currently on back order and I was left with a substantial amount of time and, therefore, restlessness to combat.
After downing a bowl of curried peanut butter soup (yes, this exists; yes, it is amazing), I realized I couldn’t take it any longer.
At approximately 10:15 p.m., I entered an empty gym and made it my castle on "brotastic gun day."

Barbell bench press
10x45
3x10x65

Machine chest press
6x90
6x80
6x100
7x90
Notes: Super-setted with the above.

Hammer curls
2x10x20

Incline cable flyes
2x15x30

Ez-bar strict curls
2x15x30

Concentration curls
2x15x15

Push-ups
3x10

Assisted pull-ups
3x5

Assisted dips
3x5
Notes: For the last three these are estimates on the number of sets; I just kept doing them in between the benching and curls. Hence why I don't really know what the weight was on the dips/pulls either - I'm assuming somewhere between the 80/70 since they were a bitch but I kept plowing through them.

Close-grip barbell bench
10x45
Notes: I hadn’t done these in a while and wanted to see how they felt.

Macros
48/145/180
I fandangled these all up since I hadn’t planned on hitting the gym and, originally, thought I’d be going out for a few drinks – also explaining why this day does not count toward the QvC experiment. Felt bad.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

02.26.12
PHAT Week 10, Day 5
Back and shoulders hypertrophy day
Werewolfing It

Some people talk about going into “beast mode” at the gym. I, on the other hand, have a penchant for engaging what I like to call Werewolf Mode – it happens whenever I enter a gym after 10:00 p.m. For some reason, this is the time of day that produces the best gym sessions for me. Unlike with mid-day lifting, my focus sharpens, my determination strengthens, and my energy increases throughout the workout rather than tapering.
This could have a lot to do with the fact that, other than a few occasionally randoms, my gym is generally empty at this time and I don’t have to worry about people staring at me for dropping my weights, banging my head, or prowling about like a caged animal. Or, in the case of Sunday night, deciding it was a good idea to do jump rope sets in between exercises because I had that much energy. Regardless, if I had it my way, I think I’d always lift at night.
The only downfall of Sunday's session was food - I left both my lunch and my pre-work out meal at home so my intake throughout the day was a lot lower than I had planned on, consisting mostly of soup. And while it didn't affect my gym performance at all, it left me with a lot of calories in cram into my face in a very short time span. Hitting the gym later at night also makes my weigh-ins a little tempermental as they've typically been earlier in the day - both Saturday and Sunday I was in between 124 and 125. I'll be interested to see what Tuesday's early morning session says, though, if I'm gaining, I'll take it. I've been sitting at 122/123 for too long.

Standing barbell shoulder press
3x10x50

Rack chins
3x12

One arm dumbbell rows
2x15x35

Dumbbell side later raise
2x20x20

Barbell shrug
2x20x200

Dumbbell shrug
12x40
12x45

Reverse flyes
2x15x20

Upright cable row
15x110
15x100

Seated rows
3x80
12x70
12x60
6x50
Note: Trying to find my rhythm on these again; I really, really miss doing barbell rows.

Close-grip lateral pulldown
10x90
5x80
12x70
Notes: Burn sets

Jump rope
Notes:I did 200 jumps for my warm-up and then just did sets of 20 throughout my entire workout to keep my heart-rate up and to try and burn off all the access energy I had. Felt awesome.

Macros
41/184/215
Protein intake was ridiculously high today. I think I need to up my fats, though. I’m consistently getting less than 0.5g/lb which isn’t good at all. I also didn’t QvC again today because I left my oats at home in a rush to get to work on time. No bueno.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

Oh, and I haven't been taking too many pictures of food recently because they've all been boring but ... I did make my lady some muffin-tops ...



And, after Sunday's werewolfing, I did have some couscous, lentil, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, and peppers with a grilled hemp bread and peanut butter sandwich.

_________________
"When in doubt, squat and run hills." - Jim Wendler

IRON MNTN // LOG

I love lifting at night That couscous looks heavenly!!!!!

_________________
I do because I can. I can because I want to. I want to because you said I couldn't.

I don't make excuses... I make results

If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you