Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

1/26/12

Thanks Hayley. I did push it pretty hard but also got plenty of rest today. I went to bed before midnight and woke up after noon! A full 12.5 hours of sleeping, and muscle-building recovery! It was awesome!

But at the gym I did drop a 25 pound plate on my foot and I have no idea why! I was even talking to mjcollete who I was training with, saying, "I'm not sure why I just dropped that plate on my foot." It was while taking weights off after doing deadlifts. They gym had a carpet rather than rubber mats so I wanted to break the fall of the weight with my foot. So in reality, I was concerned for the floor. Luckily I didn't hurt my foot.

Today, after that amazing 12-hour slumber, I really wanted to go the gym, but I also knew I needed a rest day to rebuild. I decided to go to the gym to sit in the sauna and steam room and hot tub. While walking through the gym to get to the locker room I was tempted to hop on a cardio machine to help me get ripped or pick up some weights. I actually had an internal mental battle going on in my head about it which tells me I'm back in the bodybuilding mentality. I opted for nearly an hour in heat treatments to help me "relax" and recover and got some good heat on my lower back, especially in the hot tub. My lower back takes a beating from deadlifts, bent-over rows and squats specifically, so today's rest day was nice.

I went to a vegan meet-up in San Francisco today and saw some old friends, met some new people and had a nice time away from the computer. Now it's after midnight and I'm up at 630AM for a workout before driving 6 hours to Los Angeles.

Better head to bed soon.

Have a great weekend! Hope to see some of you at the LA Fit Expo!

-Robert

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Does anyone really know why they drop plates on their feet? It's like an age old question, Why are we here. Where did we come from. Why is this plate on my foot.

Drive safe to L.A. Rob.

_________________
Radical simply means "grasping things at the root." - Angela Davis

Hey Robert, awesome job man! Those deadlift numbers are getting bigger! Solid shoulder work as well on those presses. Have a safe trip and an awesome photo shoot!

Keep rockin it buddy!

_________________
Check out our nutrition and training blog, http://veganmuscleandfitness.com

1/27/12

Thanks you two! I appreciate your well wishes for my travels. I had a rough one on the road Friday, but I made it.

Today's workout.

I woke up after 4.5 hours of sleep, trained legs for 2 hours, and then ran errands for two hours and drove for 8.5 hours to Los Angeles.

My workout was an epic effort. Even with little sleep and up at 630AM which is hours earlier than I normally wake up since I often work until 2AM or 3AM, I had a great, hard effort for legs with some of my best numbers since my return to training.

It went like this:

Warm-up: 15 minutes of playing basketball. It was so fun and my first time shooting baskets in about a year! Basketball is my favorite sport. It's about time I embrace it again! I just played by myself but did lots of jogging, running, sprinting, jumping and shooting. I worked up a great sweat in only about 15 minutes.

Invisible jump rope: 150 jumps

Bodyweight squats
30
30
30

Squats - I've been content only lifting up to about 135lbs because I don't trust my lower back to keep me upright, with all my past injuries. But this time I put little 2.5lb plates under my heels like I did a year ago. I wasn't able to do that over the past couple of months because my gym squat rack is on a wood platform with iron weights which slide around and I'd slip and fall. Putting the plates under my heels helps my hips and lower back dramatically. I can use better and deeper range of motion with far less stress on my injury-prone lower back.

45lbs x 20
95lbs x 20
115lbs x 15
135lbs x 12
155lbs x 10
175lbs x 5
155lbs x 10

I know the weights aren't very high, but for me, they are moving up and I feel good about that.

Dumbbell walking lunges
45's (90lbs) x 30 steps
55's (110lbs) x 28 steps
65's (130lbs) x 14 steps
65's (130lbs) x 16 steps
65's (130lbs) x 15 steps
65's (130lbs) x 17 steps

I fell over at the end of at least 2 or 3 of those sets. Really pushed it.

By now I had fully sweated through my shirt and sweatshirt, something that rarely happens for me. In fact it happened after squats, even before lunges!

Then I decided to keep crushing it, knowing I'd have an 8-hour drive after the workout. I went over to the Stair Climber.

Stair Climber for 20 minutes. I never pay attention to number of floors or any other stats, but someone asked recently. I climbed 171 floors.

I was at the gym for 2 full hours for a great leg workout.

Then a long drive for hundreds of miles on little sleep. Something I don't recommend, but knowing that I am made up of part-machine, I handled it. The machine safely landed in Los Angeles.

Have a great weekend!

RC 2.1

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

1/28/12

Today was an amazing day!

I had a hard time getting out of bed after that 4.5 hours of sleeping, 2 hours of training, 8.5 hours of driving and then once I got to LA, 2.5 hours of hanging out with my hosts until I passed out around 1230AM. Then I awoke at 530AM to use the restroom and then finally up around 7AM. Then back in the car for 90 minutes to get to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

While there, epic things happened. Today was one of the best days in my personal and professional life. Upon arriving at the L.A. Fit Expo, I saw my friends Jamie Eason and Jay Cutler and then I have the rare opportunity to meet one of the greatest athletes in the history of his sport. I met and signed a book for former Heavyweight Champion of the World, the Baddest Man on the Planet, Mike Tyson! So cool to give him a little bro hug, chat veganism briefly, hear him give some shout outs about Vegan Bodybuilding and be able to sign a book for him. Later others told me they saw him reading through it. Pretty exciting stuff!

I also signed a book for a top production team member for The Ellen Show, and met up with all kinds of other athletes, models, bodybuilders, friends, etc.

Today rocked!

Then I went out with a friend of mine who's doing a photo shoot with me for a magazine cover on Monday (Koya Webb). She hosted a vegan dinner party at her house and was sporting a Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness tank top the whole time. She's been on the cover of a bunch of magazines, including a couple recently. She brings a lot of muscle, so I hope I can hang with her! I still have a long way to go in my bodybuilding comeback, but after 3 months of consistency, I'm getting there.

Other great things happened as well. I met Jon Hinds, founder and owner of Monkey Bar Gym, and met up with a bunch of others.

Also got word from http://www.veganproteins.com and http://www.veganessentials.com that they both need more Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness clothing. It's moving fast on their sites and a lot our clothing was on display today at the L.A. Fit Expo which was awesome!

Today I represented Vega at the Bodybuilding.com booth and I represented Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness at the T. Colin Campbell Foundation booth.

Amazing day and I'm amazingly tired!

Oh, one of the best parts.....I got out in the sun! I saw sun for the first time in months! It is freezing and flooding in my town where I was a few days ago, and in the mid 70's, bright warm and sunny out here in Los Angeles.

Loving it!

RC. 2.2

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Wooah, Mike Tyson! Very cool indeed.

_________________
Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.
- Bruce Lee

Yeah, he was nice and friendly and pumped about veganism. Enthusiastically told me he's been vegan for 3 years. I told him I've been at it for 17 years, signed a book for him and told him to get in touch anytime he wanted.

I grew up watching him fight, and watched biography shows about his life and it was cool to see him in person, talk with him briefly and know that he's now living a peaceful, vegan lifestyle. So cool! A highlight for me for sure!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

This is fantastic news mate. I am really excited for you. You keep up all the good work, networking and training and we'll all do our bit in whatever small way we can as well.

Looks like the negative perceptions about a vegan lifestyle are gradually being overturned thanks to athletes like yourself. Who could ask for a better celebrity representative than Mike Tyson - who in their right mind would dare tell him being vegan makes you soft!?

_________________
Douglas Robson

http://www.my-healthy-lifestyle-choices.com

1/29/12

Thanks buddy. Had another fun day today at the Fit Expo. Talked with 4x Mr. Olympia Champ Jay Cutler and met one of my all-time favorite pro wrestlers Brutus "the barber" Beefcake, among others.

Yesterday was an off day, though I did carry a lot of heavy bags and did a lot of flexing. So much so that I was sore today. Today was pretty much an off day too. I did a 15 minute P90X ab workout tonight with my friend for 15 minutes. It was my first P90X experience and it was a tough workout.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the gym in the morning and then have a photo shoot in the after noon. I'm not in my best shape, but I think once pumped, I'll be able to get some good shots.

I better sleep now. It is late, as usual, and I have been going non-stop for days now. Long days, short nights, early mornings.

Night!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Even though this was a month’s challenge I will still keep updating my journal as its a great way to be accountable.


It has been a great month and I just want to Thank you Robert for all your hard work and information available on the website to newbie Vegans!!

Awesome!

Love hearing that! Keep it up!

PS, I have been busy every waking moment. I'm still training and have my workouts written on pieces of paper waiting to be typed up. I'm averaging 18 hours a day of work related activity it seems. 2AM now and up in a few hours so I'll head to bed but will update my journal asap.

I even had a new record lift at the world's most famous gym, so I have lots to report!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

I had an incredibly busy week, occupied 12-18 hours a day, doing amazing things, and of course, training, but I wasn't able find conjure up the energy to update my journal late at night before bed. I have my workouts outlined in pieces of paper and now I'm following up! I felt so bad because it could have "looked" like I just stopped training and/or stopped updating my journal as soon as our month-long challenged ended. I fell asleep at 3AM feeling bad about that but the energy wasn't there to type. I have been working out as much as 4 hours a day and doing 2 and 3-hour long flexing photo shoots in Los Angeles. I'm also driving across the country, living out of my car, staying with different friends each night, so it has been hard to juggle everything. I already put 2000 miles on my car in the past 10 days or so, and have another 1000+ miles to go.

Right now I'm enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the sun (finally, getting a moment to stop and sit) and I'm updating my journal.

This has been an awesome week! So pumped!

Hope you have an amazing weekend and month ahead!

-RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

1/30/12

Today I got up early after a long couple of days at the Fit Expo and headed to the gym for an upper body workout before doing a magazine cover shoot.

At the gym I really hammered it. Even being relatively fatigued from the long week, I crushed it!

Warm-up: 20 minutes on the stair master for 125 floors of climbing

Dumbbell Shoulder Overhead Press
35's (70lbs) x 20
40's (80lbs) x 12
45's (90lbs) x 10 with Super Set of Shrugs with same weight x 25
50's (100lbs) x 10 with Super Set of Shrugs with same weight x 25
60's (120lbs) x 8 with Super Set of Shrugs with same weight x 15

Pull-ups

Wide grip
12 - and chest injury started to flare up so I switched to narrow

Narrow grip
15
15
12

Dumbbell Shrugs
85's (170lbs) x 20
90's (180lbs) x 15
100's (100lbs) x 15
105's (210lbs) x 12

I was in an out because I had to get back to prepare for a photo shoot.

When I got back to do the magazine cover photo shoot for a New Magazine called Vegan Health & Fitness Magazine, I ended up doing around 20 sets of push-ups of 10-25 reps, and no chest injury flare up surprisingly, and did at least 10 sets of biceps curls with 25lb dumbbells in each hand.

The photo shoot lasted for around 3 hours and I had to stay pumped the whole time.

When I wasn't doing sets of push-ups or biceps curls, I was flexing and posing for the camera, or off camera staying pumped.

All tolled, I must have "trained" 4 hours today. It was tough but I seemed to pull it off. I'm not real big now so I had to rely on having lots of definition, veins popping, and use of oil and lighting and specific angles and poses for me to look muscular

We'll see how it goes.

I had a lot of Vega and fruit to get me through the long, exhausting day of fitness.

Good times.

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

1/31/12

Today I got up early after that long, exhausting 4-hour training day yesterday to meet up with one of our long-time forum members and biggest supporters! One of my homies from this forum came out to California for a visit. This cat has like a baker's dozen Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness clothing items, far more than me!

Tom and I explored all over L.A., checking out the vegan hotspots, eating a ton of calories and then decided to go burn them off!

We went for a 2-hour hike in Runyon Canyon and then headed over to the world's most famous gym, after a quick stop for a smoothie. It is hot and sunny out here, so after rehydrating, we made our way to Venice Gold's Gym!

At The Mecca of Bodybuilding, I had the following, awesome workout!

Warm-up: 20 minutes on the stair climber for 102 floors of climbing.

Bodyweight squats:
30
30
30

Deadlifts
115lbs x 20
135lbs x 20
185lbs x 7
205lbs x 5
225lbs x 3
250lbs x 2 (new PR since I returned to training, going up every single week!)
185lbs x 7
185lbs x 4

I tossed in those final couple of sets at lighter weight to get some good final reps in. Then was exhausted!

After all the hiking and deadlifts, I was pretty spent, and Tom was wrapping up his workout and we were super hungry, but I still managed to squeeze in 4 sets of barbell bent-over rows

Barbell Bent-Over Rows
135lbs x 10
135lbs x 8
135lbs x 8
135lbs x 10

Then we headed out for more calories, of course.

Exhausting days. Like, really exhausting, sometimes spending 3-5 hours in the car in LA traffic too, going from point A to B, but an awesome time nonetheless.

Then I had to get to bed. Another photo shoot in the morning!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

2/1/12

Time to start out a new month with another photo shoot! I dropped Tom off at the beach to go bike around Santa Monica and Venice while I met up with the talented Melissa Schwartz for a photo shoot in Los Angeles.

Again, lots of push-ups, though no dumbbells this time. No major chest injury kind of soreness, which was encouraging.

I probably did 20 sets of push-ups from 10-25 reps.

Lots of flexing today and lots of jaw movement, bringing sexy with silly pretty boy poses and I did some live rapping for the camera. There was both still camera and video camera running so I busted out some Eminem rap and then did a bit of freestyle.

Good times.

After the photo shoot. Tom and I met up for a whole lot more calories and a guided Buddhist Meditation class which was awesome. I did get a parking ticket which was a bummer, but I the mediation was great!

Today's entire workout was simply flexing and push-ups but it was still tough.

It's 3AM and I better get to sleep! Rarely time for me to get online after these 12-hour days of tour guide, adventure and workouts.

RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1