Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi, my name is Matthew, I am 30 years old and currently living in Vancouver. I have been a Vegan only since the start of the year so this is a huge change to my lifestyle.
How it happened: my girlfriend has been a vegetarian as long as I have known her and she had talked about becoming a vegan on several occasions, to me it was not an option - how could I give up meat?
I told her she would not have enough protein, she would lack several nutrients and so forth, yes I am the typical person who knows nothing about being a vegan apart from what I have overheard, lol. So I started to do some research, what is a vegan?
I watched forks over knives and several other programs and it really opened my eyes.
Then I thought do I even enjoy meat? The truth was most of the time no.
So why am I destroying a life for something I don't even want, this may shock some and thinking back I do feel guilty about all the animal products I ate but at least I have made the change now.

So from trying the vegan lifestyle to support my girlfriend has turned into a lifestyle change, maybe it's to early to see a change but I have noticed I am sleeping better and my energy levels are up.

I'd like to thank my gilfrIend for introducing me to the vegan life and everyone at Vegan Bodybuilding for providing this forum full of motivation and support.

First day back at the gym for over a week, had a nice rest but felt good to be back working out.

Chest & Biceps

Decline Press 12 x 25lbs, 12 x 40lbs, 9 x 55lbs
Incline DB Press 12 x 30lbs, 10 x 50lbs
DB Flyes 12 x 15lbs, 11 x 22.5lbs
1 Arm Preacher Curl 10 x 25lbs, 7 x 35lbs
Straight Bar Curl 15 x 40lbs
Crunches 14reps, 10, 8

Short but intense workout, feeling great.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

My Goals for 2012

Weekly Goals:
Eat 6 Clean Nutritious meals everyday
Drink at least 3.5 litres of water a day
Log every workout and meal online and in my journal

Monthly Goals:
Increase Strength -
Deadline 1st Feb 2012 - I will be able to complete 6 reps of:
H/S Inc Chest Press 150lbs,
Close Grip lat Pulldown 170lbs,
H/S Shoulder Press 130lbs.
45 Leg Press 200lbs

If i complete all of my monthly goals i will reward myself with a new supplement. I have had some good results from using creatine in the past and want to start using it again, so got to work hard.

1 Year Goal:
I will feel healthier,
Improve my physique by giving it some shape through working out,
Improve my posture/core through stretching and attending Pilates/Yoga
Compete on stage as a Bodybuilder
Enjoy my new healthy lifestyle as a Vegan

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Monday Meal Plan

Breakfast:
Smoothie - 1 Cup of Oats, 6oz Tofu, 1/2 Cup Mango and 1Tbsp Agave

Post-Workout:
Vega Sport Shake and a banana

Lunch:
250g Sweet potato, 112g Tempeh, 100g mixed veg and 1/4 avocado

Snack:
1/2 cup of oats, banana, and pumpkin protein

Dinner:
6oz Tofu, 100g black beans and 200g of mixed veg (mixed together and made into a curry)

Snack:
Pumpkin protein, 3 Rice cakes and 2Tbsp nut butter

Consumed 4 litres of water today.

Total calories: 2232
Carbs: 240g
Protein: 172g
Fat: 29.6g

To make life easier for me i will be eating the same foods everyday, maybe change the fruit.
After about 4 weeks of sticking to my plan i will be able to analyse my total calorie intake and adjust if its too high/low, or adjust protein/carbs/ fat if needed.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Week 1 Plan

Monday: Chest & Biceps
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Delts & Triceps
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Rest

Current weight 174lbs

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Day 2

I think the festive season of over eating and indulging in treats I should have stayed away from are starting to show. I turned up at the gym feeling sluggish and a bit chubby, so instead of getting down about it, i gave myself a good kick the ass and vowed not to let myself slip out of shape again.

10 min warm up on X Trainer

Workout: Back
DB Pullover 10 x 35lbs, 10 x 45lbs, 7 x 65lbs
Close Grip Lat Pulldown 10 x 50lbs, 5 x 80lbs
1 Arm DB Row 10 x 30lbs, 7 x 55lbs
Wide Cable Row 10 x 40lbs, 9 x 100lbs - maybe stay at this weight as not getting full range of motion
Fixed BB Deadlift 12 x 40lbs, 12 x 80lbs - increase weight next week, started off low to make sure I had good form
Reverse Crunches 3 x 10 - new exercise for me, felt good but need to push more out next time

Felt great after workout, really feel my lats whilst stretching and can still feel my chest from yesterday.

Felt a bit down looking in the mirror this morning, but I can only look forward now and I know I am doing all I can to change my body and that makes me feel great.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Not sure what happened with close grip lat pulldown but I recently changed gyms and I was lifting 150lbs but in the new gym I can only manage 80, could the new gym machine be in Kilo's? I hope so otherwise I lost alot of strength.
Will figure it out next time I'm in the gym.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Day 3 Cardio

Its been a long time since i have been running so i started off easy.

20 Minutes High Intensity Interval Training on Treadmill
Consists of four loops, i start off at 3Mph warm up for 2 mins and then increase by 1Mph every minute upto 7Mph then start again. Then on the last cycle i go up to 8Mph which should be giving your all for 1 min.

I found this ok today so i will increase speed maybe start at 3.2Mph and i'll use an incline of 0.5 to resemble running outside.

Finished off with plenty of stretches on my legs and a few core exercises as my core needs strenghthening.

Feeling great about my workout and full of energy with my new meal plan. Cant wait to attack shoulders in my next workout.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Day 4

Delts &Traps

Hammer Strength Shoulder Press 10 x 50lbs, 10 x 90lbs, 6 x 140lbs
Side Lateral Raise DB 10 x 10lbs, 6 x 17.5lbs
Low Pulley Raise 8 x 10
Rev Flyes Machine 12 x 40lbs, 13 x 55lbs - go higher next time, new machine so had to guess, still went to failure which is great
Tricep Pushdown 10 x 30, 9 x 50
Lying Tricep Extension 10 x 30lbs, 5 x 50lbs
Seated overhead Tricep Press 10 x 30lbs, 5 x 50lbs
Plank 3 Sets 45 sec, 35 sec, 30 sec

Not done plank in a long time and my whole body was shaking. Need to be able to hold it longer which will come in time, great exercise for strengthening the core.

Feeling great today, really happy with my food and workout plan. Performing a short high intensity workout seems to really suit me, I think it's partially a mental thing as in my mind I put more effort in because it's only a short workout, if I am in the gym longer than 45 min/1 hour I tend to lose focus.

Looking forward to losing a bit of fat off my belly, will be posting photos this weekend of my start and end of week one along with measurements. I will be updating a new photo at the end of each week next to my start photo that will show my progress.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Day 5 Legs

10 Mins X Trainer/Eliptical - even though i have not put it in previous posts i always start with a light warm up before starting a weights workout. Due to a physical job i tend to be fairly warmed up anyway but these 10 mins gives me time to mentally focus on the workout ahead.

Leg Extension 10 x 55lbs, 10 x 85lbs, 10 x 115lbs - need to increase next week
45degree Leg Press 10 x 90lbs, 10 x 140lbs, 10 x 180lbs - felt great and could increase this too
Leg Press 4 x 205lbs - should have done 1 set of squats here but rack was unavailable
Stiff Leg Dead Lift (fixed bar) 10 x 40lbs, 15 x 80lbs - increase next time
Calf Press 12 x 100lbs, (14 x 205lbs, 11 x 205lbs, 8 205lbs) - (rest/pause)
Seated Calf Raise 9 x 90lbs, 6 x 140lbs - will definately stay at this weight until i can get at least 8 reps

Rest/pause - i do a set then rest for 10 -15 secs then another set for total of 3 sets, i find this a good way of helping to push the muscle more especially on exercises when you dont have a spotter or a gym partner to assist.

Felt great today working legs, it has been a bit of guess work with the weights because i have not been to the gym for a few weeks and it is a new gym so getting used to different machines. As of next week i'll know exactly which weight to use.

Only 1 more cardio session tomorrow the rest on sunday but will keep eating clean which is so important.

I hope everyone else is doing well with their workouts and meal plans.
Will post photos this weekend, definately got a long way to go but if i post my photo on here the way i look now will help motivate me to get back in shape.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Hey.............. your doing great!!

I really enjoy reading your blog... It's great to see such detail and some of the obstacles you are facing. Keep up the hard work!!

Day 6 Cardio

20 Mins High Intensity Interval Training - Treadmill

0.5 % Incline
Minute - Mph
1 - 3.2
2 - 3.2
3 - 4.2
4 - 5.2
5 - 6.2
6 - 7.2
7 - 4.2
8 - 5.2
9 - 6.2
10 - 7.2
11 - 4.2
12 - 5.2
13 - 6.2
14 - 7.2
15 - 4.2
16 - 5.2
17 - 6.2
18 - 7.2
19 - 8.2
20 - 3.2
Great run today, made a big difference using an incline but still think i could go faster. Plan for next time is to keep o.5% incline and start at 3.4Mph and increase every minute like above.

Finished off with some stretches as legs were still sore from Fridays Leg workout.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Day 7

Rest day today, still eating clean but resting my body and preparing my food for the week ahead. Cant wait to hit the gym in the morning.

Start weight - 174lbs
End of Week 1 - 169.4lbs - Dropped nearly 5lbs after first week which will probably just be water retention but still makes me feel good.

Added the start photo and end of week 1 photo, not much change in the photos but i feel so much better already and will keep going until i achieve my goals.

Consistency is the key!!

Review of the week
Need to make sure i am drinking enough water, sometimes i get so busy at work i forget to drink as much as i should.
Need to take measurements and then compare them the following week, forgot to do this at the start.
Pre Workout meal is protein shake, oats and banana - finding this a bit awkward to eat as i eat on the way to the gym after leaving work, so today will try and blend the ingredients and add some dates to try make my own protein bar - will post photos if they turn out well.
Now i have found the weights and rep range i will be using, now is the time to focus and really give it my all starting monday!
All in all i am happy with my progress and surprisingly not had any cravings for any junk food, i know i have only been a vegan since the start of the year but i seem to be eating a wider variety of food which keeps it interesting. Yesterday i did feel like i wanted to eat more food but think this could be slight dehydration - will keep an eye on this.
Consider having an extra calorie day - maybe 1 every 4 days.

Feeling great and happy.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

I decided today to try and make a protein bar out of the food i normally eat pre workout.
Usually i eat a Banana, Pumpkin protein powder and 1/2 cup of oats.
I swapped the banana for dates to help bind the bar together, i thought 5 would be enough and would be similar in nutritional value to a banana. Unfortunately it did not bind that well so i added a few more, 1 teaspoon of natural peanut butter and a touch of orange juice.

Per Bar
Calories - 452
Fat - 11.3
Carbs - 65.4
Protein - 28.1

Due to adding more dates and peanut butter my calories soon shot up, but i'll give them a go and see how i feel, maybe i can play around with the mix if its to heavy.

My daily intake now is:

Calories - 2481
Fat - 62.9
Carbs - 289.1
Protein - 170.7
I am aiming to gain strength and size so the extra calories will probably do me good.

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Measurements from end of Week 1

_________________
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."-Bruce Lee

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.-Arnold Schwarzenegger