Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Last night got my new bench and power rack setup, so started the stronglifts 5x5 beginner program today. Been messing about the past 5 or 6 weeks without a plan or knowing what I was doing lol, time to get serious!

A couple of weeks ago I got into the habit of eating every 2/3 hours and the last 4 days I've started eating loads for me.

I'm 6ft tall, 152lbs (on an empty stomach first thing this morning).

Typical eat plan for a day goes like this just now
-Lots of porridge, fruit (most of the time in soy yoghurt), glass of soy milk
-100g of nuts, orange
-Baked potato, veg (brocolli/spring greens or mixed veg), mock chicken
-Clif bar
-4 peanut butter sandwiches (wholemeal bread)
-wholemeal pasta/tofu/a tin of any bean/veg (same as before) (sometimes with a tomato sauce)
-100g of nuts, apples
-7 oatcakes (or crackers) with peanut butter
(been squeezing in anything extra that i can!)

So today's training:

08/06/09 152lbs
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Squats 20kg 5x5
Bench Press 20kg 5x5
Inverted rows - i sucked bad at these, i couldn't even get my chest to touch the bar...so about 10 failed reps haha....then i tried again for 2 more sets and got less
Press ups (knuckles) - 15, 10, then 3 (then 4 or 5 on my knees)
Reverse crunches - 3x12

The Squats were really easy, been doing these with more weights before, but wanted to start from scratch start getting my technique sorted out and get used to new equipment. Quite happy with the bench press even though the tiny tiny weight lol...first time doing them. Inverted rows were a nightmare, was getting frustrated. Was happy with the pushups, been steadily building on these for about 4 weeks. Reverse crunches were killing me by the end but got them finished with good form.

Starting to see a visible difference from adding fat over the last week, which is making me happy =]
My goal by at least 2 or 3 months is to reach around or just below 180lbs.

Hey chewybaws!

Congrats on getting started man Stronglifts is a really nice program for developing mass and functional strength. It's a bit tricky at first but you'll get the hang of it, and before you know it you'll be lifting some heavy ass weights! Good luck!

Good job getting started. I think stronglifts is a good program, when I started getting serious I was doing madcow's version of the bill star 5x5, which is quite similar.

At this point I would caution you to be a bit more realistic with your goals... adding 10-15 lbs per month is incredibly ambitious. Depending on your body you might be able to do it... mine won't without putting on a bit of fat. Of course shoot for the stars, but I don't want you to get discouraged if it turns out a bit more difficult than you may think.

Good luck!

Haha yeah...I've always been really skinny and have NEVER really added weight before. I thought it would be quick to do it, I'm just gonna have to stick at it!

10/06/09
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Squats 22.5kg 5x5
Overhead Press 20kg 5x5
Deadlift 40kg 1x5
Pull-ups 1! haha (then 5 slow negatives), same again for 2nd set, then just 8 negatives till I couldn't hold them for more than a few seconds
Prone Bridges 40seconds x2, then 1min

Was my first time doing a proper pull up from fully extended arms today, just been doing negatives before this (and failed reps lol). My grip's so weak just now my hands were burning after the pull-ups.

My Deadlift technique was pants today. I need to try sitting plates underneath the barbell to raise it or something because the bar was sitting way below the middle of my shins.

Thanks for the comments guys

Looking forward to reading this journal!

All the best!

Very cool. Not only your forum name but you are from Scotland.

I always wanted to travel there

No you don't haha.

Workout was terrible today, during one of the squats one of the plates hit off the safety bar and went off to the side (didn't really notice at the time) and when i came back up the plates fell off. I need to get a 7ft bar (either that or make sure i'm standing in the middle of the rack! dick!).

Fri 12th June 09
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Squats 25kg 5x5
Bench Press 22.5kg 5x5
Inverted Rows (knee elevated) 13, 11, then 7 (after monday's disaster of not getting my chest to the bar in normal rows, went for the easier knee ones. Still got a bit of a pump at the end since I'm a weakling haha)
Push Ups 16, 11 then 5 (then 4 on knees....at least push ups are improving)
Reverse Crunches 3x12

Come quicker Monday, I must redeem myself!

You gotta use collars.

Yeah I'm picking up this habbit of learning everything the hard way

The last few weeks I've been feeling great, been eating great, getting enough sound sleep, things have been going good for me. Then last night got a terrible sleep and got in an argument, missed a meal yesterday and today. Need sleep but up tomorrow at 5am

Can't wait till Monday, need good workout. Today's didn't feed me.

Got a good sleep, been eating right the last few days. Was in a great mood this morning and ready for a good workout =]

Mon 15th June 09 weight - ~156lbs
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Squats 27.5kg 5x5
Overhead Press 22.5kg 5x5
Deadlift 45kg 1x5 (i raised the weights using pillows/duvet today since last week bar was too low, and even still i think i lack the hip mobility to grip the bar without slightly bending my back before i drop my shins to the bar...i think i'll try using the bottom peg on the power rack, however this is quite high - i'll test it out before next workout)
Chin ups 6, 3, then 2 (then done negatives straight after till i couldn't hold them for more than a few seconds. my hands were SORE after this haha..done close to 15 i think)
Prone Bridges 45s, 45s, 1min (gonna try variations next time - friday)

Quite happy with today, squats and press were fun and easy, looking forward to wednesdays workout now =]

Just found out that my scales are prob out by about 8lbs. I know I've been putting on weight which is more important, but damn - means i'm another 8lbs away from my goal.

Looking good man!

Good work on the chin-ups and bridges! Those kicked my ass when i started out, haha.

I'm happy with the chin-ups but my pull-ups are so pathetic. I can only manage 1 from a dead hang then I have to switch to negatives. I've been trying to practice them when I can but I just seem to tire myself out then I can't even do 1. It's depressing
The prone bridges are hard, I done these a few weeks before starting stronglifts. Always about half way through them I start to shake uncontrollably but somehow manage to hold them (keeping a straight line) till the end...thank god i workout at home

Wed 17th June 09
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Squats 30kg 5x5
Bench Press 25kg 5x5
Inverted rows - Tried normal ones again, done about 6 but i'm still falling way short of the bar. Switched to on my knees, done 13, then 7
Push-ups - 17, 8 (for the life of me I couldn't do anymore...maybe i didn't rest long enough), then 8 again (i need to get a good rucksack so i can start doing weighted ones)
Inverted rows - 3x12 (i use a dumbbell as a counterweight...took one of the plates off to make it harder to stabilize. The last few were REALLY burning, was rolling about on the floor in pain for 10seconds after this )

I have a concern...when i was 9 I broke my left elbow. Yesterday afternoon after moving it I got a very slight weird feeling on my arm starting from my elbow. I woke up in the middle of the night to get water and I had to stretch my left arm a couple of times to get rid of a dull pain. A few times today (including during workout) when i twist my arm I've had a sharp, but not intense, pain in my elbow. I've had no problems with my elbow since i got it fixed...I hope it isn't the weights. I'll give it a couple of days see what happens.

Last night when I put my hand on my hip I thought "there used to be a bone here " seems I'm starting to get a belly for the first time in my life haha - i'm loving it!

Hey man, good to see another Scottish vegan (although I'm exiled down South these days though).

I'd be tempted to stick mainly to chinups rather than pullups at the moment as you're getting a much better working set of them. In time the pullup strength will come.

Fri 19th April 09
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Squats 32.5kg 5x5
Overhead Press 25kg 5x5
Deadlift 50kg 1x5
Pull-ups 2 (double last time! , then done 3 chin-ups), 1 (then 1 chin-up), 0 (just done 3 chin-ups, then 10 negative pull-ups)
Prone Bridges 3x45s (during each one I kicked each knee for 10s. i was aiming to hold the last one for longer but couldn't make it past 45s)

Todays workout was good, well happy with the 2 pull-ups. I thought I'd kind of half keep the pull-ups going and half take el_flaco's advice. Which of course ended getting me a poor number of both pulls/chins, but I'm still happy I managed to get another pull up in

Funny feeling in elbow is still lingering. Hope it goes away by Monday.

Yesterday I got a rucksack out and tightened the straps. It sits on the upper back anyway, so will be perfect for weighted push-ups. Since the straps are fully tightened as well, there's enough there to tie around my chest. Will get these going on monday.

Eating's been good last couple of days. Took some pictures last night, compared them with ones from 2 months, lot of progress in arms....might post them, not sure though