Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hey guys,

I re-read Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness and can't help but notice the sample training program on pages 116-117 seems to contain a lot of overlap between days and a lot of possibility for over training. I come from the school of thought to only hit each muscle group at most once a week, so if I were to do chest one day and triceps and shoulders another day...my tris are getting pounded and not much time for recovery.

However, maybe he is not going to failure as much. I tend to go all out when I go to the gym so I will for example do chest, shoulders and triceps in one workout with low volume, very high intensity.

Thoughts on this?

I bring this up because this sample workout looked interesting but I fear the overlap and over training.

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What do I do when not bodybuilding or working? Spend time with family, play guitar, write music, snowboard, roast coffee, travel, read, fight for those who are less fortunate than myself.

I think it ultimately comes down to how you feel that should dictate the training schedule - I know that if I put about 3-4 days between chest and shoulders/triceps, that's enough time for me, but I would not do well putting them only a day or two apart. Just as well, I find that if I do them all together on one day, I can't hit everything hard enough to really make a lot of progress (whatever comes first, chest or shoulders, will get the bulk of the best work and everything after will be lesser from fatigue). That's why I split them a few days apart, triceps tend to recover fairly quickly so long as you don't pound them into the ground with 20 sets to where you can't extend your arms.

Always listen to your body, it'll guide you well for how/when to train, but if you haven't tried hitting the two groups as Robert noted with a few days between to recover, it's always worth a try to see how well you can handle it. Worst case scenario, you'll know after 2 weeks of training that way if it just isn't suited for you, then change it up to how you feel is best!

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"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

Good points. I may give it a try. I am looking for a new routine and I know I did a variation of this years ago. I just know that if I do stiff legged dead lifts, my hams can be sore for 5 days or more. If I have a hard chest workout, my pecs can be sore for days too so I always wait a day or two after the soreness subsides.

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What do I do when not bodybuilding or working? Spend time with family, play guitar, write music, snowboard, roast coffee, travel, read, fight for those who are less fortunate than myself.

I really want to try Robert's sample program. It is similar to a program I did in college. However, at this stage of my life, I am short on time and 4 days could be rough. 3 days of lifting appear to be my current limit so I make the best of it.

I even thought of doing a 4 day a week program but splitting my workouts into two a day....but I am not sure I can pull it off between work and child care.

I also have limitations with my shoulders. Thanks to shoulder pain, I can't do overhead presses. For this reason, one of my main shoulder exercises are dips and sips hit the pecs so there is serious overlap there if I do shoulders and pecs on separate days.

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What do I do when not bodybuilding or working? Spend time with family, play guitar, write music, snowboard, roast coffee, travel, read, fight for those who are less fortunate than myself.

I find I've gained a lot of strength doing full body workouts 3x/week. It works well for me.

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vegan for the win!

I tried full body workouts but they never work for me ultra done once a week or I over train.
Example I trained legs today and did heavy, intense square. My quads are killing me and will still be sore days from now so fir me each body part is hit once a week.

I hate having muscle overlap and over training during the week's workouts. Perfect example. I am stressing because when I do stiff legged deadlifts on Monday, my upper back is still sore on Wednesday which is my current back day.

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What do I do when not bodybuilding or working? Spend time with family, play guitar, write music, snowboard, roast coffee, travel, read, fight for those who are less fortunate than myself.

I have been doing a 2 on, 1 off split and having good results! I think part of this is due to changing up my workout in general but also doing lower weight and higher reps. I am moving more into the 12-15 range for a while, rather than the 6-8 I was concentrating on. Every now and then I will dip into the 10-12 range if I am trying a new weight.

One thing about Robert's routine above and it would be cool if he commented. ........is that I am not a fan of hitting any muscles two days in a row! I don;t like that he shows chest and biceps on day one and then hits back on day two! I would think Chest and triceps may be better on day one and then back day two. Biceps could be put off till Thursday.

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What do I do when not bodybuilding or working? Spend time with family, play guitar, write music, snowboard, roast coffee, travel, read, fight for those who are less fortunate than myself.