Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

....people don't realize the effort and struggle involved to even gain a little muscle, especially if you are an experienced long time lifter/body builder.

I remember working at a large gym in Utah in 1996 and a few of the guys who worked there started doing steroids and man they shot up in size fast. It seemed so unfair as they got worlds stronger and larger than me...while it seemed my progress was so slow and a struggle. Was frustrating because before they started doing steroids, I was stronger than they were, but after it was no contest. I decided to not do steroids because I believe in the natural path. It was tough watching those guys get so muscular.

Anyway, just venting......I am still frustrated because I put so much into my training and diet and the results aren't as rewarding as I desire.

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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.

It is tough to keep going sometimes when you're discouraged, do you have specific size goals set? I was facing the same feeling you were, but I realized it was because I didn't have any way to accurately measure my results. I've started using a tape measure around my body to record and have set some goals for where I'd like to be in 6mo and 1yr. I don't know if that will help you, but it has made me feel a lot better about my progress.

I should try that. I have never ben one to keep logs or measurments and maybe I should.

I am 6'3" and 203lbs and would love to hit 220 lbs.

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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.

It is frustrating when I get done watching Pumping Iron and see the size those guys attain......but you have to remid yourself, there was a lot of steroids involved. You look at some of the later year My Olympias and some look ridiculous to me, like cartoon characters.

Natural bodybuilders just look better to me..

Some of the early guys looked great though, like a lot of the guys around the Pumping Iron time, Arnold, Zane, etc....

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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.

you're complaining, but you men produce significant amount of testosterone so you can actually see a big difference once a guy starts lifting weights. women, on the other hand, have to work with ridiculous levels of testosterone and work 10 times as hard if we wanna see any sign of progress. The amount of muscle we gain with natural bodybuilding is ridiculous comparing to men. it's just not fair.

TELL ME about feeling frustrated!

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OK fair enough!

Have been trying to do more sqyats but of course now I am experiencing pain behind my knee caps when squatting. I have good form but I would love for someone to critique.

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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.

Never mind the steroids. Keep it real. Keep it healthy.

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Kick Ass & Conquer!

Agreed. The underlying problem with steroids is that those guys have the viewpoint that having large muscles is more important than their health, so it's vanity over health. But vanity is not something that leads to long-term happiness anyway, so why bother being unhealthy and unhappy when you could enjoy your body for what it can do, such as your bench press record, or how fast you can run, or whatever. Weightlifting should be a path to health and happiness, not a detractor of those things in your life.

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Learning how to be compassionate, gain wisdom, and love life.

True, but I have a goal of entering a bodybuilding competition, so i need some size. Hehe

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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.

Read Robert Cheeke's book, Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness. It's a great resource. He's already done what you want to do.

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Kick Ass & Conquer!

Great book, I have it along with about 30-40 other bodybuilding books.

I was just referring to how much harder it is to us natural athletes and we will still never be the size of the Pros that compete in the Universe, Olympia, etc.

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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.

Yeah, but aren't these non-natural BB competitions with all the steroids and such? Doesn't seem fair to compare yourself to a steroid user.