Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

39 YO male - 5'7" 157lbs. I've been lifting 5x a week on my lunches for 30-45 doing chest/tri's on Mon, back/bi's on Tues, etc. I've been using the gym at work, which is good, but somewhat limited. I've just joined a bigger gym and have more options and time to work out. My goal is to continue working on weight loss while building strength.

FWIW. I started lifting during the New Year, New You contest last year and have lost ~40lbs while gaining muscle. My goal is to continue to do more, but I feel like I need to challenge myself a little bit more. I dont get any muscle soreness from my workouts and have stopped adding weight. I think I need to work on my core the most.

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Ok - I am looking for a new routine to challenge myself a little bit more now that I have more resources available. Robert C's 2011 workout looks good (http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page= ... ingprogram) and at least the chest work out is appropriately challenging for me. How often should I change programs? What else should I try? I've been trying to read up on the 5X5 and starting strength, but I really want to do something in the gym 5 days a week.


FTR, I also run 3 miles 4-5 days a week and do aikido four days a week as supplemental cardio/recovery day work outs.

Thanks,
Z

There are so many good programmes out there, I think a lot of the time people fail is because they simply don't give themselves enough time/devotion to running them !!

If you are no longer getting sore then that's an indicator that you're either not pushing the intensity hard enough or your muscles have adapted to the routine. I'd give a minimum of 12 weeks to a new programme, this is a good amount of time to get accustomed to it and make some good gains from it.

Robert's programme would be an excellent choice, that is one that would probably fit in with your schedule. I would be hesitant to recommend a strength based programme like 5/3/1 or any of Rippetoe's programmes whilst you are doing that much cardio ~ that's really going to eat into your strength gains (especially the running)! With your cardio and aikido I'd probably be looking at supplementing that with something like a solid 3 or 4 day weights split.

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