Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Made my first 480 lb. raw squat today, aiming for 500 in competition next month at the Hudson Open. I got halfway up with 495 after hitting 480, so when I'm hyped for contest mode we'll see if I can pull it off. It feels good to finally hit a PR on one of the big lifts again after coming off being injured, so hopefull I can keep the streak going!

Ryan

Awesome job Ryan!

Keep it up! My best squat was only 345 for 3 reps and then I hurt my back a couple of years ago and haven't even tried more than 275 since then. And then 3 weeks before my April Bodybuilding contest I won, I snapped my back doing deadlifts with 337 pounds in my 3rd rep.

Thanks for the update on the PR and best of luck in the upcoming Hudson Open!

Take care buddy, stay strong!

-Thin Thin PR Him

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Thanks much for the kind words, Robert! I've been aching to finally break the 500 lb. mark on the squat for some time, and I think it is finally well within my reach. The way that 480 was smoked easily makes me think that another month of pushing forward will get me the 500 by contest time (first week in November), so as long as I keep focused I'm sure it'll get here soon enough. Besides, no better time to make that number than when the pressure's on and I get to duke it out raw against guys in suits with belts and knee wraps!

If you have had some back problems in the past, I always hear people recommending finding a place to train that has a reverse hyper machine - people have come back from things like fractured vertebrea and even broken backs to squat nearly 1000 lb. again after rehabbing with one for some time. Perhaps it'll help you get that lower back in excellent shape so it doesn't cause concern for worry. Just a thought!

Ryan

Sounds like a very heavy squat Ryan, let me calculate ... 480lbs ... divided by 2.2 ...
That's 218kg!!

I never knew how strong a natural athlete can get, because all athletes i used to know who were stronger than me weren't natural. Now i know there are awesome strong natural athletes around, including you!

My PR on the squat was 180kg for 10 reps - that's 396lbs. Unfortunately, just one week later i wrecked my knee in an accident, and since then i haven't fully recovered from the two surgeries (it's a good excuse, isn't it? )
My new squatting weight is around 140-145kg (~315lbs) for 5 reps.

I think youo're right that in the competition you're gonna be hyped, i wager you'll nail the 500 easily!
Good luck for the contest, bro, vegan power!

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No one said it would be easy.

Thanks for the support, Daywalker!

The PR lift of 480 lbs. actually flew up easier than most previous singles I'd done with 25 lbs. less, so it seems that everything was working perfectly for me today. I'm keeping hope that 500 will work in the comp this November - I was actually losing interest in entering but tonight's workout got me motivated again! I'm aiming to try and hit 500 on the squat for my final lift, 530+ on the deadlift and whatever terrible bench I can squeeze out, probably less than 300 lbs. with my habit of benching once every 4 months or so As far as limitations for strength, I don't think I'm even close to where I can get with intelligent training, eating enough and trying hard to keep stress-free. I envision squatting and deadlifting much more in the future, hopefully over 700 lbs. in each someday!

396 lbs. for 10 reps is extremely good - my endurance won't let me get that many reps at that weight, so I've got something that needs work. I made 8 reps at 405 lbs. once, but that was some time ago - my body is just uited better to lower rep work, but that's no excuse for me to be lazy

Take care of that knee and hopefully you'll eventually put your old squat totals to shame. Even if you don't, you look like you do well enough with your current bodybuilding work that you'll go far with that as you do it now!

Ryan

Hey Ryan, you powerhouse!


It's the opposite for me: i never used to aim at may strength, although i always wanted strength. The concept of low volume, low rep training is very new to me, but i definitely want to push myself a bit in that direction! AND get bigger


Thank you, mate!
It's still some way to go for 180kg, but somewhen i'll make it, i'm pretty sure After all, after the surgeries i started with 8 reps in squats - with no weight whatsoever on my back, not even the empty bar!
And as it's the only leg exercise i can comfortably do, i just have to get stronger when i want to build up my legs a little more And i want to, because i still need a lot of mass to reach the shape i want to be in - for off-season and competitions.

I have to get some of the supplements from your shop! (As soon as i win the jackpot in the lottery! ) It's so hard to come by vegan aminos and such here!

Love and peace and vegan power,
Daywalker

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No one said it would be easy.

Fantastic heavey squat Ryan!

I can't even imagine walking that weight out, much less taking it in to the hole! Of course, I have seen your monster quads in the strongman comp pics. Yes, you can see them right through the pants in the tire flip pic.

You guys keep in mind that Ryan is doing competition style powerlifting squats. That means going at least to parallel, no bodybuilding style half squats here.

I bow to you veganessentials. that is phenomenal. congrats! and goodluck ont he 500lbs!

Michael,

To get used to going heavier, I've done a lot of work the past year with extremely heavy squat walkouts and 1/4 squats to get the feeling down - once you've put 800 lbs. on your back, 480 feels like a feather! Give it a try sometime if you want to really push your squats up and build confidence in the feel of the weight on your back, because I know it sure helped me out a lot to not be afraid of having that much draped across my shoulders. Now I've got to work on making my hamstrings catch up with my quads - years past of doing leg presses gave me too much in the front and not as much in the back, so once the hams come up I hope that I'll be eyeing up 600 in the next year or two!

Oh yeah, all squats are definitely done to parallel or below to comply with USAPL / IPF depth regulations. No point for me to squat heavy if I'll get red-lighted in every competition, so I've got to drop 'em deep to make it work. Hopefully I can keep the depth solid at the comp and not come up an inch short of making successful lifts (nerves were shot last year, but this time I'm not taking it so damned seriously and it'll all be for fun )

Hero - thanks for the congrats! I heard that you could toss out a mean squat yourself when you were at the VF Week event. Keep up the good work on your end, too, and let's get another vegan fitness trainer out there!

Ryan

Finally! Someone says what we've all been thinking!
All too often I by the if I so much strict to change my mind and I must go on new pounds and inches...

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Umm I did a 135 squat today 4x. The guy in the rack beside me was benching same. So I felt ridiculous. sigh.

so... did you make your 500 (way back in 2005)?

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If it's important to you, you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse.

Never fail to be impressed by VE, congrats Mate must be a huge confidence boost also coming back from injury! Raw as well, damn ))))

Makes my 270lb x5 feel pretty tame (313lb 1rm off that) now haha keeps me motivated reading your blogs.

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"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler

I use to do this. Always comparing & after a while I came to the conclusion that if I was noticing other peoples weights then I wasn't focused enough.

Just over a year ago I could hardly bench 110lb for a set of  ten. Jan this year I programmed my strength program off a 1 rep max of  242lb, I actually went lighter with 220lb in the hope of keepin progression going. Point being I stopped worry what other people were doing & got my head down to train. Though it's been a while since I did a
Max I'm willing to bet the people who were lifting heavier than me haven't made as much progress...

Keep at it

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"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler

Wow, this is an old thread resurrected!

I did hit 500 a few months later, then eventually 525 a bit after that in a pair of jeans and running shoes, which was the peak of where I was able to get in my prime before the injuries started piling up. I may be good for 400 on an optimal day these days (still done deep enough to pass in competition, not one of those "cut it a few inches above parallel" squats), but unless my lower back really comes around and I stay injury-free and 100% healthy for at least a year, it'll be tough to get that strength back. Still, was nice to be there once, and if I can do it twice in this lifetime, I won't have any complaints. We'll see where the next few years go!

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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

I got really excited when I saw this thread and never bothered reading the date in the first few posts. Then I saw Daywalker and knew it was ancient

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