Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Today was stronman training day! One of the guys from the event last month has a bunch of stuff to play with at his place, so a friend and I made the 30 minute drive out to have some fun.

We got there as they were in the middle of doing overhead log presses with their giant 12" diameter log - we jumped in quickly with it, and boy, was it tough to get used to! I made a few sets working up to 1x4 @ 200 lbs., but I failed at an attempt with 220. My friend made 220, but that's where we capped out for the day.

Next, we set up the yoke I've had for the past year (but had never used), and loaded it up for some fun in the middle of the road. The final weight we used was about 430 lbs., doing walks back and forth for about 100 feet. Here's a few images of the yoke walking (me setting up, John in mid-walk)





It was all a matter of getting used to yoke walks - 430 lbs. doesn't feel too heavy with it, but if you take off to quickly it'll swing out of control which is no good. Definitely fun, and we'll have to get to using up to 700 lbs. for next year's contests.

Finally, we wrapped up with some stone lifting. A good record day for both of us by far, which made the whole trip worthwhile. I warmed up with some single loads with the 250 lb. stone, then made 2 easy loads with the 280 lb. stone that had stopped me cold in the contest. After that, I tackled the 300 lb. stone with much more ease than expected, which left only the last one at 340 lbs. to go for. I tried to get it off the ground 3 times, each attempt getting a few inches but not enough. Finally, on the last attempt I got it into my lap, and after screwing around to catch my balance for a minute I managed to get it up about a foot off my lap, but I didn't have enough left to get it on the platform. Next time it'll have to be done! My friend popped the 340 lb. stone into his lap easily enough, but couldn't get it loaded correctly. The pictures of me were too blurry so there's none to post of myself, but here's John loading the 300 lb. stone -



All in all, a great time and I can't wait to get back out there to train again. Best of all, they gave us a stone to take home (it has a spot that's cracking a bit and makes a mess, so they wanted to get rid of it), so now we've got a nice 260 lb. stone to mess around with here. There'll be a whole family of them in my backyard next summer, but as long as I've got something to work with now it's fantastic.

Hope to get back out there next week, and if so we'll get more pics taken!

Ryan

That looks like fun. I would love to see the look on people's faces as they drive by and see some guy walking down the street with a weight rack on his back

Will,

It was definitely a lot of fun! One woman stopped dead in her lane waiting to see what I was going to do while I was setting up with the yoke - as if I was going to put that much weight on my back and sprint through the street wildly!

Today was shoulders and legs, and definitely a good day despite having to go to a gym I don't usually like (equipment isn't all that great there).

Started with barbell clean and press -
1x5 @ empty bar
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 185
1x5 @ 225
1x2 @ 255, missed 3rd rep at top of head height.

Moved next to squats, goal was a handful of reps with 455 to get comfortable with a heavy weight for singles -
5x1 @ 455
1x3 @ 455 - while going for the 6th rep, I figured I'd have to try and make a double. When I made the double, I felt that I may as well go for a triple. Struggled a bit on the 3rd rep but came out clean for a good day under the bar.

Next, did some moderate weight zercher lifts (bar in the crook of the elbows) from a 4/5 squat bottom position to standing upright
2x5 @ 315

Legs were sufficiently fried from this, so it was time to goof around. Moved over and set up the barbell for 1-handed power snatches -
2x1 @ 115 with each arm
Once I did these, I figured I'd go for a 2-hands anyhow lift (as it was referred to long ago) where you get the bar up with one arm, drop down, grab a second weight and get it overhead as well. Did a power snatch right armed with 115 lbs., squatted down with it overhead, grabbed a 55lb dumbbell which I then curled and pressed overhead. Fun stuff! Didn't try it left handed, but that was good enough.

Next, headed over to the DB rack again for some 1-arm presses -
2x8 @ 100 lbs. right handed (no push, slight side lean)
2x7 @ 100 lbs. left handed (no push first set, slight push on 2nd set)

That went surprisingly well, so I just goofed with a few last things and I was off:

DB alternating hammer curls
1x5 @ 55, 1x4 @ 60, 1x3 @ 70 lb. dumbbells for each arm

Seated barbell wrist curl
1x8 @ 135, 1x5 @ 165

Standing barbell curl
1x5 @ 135, slight cheat after 2nd rep

That was it! A free pass to a gym close to work, a good solid day of lifting and I'm quite happy. Tomorrow I have to get some photos taken for lifting, and if it stops raining long enough to get them I'll post them here!

Ryan

Didn't lift in the gym since last week Tuesday, so I had some good rest time....except that I've been working 11-14 hours/day this past week, so my body and mind are pretty run down from that. Things should be normal again soon, but I could tell my gym performance was down this evening.

Today was squat day as usual, and the goal was 5x5 @ 405 lbs. Did the following:

1x5 @ empty bar
1x4 @ 225
1x3 @ 315
1x1 @ 405
3x5 @ 405

I wanted to get 2 more sets in, but I was so dead and couldn't catch my breath - this past week, either I'm starting to get sick or my asthma is getting worse, and either way I'm not too pleased with it. I feel like I can only get about 60-70% of my full lung capacity the past few days, like I only take half-breaths instead of getting full use of my lungs. If it isn't improving by Friday I'll head to the doc and see what it might be. So, dumping squats after the 3rd set, I did 2 quick sets of Zercher squats, starting from the top position, bottom position being with bar hitting thighs as low as possible:

1x5 @ 225
1x3 @ 315

Again, airflow was bad, breating way too heavily for the effort, stopped there instead of going for 405 as I'd considered.

Last, with 5 minutes left I tossed in 3 quick sets of close-grip benching, hands about 10-12" apart, paused for 1 second at the chest done for speed. 1 warm-up of 5 reps @ 135, then 3 work sets at 225 for doubles and that was it. I was too damned tired and time was out, but hopefully Thursday's workout will be better and I'll feel more alive (and will actually be able to breathe again!)

Ryan

Back workout day today! Got to the gym with only 35 minutes, so I had to do half there and half at home, but it all worked out in the end.

At the gym, did the following:

Barbell rows -
1x5 @ 135
1x5 @ 225
3x7 @ 275
All rows done with no cheating by raising my torso angle upward or by having an angle that's not close to parallel with the floor (I can't stand it when people claim to row "heavy" and do a 6 inch range of motion at a massive angle where they're standing more upright than bent over!)

Hammer Strength 1-arm pulldown machine
1x10 @ 135 lbs. for each arm separately
1x8 @ 160 lbs. " "
1x5 @ 185 lbs. " ", stripped weight off immediately after first 5 reps and did 12 more with each arm at a light 90 lbs. each.

Power cleans - did just 2 @ 225, didn't feel too good for them today so figured I'd move on.

Wrapped up at the gym with Hise shrugs in the power rack as follows -
1x10 @ 315
1x8 @ 405
1x6 @ 505

Time was up, so I headed home to wrap up in the basement gym for a last few sets.

Did thick bar DB rows (2" bar) - 2 sets of 12 reps each arm @ 110 lbs. total

Finished with IronMind Eagle Loop shrugs (weight on a loading pin) as follows -
2x20 @ 105 for each side
2x20 @ 130 for each side
With the loops there's no tiring of the grip, so that made it a bit better.

Wrapped up by making a home-made 4" thick handle sleeve for my already massive 3" handle dumbbell - I couldn't believe how hard it was just to lift 60 lbs. on it. The sleeve was made from a thick cardboard tube that we had left over after using a paper roll for packing at work, so it seemed like it'd be perfect for this. I'd like to eventually lift 100 lbs. with it, but that'd be an incredible feat. We'll see how far I can take it over time!

Saturday I'll be doing strongman training with some local guys - farmer's walks, log presses and stone lifting are on the agenda, should be a fun time. Back to report after it is done!

Ryan

i don't mean to hijack the thread, but...
try putting code tags around things that copy n paste out of alignment.
if that's the problem.

Hi Jza, it's not an alignment problem. This forum randomly rejects posts with pasted text. When the submit button is pressed, it takes you to the main page of veganbodybuilding.com, kicing you out of the forum completely and not posting your text. Any other ideas? It would be cool to get it fixed.

i think the problem is due to spacing issues.
phpBB won't let you use a double space between words etc.

try it and see.

it edits out the extra spaces.

try putting the code tags around a cut n' paste post you're trying to make.

i also passed this on to a more learned friend in these matters, so hopefullyhe can steer the admin towards a patch/upgrade thingy that remedies it.

i do like the space between posts on this board, it means that those larger hotlinked avatars don't throw tha whole thread out.


anyways, enough of that, back to your journal.

Failed to meet up for strongman training today due to unforseen schedule conflict, so I hit the gym for a quick 30 minute deadlift session to break myself back into doing them again regularly.

Warmed up a bit, then hit a re-introduction style workout:
1x5 @ 135
1x5 @ 225
1x3 @ 315
3x5 @ 405
2x1 @ 435
I couldn't believe how tired my lower back was again after neglecting do to deadlifts for so long - I had to keep sitting down every minute while resting because it hurt just to keep my torso upright with how drained I was. Needless to say, this is a slap in the face since I used to do DLs or variations of them 2-3x / week and feel great every time. Looks like I just have to stop being lazy and get back on them regularlay!

Did a few last minutes good mornings in there as well, but I was destroyed and didn't have much left in me -
1x5 @ 135
1x5 @ 225
1x5 @ 300
Attempted 350, too tired to get back upright
1x2 @ 300
1x3 @ 225

I ached so badly afterward that I didn't know if I'd make it back to my car, but somehow I managed Now, to get those DLs to where 500 is a snap again, but I'll need about 8 weeks of re-training them to get there. Soon it will come!

Tomorrow will be a minor strongman training session in my backyard - going to do some stone lifting for reps and some log work for reps in the garage if it keeps raining, and I'll post afterward!

Ryan

Today was a quick make-up day for the shoulder workout I didn't get in yesterday - it was supposed to be outdoor training, but weather was terrible being about 45 degrees and raining all day so I had to stay inside.

Started with standing barbell shoulder presses, done strict with no leg drive -

1x10 @ empty bar
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 185
1x2 @ 205
1x1 @ 215
Attempted to hit my old PR of 225, didn't get past top-of-head height. Oh well, been a while since I focused on strict pressing.
1x2 @ 185 and I was done with these

Moved next to 1-arm DB presses done fairly strict - no leg drive in the standing set, but a slight side lean on the last few reps:

1x7 w/ right arm @ 100
1x6 w/ left arm @ 100

Decided to do one lighter set seated, so I threw in 1x10 with each arm with a lighter 75 lb. DB and that was it for these.

Wrapped up with goofing around on some weird cable shoulder press machine to try it out - didn't feel too bad since the handles on the cables were free and independent on the machine, but still, does any machine REALLY work all that well? Did the following sets in single-arm style -
1x12 @ 50 each arm
1x10 @ 80 " "
1x10 @ 100 " "

I could barely move my arms at all after this since my shoulders were so sore, so I headed home and wrapped up the shrugs in my basement. Just a few sets as done earlier last week with the IronMind Eagle Loops to prevent grip fatigue, done single-arm style for the following:

1x10 @ 130 lbs per arm
1x10 @ 150 " "
1x6 @ 175 " "
1x3 @ 200 " "
1x20 @ 100 " "

That was it - I'm trying to incorporate some direct shrugging work in on 2 days per week to get some additional upper back mass tossed on, but that's about the only chage to the usual training schedule.

Tuesday will be squat day again as usual, will report once it is done!

Ryan

Squat day today, and what a day it was!

Goal for the day was to simply set a new PR with 430 lbs. for 5 reps in a set, but it ended up much better than that!

Did the following sets of squats -
1x5 @ empty bar
1x5 @ 135
1x3 @ 225
1x3 @ 315
1x1 @ 405
1x1 @ 430
Next set was supposed to be 5 reps with 430, but I went until I couldn't go any longer and did 7, much to my surprise. Very nice! Didn't stop there since I still felt great, so I did 2 more sets:
1x1 @ 460 - popped up as easily as 405, so one more!
1x1 @ 485 for a quick PR - this one came up as easily as the 430s did, so going for 500 in 2 weeks will be a snap. Aiming to hit 500 for a double or triple before year's end, and I'll do anything it takes to get there!

Next, did some 1/3 ROM squats in the rack, about a 13-14" movement -
1x5 @ 545
1x5 @ 600

Dropped the pins low and did some bottom paused squats to stretch out. Just 3 singles @ 315 with 5 seconds at bottom to stretch.

Next, some low position Zercher lifts from a parallel bottom squat position -
1x3 @ 315
1x1 @ 405
1x1 @ 475
Getting better with these! Hamstrings got REALLY tight on the last single rep, so I had to stop before hitting 500, but I'll do it again soon.

Finally, wrapped up with Good Mornings, setting new PRs with these as well -
1x5 @ 225
1x5 @ 315
1x5 @ 350
1x3 @ 375 (50 lb PR!)

I was thoroughly destroyed afterward and had nothing left to give for benching, so I have to do it in 2 days along with back work at that point. It will get done, though, and I'll post the back/chest workout when it is complete on Thursday night!

Ryan

Wow, impressive heavy weights (as always) Ryan!

What are Zercher lifts?

Maybe i'll start doing good mornings, too. I'm not sure if they fit in my routine, though, as it already has SL deadlift and squats in the same whole body wokout.

_________________
No one said it would be easy.

Daywalker,

I had a friend take this video clip back about a year or so ago when I first did a Zercher rack lift with over 400 lbs. - this is at a slimmed down bodyweight of about 240 lbs. back then:

http://www.veganessentials.com/veganfit ... 57_MVI.AVI

Basically, the lift can be done any number of ways, ranging from off the floor (the most challenging, requiring a really strong lower back and lots of flexibility) to doing them for short-range lifts with a hold to simulate strongman events. What I do is somewhere in the middle as of now, but I'll be incorporating doing them off the floor and from a short ROM in the future again. Fun lift, but it takes a while for your arms not to get scraped up by it!

The Good Mornings have come along quickly for me - I still remember hurting my back trying to do a double with 205 about 2-3 years back, so knowing that I can do nearly twice that much now is quite nice. Definitely seems to be helping with my squat, so if you get the chance to include them I highly recommend it!

Ryan

Thanks Ryan, but for some reason i can't see the video

I'll try the goodmornings in my next mass cycle.

_________________
No one said it would be easy.