Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I think it'll help me later on if I keep track of my progress and everybody else seems to have a training blog.

I won't write down here every single rep, I just want to see if my progression is constant so that I can change my training and eating habits if I am stuck.

Today I loaded my barbell full of plates which means with my poor equipment only 110kg (242,5lbs) and I took a few sets of deadlift with that. It felt great, no pain... the only problem is that it's a bit light, I feel like I'm picking flowers.

I also made a personal best at bench press. 86,5kg (~190lbs) is 6,5kg (~14lbs) more than my previous record about a month ago. I'm not a big fan of pb's but occasionally it's fun to try how much stronger I am than before.

After bench press I took a few sets of bicep curls and presses with dumbbells, my palms were a bit sore after deadlifting so I couldn't do that much.

BTW, I've noticed that maybe soy really does make boobs grow. At least that's what seems to be happening to me, check my avatar.

Mon Mar 10:

- 2 hours breakdance
- Squats @ 80kg (I really have to get my squat routine better)

Tue Mar 11:

- Bench press (8 reps @ 74kg + a couple of more sets with less reps) -> 90kg shouldn't be a problem after a while
- Bicep curls with a curl bar
- Behind neck press with a curl bar
- Abs with 5kg plate behind neck

My weight was over 77kg (170 lbs) for the first time in my life! At least 1kg of this was because of a huge amount of water I had drank but still I'm happy with it.

Wed Mar 12:

- 2 hours breakdance, no weight lifting as I was really really exhausted after I got home after a very long day.

I ate loads of beans (about 2 lbs I guess) and I can almost feel how I'm growing all the time. Weight ~ 76 kg in the evening.

Thu Mar 13:

12 hours at work so I was again really tired when I got home. Still, I trained a little:

- Deadlifts @ 110kg
- Bent-over rows @ 56kg a couple of sets
- Lateral raises with low weight and a lot reps

Fri Mar 14:

"Rest" (I was home for like 10 minutes in the whole day so I couldn't work out)

Sat Mar 15:

- Deep squats with light weight & lots of reps (working on the technique)
- Bicep curls, 5 x 5 @ 100lbs
- Lateral raises (here I can see that my shoulders are stronger than before).

I ate SO MUCH I nearly threw up. Then I ate like 1 lbs more and took some protein isolate. I'd say well over 200g protein in one day.

Sun Mar 16:

NEW PB! 88kg (194 lbs) in bench press. That's 4 lbs more than a week ago!

I punished my upper body today:

- Bench presses (barbell with varied weights, really destroyed myself with the last sets)
- Shoulder presses (kettlebells)
- Lying overhead extensions (dumbbells)
- Upright rows (kettlebells)

OK, there's a pretty normal week for me. If I would create a training program how should I share the exercises?

I teach breakdance every Monday and Wednesday, otherwise I can train pretty much how I want.

I think I could grow faster, but I'm not sure what to do more. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Here are my thoughts:

Figure out what body parts you are going to train and come up with a split (3 day, 4 day, 5 day). If you are training for mass then you should reach failure in the 7-11 repetition range. Also, more than 20 sets per muscle group can lead to overtraining. Leave adequate rest time between training - that could be anywhere from 2 to 7 days for each group.

This is just a start, of course. There's a lot more that can be done to help you reach your goals. If you have access to a good library, there are some excellent books on weight training out there. Educating yourself, in addition to this forum, is a good idea.

Thanks DV!

In many moves I've done reps like 8 + 5 + 5 + 4 or something like that. At least so far I've gained mass and enhanced my 1 rep max results pretty fast. I think I could try to do a bit longer sets though.

This is how often I think I can train without feeling uncomfortable pain (I like pain if it's good pain, the kind of that makes you stronger) from previous workout:

- Deadlift 2 times a week, 3-4 days rest
- Squat 2 times a week, 3-4 days rest
- Upright row & bent row 2-3 times a week, 3 days rest
- Bench press 2-3 times a week, 3 days rest
- Biceps and shoulders 3-4 times a week, 2 days rest

I've read a lot of stuff and I'm quite familiar with some of the training methods but I love the freedom to do what I feel like while still checking regularly that I train most of my body without leaving weak spots. If you find them from my training routines, please tell me and I'll fix them. I think I still have to look for more information to find a program that really feels like it's made for me.

Mon Mar 17:

2 hours breakdance

Got home at 9pm after 13 hours at work -> dead tired but I had to do at least something:

- Bicep curls 3 x 8 reps each arm separately with kettlebells
- Lateral raises 3 x 8 reps with dumbbells

Today I'm gonna take it back and train a LOT.

You're welcome, Tuc.

I think the most important change you can make is - change. Your body will acclimate to whatever stress you give it and stop growing after a time.

Currently, I work each body part only once per week and have been seeing gains. It allows me to work to exhaustion and avoid overtraining. It might be worth it to try yourself. My current breakdown is:

Triceps/Biceps
Legs
Chest
Back
Shoulders

I add abs to one or two days and take two days total rest. This was a really good routine when I was bulking.

Good luck!

Yep, I think I'll do something dramatic to my training routine soon... I've been doing about the same things for several weeks in a row already. Maybe a bit lighter weights, fast reps and very short pauses could be fun.

However, today was a great workout in my opinion:

Tue Mar 18:

- Incline bench press, 10 reps @ 52kg for warm-up, then 4 sets @ 60kg (it was HEAVY as I haven't done incline bench for several weeks!)
- Shoulder press with kettlebells, 4 sets (~ 10reps per set) right after incline presses
- Deadlift @ 110kg 3 sets (grip problems , sweaty hands and no duct tape)
- Bent-over rows @ 50kg 3 sets
- Upright rows @ 50kg 3 sets

After that I felt compeletely destroyed as I push every set to the limit. Now a few lbs of food and I'm ready to go to bed and wait for tomorrow. Another loooong day ahead but I feel VERY motivated so I think I can work out tomorrow as well even after 11 hours at work.

Duct tape for the deadlifts??? Might I suggest a pair of deadlifting straps or if you want a raw grip, chalk?? What do you do with the duct tape, that's a new one on me.

How do you like the kettlebells, did you buy your own? Some people I know swear by them others say it isn't much different than weights. They look so intriguing and I have never messed around with them. They look like such a pleasant and positive change from barbells and dumbells. What size kettlebells do you recommend for someone who has never used them before?



That's what I wanna hear; exacty the reason why you are getting such tremendous and aggressive gains. You make me want to be on a permanent bulking schedule!

Hum... I think I used a wrong word here, I meant some kind of grip tape for the barbell.

I think chalk or straps might be a better choice though. I would like to keep working out with raw grip, it's hardcore.

The kettlebells are my flatmate's, they're 16kg (35 lbs) a piece and I think they're good for beginners with some muscle already. I had a hard time working out with them when I started but now I make better use of them already.

It isn't that much different to work out with kettlebells if you just do normal moves such as bicep curls but there's a huge variety of different things you can do with them (as you don't hurt yourself swinging them back and forward as you would do with dumbbells). They're really good for endurance workout, static moves and body control. A bit pricey though.

My wrists also get more workout if I traing with kettlebells, which is quite important as my wrists are still very narrow and weak.

And in my opinion, most of the vegans should be on a permanent bulking schedule. Then we would have a vegan sumo wrestling team in no time!

That gif is great by the way

Wed Mar 19

- 2 hours breakdance

After that I got home and realized that my back, legs, butt and triceps are too sore to train (yesterday I gave them major punishment).

- Bicep curls 5 x 8 reps with curl bar
- Lateral raises 4 x 8 reps with dumbbells

Then I ran out of body parts which weren't sore from training and started eating.

I managed to stuff loads of food in me. For the first time in my life, my evening weight was over 78kg (172 lbs). We'll see how long it will take until I start chacing the Team 200!

(to be honest, I had to help with water to get my body weight over 78kg a bit and it won't be there tomorrow but I'm getting heavier all the time because 3 months ago it would have been impossible to be anywhere close to that weight even with a gallon of extra water)

Thu Mar 20

I think I really had a great training on tuesday since I am still sore, but I still worked out a bit. since my legs were fine already.

- Deep front squats 3 sets 10-12 reps
- Deep squats 3 sets 5 reps

I truly suck at squats. Well, I think the only way I can make things better is to train more. I'm learning all the time but I still find deep squats very hard. They make me exhausted immediately.

I had loads and loads of peanuts today, at least I've had more calories than I've burnt... gotta eat more before I go to bed though.