Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I can relate
my son turns 13 in September.

Is your 13 year old son the youngest too? Cause I get all misty eye when I think that I have only 5 more years of being a full time parent. I am having a hard time having my first born in college. It all went so fast! and the next 5 will be fast too. Just like the moment they were born to 5 years later you are saying goodbye as you let the school take them for most of the day (kindergarten). Sigh. . . . . . .

Wednesday: Treadmill 30 minutes/2.5 miles (sunny today, but only 22 degrees in the morning, so no running on the trail yet - and barely 40 by 3 PM).

Today was Back and Triceps (and went alone as my sons all went to the nearby elementary school to play basketball).
Same heavy weights, and all went well.
It is night time and I am sore. Strange.

Thursday: Rest day? Yeah, right. I went to an Advanced Anusara Yoga class and the muscles between my shoulder blades are sore today! So are my lats and lower back. The theme was that Spring is an invitation to begin anew, and so we were invited to begin anew in our poses with twists and backbends.

It was also so nice out that I had to go trail running. I didn't get the whole 5 miles in because at the 4 mile mark I felt all my energy go from me (forgot to put a shake down me BEFORE I ran!) and turned around for the 1/2 mile back to my house. All in all, I was very pleased with the rest day (though it is now Friday and I have Shoulders and Legs to do today and I am sore. Definitely a split routine today with Legs in the morning, and hopefully Shoulders at night).

My son is the oldest. My daughter turns 11in August.
We have a ways to go before they are out of school but nevertheless, it is amazing how fast the time goes!
Don't you love it when you sewear they have grown from one day to the next?
I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the teenage years

Friday: No treadmilling today. It is Leg day! Went to do Legs in the morning around 11 AM. Did all the heavy stuff (630/8 on the Leg Press, not whole stack on Leg Extensions (240lbs/8 ), but whole stack (200lbs/8 ) on the Leg Curl). I also did the extra Leg Abductor machine (110lbs/8 ) and power squats (180lbs/25). Calf raises only on the Leg Press machine (450lbs/25) because the weight on the seated Leg Calf raise machine bruised my upper right thigh last time I was on it (still have a knot in my thigh). Legs were a little pumped still from yesterday's run, but I was still able to lift heavy (go figure).

Did Shoulders around 4:30 PM with my son. He helped me get out 8 with 100lbs for the military press on the Hammer Strength Machine. I did all heavy again with the dumbbell lateral raises (35/8 ), rear delt machine (70/8 ), Icarian dumbbell grip press (90/8 ), and a Smith machine military press of 70/25, then 20, then 90/8. Shoulders were pumped by then, so my son and I headed to the ab/medicine ball machine to do our usual 25 reps for 2 sets. I used the board (ping-pong with the medicine ball when the board is put in over the basket collecting part of the machine) for my last set. I was able to keep up with my son! Abs are starting to get strong. We also did (well my son tried) cable pulls for our obliques.

I was a pretty sore going to bed that night. I haven't been sore in awhile. I do believe it was the yoga class that has my whole body sore! All the little supporter muscles were taxed in that class! Feels good though. It is the next day and I feel stronger all over with little soreness. And it is going to be 60 degrees! If my Achilles tendon will allow me, I want to trail run for 6+ miles!

Saturday: Rest day? When it is 60 degrees outside? Don't think so!

I went out to the garden and dug up 1 and 1/2 bed. Then it was really warm by 11 AM, so I got out my running gear! I was planning just doing 6 miles, but I ended up going for 2 hours and running 8 1/2 miles! Needless to say, my legs are pretty well shot. After doing Legs yesterday, and then going on and on with running outside, they are just throbbing. I am now going to baby them (even though I want to go back out and garden some more! it is suppose to be warm again tomorrow, so I'll garden some more then!).

Sunday: Spent most of the day outside and taking a nap. Very sore, but still went to the gym around 4:30 PM and did my high rep (25) for 4 sets at light weights for Chest and Bicep day. Did my usual exercises, and got through it OK. My ligaments are really sore of course, and it is weird to be doing Hammer Curls with 15 lbs and trying to kick out the last 5 reps without swinging your body, and your son is commenting on your form at that moment too! And just like me, he runs over and holds my back to keep me from rocking and my muscles are just screaming! and my mind is cursing the stupid little 15lbs dumbbells! and then telling my body that I should be able to kick out 100 of these reps (well, after 4 sets of 25 it is 100!). All in all, it was a good day.

Monday: Hmm, what did I do on Monday? I was fatigued that day, and just worked outside doing gardening and landscaping stuff.

Tuesday: 30minute cardio/treadmill, 2.5 miles in the morning before breakfast, and then did Back and Triceps at the gym around 4 PM. Did the ligament cycle of 25 reps for 4 sets with light weights. My lats were dead by the end of the working out, and my triceps were so pumped that I couldn't put my arms down all the way to my sides. I had the walk of a bodybuilder!

Wednesday: Today was suppose to be a rest day, but I did some trail running today (I bought some wind pants yesterday and tried them out today. They chafed my thighs a little bit, but no big deal. . . yet). It was a little over 4 miles for around an hour, and on the cold side with a breeze (slight frost bite on the top of the thighs when I got home). I also headed for the gym around 3:30 PM to do Shoulders, because I didn't want to do Shoulders and Legs tomorrow. Now I just have Legs tomorrow! I did the usual ligament cycle of 25 reps for 4 sets of light weights. My son helped me out alot to make the 20 rep to 25 rep mark with the weights that I picked. I could have wimped out and gone down in weights, but with his help I pushed the last 5 reps out.

Thursday: Anusara yoga 2 this morning (1 and 1/2 hour). Theme today was finding the "good stuff" during pain. Thus it was alot of forward bends with twists, splits, and binds (shoulders are so tight that I had to use a strap on most of the binds). So with my legs all stretched out and aligned, I proceeded to go to the gym around 3:30 PM and do my ligament cycle training of Legs for the day. I had a slight tweak of my Achilles tendon on my second calf raise set on the leg press machine. I walked it off and then held everything together in rigid form as I finished my leg exercises. My Achilles calmed down and I was pain free for the rest of the workout. I also had a weird head pressure during the leg press also. I took off a couple of 45lbs plates and was OK after that during my 25 reps. I did not do power squats as my legs were fatigued as it was and I would probably have crumpled under any weight in the bottom of the squat! I am looking forward to Rest day tomorrow!!!!!

I'm still working out, but it is becoming the same old stuff. I have been back to working out with weights the usual way and making the old high weights still. I have lost a little more weight (165 lbs now) but it is going very slowly. I've modified my diet and added some more supplements to help me keep my muscle mass as I continue to lose weight.
I have been staggering my running outside since my Achilles tendon/heel doesn't seem to be able to take my weight while running everyday. I look forward to the day when my weight is down enough and my tendon is strong enough to handle my long distance running.
I did have a new development. I have started bruising easily. My son grabbed my bicep to try and squeeze it, and it left a pretty purple spot the next day. I also have bruises where the machines press against my legs, shins, and forearms. Of course I cut out all fruit from my diet, and cook alot of my dark green leafies (in my stirfry with brown rice) so the Vitamin C went down. Now I am putting a grapefruit in the morning back in, and lemon water throughout the day. It seems to be righting itself already (the bruises are going away quickly). Seems that my body is in such a delicate balance lately.