Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Thanks...I like your new avatar by the way....and the old sig wasn't horrid it was funny....

Thank you EmmyBear! I think everyone was just joshin me in good humor. I loved it as well but I did plan on changing it as soon as the contest was over, so.....

A great week in general. I need to take a nice break from chest and shoulders after testing my max tomorrow that this whole last program has been building up to. My right rotator cuff (weaker arm) hurts and it wont go away. It has happened in the past, usually when i go super heavy out of nowhere, like now. It goes away fairly easily too after I stop pushing it; hopefully that's the case; I pray it doesn't give me a problem.

285lb max bench press test tomorrow. Anxious but confident. We shall see. It may not go up since I have lost around 10lbs of bodyweight and all. No more excuses; tomorrow we shall see!

I am no longer neglecting my core as I have been for the last five months. For the last two weeks, I have been at it practically every day and at it hard. My midsection is taking nice shape in addition to bf loss; gotta train it! To get an idea I did 737 repetitions of core exercises in 5 days this week YEAH BUDDY

Week 7: 6/09-6/15 Final Week, 1rm bp test tomorrow as well as progress pictures!

Resistance Training
-Total Time: 13 hrs
-Worked out 6/7 days
-Finished cycle 7/7

-Barbell Bench Press
Workout #13 (6/10) 215x5, 235x3, 235x3, 250x2, 250x2, 285lbx 2 negs + 135x12 superset
Workout #14 (06/13) 230x3, 245x2, 260x1, 295x2negs, 315x1neg (3 plates)
-Deadlifts: 335x6, 345x6, 355x6, 365x5, 375x4, 385x3, 425lbx1 New pb, not too shabby!
-Squats: 275x6x, 285x6, 285x6, 305x6, 315x5, 315x5 (also got a sunday wkout in for legs but focused on sled work mainly, my shoulders were still burnt from the sun and hurt)


Cardio
-Approx Total Time: 5hrs 45min
-Played 19 games of racquetball
-14 miles outdoor cycling
-As you can see I got a decent amount of cardio in this week.


Highlights
-Comments about how much my physique has improved were at an all time high this week. I got quite the ego and happy inner peace as a result. For instance the cashier at the organic produce store asked me if I just got back from the gym because I looked muscular asnd pumped. Even with baggy tuxedo pants on, people asked me how the hell I got such massive quads. My father said my chest is really coming in nice. People told me I have gotten alot leaner others can't believe how big i've gotten. I visited my old daytrading office today and everyone said i was back! They remember me very thin last year and the secretary grabbed my chest and arms and said wow dude, you really got big, The list goes on and on... Oh and of course I got the 'juice' question once, which as to I responded yea of course..... fruit and veggie juice!
-Poundages for all the major mjm exercises I perform went sky high this week and I felt superhuman. Goes to show that you can be just as strong if not stronger as long as you do it right and EAT (or drink ion my case). Tons of cardio this week as well.
-Bicep curls were monstrous, feels good to curl 135lb on the rack. Did two reps of it today
-425lb deadlift I could have def did another 20lb but I was keeping it light.
-Tons and tons of core exercises, time to tighten up and show that midsection proudly as the bf continues to melt off.
-Psychotically deadly on the racquetball court. Cannot be touched. I got my speed back now
that i'm lighter and faster on my feet and my shot is very fast and strong. I think that's why
I just kept playing, enjoyed killing it.
-Measurements, pictures and finale 1rm test all s/b tomorrow. Very excited. I will be lifting light for a bit afterwards.
-125lb dumbbell lat rows, 140lbdb shrugs, it just keeps getting better and better, LIGHT WEIGHT!
-I finally figured out how to make my quads so sore that i cannot walk properly. Avoided hamstring training and blasted out quads on sunday for 21sets and after every set, a superset of sled leg presses followed. Also the start of the workout was 6 sets of sled leg presses.

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

You're doing so well. How do you manage to focus on all your goals, how much time in your day does it take up, do you have time for your other hobbies?! I feel I need more time in the day so it can revolve around my diet and training.
And can you recommend a really healthy juice I can make with a blender that's hard core but not too hard core. Super healthy and yummy?

I look forward to hanging out and training this summer! See you soon!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Thank you AndreaFrancis! My training routines have been taking up about 2 1/2 hrs as of recently (not including cardio). I also do cardio on some days depending if there is someone to play in racquetball after I train with weights or if I get a chance to run or cycle. Today, for instance, I got 4 games of racquetball in. What kind of healthy juice are you looking for to make? Give me an idea of when and what you want to get out of it and i'll make my best recommendation. For vegetable juice blends, the yummiest way to make it is to use 1 avocado, 2 green apples, 1 lemon, some mint and then add as many dark green vegetable as possible and water......... For fruit juice blends, I thoroughly enjoy a young thai coconut meat and water, a lime and a nice amount of berries, alot.......

Robert I totally am looking forward to training. Perhaps I could just crash at the gym instead of someone's houses? Seems more practical!

Okay well news flash, this latest routine if OFFICIALLY OVER! It was a huge success and everything I could have hoped for. Bot only was I able to increase my bench press by 50 pounds but I also leaned out a great deal of the course of the last two weeks; even though that has nothing to do with this training regimen, that's more b/c of my dieting down.

So, here's how it went down:

warmup 115x5, 115x5
warmup #2 175x8
warmup #3 195x4

And the grand finale (drumroll) 285lbs a new one rep maximum since I have resumed training this year!

I was anxious but pretty confident. I abused my body a little bit at the last minute with some heavy negative so i would know how to handle this weight. Last week, I was doing 315lb negatives so that 285 for a full rep would feel ok. It took so long to get up but it was slow and steady....

If you take a look at my sig, I have posted new progress shots to show what the latest mass bulking and then quick cutting phase has done for my body so far. Not to sound all like yeh I am cool but I noticed the biggest change as of just recently; drastic progress and i'm very happy about it.

I am only 120lbs away from my old bench press record. I'm not worried about that right now though, I am cutting down and getting ready and preparing for a contest. I want to be on stage for the first time as a vegan and show my stuff. It's going to be a lot of work but I am putting my heart and soul into it right now and I am not going to let anything stand in my path. The time is now, no more procrastination or i'll never get there. Expected estimate: This fall sometime, depending on how long it takes to shred down....

On another note, my weaker side (right side), I developed an impingement on my right shoulder. It's kind of painful, painful to the point where I cannot even perform pullups without being in pain and needing to stop. I will be barely if not at all working out my upper body for the next 2 weeks or so and rehabing my right shoulder. I beat the crap out of it really hard over these last 7 weeks and although my muscles kept up, my weaker side is not happy about it. Rehab every day for the next 2 weeks with a trainer who said it didn't look too bad but to lay off it. I pray pray pray it goes away. It's happened before when I go unusually very very heavy for an extended period of time and has went away every time so i'm not overly worried, however, i'll be very anxious for it to fully heal. I need to train! Will be doing exercises that don't hurt it for my upper body. Suggestions are welcome.

I will probably just finish this week out with some heavy lifting and design a nice medium-high repetition workout for next week to carry on and over into vv08' in mid july.....

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Super, this is exactly what I was looking for, I will try each of those out and let you know how it goes! After that I'll have a better idea of what I'd like to try next...perhaps each time getting more adventurous...as for your shoulder, I don't have good advice, but I know taking the injury seriously and resting somewhat is good, I wish I had done that with my knees.

Awesome, glad to be of assistance! Let me know how they work out once you try them Andrea.

I got assessed by the trainer I hired to help me with my shoulder. Hopefully we can start a regimen tomorrow. It is killing me that i cannot train back, shoulders or chest but i'd rather rest up and heal my right shoulder, than stress it out and prolong the healing process.

Okay, now the real reason why I am posting mid week instead of a weekend recap; just had to share today's hardcoreness.

Just to put all the fears to rest about juice feasting and perceived lack of energy, this is what I did today, 20 days into my feast and did i mention I have been restricting my intake the last 3-4 days.. :

Biked 2 miles to the gym, parked, immediately played 7 very intense racquetball games back to back (15 minutes per game) against some of the big talent in the gym. Then proceeded to do 20 sets of core work and without stopping, picked up and went outside and jogged 8 1/2 miles in an under 10 minute per mile pace and might I add, one of the most vigorous mind blowing sprints I have ever done for the last 1/8 of a mile. Then i biked two miles back home and drank a whole bunch of juice

Oh and by the way, in case anyone is curious, I haven't jogged in almost a month and this is the longest distance I have jogged this year and since years ago. I ran 6.2 mile race at a slower pace two mos ago but this was longer and it felt good, not painful.

VEGAN JUICE FEASTING POWER!!!!!

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Congratulations on hitting the new 1RM!

_________________
Cubby's Fitness Log

The metric system is socialized measurment. If you implement it it will only be a matter of time before your grandma will stand in front of a death panel being forced to deny the existance of baby Jesus.

-offense74

Nice! We truly notice a difference with juice fasting because we don't feel any digestion, everything is smooth and no loss of energy just to assimilate the nutrients.
Going to the gym in bike is awesome, I like it too, it becomes part of the workout if you go fast and anyway you can't really relax when cycling in downtown NY or MTL with all the stress from the traffic, so arrived at home or stopping in a park you can finally relax and maybe drink a huge juice. Unfortunatly nowadays it's not rare to see people using their car just to go buy milk at the store two blocks away...

You're a true inspiration with your high activity level, running, cycling, going to the gym. In Quebec it was raining all week but now summer is officially arrived ! This morning there was a 10k, 21k and 42k marathon, I wanted to run the 10k but I'm working this morning Maybe next time.

Congratulations! Great stuff! I look forward to training in a few weeks!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Oh man, i've been a bit negligent with the update for this journal. All my energy and focus has gone to upkeeping and maintaining my juice feast journal. And I had a mighty fine cardio week as well. This week is going just as well too!

Thanks Cubby, Guillame and Robert!

'G', I completely hear you about the bad conditions in our urban cities. Over here, it can be so frustrating at times. I get beeped at yelled at, at times when i'm making a turn or something, somebody will tailgate me and it doesn't happen all the time but when it does, it is quite annoying!!!

Cubby, it felt good to get that bench up; I payed the price with a shoulder impingement but I did too much on top of that program as well. Lesson learned, next time I will not add too much into that program in regards to shoulders or lift too heavy of negatives.

Robert, I hope I can do some sort of upperbody training at vv08'. I wont be going heavy as my shoulder will probably be just healed by then but I should be able to train it..

[quote="Lean and Green"]Thank you EmmyBear! I think everyone was just joshin me in good humor. I loved it as well but I did plan on changing it as soon as the contest was over, so.....

A great week in general. I need to take a nice break from chest and shoulders after testing my max tomorrow that this whole last program has been building up to. My right rotator cuff (weaker arm) hurts and it wont go away. It has happened in the past, usually when i go super heavy out of nowhere, like now. It goes away fairly easily too after I stop pushing it; hopefully that's the case; I pray it doesn't give me a problem.

285lb max bench press test tomorrow. Anxious but confident. We shall see. It may not go up since I have lost around 10lbs of bodyweight and all. No more excuses; tomorrow we shall see!

I am no longer neglecting my core as I have been for the last five months. For the last two weeks, I have been at it practically every day and at it hard. My midsection is taking nice shape in addition to bf loss; gotta train it! To get an idea I did 737 repetitions of core exercises in 5 days this week YEAH BUDDY

Week 8: 6/06-6/22 Final Week, 1rm bp test tomorrow as well as progress pictures!

Resistance Training
-Total Time: 13 hrs
-Worked out 6/7 days
-Finished cycle 7/7

-Barbell Bench Press
Workout #13 (6/17) mentioned in an earlier post, 285pb 1rm test.
-Deadlifts (6/18): 345x6, 3455x6, 365x6, 375x5, 385x4, 395x3, 445lbx1
FAIL.
-Squats (6/21): Just sled work for this week and then some.... of course


Cardio
-Approx Total Time: 5hrs 15min
-Played 12 games of racquetball
-8 miles outdoor cycling
-a 9 1/4 mile jog at just under a 10min p/mile pace
-Good cardio this week also

Highlights
-I am not going to continue on saying how others keep continuing to pay me compliments as it gets redundant but what I will say is everyone keeps coming out of the woodwork to congratulate me and the comments on what i've built over the course of this year just keep getting more intense. Love it!
-Ran my longest distance thus far, it was actually 9 1/4 miles and i hadn't run in over a month before that. I just wanted to keep going. The sprint at the end of the jog was the longet and fastest sprint I have ever done, even when compared to when I was in the best shape ever. Legs stretched long and wide and i stood tall.

I am going to write another post with accomplishments from the culmination of last workout later today as well as hopefully post my new workout. Basically, it doesn't include chest, back, shoulders or traps as I hurt myself and with a shoulder impingement on my right shoulder, I cannot train my upper body until it heals. Every other bp will be trained vigorously with a 10rep x 4 set per exercise phase until the end of july or whenever this shoulder fully heals. August is a very controlled bulking period and then sep dedicated to the final cutting phase for a show sometime around october, willing.......

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

WARNING :!: This will be somewhat of a long post as i've fell a bit behing on this journal so I apologize. I've just been very on top of my juice blog and I gave this one and the forum to an extent a bit of a backseat. That will change this week. There will probably be copious amounts of posts from me everywhere in a short while

Maybe this picture will help this post be somewhat more colorful and not a whole bunch of words....

I FINALY got my trophy from the 3.5 racquetball league months ago. No sooner did I get it, than did this one end (4.0) and I found myself in the finals. I lost but I gave it a really good run. Will come back stronger for the next one...


This is a recap from the end of the last workout (june 17th), the description of my new workout and last weeks training log recap

Okay so like I mentioned on my progress page, I like to post notable acheivements in my journal at the end of every routine. My last routine ended JUNE 17th and was a program designed to increase my ax bench press 50lbs in 50day which I did. Unfortunately I trained my shoulders way more than asked for and might have slapped on a bit too much on a barbell to shrug one day couple with doing heavier much heavier negatives on the bench press than asked for... all leading up to a right medial head shoulder impingement that had not gone away since the 15th.... 15 DAYS OF NO UPPER BODY WORKOUTS UGGGGGH Well to the good stuff,
_______________________________________________________________________
Some accomplishments:

Barbell Biceps: from: 85x8, 85x8, 85x8
to: 100x6, 105x6, 110x6, 115x6, 135x2, 145x1
Bench Press: from: 235lbs
to: 285lbs
Squats: from: 235x6, 245x6, 255x6, 275x6, 285x6, 295x6
to: 275x6, 285x6, 295x6, 305x6, 315x5, 315x5
Deadlifts: from: 265x6, 275x6, 285x6, 295x6, 305x6, 315x6
to: 345x6, 355x6, 365x6, 375x5, 385x3, 395x2, 425x1
________________________________________________________________________

Without being able to train shoulders, chest, upper back, or traps, I was in a rut and a little off track thinking of a schedule but I conjured up one that doesn't include any of these bodyparts, no reason the rest of my body has to suffer a loss.... I am doing this workout until the end of july, to build a little bit of lbm or really to maintain what I can while I continue to melt many pounds off and afterwards. In august, I will have a vigorous lbm building routine and I pray I can train upper body again otherwise I shall have to push this contest back more because my body wont be ready. If I can train in august (upper body), than september and first couple weeks of october will be the finishing touches and I will do my first show as a vegan (hey I just realized Marcina calls refers to me by this emoticon!!!! COOL, I have an emoticon
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New Workout (Started Wednesday, June 25th)

-A RIDICULOUS amount of core, as much as possible every single day before during and after
workouts.
-Right shoulder rehab before every workout, rest as needed (usually 4-5 days a week)
-3-4 set rep ranges
-10 reps per set
-5 Day Routine

Day 1: Calves / Biceps
Day 2: Lower Back (no deadlifts, no strin on shoulder Good Mornings only) / Hamstrings
Day 3: Triceps / Forearms
Day 4: Calves / Biceps
Day 5: Quads / Forearms

A little bit less cardio right now as I don't want to eat away at too much more lbm as I have gotten pretty lean over the last couple of weeks....

Keep in mind, I have lost 18lbs since those last figures in about a month's time so strength numbers will be def going down and also I cannot train as hard with certain things, like triceps and lower back. I am done with the heavy bulking phase of my newfound goal and so workout routines will look nothing like those of earlier in the year in these coming months. This is a maintenance/small half growth mostly definition phase....
______________________________________________________________________

Week 1: 6/23 - 6/29

Resistance Training
-Approx Total time: 8 1/2 hours
-Worked out 6/7 days (although nothing but core and rehab for two of those)
-Started new routine on June 25th
-Shoulder got 'slightly' better but no major improvements yet

Cardio
-Approx total time: 8 hours
-45 minutes of actual waterskiing attempts and riding
-1 1/2 hours of tennis
-11 games of racquetball
-7 games out outdoor handball, big blue doubles
-8 miles cycling

Highlights
-Finished 4.0 racquetball league and was in the finals. Lost, so finished in second place. Oh
well. I annihilated him the first game and then he wrecked me shamelessly the next two in a
row. There's always next season to come back stronger.
-Have gotten much leaner and as a result very fast and increased endurance in regards to
sports
-Waterskiied for the first time WHAT A SPORT! Much fun. Will be going out a couple of times
this year for sure.
-Kicked butt on the handball courts, funny how when you're leaner, you naturally seem to play
certain endurance intensive sports much better immediately, shots and all.
-Tennis was fun haven't played in the longest. Did well. As long as I didn't try to hit the ball
too hard otherwise I would lose control but I rallied just fine and enjoyed it much.
-I think that I am finally beginnings of earning the name 'Lean and Green' back again and being
proud to say it.
-Core workouts IN FULL EFFECT. Can't thank Andreafrancis enough for her influence on
having a trim midsection and bulging core muscles which got me into all this. I really would
like to take the prestigious award for best abs contest. I am diligently firing away at my
core to the max and keeping trim and getting trimmer. My waist is somewhere in between
32 - 33 inches at the moment.....

Time to play with some colors and let out a nice

Y.E.A.H. B.U.D.D.Y.

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

right on! i love it when goals get closer and closer to obtainment!

_________________
My Training Journal

before and after accountability photos

hell yea phillipeb! Only problem is if this shoulder injury doesn't go away by the end of july, I may have to push back the date for when I will compete as I shall need time to train my upper body a bit. As long as it's ok by the end of july, i'll be fine. I'm banking on this.

Wanted to share my new quads workout with all as it beat the ever loving crap out of my legs yesterday and I couldn't walk (ie. leg twitching, moving slowly, struggling up and downn stairs!). The step ups, really work man. Also it was probably also the fact I just started hack squats too.

Legs (Quads)

Leg Press (Sled Machine) 4 sets x 10 reps each
Hack Squats 6 sets x 10 reps each
Sumo Squats 4 sets x 10 reps each
Weighted Steps ups (high box) followed into a lunge on the way down 4 sets x 10 reps each
Weight walking lunges with wide steps, no rest in between 4 sets x 10 reps each
Leg Extensions 4 sets x 10 reps each, last set was a drop set with 4-6 reps every 20lb drop
until only one 20lb plate was loaded (started at 120lb).

Also did 10 sets of challenging core work and 16 sets for forearms Go Green!!!

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Wednesday was core day to the max!

Did 1000 crunches on the beach while laying down and tanning. Went to the gym several hours later and did many weighted core exercises 471 repetitions of more advanced versions of core exercises that were weighted.

My main center of focus right now is my core by far......

On a side note, it seems that sleep has caught up to me and i was wondering why with all this hard work why I wasn't craving any.

Missed the gym today, passed out couldn't keep my eyes open, for 3 hours. Woke up and here I am wired and hope I am able to fall asleep again, i think i should be ok, hopefully......

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com