Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Ok been responding really well to the new weight training routine I'm on. I'm seeing muscle development, which is alot more motivating then watching numbers on a scale. last weight post was 230.6lbs@30.1%. I am currently at 224lbs@29.7% which is actually a pound or so above what I had 3 days ago, but the bf is the same. So it's gotta be muscle =). Anyway, been making sure to get 30 mins of cardio in, usually a little before my last meal on days I don't work and before I go to work on days I do. Along with my weight training, which is of course with dumbbells, so I guess I need to change my post SUBJ: which I don't have a clue how to. As for weight lifting, I have found that my recovery time isn't as long as I remember back in my teenage years. Back in the day I would have to force myself to rest every other day to allow for the muscle ache to go away. Not this time around! I've been working out everyday and each session is what I'd consider intense for a beginner. I did have to take yesterday off, since my upper back felt the previous days routine. Other than that it's been something like a week and a half or two weeks with no breaks.

Also I think this change up is alot better than the cardio heavy routine I was doing. For some reason it looks like I've been tearing down more muscle than fat. Maybe it was the reduced caloric intake, maybe the increased caloric expenditure? Or the combination of both? Anyway, with this, I'm shooting for 300-400 cal a meal, even though I mostly hit 200-300 cal, since I get full rather fast.

Anyway, I'm a keep at this! Feeling good and eating green =)

Good work! Stay with it!

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an evolving primate

223.4lbs@28.1% 51% water

Still on track and eating green. Had a BBQ last weekend with a co-worker and her friends. I supplied a little Hibatchi (grill) and a bunch of veggies/tempeh, which folks had in addition to their traditional BBQ meats. I also ended up playing bball, which was sorta frustrating. Since I still had my movement/mobility, but a non-existent shot (due to the ghetto/gimp hand). Every time my hand fell into place on the ball for a solid shot, my fingers wouldn't lay flat on the ball. Then my shot would end up either going way too long or way too short. My rebounds were still up to par (again a mobility thing), so I ended up playing point and getting some nice assists. Who would of thought this chick had the money shot, so I kept feeding her.

Anyway, had a blast and looking forward to doing this again. Slick thing is the State Fair starts up this weekend and a few of the folks there were talking about carpooling out. So I'll probably post a few days after the fair...who knows, I might have some pics to post.

Spent the entire day at the state fair yesterday with my sister, her gf and her gf's daughter. We got up pretty early and was on the road by 9am to get to the fair grounds by 10:30a. It started drizzling on the ride there and when we got to our destination it was rain-central. So needless to say the digital camera stayed in one of the pockets of my "shake/food bag". Which I thought would of been a chore to carry around all day, but turned out to be quite fun. I'd walk around with it and the crowds of people would part, most likely thinking I was a vendor moving perishables to a food booth. =) I had it loaded with a gallon of water, spirulina + psyllium seed husks shakes, soy iso + wheat iso protein shakes with a hint of turmeric and a single wheat iso protein + flax seed + banana smoothie. Of course I tossed in a few bananas, apples and oranges which the keiki (8yr old) ended up snatching up every hour or so. But who can blame her, they are yummy and cheap compared to the fair ground prices. I did however find the one booth in the entire joint that sold vegan food. Slick thing was each purchase donated like 50 cents to a variety of different organizations of your choosing. So you'd get this blue chip and just toss it into the donation box of the org you liked. So I ended up buying 3 vegan cookies, which were made of oats, dates and walnuts mainly. And trust me I was sure to ask about non-dairy and non-eggs, since I find more and more ovo and lacto vegetarian recipes passing themselves off as "vegan". Then ate one and gave the rest to my sis and her gf. All in all we had a great time, got to see a ton of the farmer grown produce, which I totally spaced taking pictures of especially since it was all tented off. But I got caught up in the excitement of the size and variety of locally grown Alaskan vegetables, fruits and berries. If that isn't motivation to be a vegan and support local farmers, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I have a co-worker who's gonna wanna head out there this up and coming FRI since there are going to be a bunch of cover bands jamming out. So if it's sunny...you'll see pics.

Totally spaced posting an update about gym membership. I ended up not dropping the cash for one of the clubs, but what I did do was spring for free weights. I figured since travel time and gas prices seem to be my concern that I should just get something for the house. And we all know how spendy complete gyms and machines are! Also I am doing a bunch of composite lifting so free weights are giving me more bang for my buck vs isolation. Anyway, I headed off to one of those used sports equipment stores and got a bunch of free weights. I got a few different hex dumbs 2x15, 2x30, 2x40 which are the bomb =). What made me think about this post is that today I'm heading out to get some more dumbs and possibly a bar so I can do some shrugs and bent rows. Which I could do with dumbs, but I'd have to get heavier sets. So today I'm a go hunting at these thrift stores and see what treasures I can find. Wish me luck on good deals. (Dang I miss the swap-meet...to bad Anchorage doesn't have one.)

The vegetables at the fairs are inspiring. Unfortunately 4H livestock competitions usually stipulate the animal MUST be slaughtered, an "important lesson" for "future farmers." Folks here tried to save a steer named Bentley for a rescue refuge but some "pro farmer" people paid a huge amount for Bentley to see the animal rights people defeated. Glad you had fun with the wahinis. Happy bargain hunting on the used steel, which I also have to do. I'm going to try Craigs list first.

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an evolving primate

Yeah no idea on what they do to the livestock after they've attended the fair. I know they did a bunch of weighing and of course have these little children, mostly young girls, parade the animals around. The big sow was nice to see, she hadn't popped yet, so no piglets. I did leave my cell phone in this big ole jar, so I can get the call when it happens. Would love to go down and take pics of the new borns.

This morning was an adventure though, hunting for "steel", like John put it. I hit like 7 different thrift stores and that used sports place; not one of the thrift stores had anything. Although, the sports place was basically selling them for maybe 5 bucks cheaper than buying new. Suckie thing is they didn't have 65 or 75 dumbs, so I ended up breaking my "I won't buy from Sears" rule. Ran over there, picked up some Weidner plates that fit my vinyl barbells. Which I should be using anyway since they are way better for my hands. That basically rounds out my 25-40lbs ranges, but doesn't address my shrugs or incline press.

Of course after John V, suggested craigslist I got on and emailed some dude intown with a set of 75 hex dumbs. So lets hope he still has em =).

No idea what's with the weather, the days that I plan on going out there turns out to be rainy. The days I want to stay at the house and rest are super sunny. Thank you =(

Anyway, been keeping up with the diet. Been eating at least 3 servings of pineapples with high protein meals in order to aid in the protein breakdown. I could go buy pills, but I rather be eating it than horking down pills. Feeling good about health in general, been popping some Vpill Taurine and Qo10. Been adding 3g of spirulina and 3g of alfalfa to my diet. At first I was sorta gagging on the spirulina by itself, but I found adding 6g of flax seed makes it super yummy. It's gotta be that good fat =). Other than those, no major changes.

My wait paid off and I got a insane deal via CL. I got an Olympic 45lb squat bar, an 20lb Ez-Curl bar, 2-5lb dial clamps, 2-5lb plates, 2-10lb plates, 2-20lb plates, 2-35lb plates and 2-45lb plates...all for a hundy!!

So yeah gonna be hitting the weights hard. I was able to do some rather heavy weights with the ez-curl during seated overhead tricep extentions. Although I was sorta chicken without a spotter. I had a bad experience benching without a spotter a few years back, so I'm not gonna go insanely heavy solo.

Anyway, super excited and I this might motivate me to toss up some self pics. If I can get these muscles to fill out this skin =(.

Glad to hear of your success with Craig's list.
My nephew has helped me as a trainer and spotter. I wasn't going to risk testing my bench pressing limits without him. He gave me one finger of assist on some overloaded bench presses and I really felt it the next day. It was nearly too much for this old geezer.

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an evolving primate

ok been away from vbbf for awhile due to craziness at work. Which has now just died down, so I get a nice week off and back to a more cruise gig. I know I've been talking about posting pics and am finally gonna do it. They came out blurry but I tried to crop out stuff like the toilet and the wall. lol, yeah lighting in my house is bad. Anyway, note I'm 6' and haven't put the tape to any of my muscles, which I guess I should at some point.

I tried to get the long head of the bicep and the back, but they came out way way too blurry and trying to take the pics solo is insanely hard.

Shaka Brah.

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an evolving primate

OK, dug up a before pic (not a very good one) but at least folks can see a comparison. This was in 2002 when I first got serious about losing weight, so I was approx 310lbs. Albeit via Aktins 2002 to late 2007. But been a strict vegetarian since NOV of 2007.

I was real motivated by Troy's video where he's doing double-hand tricep extensions with 100lb dumbs. So I went and scored me a set of 115lbs at the used sports store. Not trying to one up him, they only had the 115lbs. You should of seen the clerks when I farmer's carried them out the door...lol. I guess the weights have been at the store for ages and they gave me a really god deal. Anyway gonna play with them tomorrow and get some shrugs in as well as an attempt at a double-hand tricep extension. Gonna see if I can con someone into coming over and assisting me just in case I get into trouble. Darn why do I only know women? I definitely need a group of male friends...

Adjusting diet just a tad by adding in more fat and L-Carnitine. For the past week, been doing 4 servings of L-Carnitine 30 mins prior to meals with either hemp or flax sources of fat. So basically my meal 2 through 6 have an additional 100-130 cals with approx 25-45 fat cals increase per. Gonna see how the adjustment works, I've already seen a slight decrease in bf % at the end of this week. I'm hoping this does the trick in losing more bf %