Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Carb depletion. I have to say this is the part of my prep that has actually been harder than meat eating competition. First finding good protein with no carbs is harder for us than it is for meat eaters. I am eating tons of seiten and tofu. I have been cooking the seiten with lots of chili's and peppers to make it have some flavor. I love chili's and peppers for the health benefit and they stimulate the body to give up fat.

Yesterday's 179 by the scale was impressive. It showed me that I probably should have started my diet later, and started a little heavier. That sounds counter-intuitive, but I had a very gradual descent for this contest, and I think coming in with a little more muscle and dieting a little harder would have been doable.

I skipped yoga yesterday because the new teacher freaks me out. She has no energy, and I walk out disappointed. I know it is yoga, but come on, have a pulse.

I trained heavy until yesterday when I backed off. I should have backed off earlier. My chest workouts have been heavy, back has been a beast. I am obsessed with weighted pull ups. What prompted the back down was my elbows are hurting, and I am afraid of further damage. I have always listened to my body, and have managed a mostly injury free career.

No new pics today, but tomorrow is posing so I will probably have Rob Kreider take a few frames for me, and I will post the same. Over all I would say I expect to come in pretty hard. My legs feel like rocks.

Thursday I will start putting carbs back into my diet, and Friday I will cut the water after about six.

I gotta go put the seminar materials together for the Slam for Sam.

See you soon!

Is the offer good for Friday night too? Or just Saturday night?

My plan is to arrive on Friday, compete Saturday and hang out til Sunday.

Let me know.

Again, I appreciate it! I can hook you up with some Vegan Bodybuilding clothing, some supplements, etc.

All the best!

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

You just reminded me I need to book my room for Friday. I can't get the house until Saturday. Bummer.

Can't wait to meet in real time. Looking forward to it. You are a stud duck to do three shows in three weeks.

Cool! Thanks for heads up....I need to get a room for Friday too, but may take you up on a place to hang out on Saturday and then I'll leave on Sunday to get back home and back to work.

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you as well!

All the best in the show!

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

I'm sorry i couldn't get the SunWarrior to you sooner. Have you received yet? At 16g per 70 cals it's a pretty good thing to use for carb depletion days.

I'm sorry it's a struggle but like everyone else told me it's worth it! Stick to it.

I will see you in Portland and most likely not make it out to bend. Too far need downtime and want downtime with my loved one.

Best of luck.

Let me know how the carb load thing worked.

Me personally, i didn't like it. I did 3g per lb of bodyweight and felt it to be WAY to much. Even if it was 1-2 per lb of bw i don't think i'd like it.

I prefer fat loading personally; no spillage.

Next year i'll do

1) a fat load comp like 1/2 - 1 jar of almond butter day before throughout the day
2) a flat comp
3) a carb load of 1.5 - 2g per lb of bw

IN THAT ORDER

just my two cents from my personal experience this month. Do what you do and keep us informed!!!!!

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

i totally missed this thread. looking good! all the best for you competition!

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my training.

The Squat:

“It's a great excuse to wear a big ass belt that makes you look less fat.”

- Dave Tate

Keep it up mate, you're doing well.
Just suffer throught the tofu and seitan for a bit, won't be long

This site has been so great. I am just a few days out. I fly in tomorrow for the show. I get to meet with some of my best friends, and some new great friends that I have met here. This is sort of a come back show for me. I have not been on stage in several years. I spent the last two and a half years running around Iraq and Afghanistan, but that is another story. I said once I was done I would compete again within six months. So here goes.

Today was posing practice. I was surprised at how full my muscles were even in depletion mode. Rob Kreider and I worked posing for about an hour, and that was it. No massive amounts of cardio, not much other than a light pump and getting it done. I will do a pump workout tomorrow and Friday. Mostly stretching, but some pump. I will also do some yoga. Bikram has been a great fat burner for me, and I am convinced the breathing exercises give me a little bit of an edge in posing.

I tried to remember to do photos with Rob today, but I forgot. So I am bad boy. But I am attaching a photo from four weeks ago from a seminar I did in NYC.


My carb deplete was the usual pain the first day, then it went to feeling better. I can't wait to push my water and hit the fats and carbs for the big day.

I should be about 8 pounds lighter than my last show. But I am better conditioned and leaner.

LNG, looking forward to seeing you in PDX. If you change your mind and come out Saturday I have the house until Monday night. You and a guest yours are welcome. I think Robert is staying over on Saturday too. AND thanks again for veganproteins.com. Great products and great service.

Thanks again to all of the kind people on the site who have been so supportive of me and all of the other competitors out there. I appreciate it, and so do they.

Great to spend a few days with you in Bend this week! Congrats on the top 5 placing and for looking awesome and for being a great host!

Hope to see you Wed or sometime before you leave for D.C.

Say hi to your family and friends for me. It was great meeting everyone!

Be in touch!

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

Just got back from the trip. It was great to compete again. I really enjoyed being back. Bend was beautiful, even though the weather was crazy. I have been eating this week since I can until Monday when I start ramping back up for the next contest. Other than some time with my family meeting with friends I have made on the forum was probably my happiest time. I posted a bunch of photos on my myspace and on my Facebook pages. There are even some funny ones of Robert and I goofing on each other next morning after we replaced some carbs. Thanks again to everyone who has been supportive of me.

I gained five pounds. Yeah!!!! I thought I would have gained twice that. I was back in the gym tonight working back. The week off was good. I feel as strong as ever. I still took it easy. Some warm up pill ups and 12 work sets. Nothing super heavy or really hard. I want to really focus on hard contraction and getting leaner. I was happy with my physique in Bend, but if I am a little leaner and harder I could really make a we package.

I was disappointed to hear a friend here i'm DC had a rough show where she was really unhappy with he physique. I saw the photos and it was amazing to me that her body didn't look like herself. This sport never fails to amaze me. She looked amazig two days out and off the day of the show. It really is a learning ad experiment process.

Your shirts have been sent....I'll upload those pics soon and post them.

Have a great time getting ready for the next show!

Keep in touch!

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

Thanks, I appreciate it. Nikki has been bitten by the competition bug. Maybe I should get her to blog. LOL. Thanks again for the shirts. Let me know when you make it out my way. You always have a room here.

Thanks man!

Awesome to hear about Nikki getting pumped (no pun intended!)

I'll be back to DC for sure! I come to DC 2-3 times a year and looking forward to returning! We have about 10 forum members or more in the area and I always have a great time!

See you soon I'm sure.

Keep pumped!

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

I have been keeping pretty tight with diet. I have another show in New York in a few weeks so my goal is to stay lean until then.

Nicole is training hard and learning to pose with our friend Rolfini. So now instead of doing my usual lone wolf training where I come in and hit it with head phones and look at no one; I am more social. The good news is they are both fun and both are good enough in the gym to call me on it when I am slacking. I like that.

My workouts have been transitioning out of the Pentagon to a private gym down south of DC. I would make the argument that it is the only real hardcore gym in the area. I know some hardk core trainers out there, but this gym is where you meet the athletes. Yesterday I talked to a guy who is getting ready for nationals, about six foot and 255. I like working there because of the atmosphere. A lot of competitors, very encouraging.