Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

First of all, where can I find the radio interview?

Second, Cubby aren't you training?

I need to ask the guy about getting the link to that. Robert may have gotten it, too.

Of course I'm training, I just suck at keeping a blog.

Yesterday I did some deadlifting, chins, close-grip bench, and front squat holds, all heavy as hell for me. I am back on a strength cycle, about two weeks into it. Two more weeks and I will be back on a hypertrophy cycle. I am probably not putting much if any size on right now (maybe even losing), since I am trying to cut slowly with IF and some cardio. I am getting more ripped than ever, though.

Cool man!
Hey btw, I don't really get what's up...are you a pt now? Certified and stuff? If so, what certification? Tell me everything

I am going to school to be a personal trainer. It is a school called the National Personal Training Institute. It focuses, as the name implies, entirely upon personal training. I just have another month and a half to go until I am certified by them. We basically do two hours a day of lecture, where we learn anatomy, program design, basic and sports nutrition, etc., and two hours a day of practical, where we train actual clients, each other, or workout in groups. It is four days per week. We use texts from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), so I plan to take my CSCS examination once I graduate. Then I am either going for a master's in nutrition, exercise science, or...creative writing, haha.

Go for nutrition, it's the coolest
We could become the official VBB nutritionists. What a team

That would be sweet.

I am actually leaning towards nutrition right now. I applied to the only school I really care about for a master's in creative writing, but if I don't get in there, nutrition will probably be my path. I want to actually be able to give dietary recommendations to people with authority. I don't know how it works in Sweden, but here, I would have to go through a year long, unpaid internship approved by the American Dietetics Association, so I could become a dietician and recommend diet for different ailments. I would definitely want to do that if I get a degree in nutrition.

Nutritionists are completely different from dieticians here. Nutritionist study 1 year of chemistry (basic, organic, bio) and one semester molecular biology (genetics, cell, statistics, micro) then we study human physiology with focus on energy metabolism half a semester and nutrition physiology for half a semester. The dieticians study chemistry, biology and physiology all in one course for half a semester. I'm not quite sure what they study but it's not a science based education. They learn more about how to get people to eat like our version of the FDA wants people to eat etc.
The two educations sort of meet if I choose to study public health nutrition as a masters program, but I'm thinking more about molecular nutrition because public health doesn't really work and it's a crappy "science"
Oh yeah, nutritionist isn't a licensed title (don't know if that's the correct translation) while dietician is, just like doctors and nurses.
We also have something similar to dieticians (they study almost exactly the same thing) that's just called diet expert (not a good translation).
Sorry for the essay. But the reason I choose nutrition instead of dietician was for the very reason to be able to give advice with authority which I don't think the Swedish dieticians have. Plus if I want to study excersise physiology I got half of it down already

Sorry for the essay.

The essay is no problem; I was curious how it is done over there. A degree in nutrition here sounds like it is that middle ground you talked about. You have to take a bunch of biochem classes and such, but you also end up taking some bullshit classes, which espouse FDA dietary guidelines and the like. I will just have to learn that stuff well enough to pass tests, if I end up down that path. I dread reading "...but vegans must plan their diets vary carefully to ensure adequate intake of XYZ," over and over again, like I have to for all the nutrition books I have read so far.

In a related note, Dr. Fuhrman recently came out with a certification, which I studied for and just completed the final test for a couple weeks ago. I haven't received my final results, but I plan on relying upon that certification heavily if I get into nutrition. It is here if you are interested in taking a look. I heard the PCRM came out with a similar certification a while ago.

It's great that the program features biochemistry. If you don't have proper biocemical, biological and physiological understanding it's really hard to read studies and giving real advice.

The Fuhrman thing is kinda cool I guess but I don't really like those kinds of things where a person takes a "x number of days/weeks" course and then acts like they know enough to give out dietary advice and charge people for it.
Nutrition and training (specially weight training) is totally overflooded with uneducated people who sells advice/supllements as if they were experts. Cool that you're taking the Fuhrman class though, did you learn much?

Yeah, I learned quite a bit from it. I had to read a bunch of books, one being a nutrition textbook, which went heavily into biology, as well as one of phytochemicals, and stuff on psychology of eating, plant-based nutrition (especially Fuhrman's books), etc.

It isn't really meant to be a nutrition certification. Basically, the intent is to be a guide to people who have read Fuhrman's stuff and want to make the change to his diet. You aren't exactly designing a diet for people, but just helping them along. Fuhrman makes it very clear that you are not a dietician, nutritionist, etc., and you cannot give out information for people's ailments. So, without a degree, it is very limited and you are basically a coach/preacher for Fuhrman's diet style. Hence, why I want to go into nutrition, so I can make my own recommendations.

Well then it sounds good and not like the stuff we have over here
What's the name of the book about phytochemicals?

An Evidence-based Approach to Dietary Phytochemicals

It is a great book and an easy reference to many of the most well-studied phytochemicals. I highly recommend it.

There doesn't really exist any type of nutrition certification in the United States, except for some bullshit ones. I think that is one thing we can actually thank the dairy and meat industries for. They want to protect their interests, so they have made sure that you have to go through a curriculum that promotes their food, which has the advantage of making people get an actual education in nutrition. The part where you have to learn all the crappy guidelines sucks, but it is worth going through in the end.

Damn that sure looks intresting. It's pretty expensive over here but I'll put on my birthday/christmas wishlist . My dad loves it when I have books on that list because from the age of 9-18 all I wanted was video games.

Haha, to think the dairy industry actually did something good. Over here it's pretty crazy because titles like "food/health/diet/nutrition expert" is thrown around like crazy. There is a lot of money to make from selling those kinds of "educations" and giving a certificate. But for a nutritionist it's kinda like shooting yourself in the foot.

I have been incorporating some Zercher squats in my current strength routine, and am about to add some sumo deadlifts, since I am far stronger on those and I really want to nail 405lbs. I also just discovered deficit deadlifts and will incorporate them, because the start is my weakest part on deadlifts. Zerchers are supposed to help you out of the hole, as well, so I hope with this combination I can at least sumo 405lbs in the next couple months.

Knocked out three reps with 365lbs using sumo deadlifts, then two. I couldn't get the bar up for a third set, so I snatched off 30lbs and finished out. The last time I max tested with regular deadlifts, about two months ago, I hit 365 once. This was my first time sumo deadlifting in over a year. Yes, it was dumb to do that much weight, but I couldn't help it. I think I might hit 405 within a month.