Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hail the Prophet!


01/25/2010

Food:
2 PB Cliffs Bars
Bowl of Grape Nuts, Coconut milk, Banana
another banana
almond butter and strawberry "simply fruit" on ezekiel bread
8 kimchi dumplings
jerk tempeh with roasted pineapple over brown rice (damn my wife is a great cook!)
"organic so delicious dairy free chocolate velvet" frozen dessert

Workout:
Bench Press - 3 sets of 5 at 150 lbs, 2 sets of 5 at 145 lbs
Deadlift - This is where it all went wrong...

I was on the 4th rep of my second set of 5 at 170 lbs. There was some girl doing some silly calf machine just a few feet behind me, and her proximity was making me paranoid, and thus my form suffered...a lot. I must have rounded out my back and used it more than my legs on the last rep I did, but I felt this awful tearing sensation going all through my lumbar area. I didn't want to drop the bar, so I lowered it back down, and the pain was almost unbearable. I got out of there as quick as I could. I couldn't bend over and it hurt so damn bad just standing or walking. I drove myself home, and took a Flexaril and a Vicodin from an older prescription (stupid I know, but I had to do something, and they had only expired a month ago). And then I got in the bed. I almost couldn't get back out of it. I called my mom to come and drive me in my truck to a Patient First, because my doc doesn't have an X-Ray in office. I was terrified that I had slipped a disc or something. Well to make an already long story short, apparently its just a spasm like I was hoping. I got a 60 mg shot of Toradol, and a prescription for Valium, Motrin 800, and more Vicodin. Hopefully this passes quickly. I hate the inconvenience of an injury.

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

yuck! that doesn't sounds good @ all! heal up fast!

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http://www.myspace.com/MaryStellaStab
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Get better quickly!

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vegan for the win!

I've been on Valium and Vicodin all week long, so clearly not in the mindset to post anything here. Yesterday the lower back pain was almost completely gone, and I didn't take any pills at all. Today however, it hurts like it did 2 or 3 days ago. I don't want to take any more narcs though, they make me feel like a zombie. Tomorrow is Monday, and the start of a brand new week. I'm gonna try to get back in the saddle and hit the gym in the morning. I guess I won't be doing any deadlifting though, for a few more days. I'm trying to decide what to work on. Benching probably won't be a problem. Maybe some shoulder stuff. Not sure about squats though. Any suggestions?

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

glad u posted i was wondering how you were making out. I was hoping you were totally better but maybe some movement tomorrow will help. keep it light for sure. Not sure what kind of equipment access you have but you can try some shoulder presses, bench press, pushups, pullups, dips, jump rope, rows. if you want to do squats i would try just air squats (not loaded) and see how it goes because loaded squats will compress the spine and force you to stabilize the lower back.

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http://www.myspace.com/MaryStellaStab
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Hope you get better soon man, inuries blow

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My training log

02-01-2010

Thanks for the advice, MaryStella. I actually followed it mostly, as you can see below

Workout:
Bench Press - 160 lbs 3 sets of 5, 155 lbs 2 sets of 5
Military Press - 100 lbs 1 set of 5, 95 lbs 3 sets of 5
Assisted Pull Ups - 5 sets of 5 at 90lb? assistance
Assisted Dips - 5 sets of 5 at 90lb? assistance
10 minutes on the Eliptical at difficulty 10

None of this triggered any back pain whatsoever
I wanted to do some more, but I didn't want to push my luck.

Food:
Bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with Coconut milk and a banana
2 PB Cliffs Bars - cal 500, 11 g protein
2 Navel Oranges
another banana
Strawberry Dried Fruit bar - cal 50
10 kim chi dumplings - 240 cal, 8 g protein
venti green tea from starbuxx
2 plums
a big bowl of brown rice with Bragg liquid aminos and a "meat-free Gardein Tuscan Chikin breast"
4 "meat-free Gardein BBQ skewers" with some badass marinade my wife made, and a cilantro-lime-type sauce she made in the blender
lots of waffle fries (maybe 4 servings?) and no-salt ketchup
broccoli slaw

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

kim chi dumplings sound good.

do you have access to leg machines? i like machines when my lower back is a problem cuz they help me maintain position and i can start weight low and add more on easily. without getting up usually. which is good if you're lazy like me.

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Radical simply means "grasping things at the root." - Angela Davis

They're not as good as I had hoped. A lot of cornstarch in it to give it filling and texture I guess...



There are lots of leg machines at the Y, but honestly, I hate them. Ever since I was a preteen and going to the Y with my father, I have hated the leg extension, the leg press, and the hamstring curl. I find them awkward and uncomfortable. The calf one is okay I guess, but I don't know how useful it is, last time I did it, 100 lbs didn't feel any different from 200 lbs. Maybe I'm just being whiney

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

Glad you were able to workout without any pain!

I get what you're saying about leg machines...I hate most of them too.

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vegan for the win!

02/02/2010

At work today for 24 hrs. Back's bothering me a little. No workout today, unless you include picking up heavy patients on the stretcher. Plus my arms and chest are a bit sore from yesterday. A good kinda sore.

Food:
Bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with Coconut Milk and Soy Milk (not a good idea...I was almost out of coconut milk, so i used it all up, and continued with soy milk...it curdled and was just weird. )
3 bananas
2 navel oranges
sandwhich: 2 slices of Ezekiel bread, Vegenaise, 6 slices of Tofurky lunch"meat", about 2 handfulls of alfalfa sprouts, and a handful of heirloom lettuce (with the red and green kind)
1 PB Cliffs bar
another sandwhich exactly like the one previously mentioned...and then i ate the rest of the lettuce in the box
2 meat-free Gardein BBQ skewers with the aforementioned sauce
broccoli slaw

I could try to eat some more, but we have really run our asses off on the ambulance today and i'm just too tired. gonna go lay down until the bell goes off again

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

02/03/2010

Last night was rougher than I could have possibly imagined. My shift fought a fully involved trailer fire, where 3 small children died inside. That's how bad the fire was. My boys couldn't even get inside because it was that hot, and there was that much fire. It wouldn't have mattered anyway though, those kids had to be dead before our people got there. I thank GOD that I was across the city when this happened. I've had kids die on me before, and I would do absolutely anything not to have to go through that again. My partner and I were at the hospital transferring over a patient we had picked up when this was going on, and we listened to it all on the portable radios we have...It was awful. So the general mood and morale, is currently, as can be expected, very low. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like taking it out on barbells and weight plates. I decided to go to Yoga instead.

Activity:
1 hour of hot yoga. I hadn't been in a while, but with the exception of a few difficult poses/stretches, you wouldn't have known it
1 hour of Wing Chun

Food:
bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with soymilk and banana
3 plums
2 PB Cliff Bars
Strawberry dried fruit wrap (50 cal)
Apple-strawberry dried fruit wrap (50 cal)
another banana
14 kim chi dumplings
half a loaf of Sicilian sundried tomato ciabatta with olive oil
Tofurky kielbasa, brown rice, spinach, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and black-eyed peas

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

Sorry to hear that. I imagine that must be one of the worst things about the job.

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vegan for the win!

wow sorry to hear about work. you've got a tough job for sure. Try to think about everyone you help everyday!

I totally agree about the leg machines. They just are not functional movements. Hope your back is better and your back at it again soon!

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http://www.myspace.com/MaryStellaStab
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02/04/2010

Work-out:
Squat: 95 lbs, 5 sets of 5
- I wanted to try these "deep squats" that everyone had been talking about, so I went down in weight significantly to ensure I did them correctly and safely. I definitely felt that "pride" issue about using less weight for (almost) the same exercise
Dumbell Calf-Raises: 100 lbs x 10, 110 lbs x 10, 120 lbs x 10, 110lbs x 10, 100lbs x 10
Hanging Leg Lifts: 5 sets of 5, no added weight
Reverse Crunches: 5 sets of 10 - I hope I was doing these right

I also tried to figure out the kinda twisting "axe-chopping" simulation exercise on one of the big cable machines, for obliques...but I don't think I was doing it right, so I stopped. Any advice or video links from anyone on this?

The only time I ever really felt any back discomfort was BETWEEN squat sets. Like going under or coming out from under the bar.

Food:
bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with soy milk and some raisins
an avacado
strawberry dried fruit wrap
4 Gardein meat-free BBQ skewers
a big bunch of white grapes
some baby carrots
Tofurky kielbasa, spinach, brown rice, garlic, olive oil, black eyed peas and tomatoes
a banana
Tofurky kielbasa, whole wheat penne, and marinara
sauteed spinach and mushrooms

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu