Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I like icing in 20 minutes on 40 minutes off increments. too much ice can be bad. this way you body has a chance to bring the temp back up and then you hit it with ice again. no tissue damage that way,

art - active release therapy - has been awesome to me for most of the injuries ive sustained over the years. It is soft tissue work where they go in deep and break up the adhesions that form. ill post a website on it below that will explain it much better than I can. It always makes me recovery from an injury quickly after a couple of visit which I love but I have to be honest. It can be painful/uncomfortable while they break things up. Of course they work to you pain tolerance.

http://www.activerelease.com/

I also like the trigger point, foam, stick rollers that you can use at home to break things down.

http://www.networkfitness.com/anaerobic/

03/24/2010
In exactly one month I'll be 30

Workout:
Squat: 95 lb, 4 x 5
-Went light on this just in case. Good thing I guess...I didn't do the fifth set because at the end of the 4th there was a momentary sharp pain in my right knee. It's not exactly new, but it doesn't happen very often either. Usually when I'm climbing up into the fire engine. Not taking any chances anymore.
Hypers: 3 x 10
Hanging Leg Lifts: 3 x 10
Assisted Pull-ups: 60 lbs assistance 1 x 5, 70 lbs assistance 4 x 5
-Really wanted to do all 5 sets at 60 lbs assistance, to keep up with my progress on the Dips, but my right lat was bothering me a bit...I don't really know how to explain it, but it was like a "folding" sensation. I don't know. I'm falling apart
Dumbell curls: 35s 5 x 10

Food:
20 oz soy vanilla latte
Trader Joe's Super Crusade multivitamin
Bowl of pumpkin seed/flax/granola cereal with soy milk and banana
Macintosh apple
2 PB Cliffs Bars
Slushie: (Man this thing was thick, had to eat it with a spoon) 1/3 cup Ultimate Meal powder, 2 tsp vegetarian omega oils, 2 cups Pomegranate-Blueberry juice, 2 and 1/4 cups of frozen strawberries, blackberries, blueberries & raspberries
some bread
a piece of fruit leather
eggplant bhartha w/ rice
tofu pad thai w/ lots of vegetables
2 cookies

03/25/2010
1 hour Wing Chun class

03/30/2010
BW: 199.6 lb
upper arm circumference (just for the hell of it) 14.5 inches (36.83 centimeters)

Workout:
Bench Press: Warm up 135 lb x 5, 160 lb 4 sets of 5, 155 lbs x 4
-Just couldn't get that last rep. Someone ran over to help me . So I didn't count it.
Dumbell Flies: 45s 5x5
Dumbell Shrugs: 45s 5x5
Dumbell Overhead Press: 30s 5 sets of 5
-Went light on this because of the back. Hadn't done anything over my head in a while.
Assisted Dips: 5 sets of 5 at 40 lbs Assistance
-Almost there!
Eliptical: 10 minutes - Interval 2 minute "sprints" on diff 10, with 2 minute "walking" on diff 4
-meh...

Food:
bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with soymilk and banana
navel orange
Koka Moka Pro Bar
PB Cliffs Bar
PB Cliffs Builder Bar
Shake: banana, 1/3 cup Ultimate Meal powder, 2 tsp vegetarian omegas, handful of pea shoots, half a bag of mixed frozen strawberries, blueberries, blackberries & raspberries, soy milk (1/4 liter?)
tempeh stroganoff: tempeh, lo mein noodles, mushrooms and...stroganoff
No Meatloaf - 2 servings
Macaroni and Notcheese - 2 servings
green beans - 2 servings

dont b afraid of 30!

04/01/2010
Had a house fire the night before and honestly was too tired to go lift.
1 hour Wing Chun

04/02/2010
30 no weight squats
Meant to get to the gym this day, but had plans with friends in the afternoon and did not manage my time well.

04/05/2010
BW: 199.6 lbs
Bench Press: Warm up set 135 lb x 5, 160 lb x 5, 160 lb 2 sets of 4, 160 lb x 2, 155 lb x 2, 135 lb x 8
-Just terrible today. Definitely fell off from last week. I actually thought I was gonna get all 5 sets at 160 today. Was so close last week. I don't know what happened today though. Very disappointing.
Pec Fly Machine: 60 x 5, 75 x 5, 90 x 5 x 2, 105 x 5, 120 x 5
- Shoulda used dumbells like I usually do. This machine is stupid, and so was the person using it apparently
Dumbell Shrugs: 50s x 5 x 5
Dumbell OH Press: 30s x 5 x 5
Assisted Dips: 5 sets of 5 at 40 lbs Assistance
Eliptical: Interval for 10 min
1 hour Wing Chun

bowl of grape nuts cereal with unsweetened soy milk and a banana
Superfood Slam Pro Bar
PB Cliffs bar
Smoothie: 2 bananas, 1/2 block of frozen spinach (1 cup maybe?), 2 tsp veg omega oil, 1/3 cup Ultimate Meal protein powder, 1 cup unsweetened soy milk, 1 cup water, half a bag of frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries
7 baby kiwis
small bowl of diced tomatoes
2 halves of twice baked potatoes w/ spinach & vegan cheese
3 chocolate covered pretzels from Vegan Essentials
peanut butter & strawberry jam on ezekiel bread
whole wheat penne with homemade marinara, homemade wheat gluten sausage, grilled squash, onions & button mushrooms

it's awesome that you are getting into the gym with how busy you are! you'll get it back, and surpass where you were last week for sure.

your food sounds yummy

Viva - Thanks for the encouragement. I hope you're right. I feel like I'm struggling now, and it seems too early to be plateauing.

Mary - Yeah, my wife is such an awesome cook, and she's always experimenting. I'm very lucky

04/07/2010
Didn't really have time to go to the gym this day, so I just did some dumbell curls at home (30 pounders, 3 sets of 20). The reason being that I was heading up to the University my wife works at to see some of the "Peace Week" activities. There were some Tibetan Monks there making a Mandala sand painting all week. It was beautiful. Really.
And then in the evening, a reformed Neo-Nazi skinhead from California named TJ Leyden (You may have seen him on The History Channel's "Gangland" program) came and spoke about the things he had done, and hate/racism/organized crime in general, and how he travels the country now doing these speaking engagements. It was EXTREMELY interesting.

04/09/2010
Went and saw the monks (mentioned above) wipe away their sand painting (that they had worked on all week) and put it in little plastic bags and vials to hand out to spectators. Kinda sad to see something so beautiful get destroyed, but part of the significance is that nothing is permanent. They chanted and played horns and drums and things too. Really cool to watch. I've never seen anything like that in person before.

BW: 202 lbs

Workout:
Bench Press: Warm up set 135 lb x 5, 160 lb 4 sets of 4, 160 lb x 3, 155 lb x 2, 135 lb x 5
-Still struggling with this damn 160
Squat: Warm up set (just bar) x 5, 55 lb x 5, 65 lb x 5, 75 lb x 5, 85 lb x 5, 95 lb x 5
-Nothing serious here. I was experimenting with my form. Trying to figure out what was best and most comfortable, and how far down my back to rest the bar.
Overhead Press (standing w/ barbell): 65 lb x 5, 70 lb x 5, 75 lb 3 sets of 5
Hypers: no weight x 10, 5 lb 2 sets of 10
Assisted Pull-ups: 2 sets of 5 at 60 lbs assistance
-Started feeling some lower back discomfort here. Weird huh? So I stopped. Maybe I was too rigid. I don't know.
Asssited Dips: 5 sets of 5 at 40 lbs assistance

Food:
bowl of grape nuts cereal with banana and soy milk
2 more bananas
PB Cliffs bar
smoothie: 2 bananas, frozen blueberries, 1/3 cup Ultimate Meal powder, some soy milk, too much water, half a block of frozen spinach, 2 tsp veg omegas.
PBJ
3 TJ's Organic Tofu burgers with bbq sauce, homemade cole slaw, on whole wheat buns
sauteed zuchinni w/ lemon juice & thyme

04/10/2010

At work today. Wasn't planning on doing anything, and then I played a Slayer song on youtube.

Pull-ups: 10 (not in a row, might do more throughout the day)
Big f'n tractor tire flips: 10 (no one knows how much this thing weighs)
Hitting the tire with the sledgehammer: 3 sets of 10 on each side

Food:
grape nuts cereal with soymilk and banana
20 oz soy vanilla latte from starbux
2 navel oranges
PB Larabar
sandwhich: 2 slices ezekiel bread, TJ's 3 layer hummus, handful of spinach, handful of alfalfa sprouts
PB Cliffs bar
baby carrots
banana
PB Cliffs Builder bar
smoothie:frozen mixed berries, spinach & a banana
2 TJ's organic tofu burgers w/ homemade coleslaw & barbeque sauce on whole wheat buns
leftover zucchini w/ lemon juice & thyme
peach soy yogurt cup

i love your workout for today. The huge tires we have at the gym are approx 300+

Nice rob! I want a big tire really bad!

BBQ faux ribz, mac and faux cheese, greens

04/14/2010

Today is the only day this week I could feasibly make it to the gym. A friend of mine died Sunday night in a motorcycle accident. He was a fellow Firefighter, but in a different locality. We were in the same Fire Academy in 2005. I worked Monday, and spent most of the day talking to other people that were in our academy about it. Yesterday I drove around all day collecting donations for a flower arrangement for the funeral on Thursday, and then I met some guys that were in our academy for a few pints.

Workout:
Hit a few milestones today I guess.
Bench Press: 160 lbs, 5 sets of 5 (Warm up set 135 lb x 5)
-While my personal record is 225 lb x 1 (about 2 years ago), 160 is the highest I've gotten while doing this 5x5 deal, and I've struggling with it for weeks.
Squat: 85 lb, 5 sets of 5 (Warm up set 45 lb x 5)
Overhead Barbell Press: 75 lb, 5 sets of 5
Hypers: 5 lb, 3 sets of 10
Assisted Pull-ups: 5 sets of 5 at 60 lbs Assistance
Dips: 1 set of 5 with 40 lbs assistance; 3 sets of 5 with no assistance, 1 set of 4 with no assistance
-This is the first time in a very long time that I've done Dips without weight assistance. Someone nearby said "If you're that close, why don't you just do it without the bar." I said "I'll try." And this was the result. Good stuff.

Sorry to hear about your friend. Congrats on the bench press and the dips!

Thanks Carrie.

04/19/2010
45 min Wing chun class

04/20/2010
Bench Press: 165 lbs 5 sets of 5 after 135 x 5 warm up
Squat: 90 lbs 5 sets of 5 after 45 x 5 warm up
Overhead Press: 80 lbs 5 sets of 5 after 45 x 5 warm up
Hypers: 3 sets of 10, w/ 10 lb plate
Assisted Pull-Ups: 2 sets of 5 with 50 lbs assistance, 3 sets of 5 with 60 lbs assistance
Dips: 5 sets of 5
Hanging Leg Lifts: 3 sets of 10

Summary:
Bench: Improved on bench again today. In the past two workouts my bench has been better than it was for several weeks prior. I wonder if its because I've had so many rest days in between, or if its because of the coffee beans/coffee I had in the morning prior to each (even though they were several hours apart).
Squat: I'm still not happy with the squats. I don't feel like I'm getting low enough, and I also don't feel like my back is in the right position. I feel like I should be doing much higher weight on this. I look at other people's logs and see their squat is like twice what their bench is. Mine is the complete opposite. My bench weight is significantly higher than my squat weight. That seems odd to me. I don't know if its because of my back injury in February, or if I just have weak legs But this is frustrating as hell. Any advice anyone?