Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Keep up the work! I'm glad to see you're doing fine

Thanks Robert and vege!

Today:
Morning pressups: 15-15-14

A couple of hours of cycling around town, up n down some hills, with my backpack and back basket getting progressively full until the last few km's were with a very heavy weight, including one arm holding a portable jumpstart unit! (good for balance practice...)

Chinups (Armstrong Program Week 2, Day 4): 3 reps x 12 sets (actually the very last rep was only half up, for all of my straining I couldn't get my chin over the bar) - wish I noted down how many sets I managed last Sunday, but I know it was a few sets less. These were done just prior to dinner.

Eating:
Breakfast: Fruit salad and 2x pieces of my seedy GF bread.
Snacks: Banana, Pear, some nuts
Lunch: Tofu thai curry and some fruit crumble and a slice of bread with spinach and tomato
Snacks: Salad, bread, tofu, dates
Dinner: Dal with freshly made hummus and some raw tomato. Bread with salad topping.

Getting stronger!

It's all taken a bit of effort today...

Morning:
Pressups: 15-13-11
tadasana, Uttanasana, and some other asanas which I don't know the name of.
One set of pullups just before I left the house.
Cycled around a fair bit, again.
Sirsha-asana, not sure how long I held it for, but constant improvement with this one.

PM:
More cycling (including a really big hill, and some other hills), and given that I still haven't fixed my front derailleur this could have been easier.
Pullups (Armstrong week2, day5): decided to repeat day one, but to switch to pullups: 8-6-5-4-4 (Really pushed myself to get my chin up and over on the last rep, I thought I might bust an artery....)

Went and looked at a couple of gyms. Got one that I'm going to join in a couple of weeks, but until then will be starting a few free sessions at a different gym on Friday. Looking forward to it, although I'm still unsure of whether I'll actually use a gym much.

Eating:
Fruit Salad with nuts and seeds.
Snacks throughout day: bananas, pear, walnuts, a soymilk, mandarin, bread (GF, seedy), carrot, some GF sugarless fruit loaf, a chocolate truffle (hand made by my lovely partner, how could I say no?), lentil sprouts.
Dinner: Brown rice with Urad Dhal and raw spinach, brocolli, tomato, capsicum, avocado + homemade hummus.

Also just found that I DID note down last weeks day 4. 5 or 6 sets of 3. I doubled this yesterday! And I've been really hard on myself for not having enough strength. Progress can be seen in the figures and attitude

AM Pressups: 16-14-12 - the first set may actually have only been 15.
PM chinups (Armstrong Program Week 3, Day 1): 6-5-4-4-3

As per usual, a bunch of cycling today, those hills were difficult with achy legs.

Tuesday + Wednesday:
Didn't do much Tuesday, just a bit of cycling.
Yesterday I started the day with... PRESSUPS... 16-15-14 and spent the evening at gymnsatics. Once again working on my bounce, front flips and handstands. Climbed the rope to the rafters and back down, felt a bit tired. Ensured I warmed down and stretched this time to lessen the intense feelings in my thighs this week.
I've really got to improve my bounce!

Been feeling a bit hard on myself. I want more progress! Especially being at gymnastics with amazing trick jumpers, gymnasts, tumblers and circus performers, it's hard to not get a bit down about not being able to do sh*t all. But I'll get over it. If only I could just pull of a forward flip!

I look forward to heading to the gym tomorrow:

And I have some new things I want to start on from tomorrow:
* re-introduce Kum Nye into my morning routine (since starting the armstrong program I've pretty much dropped this)
* start a routine to work on my mid section (I'll decide what after my gym visit tomorrow)
* There are some others, like fitting in more running, but small steps otherwise I'll not keep to it.

AND I took some new shots today:



I don't think there's a huge amount of difference from my last shots, but I think my back has a bit more definition...

Just be patient and do your pull ups I see progress in shoulders and arms! Back also seems to be more defined. You do more push ups then in the beginning, right? You should be satisfied with what you have achieved! Bigger results will come if you persist. Just work out and eat a lot!
Why do you want to go to gym? Shouldn't you do only Armstrong program while on it?

You are doing great and I really like your journal. I will be a follower. I have some questions for you if you don't mind.

Why is it good to not eat wheat? I don't eat much but occasionally I make tacos with whole wheat wraps and I also eat some crackers that I'm sure have wheat in them. What are the benefits to not eating wheat? Does it help you get more ripped? Do you eat oats/quinoa/barley or any other grains. If not, again, why? The reason I'm asking is I'm trying to modify my diet and make it better...

What's the difference between a pull up and a chin up?

Also, my upper body is really weak. I would like to get on track to being able to do 1 pullup. What should I do to make this happen? (I'm a woman, btw)

Your progress pics looks fabulous by the way. You had a good, lean body to begin with and I can already tell that you are changing in your most recent photos. Are you doing any cardio?

Feel free to check out my journal. lol I have lots of different kinds of things in there. Not just about working out and eating.

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I've just been too hard on myself, I tend o compare myself to other people too much, even if they're years ahead of me in experience....

vege, this program is for marines! I'm sure they don't just do a few chinups and pressups each day.... I'm heading to the gym because I have a free 7 day pass and I thought I better use it - I'm planning on working my midsection and legs, I will be keeping away from working my upper body.

Oh and I forgot to write what I was eating yesterday: HEAPS of good whole foods

mizzourunner, I stopped eating gluten (what, oats, barley, rye) as my ex partner wanted to cut it out and it was easier if I did too. After stopping I did notice a change, if I ate gluten I'd have less energy, and often feel heavier with the digestion. I think about 80% of the population is supposed to have issues with the digestion of gluten - and when you mix glutenous flour with water into a paste I can understand why. I have decided, for the sake of my bank balance and convenience that I am happy to re-introduce some wholegrain glutenous grain into my diet.

And I eat other grainy things - buckwheat, corn, quinoa (not very often because it's really expensive), millet, rice. My breads are typically a combination of oranic buckwheat, corn, rice flours with a starch (potato or tapioca).

A pull-up has your palms facing toward you, a chin-up is with your palms facing away from you.

To get to one pull-up I would probably suggest trying three sets of press-ups every day, if you have access to a gym then use the lateral pull-down machine. However both of these are pushing exercises, I don't think there's much of a replacement for pull-ups I'd suggest to just hang from the bar and pull for three sets would probably help too, if you have a friend around then get them to wrap their arms around your legs and assist you over the bar.

For cardio I'm cycling a decent amount every day, go to gymnastics on Wednesdays, and every Thursday I run about 9-10km, but I haven't for the last couple of weeks due to other things needing my time

Just had a quick read of your journal, I will definitely keep following

I'm just curious - how much does quinoa cost per kg in your place? Here it's about $12.5!!! I hate that, because quinoa is my favorite. I wonder how much does it cost in South America where they usually grow it...

Quinoa is about the same here. Way too expensive for me unless I feel like something a little exotic. I can imagine that it's getting really hard for those who have traditionally had it in their diets, given that they probably can't 'compete' with the global marketplace.

Today:
AM
Crossover box pressups: 17-18-16 I used a couple of books as the 'box', with Bill Pearls 'Getting Stronger' on Top to keep me motivated

Kum Nye - instead of holding the poses for 2 minutes each I cut it down to a minute because by this point I was a bit hungry and I hadn't done it in so long. Felt good though!

PM:
Cycled a few km's to the gym. Probably just a couple of km's. I was runninglate though so it was a good effort.
Gym: Worked on an abdominal crunch machine, did leg lifts, some hip machines. I forgot to take a pen and can't remember my exact sets or weights :/ I didn't have much time to spend there today. Their showers are awesome!
Cycled back from the gym.

Armtrong Program, Week 3, Day2: 1-2-3-4-5-4-3

Eating:
Seedy, nutty Fruit Salad
A complex vege salad
Some home baked wholegrain bread
Banana
Quinoa Salad (it was a cafe, I splashed out, YUM! The other option was potato wedges...)
Kumara salad
A couple of bliss balls.

I wish I had some tofu right now...

vege Thanks for the tips!! I will definitely try them!



I can't believe quinoa is so expensive where you live! I buy it out of the bulk bins at my grocery store and its about $3-5 per pound. I guess I'm just lucky?

mizzorunnner, where are you from?

USA- Missouri. Let me re-check the price today though. I'm going grocery shopping so let me just double check. I could be wrong, but I don't remember it being expensive at all.

So, what a weekend!

After the gym on Friday I met up with my (recent) ex. Messy! three hours later and I wanted to hide under the covers for eternity.

I ended up drinking half a bottle of wine during the night, eating cupcakes, sleeping at 5: 30am.
Only to wake at 7:40.
I then attended a memorial service for a friend who committed suicide on Monday. It was a two hour drive away. Got there, drunk some more wine. Oh, had a soy mocha on the way (I hardly do chocolate and very seldom do coffee). I did also have some organic tomatoes, fruit and a wheatgrass shot however.

Got back in the evening, ate some pasta and sauce, drunk some more, went out, drunk some more. Until about 2am this morning when we finally slept.

So yesterday I didn't do my day 3. I did still start my day with pressups:
16-14-13

I woke (around 10) feeling pretty crappy!

AM pressups: 16-14-13
PM (Armstrong Program, Week3, Day3): Chinups: 4-4-4 Close-grip pullups: 4-4-4 Wide grip Chinups: 4-4-3

Decided I will do day four tomorrow and then have my two days off because I want to keep the cycle on the same days.

what's up? working out?

I love that you're on my case brother!

Hell yes! However after the two day of depression and stress I had two days of illness, I tried to carry on but after two pullups was ready to hurl and collapse....

BUT two days ago I had a session with a personal trainer who really pushed me, and yesterday I ran 10km, plus the usual cycling, pressups (haven't managed to restart the armstrong routine yet), been carrying heavy things up stairs most of the day today, been eating pretty well, getting into my yoga.

Not enough sleep and waaaay too busy though.

AND on Monday I start a full-time industrial abseil contracting gig, so will be up and down stairs, climbing, and dangling from ropes all day while carrying/attached to some extra weight

This morning my pressups (the calluses on my knuckles are getting MEAN!) were 16-14-12 so kinda low, ,BUT I did do whole bunch of dips and pressups to break up the run last night (and without a days break since the gym) so I think the not-as-high-as-i-know-i-can-do number is due to my arms being a little weary.

Off for a few days, will update next week, I found some measurements from a number of months ago so looking forward to getting the chance to measure and compare!