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Jesse's Finishing what I started! Snow Snow here i come...


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I plan on using this to show my progress in the upcoming weeks as i lose bodyfat and increase muscle mass.I got a membership at LA Fitness and I have my own Gold's Gym Adjustable Dumbbell set for home to use.My overall goals right now are basically to get more healthy and to go almost completely Raw for my food intake.I have made mass improvements over the past year going from 250 on Jan. 1, 2010 (the day i turned vegetarian) to 174 (Late July).I have gained a little since then but i am eager and willing to get back on track.

Edited by jbrickzin
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Today i started the stronglifts program, i am going to give that a shot..

 

Squats i did 5X5 @ 45 pounds (bar only)

Bench press 5x5 @ 45 pounds

Inverted Rows 7,5,3

Reverse crunches 12,12,12

Push Ups 10, 6

Mod push ups 10

 

My upper body is definitely the weak point, it will probably be a couple weeks before i start testing myself with the squats..Bench Press was pretty easy but like with the squats it is about developing proper form right now so so i just got go with the flow.Inverted Rows really showed me where my weak point is, my shoulder and back muscles.I am definitely going to love and hate doing these (and chin ups for that matter), because they are going to be a struggle but a struggle well worth it.

 

Still need to work on my diet, I plan on getting the Vega Meal shake thing on Friday...I have Hemp powder, flax seed, wheatgrass powder to add to my diet.need to cut out the junk food and eat more veggies.drink more water and cut the soda.

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Cool! Hope you like the program. It's worked great for me (when I eat and sleep enough...)

Flexibility was a big issue for me with squats. I find it useful to do this stretch: http://stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/squat-stretch.jpg. I do this 3 or 4 times a day for 30 seconds.

Sorry if I'm giving you unsolicited advice.

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todays report....

 

Squats 50 pounds 5x5

Overhead Press 45 pounds 5x5

Deadlift 90 pounds 1x5

Chin/Pull Ups 5,6,3 couldn't do one pull up so i used the assistance chin up bar and spotted myself 120 pounds for these..need alot of work here.

Prone Bridge 3x 30 seconds.

15 minutes of shooting baskets afterwards

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Hey man, just dropping in to say hi! Stronglifts is a great program for building up base strength in the main exercises.

 

If there's one thing I'll say it's make sure you stretch properly. I probably could've avoided months of frustration and missing squats if I stretched out my groin properly. Dynamic stretches are great as well for improving flexibility and to use as warmups.

 

Next workout try doing pushups before reverse crunches so that your abs are solid.

 

One thing I found helped with chin/pullup strength was doing 10 negatives after my 3xF. Jump up above the bar and lower yourself as slowly as possible.

 

Your bodyweight numbers look normal for someone starting out, don't worry about it. It's not uncommon to not be able to do a single chin, and to be not hitting chest to bar in inverted rows for many reps, and having low numbers in pushups. Also don't be discouraged with the upper body lifts becoming hard quick. Most people I know start to struggle round about 30-35kg on press, and 40-50kg on bench. You get 3 attempts at a weight (and always attempt all 5 sets no matter how early you fail) before you do a 10% deload. It's normal, don't get frustrated by "weak points" early on. You do the best you can every workout and never worry about numbers or what you think you "should" be making.

 

Look forward to reading about you getting strong

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Thanks for the advice guys. tomorrow i am going to to start going more strict on my diet, i am going to do a simple version of the thrive diet i think.I ordered some more berry flavor vega shake (have tried natural and vanilla)..need more ground flax seed and of course the fruits and veggies...busy shopping day ahead for tomorrow.

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Todays workout

 

Squat: 55 pounds 5x5

Bench press 50 pounds 5x5

Inverted Rows 6,6,4

Mod Pushups 14,9,6 (couple more times of modified then i'll move on to the more manly ones lol)

Reverse Crunch 20,20,13

 

Bench is still 2-3 weight increases away from being a challenge, started to feel the squats today on around the 4th set had to push on the 5th but got all 5 reps..(might be because i was still a little sore from Wednesday) Inverted Rows i am not even sure if i am doing them right, I am gonna have to go to Youtube and check some videos.Overall good workout...

 

 

on the dietary note today i really kept track of what i ate..something i haven't been paying much attention to lately.I ate a total of 1390 calories today give or take a hundred or so...out of that 108 were carbs, 55 grams of protein, 47 grams of fiber and 51 grams of fat (most of this came from cold pressed olive oil and Hemp powder)...

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Todays workout was kind of tough..I struggled the last set of squats and still having trouble with the chin ups.It is going to take time.I walked to the gym this morning and then walked to work from there for a total of about 4 miles or so.nice walk to start the morning.

 

Squats 5x5 60lbs

Overhead Press 5x5 50lbs

Deadlift 1x5 100lbs

Chinups/Pull Ups 9,6,5

Prone Bridge 3x30 seconds (not really sure what the point is for these.might substitute these for something else)

 

Diet wise i would say today was just about 90% Raw.I just about ate 2000 calories today.I probably should be more calories but I feel stuffed not sure how much more i can eat.I ain't to worried about this right now though, Just gotta keep going at it.

 

Oh i also went from 189 to 185 so i lost four pounds over the last week.

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Good work so far!

 

Though, I do second the notion that you won't want to cut calories too far. I learned my lesson the hard way, putting yourself into extended starvation mode only shoots your metabolism in the foot and will make it that much harder to lose any extra fat in the near future (more than likely, your body will be eating away at lean mass on such a restricted calorie diet unless it is loaded with tons of protein and BCAA supplements). Based on your height and build, I'd strongly suggest that you don't go under 2000 cal/day, and on days you're training, definitely go higher as you can't build muscle on a caloric defeceit. You can gain a bit of strength just from putting your body to use via lifting for a bit, but those gains will come to a grinding halt all too soon if you're not getting the proper fuel.

 

Just don't cut those calories too far, it's no fun having to re-learn all the points about how much your body needs when you crash hard from inadequate caloric intake over an extended period of time!

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9-29-2010

 

Squat 5x5 65 lbs

Bench Press 5x5 55 lbs

inverted rows 9,6,4

mod push ups 15,12,10

Reverse Crunches 25,20,20

 

yesterdays calorie intake 2231 (85 grams protien, 382 grams carbs, 60 grams fat, 86 grams fiber)

todays calorie intake 2099 (74 grams protein, 421 grams carbs, 30 grams fat, 92 grams fiber)

 

I am trying to raise my calorie intake.I think the higher the weights i go the more i'll start to eat.but yeah i need to add more beans and nuts that are calorie dense.but yeah i am working at it..

 

I think on Friday i am going to raise everything 10 pounds instead of the usual 5 and see what happens.

 

anyways time to do some cardio.

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Listen to VeganEssentials. I'm training up my mate, he's making great weight loss, and we do strength training too. The newbie gains last for only so long and then strength gains will start to suffer. We knew this was going to happen, I said after a while he'd have to be taking in a caloric excess to make gains.

 

But difference is with my mate, our main goal for him is fat loss at the moment. With most people who start with extra body fat who want to get lean muscle is to get the muscle first (eat more, lift heavy), because if you cut bodyfat first there's going to be nothing there to show. My friend has good genetics and without working out a lot in the past you could see already he has a lot of lean muscle mass. After the first 7 weeks strength gains had started to slow, will be a lot of maintenance lifting till he hits his weight target probably!

 

 

Stronglifts 5x5 page starts with "StrongLifts 5×5 is the popular training program that will make you gain muscle and strength while losing fat".

 

Then you get yesterday's blog http://stronglifts.com/should-you-build-muscle-or-lose-fat-first/

 

I think stronglifts is a great beginner program and they have decent pages on exercise form/technique, but some of the claims on the site and endorsements are ridiculous. Diet pages are awful too - actually some real bad advice in there.

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I think on Friday i am going to raise everything 10 pounds instead of the usual 5 and see what happens.
Wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't matter how light the preceding weight is, it's better for your body to gradually adapt to the heavier weights. Not just for strength, your technique (especially-this is why stronglifts starts you at an empty bar), joint strength, recovery. I've seen a lot of people to eager to pack on the weight and get injured.

 

Be patient man, it'll get heavy before you know it. You're adding 15lbs a week to your squat and 5-10lbs on your other lifts.

 

You don't need to be absolutely done in at the end of a workout for it to be effective!

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thanks for the advise Chewy.

 

calorie intake

9-30-2010 3077 cals 134 g P, 540g C, 53g f

10-1-2010 2622 cals 91 g p, 494g c, 57g f

 

wasn't able to get to the gym yesterday do to overtime at work so i made do with my adj dumbbells for my workout.I tried to do pullups at work using crossbeams but didn't work out to well.dumbbells isn't the same so hopefully the overtime won't be a issue or i just have to go to the gym after work.

 

Front Squats 5x5 70 pounds

Overhead Press 5x5 55 pounds

Deadlift 1x5 110 pounds

crunches 35,35,30

 

later on today when i get back from my grandfathers Birthday party (should be interesting with my vegan ways surrounded by not so vegan ways people, one of which likes to heckle me on facebook posting stupid eating red meat comments and such.., at least the restaurant has a salad bar) I plan on doing at least a half hour on my Spinning Bike and hopefully go to the park and get some negative pullups done to make up for yesterday..

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That's very rude of him to heckle you like that.... I hope you are able to find vegan food and have fun at the party!

 

And yes, I started a log! Thanks for noticing. It didn't feel right to post on your training journal if I didn't even have one going.

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10-4-2010

 

I managed to be lazy all weekend.should have at least some cardio on one of the days, really need to start kicking my ass with that.

 

anyways todays workout and what a busy one it was an AM and PM session today

 

am workout

One hour walk (total time) to and back from gym

Squats 5x5 80 pounds

Bench press 5x5 65 pounds

Inverted Rows 8,6,4

Push Ups (no moderations this time, i am moving up in the world) 8,6,5

Reverse Crunches 25,19,15

 

10 minutes on the crossramp machine after workout

 

 

PM Cardio:

Ex Bike 20 minutes

Rowing Machine 5 minutes (this seemed kind of pointless)

Elliptical machine 25 minutes ( got heart rate up to 150)

shot hoops to cool down for 5 minutes

 

 

Keeping Calories over 2000 calories on a mostly raw food diet.I am reading the 80/10/10 diet Book and it is really making some good sense to me...

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10-6-2010

 

Squats 85lbs 5x5

Overhead press 65lbs 4x5,1x4 (my first failure, i couldn't get that last rep up so i will stick to the same weight on monday)

Deadlift 130lbs 2x5

Chinups 135lbs 10 reps, 125lbs 5,4 reps

Prone Bridges 3x30 seconds

Burpees 1x12

 

10-7-2010

45 minutes cardio at the gym (elliptical machine, bike) + walk home (about 2 miles or so)

 

 

10-8-2010

 

Morning:

Squats 90lbs 5x5

Bench press 70lbs 5x5

Barbell Rows 45lbs 5x5

Push Ups 10,6,3 (at least i hit double digits on the first set, last set

Reverse Crunches 30,20,20

Burpees 1x12

 

Afternoon 20 minutes of racquetball hitting (bought a racket today)..almost took my head off a few times, lol..it was fun though + walk home (2 miles)

 

Diet..slowly getting into the raw food thing I have been going all raw food until dinner time, so i can use up all the food i have and not have it just sit there (canned beans, Amy's soups....) still working my way to the 80 10 10...

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spend most of yesterday helping a neighbor rip off and put on a storm door but got some walking in earlier in the day.bought some flax seed, braggs raw apple cider vinegar, raw blue agave to use with it.

 

also bought a weight scale that measures bodyfat..my weight is 187.8 with a bodyfat % of 28.8%..So I think i need to pick up the cardio a little more to make up for the extra calories i have been consuming, last thing i want is to hit 200 lbs again unless i look like a linebacker then it is okay, I am starting to feel stronger and i am starting to see a little definition in my calves.I think the Stronglifts is helping a lot and now that i am testing my muscles a bit more now with the added weight, it is only going to start helping more.hell I actually enjoy getting up at 3:45 in the morning getting ready to hit the gym at 5 am before work. definitely in this for the long haul

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