Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

January 1, 2011

Today was a scheduled off day but it just seemed strange for me as an author of a fitness book to not exercise on the first day of a new year.

Therefore, I went to the gym, but I didn't lift any weights. I spent 32 minutes on the stair stepper and then spent about an hour stretching and relaxing in the streamroom, sauna and hot tub to give my muscles a much needed break.

I've been training 5 or 6 days a week since the first week in August 2010, never taking more than 3 days off in any given week over the past 5 months.

During that period I spent a lot of time doing full body workouts, crossfit workouts, but made the foundation of my training free weight dumbbell and barbell lifts.

Over the past 2 weeks I haven't used any machines or cables period, aside from the stair stepper for 3 warm-ups, but even for warm-ups I use bodyweight exercises, free of machines. I made a return to barbell squats and deadlifts over a month ago and for weeks now I've focused on compound and free-weight lifts for all exercises, with the only exception being those brief sessions on the stair stepper.

During the summer I got down to about 168 pounds, a weight I hadn't been at since my teenage years. Five months later, I'm now at about 182 pounds and plan to continue to climb. I've been injury-free this entire time because of the stretching and rehab I've been doing and if I can stay injury-free, I'll compete again in 2011 and pursue bodybuilding again.

All for now.

I took some photos today on Jan 1, 2011 relaxed and flexed and I'll post them soon.

Happy New Year!

-RC

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

The road to 200 by Jan 24th.. Didn't you sign up for this course at the Straight Up Gas Institute back in December? I'm not satisfied, I want MORE FOOD!

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Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

N.I.C.E.!

My gains have taken longer than I expected but have been steady and I'm still going strong.

Thanks for making all the food that helps me achieve my vision of GROWTH!

YB!

-RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 2, 2011

Today I met up with my friend Jordan who got me into bodybuilding over 10 years ago! He lives in Wisconsin, I live on the road and we're both visiting Oregon where we grew up and became friends in pre-school. Jordan is probably my all-time biggest supporter and it's always great to see him.

I got there an hour early, which is a nicer way of saying he was about an hour late for our agreed upon meeting time So I warmed up for a full hour mostly keeping warm, keeping blood moving and loosening up my lower back.

Leg Day was on the schedule so we jumped right into it with 10 minutes on the stair stepper and then straight over to the squat rack.

We did about 6 sets of barbell squats. After years of injuries and a constant weak lower back I took the past 7 years off from barbell squats. My legs have still been my best muscle group in my bodybuilding career even without squats but I was ecstatic to bring barbell squats (and barbell deadlifts) back into my routine about 6 weeks ago. I've peaked at squatting 195 pounds but after a beating my lower back has taken for weeks I didn't go beyond 155 pounds today. It's a good 200 pounds shy of my record during my first year of lifting when I put up around 345 pounds before hurting myself (doing squats) in my first year of bodybuilding. Even with relatively light weight, it feels great to be squatting again!

After that we did about 4 sets of dumbbell lunges with 32.5s or 35s in each hand. Then we trained abs for 15 minutes doing a variety of fun and creative hanging leg raises.

I usually do 3 exercises, one for calves perhaps, or another free weight leg exercise, but we opted to take some pressure off the back and train abs.

Then I spent nearly an hour in the steamroom, sauna and hot tub, mostly in the hot tub with jets on my lower back.

I was at the gym for nearly 4 hours in total with warm-up, training, eating, supplementing, heat treatments, changing, etc.

I spent a lot of time stretching these days too....between sets, after workouts, in sauna, etc.

I had 2 Vega Sport Protein drinks and a Vega bar at the gym along with some fruit.

Now I am eating mung beans, tofu, tempeh, spaghetti squash and some sort of sauce Lean and Green made.

Looking forward to working tonight and getting some good rest tonight.

RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 3, 2011

Today was my 8th day in a row training. I've already decided that tomorrow is a rest day. I've been sleeping in a lot and sleeping longer than I have all year so I feel like that type of recovery has allowed me to keep up this training schedule which has me at the gym 2-3 hours a day, nearly everyday! I'm also using a ton of Vega products especially pre-workout powders every single day and Vega Sport Protein usually twice a day. I was using creatine the past 2-3 weeks but didn't the past few days. I'll get back on that tomorrow, even on a rest day, and then cut it out in a couple of weeks before I go to LA.

I might be doing some photo shoots with IFBB Pro Figure/Bikini women so I don't want to be holding too much water...though for now, I enjoy it

Knowing that I may have photo shoots in about 4 weeks I started to add in a bit of cardio this week for the first time in about a month or two. Granted, a lot of my workouts are total body, aerobic workouts and I keep fit that way.

Today I spent 33 minutes on the stair stepper, 12 minutes on a stationary bike and then did about a 52 minute arm workout with free-weights only, as I've been doing for every muscle group for 3 weeks now. No machines, no cables, no exceptions.

I did a ton of sets because I had short rest periods. At first I wasn't that into it....the first 15 minutes I was going through the motions from being tired from tons of late nights and long gym sessions and sleep that hasn't always been as steady as I had hoped. But as soon as I made myself fully aware of the fact that I wasn't as focused as I should be, I made an immediate change, rolled up the sleeves of my sweatshirt, exposed the forearms full of veins and got the $*&% down to business!

Tonight's workout ended up with 6 sets of each of the following:

EZ Curl Bicep curls
Alternating dumbbell bicep curls
Alternating dumbbell hammer curls

Dumbbell tricep kickbacks
Dips

I finished with about 10 minutes of ab work then headed back to Lean and Green's house where I am staying and he loaded me up with food. More food than I can keep up with. I also had a post-workout Vega Sport protein drink, tangerine and burrito on the way home where then I found 3 plates of food prepared for me. Wrapped up 2 of them pretty much.....still a few pieces of food on each plate to finish but soooo full.

As usual, well after midnight and I'm still up. I need to start getting to bed earlier. I've been telling myself that for 2 weeks since I've been averaging around 2:30AM as my bedtime (6 nights in a row past 3AM) and many past 2am).

Luckily I sleep in a lot, waking up at 10 or 11AM and sometimes even take a bit of nap or lie down during the day

Bodybuilding takes up so much of my time these days, many hours a day with all aspects combined. It makes me sleep a lot more than usual.

Night Night!

RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

everything sounds good RC!

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January 4, 2011

Today I'm taking the day off so I'm updating my journal around noon rather than midnight at the end of my day.

As I wrote about earlier, I did indeed sleep in. I awoke around 10:30AM today after being up until 2AM or slightly later. Lean and Green made a big green drink that he shared with me. In fact, he made a gallon....yes a gallon of various drinks just for himself that he took to work. Some Sun Warrior protein, others spirulina, others blended greens and fruits like avocado, apples, etc. Pretty hardcore! I packed some fruit for him and he added other food too. We work well together both supporting each other get back into the bodybuilding game.

Anyway, I've only been up for 2 hours or so but started the day off with some fruit, a joint supplement, Vega Sport energy drink, a green drink, a bowl of shredded wheat and almond milk and a bit of tofu. Later I'll eat fruit all day, more tofu, tempeh, mung beans, etc. I'll take creatine as I mentioned yesterday and likely some Vega Sport Protein.

Even though today is an off day, I'll be spending a lot of time eating, supplementing and resting

I'll also work, shipping out some things today, signing and selling more books to various stores, doing some writing, posting online, drumming up more Vega sales, etc. The usual stuff. I enjoy working from home very much, wherever home is.

Pumped to go to the LA Fit Expo in 4 weeks! Should be super sweet!

Welp, back writing and promoting Vega here and there online.

Have an outstanding day everyone!

-RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Love reading your training journal. He took GALLONS with him to work? Wow so impressive!

You two sound like a really great team.

I hope you had an enjoyable rest day!

Steph

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Blog: http://www.stephanieberard.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephani ... 1450376118
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stephanieberard

Yeah, over a gallon of spirulina and other drinks, just like a I wrote about in my book. He's an interesting one!

We're making a great team right now. He's out at the gym now. I'm taking an off day and getting a ton of work done including supporting his store www.veganproteins.com by getting a couple of orders for him today

We keep each other going strong. I went shopping for food while he was busy at work, I shipped out orders he needed shipped, he makes food and supplies me with supplement discounts etc.

Works for me!

Oh....time for my creatine I promised I'd drink today as I still focus on bulking up.

Yeah Buddy!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 5, 2011

This morning I did a cross fit exercise session. I was up late, past 2AM again and was up at 8:30AM to head out with Lean and Green.

My boss gave me a workout to do today as I expressed interest in doing cross fit the next few weeks in preparation for photo shoots. I did a lot of cross fit this summer and got super shredded. I'm a little softer now even if I weigh more and have more muscle. I'm still eating a ton and only doing free weights and bodyweight exercises but looking to pick up the aerobic conditioning too.

He gave me a very simple one today.

Simply 150 box jumps and 150 dumbbell swings (like Kettlebell swings) in whatever set range I wanted, say 25 reps at a time for 6 sets.

It seemed far too brief for me. So I just did set after set for an hour and ended up with about 400 box jumps and 300 dumbbell swings. I didn't count, could have been more. Some sets were 50 box jumps at a time, many were 30 and most commonly 25. I never went over 30 dumbbell swings and used a 30 and then a 35 for most of it.

An endurance workout for sure. I was sweating like crazy and I don't normally sweat much at all.

I'll start to post random training/food/lifestyle pics to spice up my blog a bit.

When I got home I combined 4 supplements into a bottle and went to town: Vega Sport Protein, Vegan Proteins, Baxyl and creatine monohydrate.

I also had Vega Sport Energy Drink before and during my workout.

Now eating some tempeh and tofu that Lean and Green prepared and then have a lunch date later on in about two hours. Gotta go ship a t-shirt now too.

Yeah Buddy!

RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 6, 2011

I've got to be be quick. I trained this morning and then have been driving for more than 5 hours today in the car but a total of 8-10 hours of stops and running errands for various projects.

It's already late at night and the Producer of Forks Over Knives www.forksoverknives.com who is a training partner of mine arrives at the airport tonight at 1130PM and I'll be picking him up. Already went grocery shopping for him

I'm on the radio tomorrow, TV next week, finishing 2 magazine interviews, wrapped up an e-book contribution and I'm writing my new book as well. Quite busy these days but nonetheless I have trained 12 of the past 13 days and have not missed more than a couple of days in a single week since August

Today I did an hour long cross fit workout with dumbbells that consisted of repeated sets of

Dumbbell deadlifts
Dumbbell swings - essentially dumbbell cleans with a neutral grip
Dumbbell overhead press
Dumbbell front squats

I do 5 reps of each sequentially and that is 1 set. I did about 30 sets total but only 8 of deadlifts as I wanted to give my low back a rest.

The most I did was 5 cycles with no break...which I guess is 100 reps if my math is correct. Then I did series of 2, 3 or 4.

I ended up with around 30 sets, didn't keep track after the first 15 o 20. Just pushed it for an hour and was soooooooooo sweaty! I was there about an hour and 20 minutes but 10 min was spent on abs at the end and 10 min spent talking to Ed Bauer, Champion Vegan Bodybuilder who works and trains there. We have as many as 6-10 forum members who train at the same gym. A year or two ago I'd see 2-5 forum members a day, no matter what time of day I trained

Anyway, I guess that is my "quick" or "brief" post for today.

I really need to eat and then get in the car in 40 min to get the movie producer.

Busy week with Forks Over Knives. They are sending me out on tour with the film too and I'm also going to be touring with other groups and projects in 2011.

It's getting really busy.

As soon as I sell enough books to afford to do so, I really, sincerely (and have been saying this for years) plan to move to the Caribbean or SE Asia and live quietly out in the sun working out, eating fresh fruits and other local fresh food and write books.

My new book should rock, my current book became an Amazon Best-Seller and I'm pumped about training and would love to do so in the sun somewhere warm year round.

OK, the post is no longer brief now.....

RC

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Sounds cool! Keep working hard and have a great day

January 7, 2011

I went to bed around 3AM and was a little sleepy this morning but took myself downtown and did this 30- min radio interview:

http://bit.ly/fLSXtZ

Been eating like crazy since Lean and Green keeps making so much great food!

Off to the gym now.

Truth be told, with so many late nights and cold weather and a bit of stress and driving 6 hours yesterday, I'm not feeling as pumped as I should be about training. I have hit 12 of 13 days and could take today easy.

I'm going to the gym but have yet to decide what to do. I may simply do a bit of cardio and then sit in the sauna.

I may hit some free weights and power forward.

I'm not sure yet.

Later tonight I'll watch Forks Over Knives with the Producer during the big Portland Premier weekend. Then I gotta sleep.....possible group workout tomorrow so I'm keeping busy. I'll focus on sleep and recovery in general and keep plowing along.

RC

...........continued.........

So, I went to the gym and though I didn't feel very well, I decided to power through it. Not really in an ego kind of way but in a way that I know I have a lot of challenges coming up in my life in general over the next few months in various areas and I didn't want to allow myself to give-in from that perspective, even if from a bodybuilding perspective, a break probably would have made the most sense. I will take a day off this weekend and two full days off next week for recovery too. I've been sleeping quite a bit and supplementing so I've felt my recovery has been just fine.

I ended up doing a back workout, all free weights and made the most of it. I even surprised myself by doing a set of 26 pull-ups (narrow grip). Most of my other sets were around 12 reps, but I was in the middle of the set and Lean and Green came by from the squat rack where he had been training. He was standing there watching and it fueled me to double up and get more than 25 in a single set

It's late now and I have a fan who came down from Seattle to train with me tomorrow morning and the alarm is already set so I really need to get going. But here is my workout recap:

Wide grip pull-ups x 5 sets
Narrow grip pull-ups x 5 sets
One arm dumbbell rows x 5 sets
Incline Prone dumbbell rows x 8 sets
Dumbbell shrugs x 6 sets

Ended up with almost 30 sets on a day I thought I might just sit in the sauna.

I also saw another forum member there and saw a different forum member the day before.

It's nice to be back in bodybuilding again!

And good to be "home" for a while but also excited to get back to LA and FL.

Night Night!

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 8, 2011

A little tired last night no doubt, but the alarm went off this morning and I rolled out of bed ready to go. Granted it took me a few minutes of sitting there in bed before I really got going. But once I got going, I got pumped!

I was meeting one of my fans who drove all the way down from beyond Seattle to Portland, over 3 hours to train with me and hang out. So I brought my enthusiasm, my muscle and we had a great workout. We spent 2 hours in the gym training/visiting. We trained for a sold hour and then visited for a while and then got pumped all over again doing another 10 min of exercise for a few photos we took for fun. I'll include those later.

As usual, for 3 weeks now without a single exception, there were no cables or weight machines involved.

We did about 4 sets each of:

Dumbbell lateral raises
Dumbbell front raises
Dumbbell rear delt raises
Dumbbell overhead press

We did about 4 sets of:

Dumbbell alternating bicep curls
Dumbbell alternating hammer curls

3 sets of:

Incline dumbbell chest press
Incline dumbbell flys

3 sets of

Dumbbell shrugs

5 sets of push-ups

Some bodyweight squats

Pretty solid workout, covering a lot of the upper body. I trained back yesterday so left it along today but hammered chest and shoulders pretty well.

I then had Vega, Creatine, Baxyl and the following foods/drinks: Rice milk, tofu, tempeh, garbanzo beans, avocado, salsa, banana, tangerine, water.

Time to work now. Gotta keep selling books and Vega to pay the bills

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

January 9, 2011

Today I slept in big time! Yeah Buddy! I've been pushing it pretty hard, lots of late nights so today I slept in until about 10:30AM and got out of bed slightly after 11AM

I met up with Forks Over Knives Producer Brian and we trained legs. We went to an athletic club downtown and since there was a basketball court and we're both huge basketball fans we hooped it up for about 45 minutes before lifting. It was incredible cardio. I jumped up and grabbed the rim easily like in old days and I was so winded after playing a couple of games of one on one and general shoot around.

So much fun!

Then we hit the weights and only had about 45 minutes before I had to go to move my car in paid parking. So we made the most of it and used the whole time to do dumbbell lunges followed by a superset of bodyweight squats. Though it was a short workout, I was pleased because my lower back felt like it needed a week off from squats and I had planned a week ago to just do lunges for my leg workout. I would have liked to have done 8-12 sets but in the time we had I did 6 long sets that were super tough.

I gathered up my gym bags and sprinted 10 blocks to my car to avoid getting a parking ticket which I got the day before and don't have money to cover it. My shoulders were feeling it like crazy from holding the dumbbells for so long during sets of lunges and since my bags were filled with clothes, food, supplements, etc. I made with 10 minutes to spare, felt bad for leaving the gym a bit early so in my jeans I had changed into I continued doing lunges along the sidewalk in downtown Portland Nice!

I also went to Brian's hotel downtown to hang out before dinner at Blossoming Lotus and while at the hotel I did more bodyweight squats, a bunch of stretching and some calf raises. I just extended the workout a bit.

We went to Blossoming Lotus with some friends and then to another Sold Out show of Forks Over Knives! 8 sell-outs in 2 days for that movie! It's rocking Portland!

So, had a solid day today training legs which now makes it 16 of the last 17 days in the gym! Pretty sweet. More sleeping in tomorrow for more recovery ahhhhh

Night Night! Sweet Dreams all.

_________________

Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1