Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hey! I've been more or less vegan for around seven years and just started casually lifting weights a few months ago (after years of pretty casual but regular exercise with activities like yoga, swimming, cycling, trekking). I'm a pretty slim build, male, around 182cm and have usually been 65kilo's, but I've gained about 5ks in the last few months with weight training.

I've just started the stronglifts program, but have decided to mix it up a bit, doing workout A (Mondays), workout B (Wednesdays), then a higher rep/lower weight workout on Fridays. Maybe it's misguided, but the reason I'm not staying strictly on stronglifts is that I'm not really in it to get really bulky, I'd prefer to stay slender but add some size and, my main goal, functional strength.

My diet includes a lot of bread, legumes, nuts, rice, pasta, and veggies. I'll try to post what I'm eating now and then, but am not nearly organised enough to keep track of everything (I live in a collective and generally share cooking, so I don't always know exactly what I'm eating or how much of it). Any advice or comments you want to throw my way would be really appreciated

Stronglifts #1 (Mon - 31/02/11)
Squats: 15kg 5x5
Bench: 20kg 5x5
Barbell Rows: 17.5kg 5x5
Pull ups: 8, 8, 7

Stronglifts #2 (Wed - 02/02/11)
Squats: 17.5kg 5x5
Deadlifts: 40kg 1x5
Press: 12.5kg 5x5
Pull ups: 6, 6, 6

Workout (Fri 04/02/11)
20 mins pilates
30 mins kettlebell (12kg): clean and press, overhead squats, rows, windmills, one armed swings, snatches

Stronglifts #3 (Mon - 07/02/11)
Squats: 20kg 5x5
Bench: 22.5kg 5x5
Barbell Rows: 20kg 55
Pull Ups: 5, 6, 6

Stronglifts #4 (Wed - 10/02/11)
Squats: 22.5kg 5x5
Deadlifts: 42.5kg 1x5
Press: 15kg 5x5
Chin ups: 8, 8, 8

Workout (Fri 11/02/11)
Lat pull-downs: 56kg 3x10
Bench press: 10kg 12reps, 15kg 10reps, 12.5kg 10 reps
Squats: 20kg 3x10
Barbell curls: 21kg 3x7
Lateral raises: 9kg 3x10
Machine flys: 20kg 3x10 (pulling upwards), 2x10 (pulling downwards)

Right on... Yeah tracking my food has been really helpful. I have a form I made and try to fill in all my meals when I can. Really helpful when I began. It may seem like a pain, but it is big plus when you need to look back.
congrats on the stronglifts program.

I think you are indeed slightly misguided . The shape of a muscle can not be influenced by training, it can only grow bigger or smaller. If your goal is strength going too high on the reps makes little sense, but if you with higher reps mean around 10-12 it is no problem. More than that will mainly build endurance I think.

I think stronglift is a pretty good program by the way .

Sticking to Stronglifts is not going to turn you into the incredible hulk. You won't end up looking like Arnold or Ronnie, but you will get strong.

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All the best!

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Thanks for the advice and encouragement all. Here's my log from this week:

Stronglifts #5 (Mon - 14/02/11)
Squats: 25, 5x5
Dumbbell bench press: 22.5, 5x5 (the barbell bench was busy for way too long so I used dumbbells instead)
Barbell rows: 22.5, 5x5
Chin ups: 9, 5, 5

Stronglifts #6 (Wed - 16/02/11)
Squats: 27.5, 5x5
Deadlifts: 45, 2x5
Press: 17.5 5x5
Pull ups: 8/5/4/(break) 5

Workout (Fri - 18/02/11)
Lat pull down: 56k, 10, 49k, 2x10
Machine rows: 49k 3x10
Squat: 20k 3x10
Machine flies (pulling upward): 20k 10, 10, 8
Barbell curls: 21k 3x7
Dumbbell clean & press: 12.5k 3x10
Diagonal "lateral" raise: 10k 3x10
Triceps bar: 21k 12, 12, 8
Machine flies (pulling downward): 20k 3x10

Stronglifts #6 (Mon 21/02/11)
Squats: 30, 5x5
Bench press: 27.5, 5x5
Barbell rows: 25, 5x5
Chin ups: 10, 7, 4 (rest), 8

Stronglifts #7 (Wed 23/02/11)
Squats: 32.5, 5x5
Deadlifts: 47.5, 1x5
Overhead press: 20, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3
Pull ups: 7, 4 (rest), 5, 5

Workout (Fri 25/02/11)
Lat pull down: 49k, 3x10
Machine flys (pulling upwards): 20k, 3x10
Lateral raise: 10k, 3x10
Tri's w/dumbbell: 10k, 3x10
Barbell curls: 21k, 3x7
Squats: 25k, 3x10
Shoulder press (dumbbell, seated): 15k, 10, 10, 8
Leg extension: 45k, 3x10

I think next week I'm going to try dropping the weight on my "free" workout and getting up to 15 reps on most of the exercises. Maybe its better to try to squeeze the lighter workout on Wednesday, between the stronglifts, so that I have longer to recover (over the weekend) after the heavier workout. Does that make sense?

Also, I'm feeling a little stiffness in my shoulders sometime doing lateral raises, something I should watch. As usual have been eating a lot of veggies, pasta, bread (home made with sunflower seeds, linseed), muesli, and smoothies made with chocolate oat milk, oats, linseed, and sometimes some frozen berries.

Keep up the consistent work trilliumfortnight! ...your being watched! haha

Good to know gsop, means I can't cheat Reading your training journal I'm impressed with how fast you've gotten fit and strong!

Stronglifts #8 (Mon 28/02/11)
Squat: 35, 5x5
Bench press: 30 5x5
Barbell rows: 27.5 5x5
Chin ups: 8,6,5

Stronglifts #9 (Wed 02/03/11)
Squat: 37.5 5x5
Deadlifts: 50 2x5
Overhead press: 22.5k 2x5, 20k 3x5
Pull ups: 6, 5 (rest), 5, 4

Workout (Fri 04/03/11)
40 minutes 12kg kettlebell: Swings, snatches, side snatches, squats, lunges, sots press etc. This was really tough, destroyed all my pretensions of fitness. Decided to add more kettlebell workouts as they feel great and are good cardio work. Trying to save up for a 16kg kettlebell.

I'm feeling a bit disappointed that I'm not really progressing with chin ups/pull ups, they are always such a struggle and I don't seem to be able to push out a few more. Some of the 5x5 exercises are getting tough, I failed the last couple of overhead presses and had to drop the weight. Barbell rows are feeling better after getting advice in the bodybuilding/strength training forum.

...That's what it's all about buddy! personal accountability and encouragement! YeAh BuDdY!



...Lift BIG, Eat BIG, Get BIG(GER) !

Where you at Trillium? It's been about a week now! Hope everything is OK??

Ahh, you've got your eyes open gsop! I got pretty busy last week, but managed to fit everything in:

Stronglifts #10 (Monday 07/03/11)
Squats: 40kg 5x5
Bench: 32.5kg 3x5, 2x4
Row: 30k 5x5
Pull ups: 6, 7, 6, 5

Workout (Weds 09/03/11)
Squats, side snatches, swings, sots press, etc. 12kg.

Stronglifts #11 (Friday 11/03/11)
Squat: 42.5k 5x5
Deadlifts: 52.5k 1x5
Press: 25kg 4, 22.5kg 4, 20kg 2x4
Chin ups: 10, 8, 4

Workout (Mon 14/03/11)
Squat: 40kg 3x10
Row: 30kg 3x9
Bench: 32.5kg 8,7,6
Press: 22.5kg 5, 10kg 4, 5, 4, 1
Deadlift: 50kg 5, 52.5kg 5
Dumbbell flys: 12.5kg 8, 8, 9

I'm constantly failing at the overhead press, can't seem to make any progress with it. Everything else is feeling pretty good, bench press is starting to feel pretty heavy, I'm only just getting the last few reps out. I'm not SO pleased with my progress, since I was lifting about the same weight before I started stronglifts, and getting more reps out. The only thing I'm happy with my progress on since starting are the squats, but I never did those with weight before so it's a bit of a gimmie.

Glad to see you're back! ...and that you've still been hitting it hard!
As for struggles with gains, check two things: food and form. Make sure you are lifting with proper form/technique and make sure you're hitting the FOOD real hard before and after lifting (In other words, pretty much all the time) to make sure you have the "go juice" in your muscles to crank out the effort and the nutrients to heal the muscles after. Can't over estimate the importance of the food. I find that if I don't get enough carbs, my muscles fatigue in the middle of sets and the W/O session gets really hard. Just some "food" for thought... If all that's taken care of then, just stay patient and consistent!

OK, I listed what I ate today, to get an idea of what I'm eating on a fairly typical day:
-Bowl of muesli (oats, corn flakes, nuts, dried fruit) with soy milk
-Post-workout drink (heaped scoop of rice protein)
-Bowl of salad (cabbage, carrot, tomato, cucumber, sprouted black beans, chickpeas, oil, vinegar)
-1 litre 'smoothie' (blended oats, spelt, buckwheat, yellow pea protein in water)
-Half a plate of roasted veggies (potato, sweet potato, parsnip)
-Half plate salad (as earlier)
-Tofu (maybe 150g)

Trillium, a general rule of thumb for protein is whatever your weight (in pounds) is, multiply by 1-1.5 to get the number of grams of protein for the day and divide that over the 6 meals - you might be a bit lite in this area.
Also, the meal after the workout should be a much as 25% of the total calories for the day. A HUGE meal. I think the salad may be a bit light for the first meal after lifting. Especially doing SL5x5 - squatting 3x/week. Think LOTS of calories from carbs (post W/O only). For me, I find this to be pretty much the only time I'll eat a lot of rice or other grain, and/or potatoes.
Ultimately, it depends on what your goals are though. Also, not sure how this would affect or is affected by your living in a collective...that obviously needs to be taken in to consideration.
...more "food" for thought. Hope it helps!