Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Just wanted to say every time I need motivation for getting to the gym I just read your blog.
Keep up the inspiring workouts!

February 14, 2011

Thanks Hayley,

I'm pleased that I haven't missed a workout since August or a journal entry the entire year It keeps me pumped and making progress.

Today, Valentine's Day, I blasted my arms with Jason Morris. He missed yesterday's workout so he arrived early and trained back for an hour before I got there. When I arrived, he was super SWOL, he's probably the largest, of all the vegan athletes I train with. Massive arms is what he's especially known for, so I was pumped to train arms with him!

We ended up training arms for 2 full hours, which means Jason's workout was 3 hours in total!

Since he biceps were shot from the back workout and since triceps are bigger than biceps, we decided to hit triceps first.

The workout went something like this:

After 5 min of push-ups and reverse-grip biceps curls, we jumped into it.

Dumbbell kickbacks x 4 sets
Skull crushers x 5 sets with narrow grip presses as super sets after each set
Overhead triceps extensions x 4 sets
Dips x 5 sets

I think there was another exercise in there but I don't recall exactly. Maybe it's just the superset of presses that is throwing me off.

Biceps

We decided to do some exercises I haven't done in months and months...perhaps a year or more. I hadn't done preacher curls or concentration curls in a year or two. I really focus on dumbbell curls and hammer curls, EZ curl bar curls, etc. We picked 4 exercises and did 5 sets of each.

EZ Curl Bar Preacher Curls x 5 sets
Dumbbell concentration curls x 5 sets
Seated Dumbbell biceps curls x 5 sets
Standing alternating dumbbell hammer curls x 5 sets

2 hour workouts that left us exhausted and SWOL! We both drank products during the workout to keep fueled. I had another first....I had tea with me. Normally I have a sports drink but I heated up water and added 2 ginger lemon tea bags to it. He has some spirulina I think. Some sort of green drink he got from www.veganproteins.com

Awesome workout!

After the gym I headed home and spent Valentine's Day with my mother. I showed her how to use her first cell phone (a Jitterbug) and it was cute. Then I watched The Pursuit of Happyness for the 3rd time and off to bed

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 15, 2011

Today was a rest day for me. To be totally honest, I'm not feeling quite 100 percent. I haven't missed workout in 6 months which is excellent, not just for consistency, but for not being ill, injured or have other things get in my way. I haven't had a day off in about a week, so today was a scheduled rest day for me.

I slept in, ate a lot and worked like crazy on my Worldwide Grass Roots Book Promotion Campaign.

Now I should go to bed. It is already after midnight.

A little more food then hitting the sack.

-RC

February 16, 2011

Yesterday I mentioned that I didn't quite feel 100%. It happened to fall on a scheduled rest day so that was good. I took the day off yesterday. Today I woke up feeling so-so, but then I felt pretty good. I walked to the store, ran errands, shipped a bunch of packages, and of course worked like crazy online.

I thought about training today, but also thought about how I have only had consecutive rest days a couple of times over the past 6 months. So, as much as I wanted to go to the gym, I decided to take the day off to rest.

Lately I've also been thinking about my training in general. I've been hitting the gym 5, 6 or 7 days a week for 6 months, never falling into only 4 days a week, and usually around the 5.5 workouts a week mark for half a year. I've made progress, made some solid gains and some say I'm in the best shape they've ever seen me in, even though 6 months ago I was super skinny from taking more than a year off from training. Though I'm having more fun than ever and have to actively convince myself to take rest days rather than train which is what I'd prefer, I think I may change my training frequency to 4 days a week, or perhaps 4-5 days a week. I'm thinking I can benefit from a little extra recovery time (though I feel fine and feel like I'm recovering very well).

I'm lifting pretty heavy these days and I think my joints, muscles and tendons could enjoy an extra day a week of rest and relaxation.

I also hate to admit that I do have some sort of injury....so much for staying injury-free this entire time as planned. My psoas is still injured and I haven't trained abs in weeks, in fact it hurts to even flex my abs and things like running cause pain, as well as sitting up from lying down and other movements. I even took a break from training legs, aside from Sumo Squats which seem to be OK at the moment. Lunges don't feel good at all, and I don't know about barbell squats.

An extra day a week of rest should help me get over this silly psoas issue sooner. I'm still able to do most regular exercises....I put up the 300 lb decline bench press the other day, incline pressed 100's in each hand, do heavy back rows, bicep curls, etc. Shrugs, rows, deadlifts, all seem fine. Just certain movements cause me some pain and I want to get it fixed so I can train abs again and get my squats back in gear.

I spent all day in front of a computer, online working on my book promos, completing interviews, promoting Vega, etc. so my 1-3 hours at the gym each day is a nice break. I even almost went tonight just to take a break from the computer to maybe sit in the sauna or something. I thought about going food shopping too, to get away...but I can't afford to spend money so scratch that.

I've already stuff envelopes for my postcards and I'm waiting for more envelopes and more postcards, then I'll continue with that.

Well, back to my rest day I guess......which means back to work.

Soon I'll be off the internet again like I was last year to finish my next week. No internet allowed when I'm writing and editing. Totally focused. So I guess I'm getting all this promotion and online work out of my system since I'll stay clear of it in just a couple of months.

Have a great day everyone!

Robert

February 17, 2011

I had a really fun day today! Lots of great work online today, went food shopping, got more postcards, Vega samples and shipping supplies, saw friends and of course went to the gym.

It is nearly 1AM now and I have a busy day tomorrow so I'll make this pretty brief.

I trained for 1 hour and 5 minutes in a fast paced workout for shoulders. I got in probably 50 sets. There were lots of super sets throughout the whole workout. I didn't plant it that way, I just enjoyed throwing in a set of shrugs after each set of presses or rows, etc.

It went like this:

Dumbbell lateral raises x 5 sets
Dumbbell front raises x 5 sets
Dumbbell rear delt raises x 5 sets
Dumbbell overheah press x 10 sets

Shrugs x 10+ sets

Straight bar overhead press x 2 sets (then was pinching a wrist nerve so scratched that)

EZ curl bar upright rows x 5 sets

Rear delt/upper back rows lying prone on incline bench x 5 sets

A few sets of jumping jacks were tossed in there too.

Then protein drink, fruit and sauna, steam and hot tub. Then I got my burrito on, then shopped for food, at more food at Lean and Green's house, met up with sister and friends and then ate more food.

Now time for bed.

Hammering my book promo tomorrow.

So driven I canceled two trips to sit in front of a computer to network with bloggers, celebrities, individuals, groups and organizations to help promote my book for the Earth Day Bash, taking my book to the top 100 of all literature. Will be an incredible journey!

-Robert

Yea, Buddy! now that's what I'm talking about! eat, eat, eat! ...Especially the burrito part - those are a staple for me and one of my all-time favorites! I like to make a ton in advance and throw them in the freezer to pull out whenever. Homemade re-fried beans and avocados! OH YEA!

Hahaha! Love it!

Thanks for that hehe. Wow, I guess I really did focus on food yesterday! I train like a machine, like clockwork, like a possessed robot, I make it happen.....lots of effort...but often I don't eat enough.

Time to get my eat on NOW!

Peace!

February 18, 2011

I just looked at the clock as I sat down for "dinner" and said, "Oh God...." It was after midnight. I had a late night workout therefore I'll be up super late winding down. Already almost 1AM and I'm still working on dinner and email replies, etc.

Today I woke up and had some phone meetings and then packaged up a bunch of postcards to ship out to my worldwide team. Feels pretty awesome. Love all this support to get my book to the Amazon Top 100! Funny thing though, I am running out of funding to pay for all the shipping, so all the international packages are all still sitting there. They are packaged and ready to go, but I gotta go sell some stuff to bring in funds before they can be shipped out. The US ones are pretty cheap, just $2.50-$3 for most packages so I'm getting out as many as I can at the moment. Found two pennies on the ground today and an empty bottle redeemable for 5 cents, so pretty pumped about that.

Worked all day and then went to a high school science fair with my sister. President Obama was there earlier as well and met with some of the students after his talk at Intel. My sister's students were great and got a 2nd place award! She was sooooo excited and sooooo proud! She's a wonderful teacher and an outstanding role model. I'm very proud to have her as my sister (she is the person who influenced me to become vegan 16 years ago).

After that she took me out to dinner for being her date for the science fair which wasn't high on my list of interests, but I found it inspiring once I arrived and totally got into it. I was a 5-sport athlete in high school and wasn't very smart until after high school, but I appreciated the intelligence these young people displayed today. Amazing! The President thought so too.

When dinner was over I went straight to the gym. Still digesting my large burrito no less, but hammered out a back and calves workout anyway.

It went like this:

Lower back extensions x 5 sets (some holding a weight)
Wide grip T-bar rows x 6 sets
Narrow grip T-bar rows x 6 sets (I went heavier on both than I have in a long time. Just super motivated to put on some SIZE now that my photo shoots are over, so I'm lifting heavy, eating big, supplementing and even reducing my workouts to 4 a week and no cardio for more rest time, facilitating more growth).

Deadlifts x 6 sets

Calf raises x 8 sets

A lot of stretching in there too.

Somehow with only 23 sets for back exercises and just those short 8 sets for calves it took me 1 hours and 20 minutes. I was doing a lot of stretching and had longer rest periods with deadlifts. I guess I'm also comparing it to my 50-set day yesterday which was done in about an hour, but it was super fast paced and full of super sets.

I had a protein drink in the locker room, some fruit in the car and now I'm eating potatoes, tofu, avocado and I'll have something else before bed.

I should really head to bed soon. I'm shipping out more postcards and Vega to a few more US addresses tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the results of this project.

Next week I'll be hanging out at the park for meals with Food Not Bombs. I used to work with them about 15 years ago. As a high school kid I would make vegan meals that were free to the public, and I enjoyed that experience a lot, feeding the homeless and others who wanted a free vegan meal. Now, 15 years later, I'll be going there for the free vegan meals to save money on food expenses.

Well, that's all for tonight.

Night Night!

Hugs.

RC

rc - hear your heading out on the road again soon. hoping it is somewhere near me this time!

February 19, 2011

Hey Marystella,

I've been invited to speak at Vegetarian Summerfest so I'll likely do that this summer and be in that area. I hope to spend some quality time in the DC/MD area too. Maybe from there get to PA, not totally sure yet.

I do plan to tour for the rest of the year, but not necessarily a new city every week, but staying in select cities for perhaps a few weeks at a time. I've got a lot up my sleeve for 2011.

Today I did a pretty good job at sleeping in. Not my best performance but it was pretty solid.

Of course, I was up super late last night from my late night workout.

Today I shipped more packages, felt pretty awesome about that. I had about $60 left on a credit card so I used nearly the rest of it, but got packages out and I really believe this global effort will really yield great results. I'll just keep powering forward.

After shipping and then eating a big burrito for some extra fuel I headed to the gym. I was thinking all morning and early afternoon about training chest or legs. I was have an internal battle not sure what to train. I've taken 3 weeks off from training legs because of my "still" injured psoas, but I know there are some leg exercises I can do, perhaps even squats and I really wanted to make a return to doing them soon. I also really wanted a big chest day, back up to 300lbs on the bench.

Even on the locker room I still hadn't decided what to train and was weighing different options in my head. I decided I'd go up to the gym floor to see if I'd see anyone I know who would want to spot my heavy chest workout. If I didn't find anyone, I'd do a leg day, even shortly after eating that big burrito.

I got up there and sure enough I saw one of our forum members, a member I haven't seen at the gym in a very long time, CountAgranoff. He was just about to train chest so I was sold. We trained chest together and it was awesome!

It went like this....

A couple of sets of push-ups to warm up as well as a couple of sets of 95 and 135 on flat bench.

Then working sets:

Flat Bench Press
185 x 10
225 x 3
245 x 1
255 x fail, needed a spot

Decline Bench Press
225 x 9
275 x 1, + 1 assisted
295 x fail, needed spot
245 x 6, + 1 assisted

Incline Dumbbell Flys
30s x 12
35s x 10
40s x 8
45s x 6

Incline Dumbbell Press
75s x 10
80s x 9
90s x 6
75s x 8

Dips
Bodyweight x 12
Bodyweight x 10
Bodyweight x 10
Bodyweight x 12

Protein drink, fruit, even a bit of cake (bulking and will eat whatever I want).....

Then I had dinner with one of my favorite people in the world, forum member Ravi Raman. One of the reasons, aside from being broke, that I decided to skip my Canada trip was knowing that Ravi was coming to Portland. I had called him to tell him some exciting news from Louisiana last week and he mentioned his trip to Portland then. So I stayed around, we had vegan pizza, talked for hours and I was inspired once again.

Ravi really helped inspire my writing career. Sure I had wanted to be a writer since I was 8 and wrote 5+ books before meeting Ravi about 5 years ago, but it was meeting with Ravi that inspired me to not only write a complete book, but to get it published, have it on shelves and inspire many. I owe a lot of gratitude to Ravi. He has a quote on the back cover of my book, a testimonial inside the book and has a quote on the back of my book postcards as well.

Today he gave me another challenge....to quit delaying to stay my BLOG! Sure I keep a journal here on the forum, but tonight I started:

http://robertcheeke.wordpress.com/

I'm still learning how to set up the blog. I don't know how to create background images or have a visible profile pic, etc. I'll have to watch tutorials to learn more.

Well, time for more food, more bulking and then sleep.

I sleep on the floor at my sister's apartment. She's watching a movie so I can't go to bed yet. Not super comfortable, but the price is right. I've been living rent-free since June and will continue to do so for the entire year of 2011 until I can get caught up.

Night Night!

NBA All-Star Game Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO PUMPED! Gotta go to a bar or the gym or something. Gotta watch my favorite sport and favorite sport's organization. NBA!

Where can I get your book in the UK? I've been on Amazon.co.uk and it says not available till may this year?

Hey! Thanks for asking.

You can get it from lots of vegan stores like www.veganessentials.com, www.veganproteins.com etc. and they ship to the UK.

You could get it directly from me if you wanted as well. I have a few copies on me. Shipping is flat rate international at $13.95 I believe. I ship all the time, but don't recall if it is $13.45 or $13.95, but I think .95. If you wanted to get it directly fro me I can save you $5 from book cost, charge exact shipping and not extra and send it along with some supplement packets too.

All you have to do is send total via PayPal to robert@veganbodybuilding.com. I'll be traveling again soon for work so all extra funds this week are super helpful too so I appreciate your interest!

If interested, I can sign to you and ship myself. $15+13.95 would be the total. $28.95. I normally charge the full book price at $20 + $14.95 to cover the cost of shipping envelope too, but for someone who reads my journal, happy to save you a bit, since I know it's a lot for shipping.

All the best!

Enjoy reading.

Robert

http://robertcheeke.wordpress.com/

February 20, 2011

I've got to be brief today though I enjoy the more detailed updates.

It's getting close to 2AM, I didn't sleep last night and trained legs today so rest and actual "sleep" is needed soon.

Had an interesting day full of highs and lows, a reason I'm still up.....

Met with some friends during my final week here in Portland for an all you can eat vegan buffet. That was awesome and even more awesome to come home, step on the scale and see more than 190lbs reading at me, since I was in the 160's a few months ago...but of course I had clothes on and was full of food. I'm really like 182 and hopefully climbing faster now that I'm not cutting for photo shoots, etc.

Was so tired afterward I worked on new articles for the new VBB.com site we'll launch soon then passed out.

Woke up, went to the gym, trained legs. Somehow I was there for 1 hour 20+ min but only managed about 12 sets of squats. Maybe it was more but that was the only exercise I did I just did set after set after set for the whole workout. First full leg day in 3 weeks and it didn't really bother my psoas at all, so I can keep up the squats of various styles, just no lunges.

I only got up to 165lbs today (funny I bench much more than I squat at the moment) but that was what I could handle today.

Lean and Green was with me.

I was stressed about $, the main reason I'm still up trying to problem solve and pay bills so a bunch of forum members/vegans went out to the nickel arcade and gave me a bag of nickels so I could play along too. I was just going to watch since I couldn't afford to play, but Lean and Green hooked me up with some coins and we played air hockey, raced cars, I played lots of shooting games, etc. I really had fun and forgot about stress for a while...until I got home

Now, 2AM, wondering if I back out of the vegan cruise which I've committed to and even have a job to do on the ship, or if I sell off whatever I can, or if I try to borrow money which I don't like doing, or if I just stop everything and hide out somewhere and not spend anymore, no more travel, no more shipping things.....I just don't know.

Not sure I'll figure it out by sleeping but I certainly need some rest.

Supposed to train with Mikkei on Tue which I always look forward to, so I gotta just keep on smiling and focused on that. Might check out Food Not Bombs tomorrow for some free food when I take a break from working online, sorting out whatever I can.

Yeah Buddy!

Oh, I missed most of the NBA All-Star game. Saw a few minutes between barbell squat sets at the gym today. Love that game!

-RC

RC - Awesome to hear that your speaking at summerfest. Do you know your time there yet? I am unable to make it there during the week schedule wise most likely. Making when your out east not necessarily PA well meet up.

No idea when I'll be presenting but I imagine if I go, I'll be there the whole time. No idea where travels will take me this year. Have to cut back on them due to lack of funding, but I'm sure I'll still find my way out to various events.

Hope to see you around!