Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

holy shit

Looking really good Derek!

You're going to do great! Back is epic, abs are on fire and legs are coming in. Chest and arms and shoulders have always been solid.

Enjoy the experience!

thanks!! I plan on giving it my all and having fun in 24 HOURS!! Legs are definitely at the top of my list after this show! Damn injuries! Thanks to everyone for all the support, it means a ton!!

I'm back on the ball after a little recoup time post-contest. The show was a blast! I placed 3rd of 7 in a tough group, there were some big guys in there so I'm really happy with how it went! Check out the pics on our FB page album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.141531162602642.37491.110820642340361

Now back to the grinder! Goals are:
1.) Gain size everywhere
2.) Bring my arms and calves up to be in proportion with my chest/back/shoulders/thighs
3.) Get me abs and legs back to where they were pre injury last year
4.) Win a show!

Let's do this!

Great pics from the show!

Keep rocking! Congratulations again!

Thanks Robert, I couldn't have done it without you!

It did look like a tough group, well done on placing 3rd man!

Looking forward on seeing your progress for your next comp!

congratulations!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the support! I'm back to heavy training and heavy eating now so hopefully I'll be able to post some good gains shortly. The judge score card listed my areas to improve as arms, calves and thighs, so I'll be blasting them for the next few months to bring them up!

Had a little core trouble lately, so I've decided to implement my first REAL offseason program! 3-4 days per week, total body. I love total bod programs for gaining mass, but now I have to do it without over taxing my core, so it'll take a little creativity! I hope to get to my former size/strength of last summer in the next few months, so lets see how this goes!

P.S. My client Todd is competing in his first bodybuilding show ever in two weeks - as a vegan! He started with me 9 months ago and has gone from average guy to ripped VEGAN bodybuilder! I can't wait to write a story on him!

All the best and tell Todd good luck!

See you in DC in a little over 3 weeks!

Yeah Buddy!

youre a beast bruddah!

Both of you guys are beasts!

Bring it!

TY RC! I plan on it! Back up to 186lbs from around 172 on stage last month and have my sights on 200!!

My client Todd Rocked it last night and got second by only 1 point! He also won best poser so I was super proud of him! He's 5'10" and has a broader frame than me so I really think he can get up over 200lb in contest shape and do really well! He started training with me 9 months ago at almost 20% body fat and now competed as a plant-based bodybuilder at 4% bf! So cool!

As for my training, I struggled a bit for the first couple weeks after my show deciding the best way to move forward. I think without a doubt my biggest weakness as an athlete is second guessing myself and bouncing around trying to figure out what everyone else is doing instead of doing what I know works for me. I briefly tried messing with total body routines because I love high frequency/volume training a la Arnold and Ronnie, but my core is still not having that so after some failed attempts at new splits I'm back on the one I used for my last show:

Monday: Calves, shoulders
Tuesday: Quads AM, Arms PM
Wednesday: Rest/cardio/abs
Thursday: Back/ light bi
Friday: Calves, chest
Saturday: Hams AM, Arms PM
Sunday: rest/cardio/abs

This worked really well because by spacing out legs and back as much as possible my core doesn't flare up. I also put in a couple sets of biceps after back to bring up that area faster and I'm excited to see what happens there. Been back on this split a week and a half and my core feels good enough already to do sets of 50 crunches and 30 leg lifts, provided its on its own day. Good sign! If I can keep that up I'll have my barbarian abs back in no time!