Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I haven't been around VBBF much these past few months.

In August I sliced my EHL tendon in my right foot. I had surgery to repair the tendon 10 days later and I am still recovering. I'm walking now, but no running for at least another month. This means that I'm relying on cardio machines like the elliptical and stationary bike (I loathe cardio machines..) but it's better than nothing. Onward and upward.

As for goals, I'd like to drop some bodyfat while maintaining muscle mass. I was hoping to run a marathon in 2012, but if that doesn't happen I'm not going to get upset about it...I'd rather give my foot time to heal properly.

I've been having difficulties with motivation lately. I was thinking back to when I was getting great results, and realized that was also when I was diligently keeping a training journal on VBBF. So here we go.

29/12/11:

Workout:
30 min. stationary bike
13 min. incline walking on treadmill

DB chest press (3x20x10) supersetted with DB rows (3x25x10)
DB shoulder press (3x15x8) supersetted with DB lat raises (3x8x8)

stretching & abs

Diet:
banana
kabocha squash & black beans, couscous, lots of salad greens
baby carrots
a few sweet potato fries
black bean soup, roasted green beans
a bit of soy nog

Not that bad of a day. Could have done without the fries and the soy nog, but oh well.

30/12/11:

Workout:
60 min. elliptical
a bit of stretching

was contemplating doing pilates or yoga in the evening, but I've had a stupid headache for the past two days that just won't go away. I get them whenever the atmospheric pressure changes. Fun times.

Diet:
oats with banana + flax
baby carrots and bell pepper
sauteed collard greens with black beans
salad with mixed greens, carrot, tomato, edamame, nori, and miso vinaigrette
4 tangerines, 1 apple

Pretty happy with my diet today - lots of veggies and fruit. I went to Trader Joe's and I even managed to leave without buying any of the delicious vegan chocolate treats.

31/12/11:

Workout:
15 min. elliptical
15 min. incline walking on treadmill
15 min. recumbant bike

5 circuits with 15 lb DBs: kettlebell swings (20 reps), DB squats (15 reps), hammer curls (10 reps)

stretching

I had some more exercises planned but my surgery foot was aching and when it says stop, I stop. I think it was upset about the incline walking. It seems fine now though.

Diet:
Ugh. Started the day out great with lots of fruits and veggies, but had a few too many New Year's Eve snacks. We had a pizza night, and although my pizza was on whole wheat crust with flax, I still ate waaaay too much of it. Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

01/01/12:

Rest day today. Was mostly a lazy bum. Why do I always eat the cruddiest on rest days? Sigh. Back at it tomorrow. Glad the holidays are over, truth be told. Less holiday celebrations/food around!

02/01/12:

Made myself spend 30 min. on the elliptical even though I really didn't want to!

i think it's hard to eat right on rest days too. i'm glad i got mos of the holiday junk out of the house. let's do this.

03/01/01:
Couldn't get motivated to get my butt to the gym - argh!

So far the new year hasn't been that productive for me. I'm letting a personal situation depress me and all I want to do is sit on my butt and eat junk.

Since my running won't be high mileage for quite a few months (I can't even start to run until end of Jan) I've decided to turn my attention to a four-day strength routine. It's a push/pull split, that looks like the following:

Day 1 - Horizontal Push/Pull & calves & abs
DB row (5x5)
Upright DB row (3x8)
DB bench (5x5)
Incline DB bench (3x8)
Seated calf raises (3x8)
Weighted crunches (3x12)

Day 2 - Quad dominant/ham accessory & biceps
DB split squats (5x5)
Step ups (3x8)
Seated leg curl (3x12)
Hammer curls (3x8)

Day 3 - Vertical push/pull & abs
Lat pulldown (5x5)
DB pullover (3x8)
DB push press (5x5)
Lateral raises (3x8)
Weighted crunches (3x12)

Day 4 - Ham dominant/quad accessory & triceps
DB deadlifts (5x5)
DB lunge (3x8)
Goblet squat (3x12)
Skull crushers (3x8)

01/04/12:
quick elliptical workout, 30 min.

01/05/12:

Workout - Vertical push/pull & abs
Lat pulldown: 5x5x60
DB pullover: 1x8x15, 1x8x20, 1x8x25
One-arm DB push press: 5x5x25
Lateral raises: 3x8x10

20 min. incline walking on treadmill (and no foot pain afterward - yay!)

Weighted crunches: 3x12x15
Stretching

Diet:
lentils with kale and couscous
1 tangerine
protein powder, leftover couscous
4 tangerines
tofu "steaks" smothered with onions and mushrooms, steamed kale

06/01/11:

Ugh. No workout today. I ended up napping. I needed to catch up on sleep.

07/01/11:

No workout.

08/01/11:

No workout.

09/01/12:

Workout - Horizontal Push/Pull:
DB row:
5 x 25
5 x 30
5 x 30
5 x 30
5 x 30

Upright DB row:
15 x 8
15 x 8
15 x 8

DB Bench:
20 x 5
25 x 5
25 x 5
25 x 5
25 x 5

Incline DB Bench:
20 x 8
20 x 8
20 x 8

Seated DB Calf Raises:
30 x 12
30 x 12
30 x 12

Decline Crunches:
BW x 12
BW x 12
BW x 12

20 min. incline walking on treadmill (worked my way up to 3.0 mph and 15% incline and no foot pain, hurrah!)

I want to start incorporating morning walks into my days. If nothing else it will get me back in the habit of morning runs once I'm able to start up again.

Diet:
small portion of seitan with a bit of potatoes and carrots, green beans
1 apple
salad with spinach, chickpeas, cashews, sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, carrot, nutritional yeast, and flax
protein shake, oats with applesauce
2 oranges
2 apples
salad with spinach, chickpeas, carrot, and nutritional yeast
2 oranges
1 muffin

i like your split a lot. two leg days seems like a great idea! are you thinking you'll need to have a substitute routine for one of those leg days once you start being able to run again?

Well well well, look who comes crawling back

I didn't even see your log amongst the hundreds of new ones that popped up around new year

Viva - I'm not sure. My running mileage is going to be pretty low as I start out. I'm going to see what happens. I might eventually go back to 3x/week full-body once my running amps back up.

Hi Chewy! There's so many new folk around here now! It's great to see the boards so active.

10/01/12:

Workout - Quad dominant/hamstring accessory & biceps:

I tried to do some split squats, but I guess my foot isn't ready for that so I quit after 1 set, it just didn't feel right. They put a lot of stress right where my tendon was sliced.

Goblet Squats:
5 x 35
5 x 40
5 x 40
5 x 40
5 x 40

DB Step Ups: (damn these were hard, my lower body is still so weak!)
8 x 15
8 x 15
8 x 15

Seated Hamstring Curls:
12 x 30
12 x 30
12 x 30

Hammer Curls:
8 x 15
8 x 20
8 x 20

That's it for today. Did some quick stretching then I had to leave.

Diet:
oats with applesauce
salad with romaine, seitan, and veggies
smoothie with vega, banana, and soy milk
muffin
apple
"beef" and veggie stew
pineapple

my tendon surgery completely derailed me, finally getting back on the track..Great seeing you getting back on track too!!

Gosh isn't it surprising how long it takes to recover? Best wishes to you!

Lobster, it's so funny. Whenever I'm at the gym and I see someone doing goblet squats, I think of you. It's like your signature exercise, I think. Get down with your bad self and your sexy goblet squats.

haha, awesome, I have a signature exercise.