Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Cant wait to see you compete I bet a lottt of people are going to be keeping an eye on you !

1/15/12

Thanks Joe! Hope all is great with you!

Today's workout

I had a nice breakthrough today! As you all know by now I've been sidelined for about a year with my chest injury I sustained in March of 2011. I haven't had a single chest workout in the past 10 months, aside from some push-ups a few months ago over the summer to test it out.

Today I did 4 sets of push-ups with lots of stretching and massage work over my pecs. I didn't do very many, sets of 10, 15 and up to 20, but it's a start. Hopefully I can start training my chest with weights in the next couple of months.

Since I'm on this compound lift schedule, I only have about 3 routines that I do and train about 4 days a week, so one routine gets hit twice while others about once per week. My routine doesn't involve chest and I don't do any isolated movements, so today I decided to toss in a day of isolated movements for triceps in addition to my ab workout. I hit biceps pretty well with pull-up and bent-over rows but triceps don't get too much action aside from minimally in some shoulder presses.

Here is how today's abdominals and triceps workout went. It was exactly 90 minutes in total:

Warm-up: 20 minutes on the Stair Master

Abdominal Crunches
30
30
30

Left side Abdominal Crunches
30
30
30

Right side Abdominal Crunches
30
30
30

Invisible Jump Rope
150 jumps
150 jumps
150 jumps

Hanging Leg Raises
15
15
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20

Push-ups
10
20
20
15

Two Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions
65lbs x 12
70lbs x 12
75lbs x 10
80lbs x 8
85lbs x 6
90lbs x 4
75lbs x 8

Plank
30 seconds (about half the time kareno can do them) - well done kareno!
30 seconds
30 seconds

That's it. Lots of sets, lots of ab work, some good stretching and all done in 90 minutes.

It was nice to train both Saturday and Sunday too. I'm beginning to feel like a little bit of an athlete again and my weights continue to go up.

This is day 15 of our New You for the New Year Challenge, exactly halfway through, and my lifts are a lot heavier than when I started. I was even in the gym for a solid 2 months working on my comeback before this challenge, but now that I'm recording things and staying accountable, I'm choosing the best exercises I can do based on my current and lingering injuries, and I'm making progress day after day, week after week.

This is fun!

RC

Glad you're having fun again in the gym! That's what I used to tell people when I worked at agym. If you don't find some sort of workout that you really enjoy you won't stick with it. Workouts in my honest opinion have to be enjoyable and fun, or you will keep finding excuses to not do them.

Hitting those ABS hard I see. way to get S.W.O.L.E. eh bhudday!?!

Hey VP friends glad to see you on here. Look forward to see how your training goes

1/16/12

Thanks everyone!

Again, very pleased to see that it has been less than 24 hours since the latest post in my journal, yet more than 100 journals were updated between then and now and I found mine on page 2

Love the consistency and hard work so many of you are displaying here! It is very inspiring!

Today was a rest day.

I ran a bunch of errands. You know, getting a haircut, oil change for the car before my big half-way across the US trip beginning next week, and some food shopping.

Eating blueberries right now.

Have a great week!

We're halfway through this challenge. Hope it is going great for you!

Aww, I just noticed your comment about me and the plank. I'm just a girl.

I ate a snack of blueberries tonight, too! Yum yum!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Happy Rest day Rob. Hope you feel great going in tomorrow. I will lift a 45 plate for you, at least one before it goes on a bar.

Thanks Karen,

Yep! You're kicking my butt on the planks! We can have a plank-off soon!

Nice rest day today. Just did some chores around the house, should probably start packing soon, and got a bit of computer work done too.

Was up until 4AM last night, hope to get to bed earlier since I have an earlier than usual start tomorrow and a pretty long day. Gym, class with Jordan, driving to Portland and of course, my usual computer work and outreach.

I'm enjoying the fact that I seem to be getting stronger workout after workout. Big Thanks to Derek for inspiring me to make a return to compound lifts exclusively!

Thanks Steve!

Go lift some iron for me. I'll be back at it tomorrow. Scheduled rest day today to recover and grow. Which reminds me....time to go eat again to bulk up!

Have a great week! Thanks, always.

1/17/12

Awesome! Again, less than 24 hours after my last post and there were 99 journals updated more recently than mine. Looks like over 100 people will complete our challenge, achieving and being rewarded for their consistency. Great stuff!

Today's workout:

I met up my friend Jordan, whom I've known since pre-school and whom was the individual introducing me to bodybuilding back in the late 90's.

After I attended his World Religion Class at Oregon State University (today's class was an introduction to Hinduism) we hit the gym.

Warm-up

35 minutes on the stair climber (much longer than usual, as I was waiting for Jordan to arrive)

Bodyweight squats
30
30
30

Deadlifts
89lbs x 15
133lbs x 12
183lbs x 4
203lbs x 4
173lbs x 4
213lbs x 4
238lbs x 1 (this beat last workout's heaviest lift by 3 pounds - my heaviest deadlift since before injured)

Bent-over rows
89lbs x 15
109lbs x 12
129lbs x 10
149lbs x 6
159lbs x 6
129lbs x 10
109lbs x 10
89lbs x 15

I decided to pyramid down, something I haven't done in a long time, maybe a year or two. I just didn't want to keep too much heavy weight on my lower back after all those deadlifts so after hitting 159lbs, I tapered back down.

Lower back hyperextensions
20
20
20

I was at the gym for a total of about 100 minutes, including the 35 minutes of stair stepping cardiovascular warm-up.

I came home and had some middle eastern food with broccoli and I'll going to have some potatoes and yams after I shower.

Good lifting day. Nice to be increasing numbers in all exercises workout after workout. Hoping to stay injury-free and I should be able to make a successful return to the bodybuilding stage! Perhaps as early as late summer of 2012.

We'll see. Taking it a day at a time, stretching a lot, staying focused and motivated and using a lot of Vega products. I'm confident I'll succeed if I can maintain this focus and dedication.

All the best!

RC

Great job with the consistency. Always good to see that you are in the gym. Keep it up and you will be on stage in no time.

1/18/12

Thanks Steve!

Today's workout:

Warm-up: 15 min on stair climber

Bodyweight squats
30
30
30

Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
20's (40lbs) x 30 - warm-up set
30's (60lbs) x 20 - warm-up set
40's (80lbs) x 15
50's (100lbs) x 10 - Super set with same weight for shrugs x 20
60's (120lbs) x 4 - Super set with same weight for shrugs x 20
55's (110lbs) x 3 - Super set with same weight for shrugs x 20
45's (90lbs) x 10

Pull-ups
Wide
13
14
12
Narrow
16
16
20

Dumbbell Shrugs
90's (180lbs) x 12
95's (190lbs) x 12
100's (200lbs) x 12
105's (210lbs) x 12
100's (200lbs) x 12

Push-ups
15
15
15
15

Today was only the second time I've done push-ups, or anything for chest in months. I'm making a slow return to it. It felt OK, no injury-soreness necessarily, but I did get tired after only 15! haha!

I honestly don't know what I weigh. I was startled when we started this New You for the New Year Challenge and I was 169-171lbs. That is 20 pounds less than I was a year ago. I've been hitting it really hard the past 18 days, and the previous 6 weeks before starting this challenge. Today was the first day I actually "looked" pumped. I always train in sweatpants, sweatshirt and a knit cap, and most of my workouts are lower body or total body and I don't get a good "pump" but rather, I train and exhaust the muscles by lifting heavy in compound lifts. Today after an upper body workout and doing those push-ups, I noticed quite a good "pump" for the first time in many months. I showered at the gym and was honestly surprised when I took my shirt off and pump was in full effect I actually started to look (and feel) like a bodybuilder again, though I know in reality, I'm still in the low 170's and far from where I was or where I want to be. It was just a good feeling, that's all. Happy to be able to do "something" for my chest, even if it's just a few push-ups for now.

Hope you all had a great day!

I hammered tons of Vega today, a whole bunch of organic whole wheat pasta, broccoli, avocados, a pile of fruit, nuts, beans, etc. Working on eating and training my way back to a return to bodybuilding!

I leave in 6 days for a trip in my car halfway across the US. I plan to train all along the way.

RC

Yay, you did some pushups! Good for you!!!!!! I'm glad to hear that you felt happy and confident when you looked in the mirror today.

You probably mentioned it in an earlier post, but where are you going?