Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

TUESDAY 3rd JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 144
TRAINING TIME: 7pm
DURATION: 50mins
COMMENTS: Second session in the suit and it's still tighter than an Englishman on holiday
INTENSITY: 80%
RESTING PULSE RATE: 46

APPETITE: GREAT
PRE WO NUTRITION: Homemade salmon & vege pizza (the last one)
POST WO NUTRITION: Protein bar, quinoa + 1 x hoki fillet

SQUAT DAY I

LEG PRESS (WARMUP)
1PPS x 25
2PPS x 25
3PPS x 30

STIFF LEG D.BELL DL's
44 x 12
48 x 12

ATG SQUATS
BAR x 12
110 x 8
ATG SQUATS (SUITED)
110 x 8
176 x 8
220 x 3
220 x 3
242 x 2
264 x 1
242 x 1
220 x 2

** Called it a night after that, my legs were killing me (from the suit not the squats)

In order for me to qualify for the Nationals I just need a bit of an 'injection' to my lifts. At the Canterbury Champs in April (where I can qualify) pretty much everyone will be wearing a suit. Last year I remember being the only person lifting raw lol, so I'm really just doing what I have to ~ I do however refuse to get into that whole bench shirt stuff. I'll simply be wearing the suit for the squat and I'll likely do the other two lifts raw, not that it matters as I know it won't be classed as a raw total. I'm not fussed about this one being equipped, there's a few raw meets through the year which I'll do as well. I've bought the suit so I figure I might as well get some use from it, it's all experience in the sport. Need to bring my squat up to at least 310lb.

Bench shirts?.. nah. Just never been into them. Nothing against guys that want to use them but I don't have the time to waste learning how to use them. I'm not too far behind without one anyway and I've only been back into PL'ing for a year; the best lifter in my weight class is lifting 264 with a shirt, I'm aiming for somewhere in the 240's with no shirt. To me it doesn't make sense for me to start learning how to use a shirt and devoting time to training with it, I'd rather spend time getting my bench up with no outside assistance.

Bit of cooking, bit of benching...

MONDAY 9th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 8pm
DURATION: 45mins
COMMENTS: Fast paced session, good pressing strength tonight.
INTENSITY: 70%
RESTING PULSE RATE: 48

APPETITE: REALLY GOOD
PRE WO NUTRITION: 2 x ciabatta slices, large portion of garlic prawns
POST WO NUTRITION: protein shake w 5g creatine + 3g Glutamine

ANCILLARY WORK

STANDING MILITARY PRESS
BAR x 20
66 x 10
77 x 8
88 x 8

OLYMPIC FRONT SQUATS
BAR x 12
88 x 10
88 x 10
88 x 10

CGBP
66 x 15
88 x 10
132 x 10
176 x 7
200 x 3 (felt fairly easy TBH)

EZ B.BELL CURLS
33 x 15
55 x 12
77 x 12
88 x 12

MONDAY 16th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 8pm
DURATION: 45mins
COMMENTS: Squats were tough tonight, think I prefer the lower reps. Fast pace tonight.

WEEK: MEDIUM
RESTING PULSE RATE: 44

APPETITE: REALLY GOOD
PRE WO NUTRITION: Large bowl oats, muesli, protein powder, blueberries
POST WO NUTRITION: 2 x slices multigrain bread, smoked salmon, wild field mushrooms, 2 x eggs and a long black



LEGS

LEG EXTENSIONS
33 x 12
33 x 12
33 x 12

LEG PRESS
2PPS x 15
3PPS x 15
4PPS x 15
5PPS x 12

ATG SQUATS (RAW)
BAR x 20
90 x 12
135 x 10
176 x 8
200 x 6 *REP PB*

CARDIO
35min walk around Hagley Park (second largest park in the world and it's only a 5min walk from the Anytime Fitness I train at).

So, training is good and the weight is slowly climbing (145 first thing this morning after the toilet). This is a fairly typical lunch for me right now, 5wks out from the push/pull meet and my first competition of the year...



I'll eat the whole pack of smoked salmon, usually 4-6 pieces of gluten free bread (tastes better and is easier on my digestive system) and quite a bit of mixed salad. I usually eat about 1/2 bag of either mixed nuts (lightly salted) or mixed raw nuts. I tend to go for the salted ones when it's a hot day as I figure that's when I might need the extra sodium, especially if I'm training.

WEDNESDAY 18th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 4.30pm
DURATION: 45mins
COMMENTS: Nice little session

WEEK: MEDIUM
RESTING PULSE RATE: 46

APPETITE: GOOD
PRE WO NUTRITION: 3 x slices of salmon, pesto & sundried pizza
POST WO NUTRITION: 550cal Protein shake w 5g creatine + 3g Glutamine, 1 slice banana bread

PAUSED BENCH
BAR x 20
110 x 8
154 x 7
176 x 5
176 x 5
176 x 5

INC. D.BELL PRESS
44 x 12
57 x 10
70 x 8
75 x 8

THURSDAY 19th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 3.30pm
DURATION: 45mins
COMMENTS: Average session, my left hammy cramped after trying Pendlay rows for the first time. Wasn't able to do my planned regular DL's so was a little pissed. Will hit them at the weekend instead

WEEK: MEDIUM
RESTING PULSE RATE: 45

APPETITE: GREAT
PRE WO NUTRITION: 2 x large salmon & sald s/w on gluten free bread, 550cal Protein shake w 5g creatine + 3g Glutamine
POST WO NUTRITION: Large serving of coconut rice, spicy mushroon meatballs & vegetables

PENDLAY ROWS
BAR x 12
88 x 12

T-BAR 1 x ARM DL'S
88 x 12 (each side)
132 x 12
176 x 10

HAMMER STRENGTH DL's (VERY CLOSE STANCE)
2PPS x 12
3PPS x 12
4PPS x 10

FRIDAY 20th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 4.30pm
DURATION: 45mins
COMMENTS: Awesome session, strength is coming up

WEEK: MEDIUM
RESTING PULSE RATE: 46

APPETITE: GOOD
PRE WO NUTRITION: Large salmon & salad s/w with almond butter, double espresso
POST WO NUTRITION: 550cal Protein shake w 5g creatine + 3g Glutamine, 1 slice banana bread

PAUSED INC. BENCH (Light stretching in between sets to open chest)
BAR x 15
88 x 6
110 x 4
132 x 4
154 x 4
176 x 3
176 x 3

** All sets were performed with a slow negative, pause with bar on chest then powering back up as fast as possible. Speed is a key element in moving maximal weight and I need to spend more time developing this. I purposely kept the reps down as I'm not aiming for a pump ~ in fact I don't want a pump as I'm want to keep my muscle fibres moving as freely as possible

INC. D.BELL PRESS
53 x 12
84 x 10 *PB for reps*

** Wanted to hit a ME set (max effort) and you can't do that if you waste energy working your way up the rack. First set was just to get into the groove with the dumbbells, then straight into my final heavy set.

EZ B.BELL STANDING MILITARY
BAR x 20
55 x 12
77 x 10
99 x 8

I'm training with Leighton at Eastside Powerlifting gym tomorrow. He's got a 500lb bench PB so I'm resting up today, I need to be fresh !! Can't wait, he's going to give me some tips and technique pointers.

Just heard from my wife's cousin, she's been down south racing in Wanaka. She won yet another race last night (her boyfriend won the elite mens race), she's almost unbeatable going into this years Olympics



http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/6292130/Hewitt-and-Vidal-too-strong-in-Wanaka-triathlon

FRIDAY 20th JANUARY
BODYWEIGHT: 145
TRAINING TIME: 9.30am
DURATION: 60mins
COMMENTS: Got some good advice from Leighton, he is one of NZ's top bench presser's. I need to stay tighter during my singles but other than that my technique has improved considerably since last time I trained with him.

WEEK: MEDIUM
RESTING PULSE RATE: 48

APPETITE: GREAT
PRE WO NUTRITION: Large bowl of oats, blueberries, 1 x banana & 2 x scoops of protein powder, double espresso
POST WO NUTRITION: 550cal Protein shake w 5g creatine + 3g Glutamine, Yum Char Chinese lunch

PAUSED BENCH (Light stretching in between sets to open chest)

** Can't remember all of the sets as we would have done at least 10, but the main ones were:

200 x 3
220 x 1 (easy)
231 x 1 (easy)

PARTIAL BENCH (USING 3 x BOARDS)
200 x 6
220 x 5
242 x 4
264 x 3

INC. D.BELL PRESS
44 x 10
66 x 10
77 x 10
88 x 8

Really enjoyed todays training, was inspiring being around someone as strong as Leighton. He pressed 451 raw for a strong double today. We had probably done about 15 sets or so (at least) by the time we hit the dumbbells, so for me to knock out an easy set of 10 reps with the 88's was a good note to finish on. Strength is great right now, although I might look at increasing my bodyweight a few pounds over the next couple of weeks.

For anyone that's interested, here is how I plan to structure the training (loosely based off Wendler's 5/3/1 programme):

SIX WEEK LAYOUT

WEEK 1: Medium (working at 80% max)
WEEK 2: Heavy (working at 100% max)
WEEK 3: Light (working at 70% max)
WEEK 4: Medium (working at 80% max)
WEEK 5: Heavy (working at 100% max)
WEEK 6: 1 week out from the meet ** DELOAD **

WEEKLY LAYOUT

MON: SQUATS
TUE: BENCH
WED: DL or DL VARIATION
THU: REST
FRI: LEGS w SQUAT VARIATION
SAT: CHEST w BENCH VARIATION
SUN: ASSISTANCE & ANCILLARY WORK

A few pics that I like...


2wks out from the Canterbury Raw Champs


How I do my deficit deadlifts


My final pull at the Raw Champs, Dec 3rd 2011.


'Bench day'

You only weigh 145 pounds? This makes me feel like shit.

Usually somewhere between 140-145 Matt. All of my best lifts were performed at 139 bw ~ S 330 / B 264 / D 429.

Pretty sure those will be bettered this year. Bodyweight doesn't mean much to me, it's just a number.

Very impressive lifts.