Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Nope! My legs hurt...

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I am going to try this tomorrow i think.

@Mattsxvx How did it go? Be really careful of overtraining on that one - it did me in! Leg's are just starting to feel 'normal sore' now four days later.

Training this week has been going really well. I am keeping to moderate loads since I am still rehabing, but the intensity has been all out this week so I'm feeling good about it! I hope to keep my weight as high as possible as I diet down in the next six weeks - the old impossibility of gaining muscle while losing fat! I've been running about a mile on the treadmill before workouts to warm up, and running two miles outside before dinner every night. No pre-breakfast cardio yet, but I'll be adding it soon. My diet is down to about 4500 cal/day from around 5000, and that change is mostly just cleaning out the holiday sweets and reducing overall fat intake. I am going to keep my carbs pretty high like I did for the last show because I was able to get lean (4% bf) and felt really good, but I'm also going to try and keep my protein a little higher this time to see if I can maintain more muscle mass. Everything is an experiment! Here's what my training looked like:

1/5: Back

Pull Ups: 0x12, 35x10, 80x10, 100x10, 100x9 drop 0x10 (I was heavily spotted here, didn't feel super strong but wanted to get 100s anyway )
Superset DB Row: 60x12, 80x12, 100x10, 100x10
Barbell Row: 95x30, 30, 30 (10 wide overhand, 10 close underhand, 5 wide overhand, 5 close underhand)
Lat Pulldown: 80x30, 30 (see barbell row)
Straight arm pulldown: 50x12 drop 40x8 drop 30x15
1-arm cable curl: 40x10 drop 30x10 drop 20x10, repeat for 3 sets
Wide grip preacher curl: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15

1/6: Chest

Incline Bench Press: 135x10, 185x10, 205x5, 205x5, 215x5, 215x5, 215x7 (<1 min rests)
Bench Press: 1 Mega drop set: 205x13 drop 195x6 drop 185x5 drop 175x4 drop 165x4 drop 155x5 drop 145x5 drop 135x5 - no rest, all to failure. Crushed!
Giant Set: (8 reps of each, roughly 30 sec between exercises) - was pretty brutal after the above two!
Dips: 8, 8, 8
DB Press: 70x8, 60x8, 40x8 super slow
DB Pullover: 60x8, 75x8, 65x8
DB Incline Fly: 40x8, 40x8, 40x8

1/7: Hams AM / Arms Calves PM
AM
Warmed up with 36'' box jumps superset power step ups on a bench, three sets of 10
Db Lunges: 100sx8, 100x8, 100x8
Prone Leg Curl: 70x12, 75x12, 80x12, 85x12 - All done extremely slow and strict'
Seated Leg Curl: 110x20, 110x20, 130x20
Romanian Deadlift: 135x20, 155x20, 155x20, 155x30

PM
1-leg Smith Calf Raise: 135x12, 135x12, 225x6 superset both feet x30, 225x6 SS both x30, 225x6 SS both x30 - each set ended with a 10 second peak hold - burnt!
Seated Calf Press: 135x12, 135x12, 180x12, 180x15 +15 bouncy reps, 180x10 drop 135x10 drop 90x10
DB Hammer Curls: 30x10, 40x8, 50x6, 60x4 strict + 4 really ugly reps
Superset Cable Pressdowns: 90x10, 100x8, 120x6, 150x10 (full stack) - went too light here at first
Preacher Curl: 70x10, 70x10, 90x10 (forced), 90x8 (forced) drop 70x7 drop 50x8
Superset Skull Crushers: 65x12, 85x12, 105x9, 105x7 drop 85x8 drop 65x10

Now I feel like I've been hit by a truck, so tomorrow is a much needed day off. I plan on running before breakfast for 15-20 min and again before dinner, and posing practice in the afternoon - still need to choose my song, slacking! Next week I'll be going heavier and I'm going to try to reintroduce deadlifts. Let's see what happens!

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It's been a week since my last post so I am now 5 WEEKS out! Cardio is one to two times per day of 20min on the step mill or running outside, plus posing practice most evenings for 30+min. Before breakfast and/or before dinner. I'm keeping a protein shake with oats in it by my bed now b/c I've been getting hungry in the night - it's a big help and I feel like I have a bit more gas in the tank for my morning training! Calories are down a bit from last week, to roughly 4k per day shooting for 30%/55%/15% P/C/F. I checked my bf this weekend and I'm between 7 and 8, so still a little high, but the good news is I'm still at 192lbs, which means I've gained some muscle while dieting! Stoked!

For training This week I've still been sticking loosely to the Y3T Protocol, which made this past week the heavy duty compound training week (obviously my favorite). Volume was kept low, usually 3 exercises per muscle group, all compound lifts for 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps heavy. Felt so nice and easy after last week! Tomorrow starts the 'standard bodybuilding' week, so I'll be doing a more typical programming of a couple compound moves and a couple isolation moves, with sets of 8-12 reps, training for a pump. Here's what some of last week looked like:

1/9: Shoulders

Seated Barbell Press: 135x10, 155x8, 175x8, 175x8, 175x8
Upright Row: 135x8, 8, 8, 8
Arnold Press: 75x8, 10, 8, 8
Trap Row (Cable row lying almost flat and lifting like a shrug): 160x8, 8, 8, 9

1/10: Quads - Great Lift!

Squat: 135x12, 225x10, 315x8, 365x8, 405x8, 405x8, 405x7 - Best in ages, and my abs held up!!
Leg Press: 630x 8, 8, 8, 8
DB Lunges: 100x8, 7

1/11: Chest

Bench Press: 135x10, 185x8, 225x8, 235x8, 255x8, 255x8 (with rest pauses) - very happy with this!
DB Incline Press: 90x8, 100x8, 100x7, 80x8
Decline Pullovers: 75x8, 8, 8, 8

1/13: Back

Lat Pulldown: 110x10, 130x8, 140x8, 150x6, 140x8
T-Bar Row: 135x8, 180x8, 180x8, 180x8
DB Row: 100x8, 8, 8, 8
Underhand Pulldown: 110x8, 8, 8
1-Arm Cable Curl: 45x8, 8, 8

1/14: Hams/Calves - calves were actually really sore, gonna keep training them this way!

Prone Leg Curl: 70x12, 90x8, 100x8, 100x8, 100x8
Romanian Deadlift: 135x10, 185x8, 225x8, 275x8, 315x8 - stoked here!
Seated Leg Curl: 110x8, 130x8, 150x8, 150x8
Seated Calf Raise: 135x8, 180x8, 225x8, 225x8
Leg Press Calf Raise: 630x8, 630x8, 720x8, 720x8

1/15: Arms

Barbell Curl: 65x12, 95x8, 115x8, 115x8, 115x8
Preacher Curl: 80x8, 90x8, 80x8, 80x8
Incline DB Curl: 30x8, 30x8, 30x8
DB Extension: 75x8, 90x8, 8, 8
Bench Dips: 45x12, 90x8, 135x8, 135x8
Skull Crushers: 80+Band x8, 8, 8, 80x8

Feeling good and ready to start next week strong! Time to get Tight!

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Nice work, buddy!

Awesome! Excited to see how you progress leading up to the show! PS, I've only used compound lifts since the start of the year. Not a single machine or cable. Only barbells and dumbbells.

Your Mass article motivated me to get back on that wagon.

All the best!

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Awesome! I'll keep this posted, get growing brotha!

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Wow, good luck to you on the adventure. I look forward to seeing how everything goes.

Tough training this week... been so so busy! RC, I feel your long work days for once! Workouts have gone well, I'm moving good weight and still getting leaner. I will be stepping up my cardio and dropping my calories a bit more now that I am 4 weeks out! Still holding at 190lbs and I expect i'll be in the low to mid 180s really lean. Last week was a basic FST7 type protocol, next week is muscle annihilation again! Legs on Tuesday... I'm already terrified. Here's what last week looked like:

1/16: Shoulders

DB Shoulder Press: 4 sets 8-12 reps
Circuit:
DB Front Raise: 3x10
Seated Shrugs: 3x10
Bent Laterals: 3x10
Machine Lateral FST7: 7x12

1/17: Quads

Squat: 5 sets 8-12 reps (got 405 for 9!) - finished with a 3 point drop set
Leg Extension FST7: 7x12

1/19: Back

Pull Ups: 6x10
Circuit:
T Bar Row: 3x10
Close Grip Pulldown: 3x10
DB Row:3x10
Deadlift: 1 set 315x8 (more felt risky)
Pullovers: 1 set 55x12
Incline DB Curls: 3x10
1 Arm Cable Curls: 3x8

1/20: Chest

Incline Bench Press: 4x8-12 (got 225 for 10!)
Flat DB Press: 3x8-12
Dips: 3x10 @ bodyweight
Pec Deck FST7: 7x12
Lying cable Pressdown: 5x12

1/22: Calves/Hams

Smith Calf Raise: 4x10 Heavy (up to 405)
Leg Press Calves: 3x10 (to 720)
Seated Calf Press FST7: 7x12
Prone Leg Curl: 4x8-12 - heavy, slow and strict
RDL: 3x10 up to 225
Seated Leg Curl: 4x12

Posing is coming along - pigged out at our potluck tonight so gotta be strict and on point tomorrow!

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Awesome, dude!

Do we get to see any sneak peeks at pre-contest pics?

Hope all continues to go well! I'll keep you updated on my mid-Feb travels. Not sure how it will all play out but will keep you updated either way.

All the best!

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Solid training, putting in the work.

225 x 10 on the incline bench is strong !! I'm with you in that I'll occasionally add in a set of FST-7 at the end of my workout, just to really try and maximise the blood content into the muscle group.

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Training for my first 100 mile running race

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Thanks! @Mini, yes I've found it to work really well myself.
@RC I'll Get Pics up soon I promise! I've been training all wrapped up in kenisio tape so you can't see too much, but I'm done with that now.

Last week things really started coming together. I'm not as lean as I was 3 weeks out from my last show, but I feel like I lost some size in getting that lean so this time around I've been trying to diet slower by keeping my protein and calories a little higher and doing a little less cardio. Everything's a gamble! The crazy thing is, I'm still sitting between 188 and 190lbs - I started dieting at 192ish and I am way leaner now (from about 9% to 6% bf) and virtually no weight loss! Last time when I started dieting I was only 186, so big improvement! I've been training hard and I think keeping my calories/protein a little higher while I diet has allowed me to actually add muscle! I'm going to be switching to exclusively Sunwarrior protein next week (I've been using that and Plantfusion) which is very low sodium, so I may drop a few pounds from that, we'll see.

I'm still training the same split, and roughly following the Y3T protocol, which I am really enjoying, plus I've added 20 min of cardio after most workouts (except legs) and in the evenings before dinner, either step mill, incline treadmill walking, or running outside. I've also been doing a posing practice about every other day. I'm doing less than during my last prep, but I've been so busy there hasn't been much choice, plus I have no time/energy to stress about it which is actually a big help!

Last week was the 'total annihilation' week of Y3T, so here's what I did:

Monday: Shoulders

Seated DB Laterals: 2 sets of 60 reps (15x12 + 20x12 + 25x12 + 20x12 + 15x12) twice - about 20 reps past failure!
DB Shoulder Press: 3 sets 18-20 reps, 45x20,18,17
DB Partial Laterals: 2 sets of 30 reps (35x10 out, 10 forward, 5 out, 5 forward) twice
DB Shrugs: 2 sets of 10, holding each for 10 seconds, 65x10, 10
Rear laterals, facedown on a bench: 15x20, 20

Tuesday: Quads - Legs are way stronger! Last time I did this I was sore for 5 days; this time it felt easier and I was barely sore 2 days

Leg Extension: 3 sets of 40 reps (150x10, 130x10, 110x10, 150x10) 3 times - horrible burn!
Leg Press: 2 sets of 40 reps, changing foot position (540x10 wide stance, 10 close, 10 high, 10 normal) twice - had to rest pause after about 20 reps
Squat: 225x25, 225x25 - these actually felt strong amazingly, my legs have been improving by leaps and bounds since I've been able to train heavy!

Wednesday: Cardio/Posing/Rest

Did 30min incline walking in the morning, 20 min stepper in the evening (both with a HR of 140-150 bpm), plus posing practice

Thursday: Back/bis

Pull Ups: 23, 15 drop to assisted for 20
T bar Row: 90x12, 135x20, 135x10 drop 125x10 drop 100x10 drop 75x10 drop 45x10 - brutal!
Lat Pulldown: 2 sets of 30 (90x15 wide overhand, 15 close underhand) twice
DB Pullover: 50x30
1 Arm Cable Curl: 30x20, 30x20
Superset Scott Curl: 40x15, 40x15

Friday: Chest

Bench Press: 135x15, 155x40 - rest pause and forced reps
Pec Dec: 80x12 drop 65x112 drop 50x17
Clapper Pushups: 25
Circuit:
DB Bench Press: 40x10
DB Fly: 40x10
DB Incline Press: 40x10
Cable Cross: 50x10

Saturday Hams/calves AM, Arms PM

Smith Calf Raise: 2 sets of 355x12 drop 305x12 drop 255x12 drop 205x12
Seated Calf Raise: Countdown set: 100x10 hold for 10sec x9 hold for 9 x8 hold for 8... made it to 5 - burnt!
Leg Press Calf Raise: Century Set - 300lbs rest paused to 100 reps
Prone leg Curl: 110x10 drop 90x10 drop 70x10 for 2 sets, strict form
RDL: 155x50!

EZ Barbell curls: 60x10, 70x10, 80x10, 90x10, 100x8 drop 90x6 drop 80x8 drop 70x6 drop 60x7 drop 50x10 - all with strict form
Seated DB Curls: 45x10 stood up did hammers 45x8 (2 sets), 3rd set added drop to 30lbs, same reps
1_Arm DB Preacher Curls: 20lbs to failure switch arms to failure - back and forth three times, twice
Cable Pressdown: 110x25
Straight arm pressdown: 110x20
Close grip Bench: 195x10, 195x8 drop 145x18 drop 95x10
Bench dips: 21
1 Arm Underhand Pressdowns: 30lbs to failure switch arms to failure - back and forth 3 times twice

Huge pump after this workout - wish I'd had my camera!

Feeling Strong and getting tighter so I'm excited about how this show goes!

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Yeah Buddy!

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^^ this! Sneak peeks please!

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Whew, 2 weeks out - getting to it! Finally got some pictures up! Been crazy busy so I haven't been hitting my cardio and posing as consistently as I'd like - usually once a day lately for 30min for cardio and posing about 3 times last week, but I did do 1hr incline walk on the treadmill twice this week before breakfast so I'm doing what I can with my schedule! Not as tight as I'd like to be but I'm getting noticeably leaner now and I'm reducing my sodium this week so should be a big difference! I've been drinking 5 to 6 liters of water (about 1.5 gallons) a day, so I think dropping sodium should pull some water out and make me look tighter. This is quite a bit more water than I had during my last prep, but I've noticed staying super hydrated has made a huge difference keeping my strength up! Training has been going great. This week was a low volume, heavy weight week and I did some good numbers for being tired and hungry!

Monday: Shoulders

Seated Barbell Overhead Press: 95x10, 135x8, 155x8, 185x8, 185x6, 155x7
Upright Row: 135x8, 8, 8
Barbell Shrugs: 185x8, 8, 8, 8
Arnold Press: 65x6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Tuesday: Quads

Squat: 135x15, 225x10, 315x8, 435x4 (all forced - weight owned me!), 405x7, 405x6 drop 315x8 drop 225x10
DB Lunges: 80sx8, 8
Leg Press: 630x8, 8, 8, 8, 8 with 30 second rests

Wednesday: Rest!

1hr incline walk before breakfast, 20 minutes stepmill in the afternoon

Thursday: Back

Pull Ups: 12, 35x10, 65x8, 65x8, 100x8, 100x8
Barbell Row (overhand): 135x10, 185x8, 8, 8
Underhand Pulldown: 120x8, 140x8, 140x8
T Bar row: 135x8, 170x8, 8
Scott Curls: 80x8, 8, 8

Friday: Chest

Bench Press: 135x10, 185x10, 225x8, 245x8, 245x7, 225x8
DB Incline Bench: 100x5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Decline DB Pullover: 100x6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Saturday: Hams/calves AM Arms PM - Really sore from this!

Seated Calf Press: 135x10, 180x8, 8, 8
Leg Press Calf Raise: 720x8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Romanian Deadlift: 135x10, 225x8, 315x8, 8, 8 - Brutal!
Prone Leg Curl: 110x8, 100x8, 100x8

For arms, each pair was super-setted
Barbell Curl: 65x12, 95x8, 115x8, 135x6 (sloppy), 115x8, 115x7
Close Grip Bench: 135x10, 185x8, 185x8, 205x8, 205x8
Alternating DB Curl: 40x10, 50x8, 60x6
Weighted Bench Dip: 45x10, 90x10, 135x8
Preacher Curl: 80x8, 80x8, 80x8, 100x8
Straight Arm Pressdown: 120x8, 140x8, 120x8, 110x8

Today: Rest/Cardio

1hr walking on incline treadmill before breakfast, 15minutes of jumprope before lunch, will do more jumprope before dinner, 20-30 minute dog walk planned after dinner, then hopefully some posing. Two weeks to go - gonna bring it!

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Alright thats my goal. Make it happen.