Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

And so it begins.

This concludes the first official week of the 12-week training cycle. Things are off to a rocky start by the unfortunate fact that I arm-wrestled a rather gargantuan friend a week ago and am still paying the piper in the elbow region.

It boggles the mind that the body can lift 315 lbs. off the ground for 12 reps and recover quickly with no lasting pain but yet two arms interlocked together at the wrong angle can produce an injury that is still going strong a week later.

I will continue to monitor this injury - which impedes some exercises and prevents others- very carefully.

As things stand right now, my goals for the October competition are:

275 bench (currently can heave 260, but proper form 1RM is probably closer to 250ish)
400 Squat (can squat 350 for 1 comfortably, I know I can gain big here)
450 Deadlift (1RM not tested since pullinh 380 at my competition in March, but I have significant strength increases since)

I am following a template from Marty Gallagher's most excellent book, The Purposeful Primitive. I will be training using his 4x/week Karwoski/Yates-inspired training model. Small amounts of cardio will be worked in as the program progresses. For now, I'm just focusing on eating shitloads of fun and training muscles quick and hard.

I "demoed" this routine the week before last, and was very happy with the results. Results for actual week 1 (after injury) were much more disappointing:

Results from my "pre-program" workouts:

Chest/Triceps - 7/17

Barbell Bench Press 200.0x5,190.0x5
Barbell Wide Grip Bench Press 190.0x5,185.0x5
Barbell Narrow Grip Bench Press 135.0x8,145.0x5
Dumbbell Fly 27.5x5,30.0x5
Dips/Weighted Dips 0.0x5,55.0x4
Dumbbell Standing Triceps Extension 25.0x5,30.0x7,35.0x8

Legs 7/19

Barbell Full Squat 145.0x8,185.0x8,275.0x9,265.0x8
Barbell Front Squat 135.0x8,140.0x8 (struggling with front squat form here, definitely need to review)
Romanian Deadlift 135.0x12,155.0x8
Standing Barbell Calf Raise 70.0x8,135.0x8,155.0x8,175.0x8

Back 7/21

Barbell Deadlift 175.0x8,225.0x8,315.0x12,335.0x5 (after the 315x12, my JEFIT workout app claims my 1RM for the deadlift is 440 lbs... I'm a bit more skeptical but we'll what can be done over the next 12 weeks).

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Squats for 275x9.... Deadlift for 315x12.... I was happy with these results until I hit the weights again the following week (post arm-wrestling incident. Here are the results from training, week 1:

7/23

Barbell Full Squat 135.0x8,185.0x8,285.0x3,265.0x3
Barbell Front Squat 45.0x8,65.0x8 (am trying the arm-cross form popular among bodybuilders but very wary and thus went super light)
Standing Barbell Calf Raise 135.0x8, 225 x 8

7/25

Barbell Bench Press 190.0x8,185.0x6
Barbell Wide Grip Bench Press 185.0x6,175.0x4
Barbell Narrow Grip Bench Press 140.0x8
Dips and tricep work completely kept off due to arm injury

7/27 - again a very amended workout

Barbell Deadlift 135.0x8,245.0x5,345.0x5 (completely out of deadlift juice after final set)
Torture twists - 3 sets of 18 reps

Next week will be official "week 2", and once again I'll be working up to a "top set" of 8 reps with each exercise (four weeks total of this, then 5RM's). Very curious about how it will go.... Crappy like last week, or kick-ass like the week before?


FOOD:

The other piece I will be tracking over these 12 weeks is my food intake, specifically calories and protein. At 176, I want to bulk up as much as possible, ideally surpassing the 181 cut-off for my target weight class, and then slowly drop weight for weigh-in.

For supplements, I am currently taking the ALIVE! multi, lots of Life's Basics Plant Protein Powder, Glutamine and BCAA powder with every shake, ZMA, and 3g of creatine a day. I expect to up the creatine as the program moves along and possibly cycling in some other supplementation.

Side note: I had read that vitamin D3, contained in my multi, is not vegan. After doing more research it appears that it is somehow synthesized using ultaviolet light with sheep's wool. SHEEP'S WOOL!? I'm sorry, but that is perfectly acceptable by my definition of vegan. I would wear a sweater, ergo I can ingest a little sheep's wool.

dope you started a journal and kicked it off with a bang tons of good info. Good luck training for your comp! Also search vitamin d3 there's been some other posts on here about it.

WEEK 2


LEGS (Mon)
Barbell Full Squat 185.0x8,280.0x10,280.0x8, 275.0x4
Barbell Front Squat 135.0x8,135.0x8
Romanian Deadlift 175.0x8,175.0x8
Standing Barbell Calf Raise 135.0x8,225.0x8,275.0x4


Chest/Triceps (Tues)

Barbell Bench Press 135.0x5,185.0x10,185.0x9 (gotta remember to pause! Only 1/2 of reps paused)
Barbell Wide Grip Bench Press 135.0x1,185.0x7,170.0x6
Barbell Close Grip Bench Press 150.0x12,150.0x7 (achieved a fanatical psyche-up on this first set- but remember to pause)
Dumbbell Fly 25.0x8,30.0x7

BACK (Thursday)

Barbell Deadlift 340.0x7,325.0x3,275.0x1 (looking up with each left helped enormously to "rock" the weight up.)
Barbell Bent Over Row 45.0x8,65.0x8,85.0x8
Clean 100.0x8,110.0x8,110.0x8
Barbell Curl 45.0x8,65.0x8,68.0x7


By the time I got to barbell curls, I was sweaty as hell. These are the first no-cheat AND/OR barbell curls Ive done in a long time! Amazingly my arm wrestling injury is not screaming.

Shoulders/Abs (Friday)


Shoulder Press 45.0x7,95.0x8,95.0x6 (still searching for 8rm on this one)
Shoulder Press Behind The Neck 45.0x5,75.0x8,75.0x5,75.0x10 (final set performed with substantial break in between sets)
Barbell Shrug 135.0x5,225.0x2,275.0x5,225x5 (trying to isolate traps by NOT rocking the body up)
Chin-Up 0.0x2,25.0x6,0.0x8
Maloney Twists 0.0x18,0.0x18,0.0x18

Bodyweight flew up this week - from 176 to 184-185!
Food tracking continues to go well.

WEEK 3 of TRAINING


This week's workouts took a setback when I started to feel extremely ill on Tuesday night. As of this writing (Sunday), I am feeling much better although still incredibly stuffy. Not sure if it's allergies or a legitimate cold.

Legs (Monday)

Barbell Full Squat 275.0x8,255.0x10 (#'s have gone down b/c I focused on DEEP squats)
Barbell Front Squat 145.0x8,165.0x7
Romanian Deadlift 185.0x8,195.0x8
Standing Barbell Calf Raise 250.0x10,250.0x8


Chest/Triceps (Thursday)

Barbell Bench Press 135.0x3,195.0x8,185.0x8
Barbell Wide Grip Bench Press 185.0x3,185.0x3,165.0x5 (small decline here which I attribute to "pause" form)
Barbell Close Grip Bench Press 165.0x3,140.0x6
Dumbbell Fly 30.0x9,25.0x6
Dip 25.0x5,10.0x5,0.0x4
Dumbbell Standing Triceps Extension 45.0x6


Put special attention on PAUSING my reps at the chest for a full second on ALL bench lits... And got murdered!

For wide grip bench press, I found that putting my pinkie on the ring is too wide, so I'm switching to my ring finger.

For close grip, I focused on keeping my arms as CLOSE to my body as possible.


BACK (Friday)

Deadlift - 345 x 5

Kept it real basic since my workout days were out of sync this week. I ultimately got frustrated that I couldn't exert more power, so I'm going to start next week off a bit lower for my last week to try and get an accurate 8RM.


Overall, despite the cold, I am happy with my progress this week. By deepening my squat form I have I believe I am vastly improving my ability to perform in this exercise. I am happiest of all with my bench lifts, which I improved in two important ways this week:

1) 1-second pauses at the chest on EVERY rep; and
2) Using a "leg drive" with each rep, in essence, tightening my legs, glutes, etc. for rep and sending a shockwave up the body.

I found these two strategies INCREDIBLY effective not only for creating more power, but also for recruiting more muscle fibers. I was extremely sore for two solid days after lifting, and still marginally sore on the third day. This is an enormous improvement over past bench workouts.

In terms of bodyweight and eating, both took a small hit this week as I struggled with a bad cold. I actually stayed home from work on Tuesday and Wednesday and even now on Sunday am still battling the sniffles. Neverless I am still holding out at a bodyweight of 183/184.