Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

well i think starting a training journal could motivate me on those days when training is the last thing i want to do lol
so here goes -

27/1/13
yesterday i spent a lot of time reading through the site. reading up on diet and nutrition and trying to find a pretty basic
lifting routine to follow. Ive been flirting with the idea of becoming a vegan for a good few years now, and realise that what was stopping me was a total myth, the whole "not enough protein" :/ my girlfriend has been vegetarian since she was 12 years old and for the last 5 years vegan. I watched some documetaries that Chad byers recommended on the profile page.
my conclusion's? following a vegan lifestyle is ethically and morally the only way to live, and thats before we even get to the health benifits.

ok im starting to ramble a bit here lol
let me finish this post with, where i am and where i want to get to

whats avalible to me - because of the hours i work (12pm - 9pm) i have to do my training in the morning's
i love running so plan to start the day with an easy 5k first thing. then spend maybe an hour lifting some weights.
The type of exercises im looking for are things i can do in the house with what i have. ive got a pull up bar,some dumbbells, push up stands/perfect push up, also some reebok resistance bands.

tomorrow ill try and upload some pics, weight etc im pretty sure im around 76kg

i was looking through the profiles page for body shapes, just trying to find someone that was similar to what the image i have in my head is. Chad byers is pretty much exactly what im aiming for. i should probably spend some time reading up the guy and find out what is training involves.

if anyone has any tips id love to hear from you the more time i spend looking through this site the more amazing info i find!!
ok bye for now.

_________________
"Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you're only very small and life flows on within you and without you"
George Harrison

Yo! So what will you be training for? Eg strength, size, endurance? Looking forward to seeing your training dude all the best!
Ross

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viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29098
http://www.facebook.com/ross.d.cosgrove

Hey rossco! Ill be training for endurance mate. There is all sorts going on in my life at the moment. Due to my girlfriend ill be relocating at some point to either Darwin Australia or down to London (long story) lol I would really love to start training for a triathlon. That's the long term goal. The problem with this plan is 1- I have to try and save every penny I can, this means working every shift I can get. 2- buying a semi decent road bike is not an option
So the training plan so far is this-
- 5k Monday to Friday with a long run on Saturday
- Monday - chest
- Tuesday - legs
- Wednesday - back
- Thursday - shoulders
- Friday - arms
- Saturday - long run
- Sunday - rest day

I'm looking for maybe 5 exercises for each day that I can do with either body weight, dumbbells or resistance bands.
It's only through reading posts on this site that I now realise that lifting weights is important as the running etc

To be honest mate I'm still trying to take in as much info as I can. I watched "forks over knives" , "food inc" and "the beautiful truth" on Sunday oh and "fat,sick and nearly dead" !! Fantastic documentaries
I've ordered a few books on vegan triathlon guys as well.

So a few questions if that's ok ? I found a website called "goodness foods" today which have what seems like a decent selection of vegan foods, and they deliver to your door. Have you ever used them? If not how do you find shopping for vegan food in the uk?

So what are your plans? They look like some big weights your lifting in your pic lol? How do you find being a vegan? And one last thing, I had a massive craving for cheese today lol I've never craved cheese in my life before :/ I've read you can buy things like vegan cheese ? Any good?

My posts seem to jump about and ramble on a little , but I do appreciate any help

_________________
"Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you're only very small and life flows on within you and without you"
George Harrison

I don't mind questions dude when I first turned vegan I had soooo many ahha
I haven't heard of goodness foods mate but sounds legit, I do most of mine in sainsburys, most of them have a 'free from' section for people with allergies which means a lot of it is dairy and egg free which is great for your sweet tooth and also a vegetarian/vegan section in the frozen aisles.
The best place to get specifically vegan foods is holland and barrett, they do pastries, sweets, vegan cheeses, frozen ready meals/deserts its mind boggling ahha plus you can get fitness stuff there too.
I was never really into cheese tbh so didn't ever have that problem, but it is naturally addictive due to casomorphins (think I spelt hat right) which are used to keep the calf interested in the milk.

I don't really have any plans as such, just getting into powerlifting which I'm enjoying a lot
became vegan a few years ago after being a vegetarian a while, I had a few friends that were toying with the idea but weren't committed, which meant I wasn't entirely alone, it was a real journey at first, learning what branded foods were okay and what foods at restaurants I could eat but now it's second nature, I don't even consider animal products as foods anymore hope I've helped dude, feel free to ask any more questions you have.

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viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29098
http://www.facebook.com/ross.d.cosgrove

So what do you think, is it working? Are you staying motivated?

-Dylan

Yeah I'm more motivated than ever Dylan.
I watched earthlings yesterday, well some of it. I've had to kind of try and work my way through it, if that makes sense? :/ i just watched Some now. I feel quite ashamed to be honest. And really angry!!
I've been working my way through a few documentaries this past week but they mostly focused on the health benefits of becoming vegan. And to be honest that was the main reason I ended up joining this site. But after watching that today, that changes everything. I've never seen anything like that before. I suppose I've been walking through life with my eyes closed. As soon as I switched it off my first thought was to come on here and write down what I'm feeling :/ I'm 6:1 , 32 years old. And I'm sitting here contemplating letting the tears come through. There where some images in the film that are going to stay with me forever.

I think I needed to see it. And I'm going to finish watching it till they end.
Sorry for such a depressing reply :/
Thanks everyone for keeping an eye on my progress, it keeps me motivated
Everything is going to change. This isn't just food.
I feel like my eyes have just been opened for the first time.

_________________
"Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you're only very small and life flows on within you and without you"
George Harrison

Well the running's really picked up the last couple of days. I'm clocking around seven miles now.
I've also been concentrating on simple exercises like push ups , pull ups (which I hate) squats and leg raises. I suppose I'm just trying to not over complicate it.
One thing I've noticed is even on a day off I have to exercise in the mornings or there is a good chance ill talk myself out of it lol
Anyways , all is good so far

_________________
"Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you're only very small and life flows on within you and without you"
George Harrison

hey mate, earthlings is a heavy thing to watch..........i always tell non vegans to watch it and then tell me my diet is wrong, when they are arguing with me. theres nothing wrong with welling up about stuff like that either, if people got out of their trances and actually started to care about things that actually matter, rather than the mind control propaganda in the papers and on the big rectangle hypnotist in everyones living rooms the world would be a better place.

good job on the running!

mike

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"iam the strongest one! iam the viking!" - jon pall sigmarsson
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Gandhi

Ok I've been a bit lazy updating this journal the last week or so :/

So here's what's going on -

Training wise, I'm running between 7-10 miles everyday (except Sunday)
I've started on simple exercises like push-ups, sit ups, pull ups, squats and leg raises (when I say simple I don't mean easy lol)

Food wise- I'm loving the food to be honest I love making my own fruit smoothies in the mornings with the blender. I used my mothers juicer on Sunday(after I cleaned the dust off) for the first time!! It was fantastic. It was just a recipe that I got from online somewhere, but wow, and it made 2litres and kept in the fridge for a week
I tried vegan cheese , vegan margarine, soy mince and oat milk for the first time this week. All great.

Health wise- I can feel my fitness levels creeping back up. The running is becoming easier everyday.
I feel like I have more energy, I'm sleeping better, I look better, I've noticed my complexion is a lot better than it was it's all good to be honest!!

Yeah mrbear, earthlings is heavy going :/
I agree with you though. All meat eaters should have to watch it. It's something I'm going to use in the future as a reminder. Maybe every six months ill sit down and watch it.

Ok over and out for today

_________________
"Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you're only very small and life flows on within you and without you"
George Harrison

Juicers are great! I have a fresh green juice every morning to start me off before I even think about hitting the coffee. Be careful trying to keep the juice for any extended period of time after you make it, though. If not kept dark and airtight, unpasturized juices lose a lot of their nutritional value during storage. Your best bet is to drink any juice you make within 30 min, and anything past that generally shouldn't be kept much longer than 24 hours and even then in a dark, cold container filled up to the very top to prevent oxidization.

One of my favorite bodyweight exercises that really seems to engage most of the major muscle groups as well as being a good bit of cardio is Burpees. Basically you start from a standing position, squat and tuck, then place your hands on the ground shoulder width apart and extend your legs back into a pushup/plank position and perform one pushup. Then you bring your legs back under your upper body and spring upwards back to standing. There are many good tutorials on youtube such as this one.

Good luck!!

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WeightTraining.com Profile/Log
YouTube Channel

Oh yeah Earthlings, that is a good but hard watch for sure. Nice to hear you sounding like you are just oozing motivation. Maybe I should rewatch it. Maybe some more shame will make me work harder towards doing more for the world, im being jokey but I'm kind of serious at the same time. Thanks for posting. Enthusiasm is contagious, that's for sure.

-Dylan