Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi,
This is my first entry into my bodybuilding journal.
I'm not sure how to start this, so I will begin by defining some details about me in order to gauge my progress or to give others an idea of where im coming from.

My height is 5' 7", and my weight is 110 lb.

I also did some rough measurements about a month ago(I should remeasure everything soon):


Today is monday, and i usually work out on tuesday, thursday, and friday as well.

My excersizes which I performed today were the following:


I woke up at 1:00pm, and i ate some Optimum power cereal with soymilk around 1:30pm.
I worked out the above listed things around 2:00pm
At 5:30pm I ate a prepared food for me by my mom consisting of some morning star meal starter http://www.morningstarfarms.com/cgi-bin ... company=23
some mixed vegetables.
some 10 minute success natural whole grain brown rice http://www.successrice.com/SUCCESS/prod ... prod=10078
some packaged baked potato pieces..
some salad.
At 11 pm, I ate some weetabix cereal with some soymilk.

throughout the day i've probably drank about 5 small cups of water, and will probably drink a few more.

I will probably goto bed around 2 or 3 am.

my goals:
become healthier, and gain more muscle.

woke up 12:30 pm

at 1:00pm ate bowl of Natures Path Organic Flax Plus Multigrain Cereal with some soymilk

after I did some excersizes:


couple of cups of water after excersize.

will fill in rest of day as day progresses.

edit:
at 5:30pm I ate a couple vegetarian steaklets, a couple scoops of mashed potatos, a couple scoops of green peas, and some gravey with mushrooms.
edit:
also ate some more cereal around 11:00pm, i should find some alternates to cereal..

I see you're obviously a very skinny person(my waist is just under 36 in comparison). You're probably not accustom to eating lots(unlike myself again) but eating a few more calories either in the form of one more meal or just a snack will really help fuel muscle growth.

I'm not even talking about protein shakes. Your dinner looks really solid. I see that you stay up pretty late so you could even have a 2nd dinner at around 10 o clock. Don't be too worried about calorie intake when you're lifting to gain muscle. Make sure you don't eat too much processed crap(which i see you keep to a good amount already) and you'll be fine.

Your routine looks good so far. I enjoy more of a powerlifting style to a bodybuilding one but as far as i can tell you have the general idea down.

Hope to see your other logs to see what other sort of lifts you do on different days.

Hey dude, what I'd suggest, apart from what Andrew said, is attempting to lift heavier weights. What you've said about your workouts is that you're doing the same weight for 5 sets. What I'd recommend is a warm up rep, and then increase the weight as you go, and see where you end up. It is hard to increase strength and size just using the same weight. But if you find it best to work like this, that's cool, so long as you raise the weight in some way. If you do 30lbs for an exercise this week, try raising it to 32 next week etc and see how you get on.

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Hi Kon

Can I just ask whether you are male or female??

As the others say, eating more will help your lifting. You only eat three times in the day at the moment - aim for 3 meals and 3 snacks like a couple of handfuls of nuts, or several pieces of fruit.

I also think that sleeping until the afternoon is unwise. Get a good solid nights sleep between midnight and 9.30am and you will feel much more energised for lifting.

Jonathan

_________________
Squat
Press
Eat
Repeat

thanks for the replies..
yes, im pretty skinny, hence why i'd like to gain some muscle and not necessarly fat.
i will try to eat snacks. would an apple count as a snack?
I like eating nuts, i usually get some mixed nuts whenever i shop, but im out of nuts at the moment. I was going to walk over to the store today since it is my rest day, but it is raining, so it will have to wait until tomarrow. I was going to stock up on some fruit since i dont eat too much of it.
hm, i will try to raise the weight as i go, richard, and see how it goes.
jonathan, im male. Does it matter when i get sleep? because whenever i sleep i get enough since i wake up naturally without an alarm clock. I usually get 9-10 hours of sleep.

I'm wondering if i should post what i do on the days i dont work out.. I guess everyday counts..

todays I woke up around 12:45 pm, and i ate 4 slabs of weetabix with soymilk around 1:15pm

I'll fill in more as the day progresses.

EDIT:
at 5:30 pm I ate two vegetarian burgers on lettice with a slice of tomato, pickle slices, and a small bit of ketchup. no cheese or bread.
I also had a serving of canned beans and corn with a handful of baked frenchfries.

Even apples count as a snack in my book. I try and use nuts sparingly. Chips and other crap like that even less. I also try and use protein bars(clif builders or vega bars come to mind) sparingly and am now rationing them to 2-3 a week. (expensive for a college student)

Speaking of nuts i really have to go to my health foods store and get a big old bag of trail mix again. Maybe some goji berries.

I really do agree with what Jono says. I'm horrible about sleep on the weekends(even if i don't drink/party/go out) because usually i get 6 hours a night if i'm lucky on days i have class in the morning. I always feel sluggish. Possibly try out going to bed a few hours earlier and getting up earlier and see how you feel.

Less reps more weight will give you bulkier muscle. You can switch it up every other week if you want to have a more toned look.

That's not quite true.
The growth stimulus for muscles comes from
- increased weight
- increased volume
You can grow within any rep range, as long as you keep adding weight, or grow with a certain weight for a while when you keep adding reps and sets.
The best for big muscles is to do high reps with high weight

High reps play an important role in bodybuilding and shouldn't be neglected. As a beginner, one should do at least 15 reps in every set.

I also wouldn't change the rep range every week, rather every month, because it's easier to track progress in comparison with last week if you only change either weights or reps, not both (unless both go up of course!).

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No one said it would be easy.

As far as I am aware sleep is definately better at night time, as your body releases hormones to send you to sleep in the evening. 2am is about the time when you are in your deepest sleep. And at this time of year especially, you want to be maximising the amount of sunlight you see, as it will help you stay happier. Basically, sleep when it's dark, be awake when it's light!

With your bulking you are going to have to accept that you will gain some fat. It is almost impossible for most people to bulk in any other way. I really wouldn't worry about it though, as fat is easy enough to shift and you just want to concentrate on gaining muscle at the moment. We had an American guy come stay with us a couple of months ago. I think he was just under 5'7" and he weighed about 160lb and he looked great - not overly bulky (he is a dancer) but still in great shape.

The keys to your bulking being a success are:

* Train 4 times a week, and with a bit more volume (so more total lifting). Try a full body workout and repeat it each workout. You just want to be getting alot of practise lifting weights at this point, and be stimulating your body to grow.

* Eat alot! From what I can see on your diet plan you eat very little (though Weetabix is good!) and infrequently too. On this website I typed in your stats it it gave me a base metabolic rate of 2373 cal a day. Now to gain you want to slap 500 more on and work from there.

Eat 3 good meals a day (aim for 600-700 cal) and have three smaller meals inbetween. It needs only to be 75g of nuts, or a small bowl of porridge, or several pieces of fruit.

* I would recommend not sleeping past 10am, and for the exact reasons you should ask Daywalker (who is a doctor).


Can I ask, do you train at home or at a gym?

Jonathan

_________________
Squat
Press
Eat
Repeat

Also, in addition to what Jonathan said, your metabolism at it's height between 10 am - 2 pm, if you're getting any light exposure at all, so your body could basically be eating away at itself while you sleep, if you are sleeping that late.

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www.facebook.com/OhDid

"Look at what a green thumb this guy has, he just throws plants in water and they root!"
- A good friend talking about my basil cuttings

hm, interesting..

i'd add weight but sometimes when i do, it would be impossible for me to lift.
maybe im adding too much..

hm, i will try to gradually alter my sleep time, although it is difficult because sometimes i need to stay up late in relation to some business stuff..

i don't mind gaining some weight as long as its good weight, whether its fat or muscle.
as for full body workouts, i'll have to search online for some since im not sure how they work.

i'll try to eat more often even if i dont feel like eating.. I got some fruit and nuts today, so i could snack on those i suppose.

jonathan, i do my exercises at home since i dont have any car to go anywhere

today i walked to the store and back, and it was cold out
that was around 1pm.. and i got back at around 2pm which i then ate some weetabix with some soymilk and a banana.
after than i did some exercises:


after the pushups, i had to roll over and use my legs to get up, lol.. felt good.

ill update the rest of the day as it progresses

edit:
had some chinese food around 5:30pm basically just rice and some vegetables..

edit: ate a handfull of nuts around 10:00pm

I don't know if i'm weird but i trimmed out when I first started putting on lots of muscle. I already had fat on my body so my guess is my body utilized the fat i already had. If you're pretty skinny you will put on a little fat but you shouldn't worry about it. A little fat never hurt anybody.

I'm debating on if i should do a 4 o clock lift or a 6 o clock lift. I"m leaning towards the 4 o'clock.

thanks,

ok, today I woke up around 12:30pm
at around 1:20pm ate some optimum power cereal, soymilk, and a few pieces of frozen fruit(i should have thawd them out)..
I then did 5 sets of 5 reps of lifting 30lb over my head and then back to the ground. i made up the exercise so i dunno what to call it.
after that, it was about 1:40, and so i went outside and shoveled the driveway because it had snowed alot.. I did this for about 40 minutes.
i was really tired after that..

will update this post as day progresses..

edit:
ate some speghetti with some tomatoe sauce at 5:30pm
had some handful of nuts later arund 10pm and 11pm

woke up today at around 1pm.. i should get to bed earlier, but its hard..

my lower back was feeling a little sore from yesterdays shoveling.. i suppose thats good, no?

had some flax plus multigrain cereal with soymilk around 2 pm

will fill in more as day progresses..

edit:
had some weetabix around 6pm
later around 11pm i had some nuts

woke up 11:30am.. a little ealier than past days, yay..
ate at 12 cereal, soymilk..
then did work out:


will fill in more as day progresses

edit: apple around 2:30pm

edit: 5:30pm has a couple vegetarian hotdogs .. no buns.. just a dob of ketchup.. some scoops of beans and corn, and some salad..

edit: nuts around 8:30pm