Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Friday was split routine. Legs in the morning (so no cardio in the afternoon) and shoulders at night. Thus began my day at 9 AM at the gym:

Leg Extensions: 150/15 X 4 supersetted with

Icarian Leg Curl: 150/15 X 4

Leg Press: 430/15 X 4 (doing 430 is easy, but not four times! Screaming all the way to the last set!). supersetted with

Leg Press Calf Raise: 430/50 X 4

Wanted to do Power Squats supersetted with Seat Calf Raise but I couldn't make it. Thought that I would do them tonight with the shoulders, but that didn't work out either. Oh well, legs still are pumped and sore by the night time.

No cardio, and I just slept. I have got to get this Klonopin meds release evenly, or all I do is sleep (for recovery that is not such as bad thing though).

Headed for the gym around 8 PM (without any dinner due to kids stuff: picking one up for band festival, the other wanted dinner at her work).

Hammer Strength Shoulder Press: 70/15 X 4 supersetted with

Dumbell Laterals: 15/15 X 4

Icarian Rear Delts: 50/15 X 4 supersetted with

Icarian Shoulder Press: 60/15 X 4

Dumbell Press: 25/15 X 4 all by themselves and as fast as possible.

Done at the closing of the gym at 9 PM. This is the end of the ligament cycle of medium weights and 15 or 25 reps for 4 sets. I will try to lift heavy next - maybe. I haven't been this sore in awhile and it makes me think that the repairs will be making my muscles bigger. I want bigger looking muscles, power of lifting is secondary for me.

Bad day Saturday. Went early to the gym around 9 AM to do Back for a split routine today (Triceps later on in the day). Well I was doing my Bent over Rows on the Smith Machine. I did 50/15, 70/12, and was on the 90/8, when I had the peak row form with arms up and barbell on chest and instead of letting fall back down since I was done I went up just like a stiff-legged deadlift. When I came up to the top I couldn't lock the bar to my hips cause they were too far away and the Smith Press wouldn't let me move it towards me. My lower back moved forward and something definitely ssssnapppped! It was such an intense pain that I almost blacked out. I lowered my head carefully down passed my heart to keep the blood flowing so I wouldn't pass out. Then all I wanted to do was get to the locker room for some reason (what was I going to do there? Lying down was out of the question). Really all I just needed was to get home.

First things, first. I finally got undizzy, and then had to use my yoga breath to get to the locker room. Inner core pressure against my lower back to stabilize the pulled muscle or whatever snapped. Suddenly a pain shot over my left hip (iliac crest) and spiralled down my left quad. Damn, it was my sartorius, and probably my quatrus lombardus in my lower back that was hurting (that one is a deep down one and hard to heal). I finally made it to the locker room with every machine along the way as a stopping break to keep from fainting. Only one guy asked if I was OK, and a pat on the back with a "Yeah you are, just shake it off". I couldn't answer him cause I was focused on the locker room. Half an hour later in the locker room doing some yoga stretching for the psoas muscle, just in case it was that too, and time to let it all quiet down with no moving, I was able to get home.

At home a couple of white willow bark capsules. And found out that my Klonopin is a slight muscle relaxer which also helped (but which may have contributed to my first cause), and of course bed rest with pillows propped here and there, I was able to get through the day and night. I am trying cramp bark tea this morning to see if it will work on skeletal muscle too (as it works great on smooth muscle for me with my cramping).

Today I am just going to go to the gym for some tanning. If I am feeling better I get to platinum my son's hair this afternoon (why? just because he wants to do it. Actually it is some dude in the Final Fantasy 12 game that he wants to look like. Cool. Helps with a mom who did a two year stint as a hair stylist in Orange Country California).

Sunday was a horrible day.Was in and out of pain. Tried all sorts of positions to see if I could make my back and now the front left quad feel better. I even broke down from all my willow bark (herbalist that I am) to have an ibprofen. It didn't even do a good a job as the willow bark (and that pink color on the outside of the pill scared me too!). So I continued to take two capsules of willow bark every three to four hours and it took the edge off, and when I took the Klonopin I just drifted off to sleep (with some wicked dreams lately).

It was weird to have your life on hold, while the whirl of life goes on all around you.

Monday is alittle better. My lower back no longer hurts. It is the sartoris that wraps around my left quad that feel like it wants to explode everytime I stand up. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to stand up without any pain, and then I will have to fight the urge to go running back into the gym.

Something bad happened to my back and left leg. Went to my chiropractor and he took some X rays and showed a kink in my third lumbar vertebrae, and my hips are off kelter. The nerves that run through my obturator foramen are being pinched because my pubic sympyhsis isn't matching up. He has nicely cracked my vertebrae and given me relief in my lower back (some, not all), but the pains in my left leg are intense at times (almost where I want to pass out, but if you scream in pain you don't pass out for some reason.
So for the next two days I will be knitting while I put hot and cold on my lower back and meeting with my chiropractor for two more days. This Saturday if it isn't any better, I am off to get an NMR (never had one of those before!) to see if I injured my disc. If that is the case I can opt for surgery or a really slow recovery. Doesn't sound to good for my weight lifting. Oh well. No need to speculate till then. I won't be on for a while I guess. Bye.

Friday: My back is getting better. It is only the pinched nerves through my left leg that is painful. The chiropractor adjusted me again today, which always feels great when I am there, but when you get home it feels even more sore than the morning soreness. Mmmm.

It is almost 60 degrees outside and the first purple crocus is up! I want to go trail running! I let my kids go today instead of the HS gym track. I live on a little fishing lake and it is still frozen, but it has the spring glaze to it. The kids will get the kayaks out soon and go ice breaking.

Going to go see the Blue Man Group tomorrow at the Palace of Auburn Hills (my birthday present from my husband). He got fourth row seats, so I told him that he better get some semi earplugs or my hearing will all be gone ! Can't wait for the confetti! Bring it on!

Planning on getting back to the gym by next week! Or at least go trail running!

Blue Man Group was pretty cool. I had seen some of the stuff they did on TV, so it was not all new for me. I was also in alot of pain in the last 15 minutes of the show, and walking back to the car was very painful.

Adjusted three more times by the chiropractor and am feeling a little bit better each day.

Except yesterday, with it 70 degrees outside and my husband already planting in the garden, I took a shovel and headed out there. I did one bed in about 30 minutes and paid for it that night, and this morning.

If I can get the swelling to go back down again (I am going to try comfrey leaves and apple cider vinegar poultice tonight), I might try to head back to the gym and do light weight work.

At least I am eating really good, and losing a little weight (don't dare say muscle mass - I will cry!). And my tan is coming along. Of course now I will have to watch out for my famous farmer's tan that I always get because I am out in the garden for so long during the day.

It is going to be a good two weeks before I can get over this little set back. Hopefully.

I snuck back into the gym today around noon. Nobody was really there, and I only got a few looks from people as I looked like a robot doing my exercises. I kept my back in the correct shape so as not to hurt it. Basically I pushed my shoulder blades onto the backrests of the machines, and kept my lower lumbar off the backrests. I couldn't lean backwards at all (tried to hammer curls while sitting on a bench and leaned back just a little and felt a pull happening, but I dropped the weight before I hurt myself!).

Chest and Biceps day:

LifeFitness Chest Press: 45/25, 60/25, 75/25, and 90/15 (Chest pumped already. A week and half off, and less weight, but it feels nice to feel the muscles full again! Yeah!).

Cable 1-Arm Curl (chose this cause I wanted to use my other arm to help me keep balance with my back by pressing it against the machine): 20/25, 30/15

Cybex Flyes (on # 3 for range of motion - just straight out to my side, not behind a little like I use to do): 50/25, 60/20, and 70/10.

Hammer Curls (standing up, leg pain starting to radiate down quad. hard to keep still doing these with both hands at once. no rocking!): 10/25, 15, 20 (enough. left leg hurts too much - pinching the nerve from the back).

EZ bar Curls: just the bar/ 15 X 2 (tried them for fun, and found out I don't rock on this one with just the bar. my biceps were burning though with the strict form and I did them slowly. . . mmmm).

Still having a hard time staying on my legs for long periods of time. It is usually just an annoying pain most of the time now, but if I over do it, or tweak my back just so, ooh laa laa, ouch! At least in the gym, I can sit on the machines and concentrate only on the muscles I am working.

The comfrey may be working, so today I made a batch of avocado oil simmered with comfrey leaves for three hours, and then I put in some calendula flowers for another hour (and then strain it, and collect the oil). I am going to try that tonight. No vinegar though like in the poultice to get the blood circulating. I'll use the heating pad on low to do that maybe. I am also using flax seed oil and grapeseed oil capsules to keep the inflammation on the inside of me down. I might try the bromelain and curcumin (tumeric isolate) next week if it stays around much longer.

Thursday: busy, and couldn't get to the gym. Plus my back needs a rest after yesterday's workout.

Today (Friday): Shoulder and Leg day: very interesting workout without using your back for help. I had my stomach muscles (core muscles) locked in for all these exercises to help keep my back stable.

Icarian Shoulder Press: 30/25, 40/25, 50/15 (very cautious with the weights).

Icarian Rear Delt Press: 20/25, 30/25, 40/15

Dumbell Flyes: 10/25, 15/15 X 3 (last set started to get hard to bring it up all the way, but I did not use my other body parts to help it. I just went as high as it could on the last five reps).

Icarian Leg Extension: 70/15 X 4 (stayed in the machine. so hard to get in and out without using your back!).

Icarian Leg Curl: 70/15 X 4 (hurt my back on the last two sets, but not too much. I rested alot between those sets to calm my back down).

Seated Calf Raise: 70/25 X 4 (back spasm on the third set. discipline made me do the last set, and then I decided I had done enough damage for the day - at least in the gym ).

Worked yesterday to get the sugar pea pod seed bed ready for today's planting. I am also working on the cold crop beds too (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Maybe I should try brussel sprouts this year - they are a cool plant to grow and harvest). Using my legs and core muscles as the shovel and fork move the dirt around.

Back and Triceps: A cold and sprinkle of rain here and there today. Still was able to get out and plant my sugar snap peas since I didn't get to them yesterday. Headed for the gym around noon and was very cautious doing my back exercises (so much so that I did triceps first this time and let my back get warmed up).

Tricep V-bar Pushdown: 2/25, 3/25, 4/25, 5/15 (finally! a 15 rep set).

Overhead Tricep Extension (using just a cable with the arms going behind the head and not the machine/can't let my back get that low in a machine with a back rest and expect to get up without pain): 35/25, 45/15 (triceps pumped and the back is starting to hurt. great.).

Cybex Back Row: 25/25, 37.5/25, 50/25, 75/20, 87.5/15 (this didn't hurt my back as long as I kept my lumbar curve strong with core muscles).

Cybex weight-assisted Lat Pull-Ups (tried pulldowns and the back screamed in pain, and I tried to do one-arm side pulldown on the cybex machine with both arms but that also hurt my back. this didn't, as long as I kept my lumbar curve solid and my feet flexed flat? weird on that part): 20/15, 19/15, 18/15, 17/15

And that is all I did today in the gym with weights. While I tried to just do good mornings, and I got to three and didn't go down all the way (I have to bend my knees just to tie my shoelaces - and actually it is a squat to tie my shoes ).

It has been exactly two weeks today since I hurt myself. Wish I could heal faster, so I can do more things without pain. I saw the old Ninja dude doing twisting weighted sit-ups and my back thought for me on that one: No way! It didn't even want to go there . My back is the boss of me . . . for now.

Went to the doctors on Thursday, and am off Klonopin. I don't know why the anxiety attacks come and go every three or ten years or so. Only took me two weeks this time to get off Klonopin and get them under control (I just redirect my thinking and I am able to by-pass a direct panic attack, or like yesterday's panic attack passed through me in about 20 seconds with my skin crawling and my mind going someplace else/wasn't even thinking of anything but the creepiness of my skin and then it was gone. weird). I also found out the results of my blood test: normal except I was anemic. I have been slacking off on the dark leafy greens lately, and the periods have been very heavy lately (have to get my uterine fibroids checked again). Lots of things have been getting my body out of the usual routine. Life is giving me lots of new things to experience lately.

Back into it again. Still have pain in my lower back when I do too much, and a slight twinge in my left leg just to remind me to watch it.

Monday: Went back to my Anusara yoga 2 class, and the poor instructor's face when I told her that I hurt my back, and she had planned all backbends for the class. I told her that I would honor myself and go into child position or do a modification (since I've been thru teacher training for yoga, I know more modifications than most practitioners) and I did backbends! Emphasizing the curves of the back with the core muscles to stabilize your back, I was able to do the Wheel/Urdhva Dhanurasana, three times!

I also went to the gym around 4 PM and did shoulder work. Didn't keep track of what I did. I am just going in now and lifting what I can. I do a warm up of 25 of low weight, and then increase the plates to whatever it takes to do 8 reps this time (so I am back to doing heavy weights again: 90 for 8 on the Hammer Strength Shoulder Press).

So it took me three weeks to get back to mostly normal. I am taking VegLife's Iron (25 mg) in a food base, and I try to eat leafy raw greens everyday for my anemia. I also have upped my water intake since the iron pills seem to make me a little constipated, but no dark black stools like I would have with the regular over the counter iron pills.

One cool thing was the Bright Lights Organic Swiss Chard I had last week. I did saute them up lightly: just till the green got really green and the colors were brilliant, and the chard was still chewy. It was so pretty!

Back in the gym and working with the heavy weights as before. So a two month sabbatical of trying to do things in the gym/yoga and healing.

Learned that comfrey oil works wonders. I am still using it now when I get done turning over the garden beds and my lower back and obliques are really sore and tight.

Have been out trail running almost every day/night (tried night time yesterday for the first time and swallowed two bugs (not very vegan of me I know. I was able to spit one back out, but one hit my epiglottis and stuck there till I almost heaved it off!)..

Went off of protein powders for awhile also. Noticed a big difference now that I started taking them again. It is like my muscles filled up with water or something cause they are full again.

No new improvement in the mental state with me. I am still on Klonopin and I am able to sleep at night, but they make me so tired in the afternoon! I have been doing 1/2 in the morning, and 1/2 in the afternoon, with a whole one for evening to try and smooth it over. It is hard to get motivated when you feel so sedated, but I do it anyways..

I've tried GABA and that let me go for 2 days (the half life of Klonopin) without the K, but their was no panicky feelings, just wired. Couldn't sleep at night! but my poor body was so exhausted! Then I tried the herbs Valerian, which did the same thing, and an Ayurvedic herbal tablet called Tranquil Mind that had basically Skullcap, and the same thing. Only K seems to calm me down enough, and then more than enough, to sedate me for sleep.Been reading up on GABAa receptors that Klonopin works on, and finding research on alcoholism and the GABAa receptors. My whole family on the maternal side were and are all alcoholics, and thus I vowed never to drink thinking that I was prone to the addiction, only to find out that they may have just been self medicated themselves due to a genetic mental disease that expressed itself in me since I don't self medicate (just with herbs and food). Interesting for me to see this. Of course the biochemist in me is just intrigued and now I am off researching who is doing research on this stuff. Finding out to the question I had of why I can go on Klonopin for a couple of months and then am fine for years. Seems that their is a regeneration that can take place with neurons and receptors. So maybe I am sensitive to anxiety (one term I found used in an published in neuroscience article) and my neurons and receptors are "fried" and then after the sedation of medication they can regenerate and be useful once more. Cool.

Still haven't lost the weight I want. My diet is getting stricter, and supplementing with protein powders has helped me stay on the diet. We shall see what happens. My heart and mind, just isn't in it this year I think for a contest show. I haven't got the whole vegan contest dieting down yet. May take me a year or two. I think when I ballooned up to 180 that was too much I think. I am at 160+2/3 lbs right now. See if I can lose another 20 to get it to 140 for the summer. Then I will see from there where to go.

Shoulders today. Lifted the usual (just check out all the other entries for shoulders: Hammer Strength Shoulder Press, Dumbell Lateral Flyes, Smith Military Press, Cybex Rear Delt Flyes, new one I guess is Barbell Front Raise with 30/15, 40/15, 50/8, and Cybex Dumbell-Grip Shoulder Press).

Didn't wear my ipod, so somebody asked if they could all talk to me today since I wasn't wearing my ipod. I answered "Yes, I haven't had a good teasing in awhile". They actually just talked to me, and a casual tease here and there. Smiley even made a joke: he asked me if he was stepping on any of my invisible children I had with me. I forgot for a moment that I was wearing my shirt that has Invisible Children printed on it (a really good charity for the kids of the world that need help. Started off with the Uguanda children in the army, by helping them make bracelets for the American's to buy and provide money for food that way instead of the army. Then they helped Katrina Kids. And now they are doing school supplies for needy children). I thought that it was quite a funny and witty remark.

Trail running for 50 minutes this morning, around 8:30 am, with it just starting to get hot by the time I got back home.

Worked two more beds in the garden (turning over the green cover crop) and then laid out in the sun for less than an hour. Nice to be outside in the sun instead of a metal box with bulbs. A nice breeze blew over me, but I still sweated!

Back in the gym since being gone all summer. Decided that I loved my trail running so much, that I have switched to running instead of bodybuilding.

I have done the Michigan's Crim/10 mile run this year, and the Mackinac Island 8.5 mile run. Next year on my list is the half marathons of Traverse City and Mackinac Island Turtle Run, and then the marathons of Michigan. I do have my eye on the 50 mile run over in Manistee, MI (the Big M trail). And if I can get into it, I am thinking of doing the 100 mile Western States endurance run when I turn 50 years old in seven years from now.

I am running about 26 miles a week (two 10 mile runs, and then a casual 4 or 2 mile fun run spread out over the week) and have yet to get past the 10 mile mark on one single run. I am never out of breath in my runs, but it is a part of my body that gives in to pain. Lately it is my left hip abductors that is making me gimp that last mile home!

I've gone back to yoga to help stretch and strengthen my hip muscles and joint. Although, yoga has resulted in alot more sore muscles that I haven't used all summer long! My obliques are so sore right now, and that spot between my shoulder blades.

Went back into the gym yesterday and did Chest and Biceps with my 14 year son as my partner. Kept the weight light and did 3 sets of 25 reps. Only my brachiis hurt today due to the medium weight I used when I did hammers. Today is Back and Tricep day. Not going to post my weights and sets/reps till I am into a routine. Have to try and form a list of exercises more conducive to running than just bulking up.

Wow, that's great that you've picked up running! I prefer it to weights and stuff too. I started running this May and did a half marathon recently. You have some very ambitious goals, but very impressive. Markc7 and WendyRC who post here have both done multiple 100 mile ultras and can probably offer you advice and wisdom on the topic.

Did Back and Triceps yesterday and felt a little sore on the tricep area. Went for the usual 10 mile run the day before that and had no hurt in the hip area, except now the foot area is back to hurting again! Slipped in a 4 miler the next day afterwards because it was so nice outside (warm front before all the tornado weather came up) and I know there is not a lot more warm days left before the snow flies! Didn't hurt anything then, but I tried to run today and my hip shot a pain just as I got past my driveway. Headed back inside and babied it all day, even though I was suppose to do Shoulders and Legs today. Try again tomorrow.

Thanks Pamela for the info and congrats on your half marathon. I am still working up to 13 miles. Now that my hip is hurting me, I now have fear of pain when I get past 10 miles. Actually it starts to hurt around the 8 mile mark, and I still have 2 miles to get home to (even my son who has car privileges couldn't come and get me the other day cause he had marching band practice and didn't have time to come get me! I ended up walking with a gimp the whole 2 miles and 45 minutes later I was home). Yoga has helped a lot in loosening up my hip joint, but I am now thinking of doing lunges in the gym to help my hips take the pounding of running so long. I will look for Markc7 and WendyRC's posts to see about advice I'd like to incorporate into my training.