Question about a 5 by 5 training method

[gan_naire]

I've been gone for a while and I have to fully admit that I never started what I had intended to do through no other fault than laziness on my part. For sure I am ready to begin a routine and my vegan lifestyle. A quick description of my background is that when I was 18 I weight 280 and was a butterball with little muscle mass. I tried to get into the military and dropped down to 180 using the atkins diet and nothing but cardio everyday for close to five months time before I was denied for asthma. Once denied I started lifting weights religiously following a normal diet and packed on a lot of muscle mass in six months time, also started packing on my fat again since I stopped doing cardio in general. I got hurt and kept lifting off and on for about a year or so. I stopped lifting around the age of 20 or so. I'm 26 now and though I gained a lot of my fat back, I seemed to keep all my muscle mass as well, though I lost a lot of my strength too. Im not saying I have a lot of muscle mass to make me sound less fat, Im dead serious about that, I dont know why but I just never lost my mass.

 

Im 5'8" at 275 right now, I figure that I have about 95 pounds of fat on me, maybe more or less, thats just a general idea really. When I weighed 180, I looked like an out of shape average teenager. But with the mass I packed on, Im sure I couldnt get under 180 pounds now with the muscle. Im wanting to go vegan because of what I know it can do for me and after looking at the pics and some of the stories I know that being vegan doesnt mean you have to be small and weak for sure. Im not wanting to get bulkier really, but I want to get a hell of a lot stronger for sure. Im thinking that between a vegan diet, supplementation for recovery and not bulk, then adding cardio everyday, Im hoping that will give me what I want.

[gan_naire]

Also, what my goal is to eventually end up with a hell of a lot of strength as well as a hell of a lot of endurance and stamina because I want to do things that require me to have those things without having the size. I want to train in BJJ, MMA and FMA as well as surf. I would appreciate any advice on a good program, diet routine and supplements. I hate to say it, but for the next two weeks Im on a hardcore budget so I need to go cheap as hell if at all possible, after that I will be able to afford the more expensive stuff.

 

Also, I know normally a 5 by 5 routine would be bad to start off with after being inactive with weights for as long as I have been, but when I first started lifting, I lifted hard and ignored the beginners routines and found that my body was easily able to adjust to the intensity and I never had a problem recovering, though I used nitric oxide and amino acids too. Sorry for the long posts, hopefully you guys/gals didnt give up on me for it haha.

[chewybaws]

Hey man you'll find you'll build back your strength to the point it was at quickly due to muscle memory.

 

It's hard to make strength gains when you're cutting fat so your better concentrating on one goal at a time (either cutting fat or gaining strength/muscle).

 

If cutting fat is your primary goal, you know the drill - reduce portions (don't go overboard) and cardio. If you want to build muscular endurance for sport at the same time maybe something like crossfit workouts would suit you. Have a look about at MMA workouts and stuff like that. Anything that'll get your heart rate high with high reps would suit.

 

With a 5x5 program you'll get gains for only so long while cutting fat, but you'll reach a point where the weight is too heavy for you to recover on so little calories and you'll stop making gains.

[Adena]

Some of the cheapest stuff you can buy is brown rice and different types of dried beans. That'll give you a decent amount of protein and amino acids. Try to get the veggies in there too, but I know they can be the most expensive part... I'd recommend checking out www.veganhealth.org for some nutrition information. That really helped me out when I first went vegan.