VeganEssentials

Took the week off from lifting, had two deaths in the family so training was not top priority this past week. Had to get back to business as usual tonight, upper back and shoulder training - Weighted pull ups - 1x3 @ bodyweight (240 lbs. clothed tonight) 1x3 @ 40 lbs added 3x5 @ 82.5 lbs added, done as single with 5-10 seconds between each rep. Felt great with these tonight, will try for a legit 100 lb pull up again soon to hopefully finally make one happen. Standing overhead strict presses with axle - 1x10 @ empty 55 lb axle 1x5 @ 145 lbs 1x3 @ 195 1x1 @ 225 1x1 @ 235 Just missed making 240 lbs for a strict press, lost it behind me a few inches short of lockout, will nail it next time 3x5 @ 210 Barbell rows, first time in a while - 2x10 @ 235 lbs 1x10 @ 245 1 arm standing dumbbell press, slight side lean on the last rep or two - 1x10 @ 92.5 lbs Was strong on these, but right shoulder was popping and clicking a bit, stopped after one set Standing white monster band with handle 1 arm press (band looped under 150 lb dumbbell), about 40 lbs tension at start, around 80 lbs at finish - 2x20 each arm Hammer Strength plate loaded pulldowns - 2x15 @ 230 lbs Inverted bodyweight rows in the top of the power rack - 2x25 Rear delt flues with dual handled cable tied to power rack pillar - 3x25 Good session, will be handing out prize money tomorrow at the beachfront strongman comp in Milwaukee tomorrow after watching the human giants battle it out, should get some leg training in on Sunday!

You're such a Midwesterner, Ryan! Baby Herc True, true I always was told they were called stall mats, but once I started checking online, more and more places were calling them cow mats, so I figured it doesn't hurt to give both names for the sake of making sure nobody misses a good deal on these for setting up their home gym flooring!

I don't mind a shot in my juice or smoothie from time to time, but like anything else, it's a healty food with a lot of hype behind it as well that makes it sound far more amazing than it really is. Definitely good for you, but as someone who was taking in lots of it for months (2 oz. of fresh cut juiced wheatgrass daily for 4 months without fail combined with a mostly raw diet at the time) to combat a health issue that it didn't do much of anything for, I know that the hype can outweigh what you'll get out of it if you're looking for something miraculous by chugging a shot or two here and there. Worth taking? Sure. Is it all that some people claim it to be? Not really.

Cheapest source - if you have a place that does farm supply nearby, look for a 4x6 or larger "stall mat" or "cow mat" which will be a big sheet of 3/4" thick rubber matting that absorbs shock like crazy and makes for great gym matting. They're made for cow/horse stalls to be anti-fatigue vs. animals standing on bare concrete, and they're what most people who are doing budget home gyms will go for, MUCH cheaper than buying those interlocking things you can find elsewhere where they'll charge you a something like $10 for a 1.5' square mat (of which, you'll need many to cover a workout area), a stall mat should run only about $35-45 for a big one, and usually 2 or 3 will cover enough area for a power rack, bench, etc. if you have a bedroom setup. Here's a link so you can see what they're like: http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/297882-rubber_cow_mat_6_x_4_x_3_4.html It's what we have in our facility, had to buy about 30 of them to cover one side, but it was about 1/5 the price of commercial gym mat flooring, a much better deal!

Still the old place, Herc - we've had two places fall through in the past week due to a screwy lease structure on one (would have been $2500/month year one, then $3400/month year two, then back to $3100/month from there on out - didn't make any sense!), the other one said we needed to put in better restrooms to accommodate, which was fine until they told us that they'd need to pad our lease with $35k in extra charges for building us a small restroom/changing area with a tiny little shower stall. Yep, the same thing a handyman could build in a day for $3k, they wanted almost 12x that amount. Now we've only got 40 days to figure it out, all three of us who are partners are going off the wall over how terrible it has been to simply find a new gym home that isn't charging too much, or, doesn't have zoning issues that prevent us from getting our stuff moved in!

I like it cooler when I'm training (I'd rather put on an extra t-shirt than be dripping with sweat in the first 5 minutes), but I don't have much of a choice. No AC at our facility, so whatever the outside temp is, you can bet it's just as hot inside. Been close to 100 degrees here for days on end, I haven't been able to train because of it (even at night, the temp in the facility with both loading dock doors open still means it's 5-8 degrees hotter inside), but I hear a cool front is coming our way, and not a moment too soon!

Hey, Chewy! Back has been MUCH better, can't speak highly enough of the DRX-9000 for being an awesome recovery tool from compressed discs. Still getting weekly chiro adjustments to keep things in line as well, so far, so good, hoping things stay in the right direction. Haven't had even the slightest bit of pain in two months, once I got back to being able to squat/deadlift with light weights again, the morning tightness I was getting has been nonexistant. Working my way back up slowly and carefully this time, even if I have to stay with moderate weight for squats/deads for the remainder of the year, it's better than being in daily agony! Haven't lifted since Friday, weather here has been hovering just about 100 degrees with high humidity, essentially making me feel wiped out every time I'm outside. Considering our facility has no AC and it's always hotter in the gym than it is outdoors, I'm pretty much unable to do any real training when it's above 90 out. But, cooler weather is supposed to be coming our way tonight, if it drops to the 70s as they predict, I'll get my arse out to lift in a few hours!

Quick upper back day, wanted to do shoulders but heat shut me down early - Weighted pull-ups - 1x4 @ bodyweight (240 clothed) 1x2 @ 50 lbs. added 3x5 @ 72.5 lbs. added, done as singles with a quick breath between each, last set I had to rest about 10 seconds between the 4th and 5th rep, got tough at the end DB rows - 2x15 each arm @ 150 lb. DB 1 arm sled rows - 2x20 each arm @ 340 lbs. Started overhead pressing in between the DB rows, worked through a single @ 230 lbs. that went up easily enough, then got shut down 4 tries in a row @ 240 lbs. for a strict press with the axle, so I figured that I need a few more days to try for a new PR with this. Might hit it back up on Sunday, otherwise Monday for shoulders, will be squatting Sunday or Monday as well!

All relative, I suppose - 25 reps with 60% of your 1RM is one thing, doing it with 80+% of your 1RM is a whole different story!

Quick lower back and chest day! Flat bench w/ axle, medium grip all sets at torso width - 1x5 @ 145 lbs. 1x3 @ 195 1x2 @ 235 1x1 @ 265 Put on slingshot 10x2 @ 310 lbs. 1x1 @ 325 1x1 @ 335 Felt good, might have been good for 350 but don't want to go too heavy for a few more weeks Took off Slingshot 2x2 @ 275 Deadlifted between bench sets of doubles - 1x5 @ 135 lbs. 1x5 @ 225 9x5, 1x10 @ 285 Safety squat bar good mornings - 3x20 @ 185 lbs. Wrapped up with a circuit of 3 sets as follows, no more than 20 seconds rest between exercises or circuits - 3x25 glute/ham raises 3x25 banded bench machine presses 3x20 reverse hypers w/ 100 lbs. Hit a wall at that point, called it a day. Will be doing upper back and event work Friday, squats an overhead pressing Sunday!

Hey, Herc! It's a mixed bag on the gym relocation - we actually wanted to take over the rest of the building we are currently in (they had more open units on the end from a carpet company that moved out), but apparently they want to gut the whole place of the office/warehouse units and make more self-storage out of it (we lease from a building owned by PS Public Storage). Would have been nice to just expand and not have to move, but if the new place is set and my partners want to sign the lease, at least we'll be only a half mile from our current spot on the same street. But, as noted, we'll be doubling our space, we'll continue to have full use of the outdoor arear behind the building, but now there will be room for Kirk to be training up to about 25 people indoors at a given time in groups, whereas now it was tough for him to have more than about 12-15 people at one time. Not to mention, landlord at new spot said that if we sign, he'll give us a key to an adjacent unit to start moving our stuff in until the company leasing our spot is gone, which would be great as one of our members just bought out all the old equipment at a local high school, so now we're going to have twice the equipment, but currently we have nowhere to store it. Fingers are crossed that when I meet with my partners tonight, they'll tell me they think the lease terms are good enough for us to sign on (they're still crunching the numbers a bit to make sure, since we're also doubling our overhead), but I should know by tomorrow how things are looking!

That is odd that they don't have the pager devices, without those, I can see a lawsuit brewing as we speak should anyone get hurt while there solo during the off-hours. Not a good plan for them, but sadly, I think they'll learn that lesson the hard way. Out this way, the 24 hour key card gyms tend to be in suburban strip malls most commonly, usually in places that are on well-traveled streets and in brightly lit areas. That usually means that the odds of someone looking at the locations as a choice spot for doing anything criminal are quite low, but of course, that's in relation to where I'm located, can't speak for the other places you'll find such facilities. Throughout the area in and around Milwaukee, these types of places have a really good record of being crime-free, but you never know how it would be somewhere else! I definitely hear you regarding the loss of quality gyms that relied on essentials for effective equipment over glitz, member camaraderie and people giving a hoot about each other's well-being and overall progress, etc. Almost all such places out this way have vanished, with a few last holdouts (including the facility I'm partnered into). I'm sure you'd love our place, just lots of barbells, dumbbells, iron and bumper plates galore, a handful of decent machines that don't suck, strongman toys and no shortage of things made solely to get you stronger with zero glamour in an environment that reeks of "Do the best f*%ing job you're capable of while you're here". Not to mention, what started as more of a one-on-one training concept has evolved more into people wanting to train together to push each other, and dozens of friendships have formed this past year. Heck, on Fridays, you can usually find a group of people from our gym who didn't know each other just a few short months ago, now all well-acquinted and heading out to grab a post-training beer together after a good session Only thing that sucks is that we have to move in less than 7 weeks due to our current building being a no-go for renewing our lease due to the owner's plans to gut the whole complex for new usage, but all things willing, we'll be signing on our top pick for a new home tomorrow, which will double our space and give us a whole lot more to work with. Can't wait to get in there and rebuild something even better than we have now!

Not sure if they offer treatments with the DRX-9000 spinal decompression machine in England (I know that some countries have pulled it from being offered because "the science does not support the claims"), but if you can find a way to get access to one, it might just change your life as far as how your lower back feels. Here, it'll set you back $100-$125 per 22 minute session (as insurance won't cover it), but being where you're from, I'd suspect that you won't have the same problem with expenses should you find a way to get access to one, unless your health care system doesn't cover chiropractic-type treatments. Definitely worth a check, I can't talk about it enough for how much it saved me from being crippled before I'd get to be 40!

Actually, more and more of the 24-hour facilities are unstaffed after a certain hour. I worked out at Anytime Fitness for about 3 years, basically, after 7 PM there was nobody on duty until the following morning. That being said, they apparently never had any problems, and regarding the "what if you get hurt?", they had little pager things you could wear around your neck that would dial 911 if you'd press the button (basically like the old "I've fallen and I can't get up!" commercial thing for the elderly), so there was something in place. Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness and others have been using this formula with great success, but of course, if you want a late night trainer, you're out of luck. If you want to know someone's at the desk when you pop in for a late night workout, you're not going to be happy. However, it's akin to being anywhere else at that hour, if you go to ANY location in the late night hours, there's more potential for someone to be lying in wait for something bad to happen. It sounds odd, but typically, unless the gym would be in an area that's not known to be safe (of which, nobody should put a 24 hour unstaffed-at-night facility in a bad area if they want to have their place last more than a year...), it's actually not a bad thing. These places also have house phones for emergencies, so if you got in, saw anything outside that looked wrong, you could dial the police ASAP even if you didn't have a cell phone with you. And, the doors close FAST behind you when you go in, preventing anyone from being able to follow you in unless they were pretty well already breathing on the back of your neck as you swipe your card to get access. Considering the overly litigious nature of Americans these days, these places wouldn't be expanding like crazy if the formula didn't work safely for just about everyone. It's particularly nice for those who become anti-social when training (like myself, I prefer to not be disturbed or do any talking when I lift), most nights after 11 PM I'd have the place to myself, I'd sneak in my iPod and sound dock and cover their crappy music with my own playlist and enjoy myself thoroughly in solitude

Awesome to hear Patrik is doing so well! Of course, on other boards where it's mentioned that he's vegan, the most common reply is simply, "Well, he was that strong before he went vegan, so big deal!" But if nothing else, it makes those people know that once you change your diet, you don't wither away into a husk of your former self and can stay just as strong, even if they want to keep doubting what you can do once you go vegan!

There's no question, you CAN do some good with high rep training, but as the backbone of a mass/strength building program, there's a lot better out there. I've gained on programs where I didn't do more than 1-3 reps in my sets, and I've gained on programs where I incorporate 25-50 rep sets as well. But, I'd say that from personal experience, it's harder to make good strength and mass gains with more than just a few high rep sets, they tend to fare better for me when I'm working to lose fat or am primarily after improving my conditioning level. I might throw a few in (I respond better with things like shrugs at high reps of 20+ per set than I do low reps) here and there, but it's usually the smaller muscle groups or just a few sets as a "finisher" exercise after doing the heavier stuff first. Doesn't hurt to vary things up and experiment, but I'd be wary of a high rep plan being optimal for many people who are working to get bigger/stronger in the most efficient way possible!

Sorry to hear the lower back is being a pain, VS. Hope that it gets better before too long and that you'll be able to squat and deadlift without any problems!

Body was totally taxed the past few days, just couldn't feel like doing much of anything, like I was sleepwalking all day Thursday and Friday. Figured I needed to get my ass back in gear on Saturday, went in for some upper back and shoulder work - Standing strict overhead axle presses - 1x5 @ 145 lbs. 1x2 @ 175 1x1 @ 195 1x1 @ 215 5x3 @ 225, done as singles with 20 seconds rest between each. Would press a rep, rack the axle, walk out the dock door for a quick breath, then come back for the next. Technique was REALLY spot on tonight, the 2nd and 3rd sets we so easy, I had to double check and make sure I had 225 on the bar. Trying some of my older tricks to bump the strength back up, lots of heavy near-max singles with a bit of rest worked well before, we'll see what it does if I throw them in from time to time now. Weighted pull-ups, done alternating with the axle presses - 1x3 @ bodyweight (242 clothed tonight) 1x2 @ 45 lbs. added on 1x2 @ 70 lbs. added on 3x3 @ 90 lbs. added on, done as singles with 10 seconds rest with feet on floor between each rep, working to hit the elusive 100 lb. weighted pull-up soon 1x10 @ 50 lbs. added on, done as singles with feet touching floor for quick deload for one second between each rep. 1-arm standing DB strict presses - 1x12 @ 82.5 lb. DB each arm 1x20 @ 62.5 lb. DB each arm 1-arm DB rows - 2x15 @ 150 lb. DB each arm, was much easier than in the past, felt like I should have tried for 20s. Weighted sled rows behind building - 2x25 each arm @ 330 lb. sled I feel MUCH stronger while training lately, unlike in the past months where I had to fight through every set but felt like I could train all day if I needed to. Now things go really well for just about 90 minutes, then I crash hard, where my body seems to be insisting that I quit while I'm ahead. Not sure if this is just the cleaner diet that's changing my training for the better with increased strength or that I've started taking creatine again, but rarely does creatine have much of a real impact for me. Still carrying on to keep rebuilding, should be squatting on Tuesday!

Sale still goes on until Midnight, you won't find Vega One large containers for only $50 anywhere else!

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way for everyone. In particular, too much caloric restriction combined with too much exercise is one of the fastest ways to watch fat loss stall out, though it's great for helping to peel off that hard-earned muscle Once your body goes into the mode of "screw this, I'm not getting what I want, so I'm not giving anything up", it only makes it harder to lose the last bit of fat that lingers around. If it were all about calories in/calories out to lose fat, all we'd have to do is fast for a week and we'd get the bodies we want without doing any extra work to get there Stubborn fat that clings around until the end is never fun to lose, and sometimes takes more drastic approaches for some to get rid of it. Lower carb dieting, upping protein quantitiy, HIIT sprint training, Intermittent Fasting, etc. are all things that could be tried to vary things up if you haven't given them a shot. Unfortunately, eating low fat doesn't mean better fat loss nor does it help to burn fat more effectively, so it may be that your body has simply adapted to the current plan and is craving something new in the way of eating, training or both in order to restart progress again. Remember, your body adapts to EVERYTHING in time and you'll always get diminishing returns, so nothing works forever and change is essential to continue progressing. Others here who have had great results dieting down to really low bodyfat numbers probably will have some great suggestions. But, from the sound of it, more than likely you've just reached a point of adaptation and need some tweaks to get rid of the last bit of fat that you're looking to lose. The last few pounds are the hardest to get rid of as you'll be trying to remove it from the places your body favors storage at the most, so expect that it can take as much time and effort to lose the last 6 lbs. as it may have to lose the previous 30, the last bit is always the slowest to lose!

High rep stuff is boring, but I do swear by it for some great endurance training from time to time! Nothing you'd want to incorporate too often, but rowing a sled across the entire back parking lot for a brutal 2 minute set definitely builds strength endurance, as well as the will to keep going when your body feels like it wants to die on you

Things still moving in the right direction, lower back is feeling stellar and body recomp is moving along nicely. Came in drained at 236 this morning, haven't been this low in some time, more visible definition coming along in a few areas, working toward the goal of getting lean in the low 220s and working my way back up to a solid and non-bloated 235ish over the next year. Slow and steady, no painful dieting, no crazy training, just sensible eating with enough work to keep making progress, won't switch gears for a while until things start to stall out. Lower back and chest night, was going to do it on Monday but was so worn out when I got there, I realized I needed a few more days off. Tonight was good for it, though! Continuing with rehab deadlifts done fairly light - 1x5 @ 135 lbs. 1x5 @ 225 10x5 @ 275, easy and fast pulls every set Alternated the deadlifts with axle bench pressing - 1x5 @ 145 lbs. 1x3 @ 195 1x2 @ 235 1x1 @ 265 Put on Slingshot and started alternating wtih the deadlifts, 45-60 seconds max rest between sets - 9x2, 1x3 @ 300 lbs. Took off Slingshot 2x3, 1x4 @ 265 1x8 @ 235 1x15 @ 195 1x20 @ 150, wanted 25 but triceps were dead at 20, no more to be had 700 lb. tire flips - 3x6, MUCH easier than last time, will be working up to sets of 10 over the next month or two with this one Safety squat bar good mornings - 3x20 @ 165 lbs., keeping light, working on shooting hips forward fast on the extension Front squat harness shrugs - 3x25 @ 350 lbs. That was it, wanted to get in some light reverse hypers, but hit the wall after the shrugs, nothing left to give tonight for keeping the pace fast and giving it everything I had. Skateboarding tomorrow so long as my tricky knee doesn't give me problems, upper back and either shoulders or some stone lifting on Friday!

I've been talking to some of our suppliers to convince them to create a good pre-made vegan protein shake in a bottle, but not much good news so far. Pure Advantage used to have their Vegan Complete formula in single-use bottles for taking on the go, but they stopped making those years ago and never brought them back. Only thing out there I've come across in ages is this: http://store.veganessentials.com/svelte-sustained-energy-protein-drinks-by-calnaturale-p3119.aspx 16g protein, 40g carbs, 10g fat per bottle, it's not perfect, but if you need SOMETHING post-workout, it'll be of help. At the least, if you want to be crafty, you can dump a packet of Vega inside it and more than double the protein if need be, which I've done once or twice in a pinch I've talked to the Svelte people about trying to do something with pea or brown rice protein instead, they said that getting proteins other than whey and soy into a fine enough stable solution that doesn't clump in the container is REALLY tough, so they stick with soy simply due to ease of use in the formulation. Still, would be nice if they'd make another that had 25g or so of protein per shake!

Hit it on the head with that. I've seen lots of Crossfit people who have TERRIBLE form on their olympic lifts, for many it's more about getting the prescribed reps in the fastest time possible vs. having any semblance of decent technique. USAW is the way to go for anyone who wants to learn the O-lifts properly, better to have someone who has been trained correctly in how to teach the lifts than someone who took a 2 hour seminar and got the stamp of approval to show someone how to do snatch properly!

More companies are changing from traditional clear-cut palm oil souces to sustainable plantations these days due to the bad press being brought on the "wipe out as much land as we can and move on" farming practices. Unfortunately, you won't really know for sure until checking, but whereas some vegans still assume ALL palm oil is harvested in ways that further endanger wildlife, there's a growing movement to get away from those practices. Fortunately, more and more food companies are being aware of the need to source from sustainable plantations these days, but of course, those companies who are only concerned with cheap ingredients will likely keep using the bad stuff.