djshrew

"...anyhow I will continue to kick my butt in the gym and become the best I can at the moment with the injuries I have, And that's fine with me. I'm young and still have time to become crazy awesome. " Brilliant! that's what i wanna see...a bit of attitude About the shoulder injury..well maybe I can help. i know its horrible if you can-t train like you want to. I always had shoulder injuries.a combination of using the mouse too much on the computer, stress tension, and using wrong exercises. For example, straight bar cable pulldown behind the neck can cause some real problems, also doing lateral raises too high or maybe upright rows. However, I think the real problem was having the strength in my traps out of proportion with the strength in my shoulders. This typically happens to women as none of us want big traps and no neck...not at all feminine and really ugly..even on men. So what happens is that we never directly work out traps and then wonder why we keep getting injured. When you feel a little better, you should try starting your shoulder workout with a few light exercises for the traps to warm up the whole area and ensure against a disproportionate problem in your shoulders and traps. There are some nice exercises you con do for your delts while guarding against injury. I like a lot of the rotational exercises ...check out you tube. Also, to put on size safely, my recently discovered number 1 fave is olympic bar corner presses.they-re wicked and since i started doing them in my gym a month ago, everyone has become addicted Also, don-t forget to stretch a lot before and after shoulder exercises, including neck and upper back..if you don-t know how to stretch this area effectively, ask your fisio to show you. Also, beware of storing tension in the traps and neck as its a killer. if you do tense up in this area, remind yourself to relax and do some shoulder rotational exercises at intervals throughout the day, or simply just forcibly contract your shoulders and relax them, this is brilliant for relieving tension. Anyway, hope this helps and hope you recover soon. Peace The first doctor I saw thought it may have something to do with my Traps, that I pulled a muscle or something. unfortunately with dance I have not been able to really let it rest. But when I have (I was sick for about a week) I noticed a lot of pain in my shoulder. The second doctor thought it was my neck so he did an MRI and found a herniated disc, I did Physical Therapy but we noticed little improvement. The doctor than suggested a cortisone shot, which I am weary of since I have no clue what is really wrong. I think I will return to the first doctor I saw and see what his thoughts are on the matter. I'm not really one for using medications, so I will try some of the exercises you mentioned. Any other advice is much appreciated

Thanks for the advice, so I don't hijack this thread I will answer your post in my journal (you can also check out my work-out plan there)

and I find it sad that you're the best female vegan bodybuilder they can find... You make a beautiful dancer and I WAS NOT CRITICISING YOU PERSONALLY, JUST THE LACK OF DECENT COMPETITION! I always advocate healthier lifestyles, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with the specifics of BB in my opinion. You can eat healthily and do moderate exercise but you can't call yourself a bodybuilder until someone exclaims "fuck me! look at the biceps on her!" or something similar I know I'm not the best on here and I never claimed to be a bodybuilder and won't until I step on a stage! I just happened to be one of the people who entered; For fun and to "get a free t-shirt" The people on this forum who would be competition to you didn't enter. I don't think the competition title said "best female vegan bodybuilder" And contrary to what you might believe I hardly knew anyone on this forum when I entered that competition aside from my husband, so it's unlikely it should be called "person with the most friends". Maybe your idea of splitting the comps into different categories is a good idea that way you can compete against people who share your goals, even if the pool size is smaller. anyhow I will continue to kick my butt in the gym and become the best I can at the moment with the injuries I have, And that's fine with me. I'm young and still have time to become crazy awesome.

Last night I had a training session; every Tuesday and Thursday. Usually legs, but I've been attempting arms, but it can be crazy painful and hard!!! I dance Monday-Friday and do a bit of cardio at the gym on Tues./Thursday Last night this is what I did: Leg press: 270 lbs walk up flight of stairs every other one: with 25lbs Lunges 3 sets with 15 lbs Hamstring pulls things with trainers resistance (these are CRAZY hard and make me want to yell!!) Calf raises: 56.5lbs inner and outer thigh abduction/adduction : 60lbs Still need to make another shoulder appointment! I keep forgetting, somebody yell at me! any how, still getting my diet in order and plan on enlisting veggiep for her help

She just may have no idea what to eat. I was veg in high school and was a bit over weight (I have since lost 40 plus pounds, not by going vegan, but my working hard).In High school I ate like crap! because I was lazy and knew nothing about nutrition, health wasn't my reason for going veg at 12. Maybe you could befriend her and see if she wants to work out sometime. Once she sees a change in her body she might get hooked like I did. It was also a friend that introduced me to weight-training

Not the craziest thing, but the other day I was wearing my VBBF tank in my dance class. a classmate looked at it was like "vegan bodybuilding, really?" I told her about vegan brothers in Iron and she goes "but aren't they hungry?!?!" I was like well I dance 5 days a week and work out at the gym..I'm not hungry. how stupid, like we don't eat or something.

Don't worry..it'll be easier for you next time if I enter!! hahahah What I want to see is female muscle of a standard worthy of competing against meat eaters! These young girls have so much potential, but all of them need to lift heavier. Its not like you'd actually know any of them went to the gym if they didn't tell you. Now don't get angry at me, I'm not saying you don't all look great and in shape..but bodybuilders? Aren't any of you ambitious or pig headed enough to want to show meat eaters how you can really do it on a vegan diet? I'd love to see a vegan woman beat all the meat eaters and win in a high level figure competition, because lets face it, noone is going to compete in bodybuilding if they haven't done a cycle or two.. It seems pretty easy here to win against all these women (apart from that one who has lovely quads) but it really shouldn't be..I'm nearly 40 and only started straining seriously 2 years ago. Are all you women training like "girls"? How are you training and what are you eating? Seriously I want to know! You're all pretty much in your twenties and that's the best you can do? I'm pretty pissed off really because you are proving the point of meat eaters all over the world..that you can't build muscle on a vegan diet! I KNOW YOU CAN, so come on and show them! Be a walking living examples of what vegan food can do for your bodies! It looks like most of you would snap if you tried to squat with even half a plate! All you need is: 1) Compound exercises...HEAVY! 2) Diet : Protein, amion acids and carbs 3) Rest 4) a SHIT LOAD of determination!! ...there must be someone to inspire me... Sorry to have "pissed you off" you are right I was not lifting heavy! Because if you read my journal you would have seen that when I did that I was in physical therapy 3 times a week rehabbing an injury that prevented me from lifting how I wanted. I am lifting heavier (with a trainer so I don't injure myself further) now but am still rehabbing an injury (shoulder) As far as looking like a bodybuilder, that was never my goal! I am a dancer and that body type would look ridiculous for what I do daily. Ultimately I would like to maybe get into fitness modeling, but I have some time to get there (once my shoulder is rehabbed of course and I can actually train my upper body) I am damn proud, however, of what I accomplished in that photo with only three months of training and an injury! I think that with the 2 years of training you have been doing YOU should be the female vegan bodybuilder inspiration you are searching for. Have you competed in a figure competition? If not, why haven't you? I may be speaking for others here, but I feel like many may have competed in this online amateur competition to perhaps display their accomplishments and how far they have come. Not all of us have been training for 2 years like you have. I find it rude of you to criticize women who are trying to make a healthy lifestyle change.

Happy Birthday!!!

Still need to get a new photo. went to my training session today. we tried to do a bit of arm stuff, the shoulder is still an issue!!!! I am making an appointment again and TELLING them I want an MRI of my shoulder! I know something is wrong since it has not improved since September!! On the positive side, My trainer had me flex today and told me that he saw HUGE potential and told me if my shoulder was better I could easily have horseshoe triceps!! He told me that he can already see a change in my hips and legs and said that I have major potential. Well it gives me hope, even if I can't reach it at this moment I know it is possible!

I believe that the boca patty that Red Robin uses actually contains milk products. I found multiple sites that say their patty's aren't vegan: http://www.veganeatingout.com/redrobin.html http://www.veganrepresent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5532 which sucks!! before I went vegan I loved their veggie burger. According to other sites, Johnny Rockets does offer a vegan boca patty. http://www.johnnyrockets.com/themenu/ingredients.php not the healthiest choice. I would imagine the best thing to do is to eat meat alternatives. some regular grocery stores have good options but a health food store will have options you've never seen before.

I haven't heard it yet, but I'm excited that they're back

I have to agree, I love the new avatar! (and mangos are delicious)

I figured I should post some progress photos. I don't have any new one's...yet but I figured i'd post some before my shoulder injury and when I was taking some time off lifting. I will post some new ones once I hit a month of working out with my trainer. http://i38.tinypic.com/2rf37z7.jpg Before the injury and after (it's the only one I have that shows my body) : http://i39.tinypic.com/zvx5r9.jpg once I get myself better from my ear infection I will start keeping a food log.

Myke and I had the same problem (we live in a basement apartment so insects in general are an issue) We got a black and decker plug in thing that sends out some type of noise that keeps them away, I think we got it at target or lowes. It's not perfect but we have had a huge decrease in the amount of bugs we have.

just wanted to update everyone: I am not going to the gym tonight, unfortunately I am sick! double ear and sinus infection, plus a fever! Sucky! couldn't come at a better time as usual. I was supposed to have an exam today and have plans all weekend. looks like plans have changed. I have been working my butt off at the gym! I swear I can already see a difference (of course this could all be in my imagination..) because of the shoulder issue I am just working on legs, which is fine since that is where I always had trouble getting results. I am sure i will see results now, when I was working by myself I never reached the point when I physically could not do another one. this is not a problem now, it seems to be the case every time I work out with my trainer. I can't list what it is that we're doing. I have never actually seen or heard of half of the exercises we're doing and the ones that I have heard of are so modified that I wouldn't know what they're called. I am also slowly educating the trainer on what vegans eat and what it's all about, he's starting to realize that it is possible to build muscle on a vegan diet (imagine that!) in other news I am presenting in my drugs class on the subculture of bodybuilding, of course with the way I look when I'm sick I'll look like I'm on drugs!

I will have to check that out (my local library has the book) I am all for trying alternative things before I trust what the doctors say!

I think I'm just kinda worried that if I take it and the inflammation goes away this doesn't really solve the reason why it's inflamed and the inflammation will just return. The pain is constant and although it could be worse, it flipping HURTS!!!

love the style! (too bad I'm already married!, our wedding photographer was a pain to deal with)

I was just wondering if anyone has ever had one and did it work for you or did you have problems with it? this is the next step my orthopedic doctor suggested would help out the pain and inflammation in my shoulder/neck region. I am a bit freaked out about doing it since I have only had an MRI of my neck and not my shoulder (which is where he plans on doing the injection) any thought?

This was only my third session with my trainer, and he is still trying to figure out where I am and what I can do. I doubt we'll be doing a lot of upper body work after he saw exactly how weak my left shoulder is.

I had another session with my trainer today. I got a little frustrated because of my shoulder. The trainer is worried about doing anything that might further injure whatever is wrong with it. Which I understand, for some reason this just made me feel weak and made me feel like giving up! just when I thought I had my goal in sight. I think I might try to make another doctors appointment and see if I can't get an MRI of my shoulder to see what is going on in there. The trainer is thinking we might just train my lower body and rehab my upper body. Besides the shoulder, I realized that my forearms are insanely weak, so this is one exercise I will be working on! inspirational quote of the day: Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter. -- Dan Reeves

too bad it was an April fools joke

I would see if you could actually find any of the articles mentioned in the resource section that tuc mentioned. There are way more than 8 sources there.

Cypress Hill - Can't Get The Best Of Me Andrew W.K. - She is Beautiful Maybe not my absolute favorite, but at the moment these are what I am listening to to get pumped.

hope your back feels better soon!