Valente

Week 2 Workout #6 Sat March 3, 2012 (8:30am) Weight: 213 5 minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@70lb Overhead Press 5x5@55lb Deadlift 5x5@115lb Cardio: Ginga - 12 minutes Was tempted to bump the weight +10, but glad I didn't. I've gotten through the boring part, and I now actually notice there is weight on the bar. Workouts should be way more interesting now. Forgot the deadlift was only supposed to be 1 set again. Felt some left knee weakness again on the third deadlift set. Propped the left foot again and the pain went away. Gonna figure out what's going on with that pretty soon. Did some back bends on the body ball again. First time I didn't feel sore when fully relaxed. Yayy! Also, added a stomach vacuum exercise. Been experimenting with ita few times a week, gonna start tracking it officially starting next workout.

Week 2 Class #2 Thurs March 1, 2012 Weight: ?? 2nd class was much easier than the first. Sometimes I get a little tired and my form slouches a bit, but otherwise I don't really get gassed anymore.

Week 2 Workout #5 Weds February 29, 2012 Weight: ?? 5 minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@65lb Bench Press 5x5@55lb Barbell Row 5x5@75lb Cardio: Ginga - 10 minutes (basic capoeira movement) No lingering effects of the adductor tweak on monday. Felt really good on the squat. Technique getting better, tightening my glutes and core make it much easier i think. Hard to tell now, but hopefully it'll help when the weight becomes challenging. Felt really good on the Ginga. Ten minutes seemed too short this time. I think I'm getting my legs back. Will bump it up by two minutes next session. Added some back stretching between the lifting and cardio. Felt really good. Will continue to do so. I'm so tempted to bump the weight up. I'm anxious to see how I respond. But I think I'm gonna take it slow. Good thing is, I haven't done much of these exercises before, so I don't really know what my max is yet. I guess I'll find out.

Week 2 Workout #4 Mon February 27, 2012 Weight:214lb 5 minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@60lb Overhead Press 5x5@50lb Deadlift 5x5@105lb Cardio: Ginga - 10 minutes (basic capoeira movement) Got a little too excited at the beginning on the squats and tweaked what I think is my right hip adductor. Slowed down a bit and all is well. No lingering soreness. I think what happened was I started experimenting with a few adductor exercises on rest days and I was probably a little more fatigued there than I realized. Backed the Ginga practice down to 10 minutes, and I'll add a few minutes periodically. 15 minutes after the weights and also a few days after my first class was a bit too much. I've started on stretching on tues and thurs, mostly focusing on my back and neck, just trying to counteract hours of sitting in the same position all day. I lay back on the big rubber ball, and wow, when I finally relax I can feel the soreness in my lower back. It's like there are certain muscles that stay tense all day, and I have to get in certain positions for them to relax and loosen up. Way more tightness back there than I realized. Anyhow, these stretch days are really working out.

Week 1 Workout #3 Sat February 25, 2012 Weight:213lb 5 minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@55lb Bench Press 5x5@50lb Barbell Row 5x5@70lb Cardio: Ginga - 15 minutes (basic capoeira movement) Noticed my left knew didn't hurt at all this time on the squat. Bench press getting better; concentrated on angling elbows at a 45 degree angle. Form on barbell row getting better also. The weight is kinda low so it can get boring at times, but I just continue to concentrate on technique.

Thanks jjdlennon. Watched a few videos. I should do better next time.

Week 1 Class #1 Thurs February 23, 2012 Weight:213lb First day back at Capoeira class in several years, besides the occasional drop-in. Just tried to concentrate on breathing and not putting too much pressure on my back by leaning over in my ginga, which I tend to do sometimes when I'm out of shape. Felt good in the roda and didn't lose my breath or get tired. Also noticed I felt a bit stronger in the upper body and back in some movements; mostly handstands and queda de rim. Clothes were soaked after class and overall was a good workout. Stepped on the scale after class just for fun. 211. Lost two pounds. lol

Week 1 Workout #2 Thurs February 23, 2012 (2:00am) Weight:213lb Few minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@50lb Overhead Press 5x5@45lb Deadlift 5x5@95lb 5 minutes of Ginga (basic capoeira movement) - I'll increase this by 2 minutes or so a day till I'm up to an hour. Almost let work get in the way today, but I went anyway, despite the late hour and being (mentally) exhausted. It was a great stress relief and took my mind off of work. Deadlift - Was only supposed to do one set but ended up doing 5 by mistake. It's challenging to keep your knees out of the way, but once I stopped over-thinking it, it worked itself out.

Fell off from Capoeira for more than a while, but I'm starting back up, and have some other goals to motivate me. My girlfriend is my wife now, and I'm probably about 20 pounds heavier. My own version of freshman 15. Call it newlywed 20. Started a log finally: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=27767

Greetings. Don't have much to say yet. Just trying to do this and be consistent. Following chewybaws format for logs. Much thanks to him and others for sharing their progress. It really helped me decide how to begin. In general, I'll be doing Stronglifts Beginner program with a few assistance exercises for posture and doing side splits. Capoeira training will pretty much be my cardio. Will be adding some plyometrics and sprinting a bit later. Goals So many goals, keep it simple for now: - Get strong overall to support other activities (capoeira and other stuff) - Have a good core and improve my posture (I sit at a desk 8+hrs/day, hard not to hunch) - Replace the belly with something useful, like a nice set of abs Milestones - Weight: 185lb (felt great at this weight. haven't seen it since 08) - Bench: sooner: 1x20x185lb later: 1x15x225lb (can I get to 225 in 18mos?) - I'd like to see a 34' waist again - I want to do full front and side leg splits this year Nutrition - Drinking only water. No juices, other than fruit in smoothies. Two glasses of water before every meal - 6 meals/day; Typically: Smoothie for breakfast, mid-morning snack (usually trailmix), big salad for lunch, preworkout snack, big dinner, evening snack. Haven't gotten to counting cals yet. - Only one plate at dinner. This was a big cause of my issues. Wifey's cooking is too good sometimes. I've already dropped about 5 pounds just cutting out the juice, doing some cardio, and freestyling in the weight room. I should make better progress now with a plan. Week 1 Workout #1 Monday February 20, 2012 Weight:215lb Waist:44' Chest:43' Arms:14' Few minutes Warm-up on the elliptical Squat 5x5@45lb Bench 5x5@45lb Barbell Row 5x5@65lb Never really done barbell exercises with any seriousness, so I'm just trying to focus on technique. Squat - Have some issues with my left knee where it feels weird until it's properly warmed up. Also, I think one leg is longer than the other, so my left leg is just all kinds of weak. I'm investigating this, since I've had issues since I was a kid. I noticed when squatting, I wasn't feeling it as much on my left leg, but I know I'm standing square. Out of curiosity, on one set I put a 2.5 plate under my left foot, and it actually felt even. Won't make a habit of doing that, but it was interesting. Bench - This is the intimidating one for me. I know I'll eventually be good at the others, but I've never had much upper body strength, so this will be a real challenge. I'm doing this on an adjustable bench on a power rack, so it's unclear when I lay on the bench, and I look up, where should I see the bar? eye level? neck? chest? But once I get going I think I do an ok job at keeping the bar stable. Barbell Row - I think I'm doing this right. Gonna take some practice tho. Gonna figure out how to take some video at some point.

Yeah, funny indeed. Capoeira is one of those arts that is all around, but often escapes notice. In the movie Oceans 12, the main villain was a thief and did a set of Capoeira moves to avoid tripping off motion detection lasers. If you search youtube, you'll probably find it.

Nice to meet you, VeganGirl! I'm a closet TKDoan. My best friend trained TKD when we were kids and would always teach me what he learned from class. My family couldn't afford the classes, but I learned a bunch, just from him! I even apply some of what I learned from him about using my hips and breathing into my Capoeira training. au batido is a pretty slick move, you must be pretty flexible. I tried it a few times, but haven't mastered it yet. I'll get some pics up soon!

The two that I use: La Dolce Vegan Good to learn the basics. Many recipes have the same core ingredients, plus shows you how to make your own faux meat and sauces. I usually reduce the oil by at least half in most recipes, and they still turn out great. Veganomicon When you have time and patience and you aren't hungry now. But the results are worth it.

Hi. I'm Valente and I've been a vegan for about 18 months. My journey to a vegan diet was gradual. First the severe lactose intolerance since teenagery, then a few years later, the for the taste of red meat, the tiring of poultry and fish, and finally a girlfriend raised vegetarian with which to take the final step. I'm now much more conscious of the environmental and moral benefits of a vegan lifestyle. I'm so fortunate to have found this community after searching for ways I could optimize my diet, and gain more core strength for my favorite activity, Capoeira! I had no idea there were so many vegan athletes; especially body builders! This forum is rich with education and love. I look forward to learning and sharing a lot.