joelk

Ok, training this evening was hampered by a migraine (again!!) think I should get it checked out because I'm getting them almost fortnightly now and it really knocks me out. Anyway, the session wasn't so bad considering I felt ill. Was bench press and squat focus session. Bench press - bar x 20 60kg x 10 110kg x 5 x 3 sets Floor press - 100kg x 5 x 3 sets Medicine ball pushups - 10 x 3 sets - One hand on the ball and rolling it to the opposite hand after each rep. Thanks Mary, it is a good exercise. Supinated grip pullups (chinups I guess) - 6 x 3 sets Squats - 60kg x 10 100kg x 3 150kg x 3 x 3 sets - Was really hard today, considering I did 140 for sets of 5, should have been able to get it with this weight. Nevermind, MVS is Saturday so I will be back to my best then. Close grip medicine ball skullcrushers - 10 x 3 sets - Started in pushup position with hands on medicine ball but lowered myself by bending at the elbows. Triceps were pumped. Rollouts - 10 x 3 sets Diet was again all over the place, ate good foods but just not consistently. About 5 meals in total today, one less than yesterday.

Ha ha ha ha!! Those little boxing icons are all in sync - making me dizzy!! BJ Penn is pretty awesome, cocky, but a great fighter. What's good enough for him is more than good enough for me. I'll let you know how I go, this will be a great routine for my comp preparation. I think Wayne Parr's gym is in Queensland, not 100% sure but think it is. We have weird rules in this country, proper Muay Thai and MMA rules are outlawed in some states, so many of the best fighters move further north of the country to fight. Many of the bigger fights are in the northern states, I'm down the bottom of the country... It's good though, more backyard fights for us ey!? Sounds like it would be cool to watch you fight. You gotta let me know when you are able to get back into it full bore, I would love to see you in action... more fun than watching bodybuilding shows (no offence anyone ) There's something about kickboxing that I don't entirely enjoy, maybe it's because i know I would be no good at it (probably is the reason!!) or maybe because I know boxers who just have always bagged kickboxers for being 'weak' and it rubbed off on me. Martial arts runs in my family though, my dad is into hapkido, tai chi and other forms of martial arts, which he is really good at. My mum trained in Judo, which is more of my type of fighting I think, I could never get into the kicking and punching styles of martial arts when i was younger, just didn't have that much of an impact with me. You do have a point about the flashy style of kickboxing, I don't know all that much about it, was probably a naive comment on my behalf but I still appreciate a good fight. OK, think I better change the name of this journal to "Zeke's journey to the darkside... escape from bodybuilding" or something It's all good fun though.

You have to control that inner fire for a bit before you let it burn too fierce. Patience!!

Yeah I wanted to go see Wayne Parr against Zambidis but left it too late to get tickets for the fight. Nevermind, I have a mate who is fighting again soon so I'll go watch him. He fights Muay Thai which I don't mind watching, I prefer boxing and most wrestling styles over the flashy style of kickboxing though, to me the wrestling is all about strength good technique and I like boxing for the patience factor. They're both sports I would like to do because I think I have some attributes suitable for them. My favourite MMA fighter is Krzysztof Soszynski, the Polish Experiment. I like his attitude and he just a has a good presence in the cage. I like Danzig too but he has a bit of a smugness that divides fans of the sport and possibly can give veganism a bad name. There is also Fedor, his training style and attitude has motivated me to train harder as well. I'm looking forward to seeing the Brown v Faber fight, should be a good contest. You've been through a lot recently and I don't think I could imagine what it is like, most of the injuries I've had are a lot more minor. I like the sound of Zeke as my stage name!! Don't like the sound of what your old coach would do personally, he should have been more attentive to you rather than your opponent. But you're right, pain is a good motivator to unleash inner strength. I've had some street fights in my younger days but I learned to just keep calm and am good at channeling aggression into less violent sports. If I fought though, I guess I could always get some of the MVS boys to slap me around before the fight, it seems to help with them getting all the PB's they do!! Haha, pretty face lol.... I look better on my avatar and facebook than real life.... the beauty of the internet! Thanks for more motivation Mary

Nice!! I think you guys may need to recruit some of us to match Noah, he is a one man lifting crew I'm sure your squats will be fine mate, either way I'm sure we all will have some tips for eachother.

Those are good odds, might have to have a wager on him getting a pb Always good to make sure before you lift!! Nothing worse than finding out after the fact that the weight was lighter! Great job mate, looking forward to seeing you down here at MVS. We'll have to raid the vegan pizza shops for our post workout nutrition. I'm hearing State of Origin...... We have some strong squatters here, I'm sure we can give you some tips if you need it. Judging by your lifts, don't think you would need any though mate.

Good luck!

Well done, that's a good effort!

Haha, true! Should be a lot of fun.

The garden sounds cool, keep us posted on it as it progresses

that is funny! I'm not complaining lol I've found some bands to buy, I should have some in the next week or two, going to get the whole set of 6. Maybe I will get strong enough to do pushups with the really thick ones... or maybe not... I do like MMA, I am just too placid to fight myself. I would need all my opponents to really piss me off for me to fight, mostly though I would just have to flex my biceps and then no one would want to fight me I'll stick to using MMA training techniques for now, always good to be prepared I guess You're a wealth of knowledge Mary, I appreciate all the advice you've given me. Thank you!! The pb's are not coming all that regularly so it's good to get them now and then, more motivation to train. Took today off from the gym, am only meant to train 4 days a week, I think I've been overtraining a little recently so it felt good to just have a break. My brother came past to visit and said he got some truck tyres to hit with his sledgehammer, he does some powerlifting and martial arts - we train in a similar style so it will be fun using the sledgehammer. Mary, you are going to turn me into a fighter I think My meals were a little messed up a little today... again.. work has just been flat out, too many people wanting my nutritional advice. Not complaining, have helped so many people reduce or remove animal products from their diet and given them greater results with their training. i just have to make sure I'm on point with my diet. Meals have been similar the last few days, mixed beans and spinach, tempeh and broccoli, Ultimate meal MRP's etc. Few more weeks till I start my diet, so i should keep enjoying my bread and rice for now, it will be reduced soon.

You've got a great shoulder to waist taper mate, always a great thing to have. It always looks much more eye catching having the tiny waist and broad shoulders. Great work mate

Your stamina is awesome mate, those look like some massive workouts. Always great reading

Hell yeah mate!! We'll slap you in the face over and over till you lift it. Shit, you're not far off me mate, I better get cracking on some more deadlifting You're squatting some mean weight too, awesome stuff

Nice work on the rack pulls... and fitting into your old pants. Woohooo!!!

Good luck back working!

I'm going to get some bands, they are on my shopping list, thanks heaps for all the suggestions, i appreciate it. I do overhead squats now and then, like I said before, I kind of train instinctively so I never seem to keep any exercises in my rotation for very long - that is going to change though! Hahaha,I don't think my chest is worth thinking about Those pushups on the ball seem cool, it reminds me of MMA exercises. Plenty of cool stuff to try now. Had a good workout this week, got a pb on the deadlift which I am happy about. The session was kind of a back and shoulder workout but I few a few other things in too. Deadlifts - 60kg x 10 100kg x 5 150kg x 5 x 2 sets 192.5kg x 1 - PB!!! Dumbell military press (standing) - 25kg x 5 30kg x 5 x 3 sets Pullups - 6 x 3 sets Jump squats - 20kg x 5 x 3 sets - same height as last time (just onto a bench), added 10kg extra Power cleans - 65kg x 3 x 3 sets - Need to get my form tighter on this, my brachialis are killing me - think I'm curling it too much. Hammer curls - 15kg x 5 x 3 sets Diet was similar to yesterday, again missed a meal because I was busy. Need to get back on track tomorrow.

This whole conversation has gone way over my head Still good reading though haha

Haha, it's freezing here where I am, 10 degrees celcius. I'm still in a t-shirt!! I will never complain about the cold, you guys have it a lot harder than us Aussies

Just spit on your hands, works just as well Great work on the overhead press mate, that's some heavy weight for the number of reps

Glad things look like they're on the way up for you

Yeah that's why I chose that name as it is in the bible, but mostly because I thought it was a cool name. Haha Zeke, I like it!! I found a bread that is similar I think, a sprouted rye bread. Might use it during the week, got it in the freezer at the moment - like the Zeke bread it has no preservatives. Just got home after my bench and squat workout, man am I tired. Heavy bench and moderate squat day, think I need to organise my workouts a little as I'm just training instinctively. Bench press - Bar x 25 60kg x 10 100kg x 3 135kg x 1 x 2 sets Speed bench press - 105kg x 5 x 3 sets Dumbell bench press - 45kg x 6 x 3 sets I seem to be doing a lot for my bench program compared to my squatting, considering I am still going to compete in September I need to keep my chest as thick as possible, as it is my weak bodypart, whereas my legs are always just big. Two arm dumbell rows - 30kg x 12 x 3 sets Squats - 60kg x 10 100kg x 8 140kg x 6 x 3 sets Dumbell skullcrushers - 20kg x 8 x 3 sets Rollouts - 10 x 3 sets I'll find someone to take a couple of photo's this week, my diet starts really soon so I'll get some before pics to see how I progress over the next few months. Diet was a little messed up today as I was really busy. Meal 1 - Ultimate meal shake, acai berries, phytoplankton, chia seeds Meal 2 - Mixed beans with spinach and avocado. I've soaked the beans for the last couple of weeks with some dulse flakes, just heated them up a little to mix through the spinach. Basically raw. Meal 3 - Small serve of wild rice and a lentil burger Meal 4 - Nitrofusion shake, 3g creatine, yerba mate Meal 5 - Ultimate meal shake, 3g creatine, chia seeds Meal 6 - 3 wholemeal spinach pies, hummus, small bowl of mixed beans and spinach

http://www.veganstrength.org/articles/vegan-strength-supplements/ We've made a list of some vegan supplements, I'm sure you will be able to find some to use. The list will be updated, a lot of companies haven't been so forthcoming with info but I know there are many more out there. I think for post training just use a protein shake like SunWarrior and throw in some BCAA's and creatine. Spirulina works well for me too. Consistency with diet is where the results will come from, the shake will just help keep you going till you get real food in. As far as vegan's not being able to build muscle, just spend some time here and you will see it is very easy to get big and strong without exploiting animals.

Sorry to hear about your day... We all hope you recover fully soon

Thank you!! Yeah, the Sunbread looks a little to much for what I use bread for. I think I have plenty of sprouted raw stuff for now and anyway, because I start dieting soon all the breads will be kept to a minimum. I'll look out for the Ezekiel bread though, kind of seems cool to me because Ezekiel is the name I chose for myself when I was baptised before I got married (had to because my inlaws were strict Greek Orthodox - haven't told them I chose the name from Pulp Fiction though!!) I'm liking the explosive stuff now, it comes pretty easy for me because I've always been more of a sprinter type rather than the endurance type. I just got caught up training like a bodybuilder for so long that I became slower, now it's time to get all my power back. Just came back from a workout this afternoon, was motivated after watching UFC98 and had a good session. Trained back, delts, biceps and calves Deadlifts - Bar x 10 60kg x 8 100kg x 3 140kg x 2 160kg x 3 x 3 sets 180kg x 1 x 2 sets Military press - 65kg x 6 x 3 sets - Was all about speed for this, getting better at the movement Bentover lateral raise - 15kg x 10 x 3 sets High pulls - 70kg x 3 x 3 sets One arm chinups - 5 x 3 sets Pullups - 5 x 3 sets EZ bar curls - 35kg x 6 x 3 sets Barbell calf raises - 60kg x 15 x 3 sets Diet for today, haven't eaten dinner yet Meal 1 - Ultimate Meal shake, chia seeds, acai berries Meal 2 - Lentil burger, chia seeds, broccoli, phytoplankton Meal 3 - Same as Meal 1 Meal 4 - sweet potato chips (while watching fights) Meal 5 - Nitrofusion shake, 3g creatine Meal 6 - Sweet potato chips again, Nitrofusion shake, 3g creatine, small serve of wild rice with mixed vegetables Dinner will probably be tempeh and some broccoli.