ThePractitioner

Wow, those were some great links!! I have my share of bodyweight stuff. I have two of Ross's books and I like them both. If I had to chose one, I would buy Never gymless, as it has better work out listed for you. I really like http://www.trainforstrength.com/, the price is very reasonable for what you get. I like the fact that his workouts are on audio, so you can put it on your ipod and go to town from there, good stuff. Matt furey has some stuff, which in many circles can cause a debate which can lead to a war of words. Love him or hate him, I really love his royal court. Looking for 3 good excises for overall body strength, give his royal court a try. Buy his book used on amazon or ebay. kevin

Yes, I do live in the Bay Area and my wife is not a Vegan, so yes it can be hard to found a place we both agree on. Kevin

Nothing like getting off work and feeling like crap and still having to workout!! I really did not feel like working out this morning, but I managed to go ahead and pump out my abs/glutts and do my run. I did feel better, afterwards, but it was hard going out and actually doing it! I know Excuses are for the weak, but it my blogg and I will whine if I want too! 31 july--Well it is time to hit the bike, I am going to try a level 5 today because, level 4 is only a 20 minute workout and I like to stay with the 30 minute workouts, we shall see how that goes. I did weigh in today, my last weigh in I was at 185 my current weight is now at 175.4 pounds, not a bad little weight loss, still have a long way to go! But it is nice to have pants that fit again! time to do the bike ride! K

I have used bands, but to be honest it really depends on the bands you use. I really don't want to plug any brand of bands persay, but not all bands are created equal. I myself liked http://oldtimestrongman.com/chest_expanders.html or in a pinch the old bullworker works great (Yes, I am showing my age here!): http://www.thebullworker.com/ None of these will replace freeweight, but if you are recovering from an injury or if your traveling or my favorite, short on time and need a quick workout (as I like to say, something is better than nothing), these work great! Kevin

Wow, I have not done pull ups in years!! There was a good training program out a few years back, that Major Charles Lewis Armstrong used to prepare himself to attempt to set a world record in number of pull-ups completed in a single exercise session. For those who are interested here is his program: Armstrong Pull-up Program 1. This program was used by Major Charles Lewis Armstrong, USMC to prepare himself to attempt to set a world record in number of pull-ups completed in a single exercise session. The program provides the necessities for successful physical improvement namely, VARIETY, OVERLOAD, and REGULARITY. Users have achieved remarkable results in only 6 to 8 weeks. This means that most, if not all, have been able to meet the performance level they have set out to achieve, a single set of twenty repetitions. It can not be overemphasized that his program depends upon regularity. Daily performance of the exercises listed in the following paragraphs holds the true key to reaching and to maintaining the twenty repetition level. The Morning Routine Each morning perform three maximum effort sets of normal pushups. The pushup is one of the best, single exercises for strengthening the entire set of muscles that makes up the shoulder girdle. Major Armstrong described his morning routine in the following manner. “After rising, I would drop onto the deck and do my first set of pushups. I would then move into the head (bathroom) and start my morning toilet. I would return after a few minutes and do my second maximum effort set after which, I would go back into the head to shave. After shaving, I would return to the bedroom and complete the third and final set. Having completed all of the pushups, I was awake and ready for a relaxing shower. “ This routine should be followed during the entire training period. Since it takes most of us at least four weeks to reach our goals, you will probably find that you have inadvertently established a morning routine that is easy enough to keep as a lifetime habit, if not, you will at least appreciate the morning shower a little more. It has been noted that this pushup routine helps to alleviate any soreness during the first couple of weeks. It is recommended that you use the pushup routine everyday during this period so that you feel more comfortable during your initial adjustment to this regime of exercises. Training Routines The following represents the heart of the training program. I recommend that you do not attempt the pull-ups until 3 or 4 hours after the pushup routine was completed. The program is conveniently divided into five training days. This is easily translated into a Monday through Friday approach to pull-up training. It is important to cease the pull-up routine for two days, Saturday and Sunday. Further, it is necessary to use consecutive days (not to skip days) when on the pull-up routine. Finally, it is more important to do the pull-ups than it is to do the pushups. The training program was developed to improve performance in a specific exercise, the overhand pull-up. The program can be adapted to doing chin-ups and flexed arm hangs. The program depends upon quality exercises, numbers of repetitions are unimportant. When you are doing these routines you should concentrate on perfect execution of each repetition. The only person that you can fool is yourself. Day 1 Five maximum effort sets. Rest 90 seconds between each set. Do not concern yourself with numbers. You will find that you will increase the numbers in the last two sets before you see much improvement in the first three. Make sure that each set is a maximum effort set. Day 2 Pyramid Day. Start the pyramid with one repetition, the next set has two repetitions, the next has three. Continue in this fashion until you miss a set. (e.g. your last set was five, your next set would be six, but you could only do four. You missed a set) Do one more set at a maximum effort. Rest 10 seconds for each repetition in the previous set. Day 3 Do three training sets with a normal overhand grip. Rest 60 seconds between each set. Do three training sets gripping the bar so that your palms are toward your face and your little fingers are touching each other. Rest 60 seconds between each set. Day 4 Do the maximum number of training sets that you can accomplish. Rest 60 seconds between each set. You do training sets until you fail to do perfect training set. This day can wind up being the longest training day as you continue with the program because you will find it easy to do lots of training sets. Day 5 Repeat the day that you found to be the hardest in the previous four days. This will change from week to week. Training Sets Training Sets are easy to define, but require some experimentation to determine for the individual participating in the program. A training set a specified number of repetitions. That means one individual may have 3 repetitions in his training set, but another individual may have more or less. The key to determine the proper number of repetitions in a training set comes on Day 3. You must perform nine training sets that day. If you only do twelve repetitions in your best single set (a PFT set or a maximum effort set), then your training set would probably have one or at most two repetitions. If you were concerned with gross numbers performed, you might try for the higher numbered training set. This is not advised. It is much more important for you to successfully complete the scheduled workout on Day 3, doing one repetition per training set, than it is for you to complete only 6 or 7 sets, trying two or three repetitions in each training set. Day 3 calls for you to do nine training sets. Adjust your training sets so that you can complete this routine properly. The best gauge for the number of repetitions in the training set comes on Day 4. If you successfully complete Day 3, try to raise the number of repetitions in your training set by one when you do Day 4. If you get a least nine sets done on Day 4, that tells you that your training set ought to be one repetition higher. If you get less than nine sets, you will still have accomplished a good day’s work, and confirmed that your training set was correct for this week. It is important that you do not change the repetitions in a training set in midstream. When you schedule yourself to the day’s routine using three repetitions in your training set, do not change it to two when the exercises get hard. Modifications Ladies will find that this program adapts well to the flexed arm hang. Training sets are simply translated into hang times. Chin-ups may be substituted for those who prefer this technique, however, day 3 must still be completed exactly as described with 6 sets done with the overhand grip. It is highly recommended that you follow this program using overhand grip as most of the obstacles that you will have to get over at OCS require an overhand grip. Maintenance and Final Thoughts Once you have achieved your goal, you will remain at that plateau by doing at least 50 repetitions each day. Though this may sound like a large number of repetitions at this point in time, it is not, as you will happily discover during your time on the program. The program will work for anyone who will make a sincere attempt. You cannot expect any physical training program to work for you if you do not practice it regularly. In the first few weeks you may find that you are able to do fewer repetitions. This is a normal physiological reaction called teardown. As you continue, you will improve. If your performance is at the 12-15 repetition level when you begin this program, then it will take about 4 weeks to complete. If you are lower than that it will take longer. Have heart because if you continue with the program, you will reach the 20 repetition level. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kevin

Welcome to the board. There is a lot of infomation here for you to learn from. K

Weclome to the list! Nice progress! Kevin

Yes, I live in the Bay Area. I like souly Vegan it is a nice place to grab a bit without having to go to SF or berkeley. I do not eat out all that much, as I hate paying full price for a meal and then have to ask them to take the meat and cheese off. It really seems to me there should be a Vegan discount when you do that, but that is me! Kevin

Nice to have you on the site!!! Kevin

Welcome aboard! I am new here as well, but everyone has been really friendly here! Have you tried Souly Vegan in Oakland? Pretty nice place to pick up a bite to eat! Kevin

WOW!! More proof that diets do not work, when in fact life style changes are what is needed! You look amazing! Kevin

Just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who took a minute to welcome me!! I feel very much at home here and do look forward to becomming an active memeber here! It is really nice to have found a home, where I am not the odd one out! Thanks again, Kevin

Well I have a few minutes before work, so I thought I would take a moment to write about a normal week for me. As a general rule, I eat 85/15 which translate to 85 percent raw food and 15 percent cooked. I do tend to add two Vega shake (at 1/2 the amount listed), on workout days. I do a 5 on 1 day off and it looks like this: Monday-Wed-friday Cardio-Ab-Ass Cardo is I hit the stationary bike when I wake up or shortly there after and do eight or nine miles depending on how I am feeling. (current level is level 3 out of 6) After work I work on ABS and my Glutts and then do a 15 minute run out and 15 minute run back to the house for a total of 30 minutes. Working on improving this. Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday Weight training day. On this day, I do try and hit the bike again before work and then after work, I do the actual weight trainning. My current workout is a basic one which looks like this: Bench press flies incline Lat pull down Military press Curls Reverse curls tri Pull downs French press Squats with calf raises Leg extentins leg curls. Everything is down for four sets X 10 Saturday, I do nothing in the mornng or after work. Well, have to go to work just thought I would share. Kevin

Well Hello Everyone!! I am Kevin and I am a former Vegan, now returning to the vegan life style. I will try and keep this intro short and to to the point. After serving 10 years in the military, I had done a pretty good job of destorying my body. I was up to 4 packs of smokes a day and all the beer and coffee I could drink. Shortly, after my honorable discharge I gave up smoking on the advice of my doctor and wife!! I still had a lot of health issues, so I did the vegetarian thing for about a year and then went Vegan. I was a vegan for 3 years before, I went back to eatting SAD. I went back as I was cooking 2 different meals, one for me and one for the family, who had no desire to become a Vegan. I have been off the vegan life style for about a year and let me be the first to say, "I feel like crap and I have gain more weight then I care to admit; well ok I am up to 180 lbs and I am 5 feet 6 inches with a 36 inch wist size." I have decided to go back to the Vegan life style after going back and reading some of my old books, The Strength of Samson and Rich Tucker's Biblical Nutrition (No, I am not going to get all religous on you), which reminded me how much better I felt when I did not eat meat! Needless to say, I went back and blow the dust off some of my books, like simply vegan ( a great cook book by the way), pulled out my old workout rountines and jumped back in with both feet. I was really happy to discover this site!!! I am not much into the body builder look persay, I would much rather have a Clearance Bass look about me, but that is far off. I look forward to reading the post, catching up and being a part of your forum! Just me, Kevin