strawberryriddick

I will disagree with this because that's what happened with me. I went vegan because of a medical condition. I didn't give a shit about animals. I was the asshole that told vegans that "I like veal...the suffering makes it juicy." I went vegan in October and fully planned on going hunting that Christmas with some friends. Didn't give a shit about the bees, beeswax, leather, fur, wool, animal testing, you name it. About a month later, I started to think about it. "If an animal doesn't have to die for me to eat, then why should an animal have to die for me to wear clothes?" "If an animal doesn't have to be there for me to eat or wear, then why should it be tested on? That's not fair." "The bees are hard workers. I hate lazy people, so I should support the hard-working bees by not stealing their shit." That's how it happened for me. I went from a vegan diet to a vegan lifestyle because making the conscious choice to not consume an animal forces you to rethink animals and their "value" to you. Animals have inherent value, like humans. A pig isn't valuable because he supplies bacon, he's valuable because he's part of the environment. A cat isn't valuable because she is owned by a person who loves her, but a cat is valuable because she's part of the environment. Just like us. Someone liking me or not liking me doesn't change my inherent value and link to the environment. I even came to the point where I didn't want to own a dog or cat because I didn't want to feed it a diet that it wouldn't normally get in the wild (all meat), but I didn't want to support the meat industry. I decided that, when I get a home (I'm in an apartment now), I will rescue a pig or two from life in a factory farm and feed it all the delicious slop it loves.

The issue of being a vegan and advocating non-vegan items for your job is, well, it can be dicey. I noticed that the lovely Marzia Price was added to the Profiles section of the website, and she works for the non-vegan Gaspari Nutrition. On the one hand, you are making a choice to stay away from animal products and use your dollars to pull support from those companies, so it seems hypocritical to say, "Oh, by the way, everyone who's listening? Yeah, spend money here." It's like, if I just went out of my way to not spend money on it, why should I encourage others to spend money on it? On the other hand, however, is the issue of "face time." If occasionally plugging a non-vegan item keeps me on TV where I can talk about veganism, then is that worth it? After all, people who are watching will know that Bob doesn't use the products, and will say, "Yeah, okay, he's advertising this...but he doesn't use it and look at what great shape he's in. Maybe I should try what he's doing instead of what he's selling." I work at a supplement store and people don't like to hear preachiness pretty much ever, but when it comes from someone in a position to sell them things, they tend to be that much more skeptical. What I do is ask them what they're coming in for, and when they tell me I explain to them the benefits people claim, and then list some alternatives that are also vegan...but throw that in as an afterthought. A great example is the fish oil. I explain why people take fish oil, then offer some vegan oils as an alternative, by saying things like: "It's cheaper." "No more fish burps." "You also get omegas 6 and 9, which fish doesn't contain." "If you are avoiding fish for whatever reason, like if you can't have it because of allergies or if you're vegetarian or vegan, then don't feel like you must take the fish oil."

I know, they're hilarious but soooo freakin' motivational.

Vegan or not, gaining endurance is the same process: do it. You can only do 3 push-ups because you're only doing 3 push-ups. How often do you practice this? Since the type of body you're building is built with endurance and pushing yourself, I recommend doing your 3 push-up max + 3 "best as you can" push-ups every time you go to the bathroom, upon waking, before bed, and after you get dressed. Those 3 "best as you can" push-ups are going to very quickly turn into real push-ups, bringing you to 6 push-ups...and just keep doing that. X push-ups + 3 "best as you can" push-ups. Do different hand-widths, too. Regular, wide, and diamond. When you get to 30 push-ups, start putting your feet up on something to increase the difficulty. For pull-ups, do your "3 inches from dead hang" pull-up, and then do something called a "flex arm hang." You jump up to get your chin above the bar and you hold yourself up there as long as possible. You'll start lowering and you want to lower yourself until you're locked out, as slowly as possible. And you know what? If the chin starts drifting below the bar, try to pull yourself up over the bar. Time yourself with this flex arm hang. Your "stop time" is when your arms are locked out. You say you want a "yoga" body. Well, man, do some freakin' yoga!

No one increases stamina by repeatedly taking breaks. If you want to be able to hang in there, you have to hang in there. That doesn't mean you have to go at their speed, but you do have to continue with it instead of taking breaks. Some advice that the recruiters gave us was "to do the distance, so your body understands that you're going to be asking it to go that distance." This was for those of us that sucked at running and did the "build up to it" thing. The Marine Corps requires a 3 mile run in under 28 minutes, and if you suck at running that's a daunting task. The initial plan is to do 1 mile and keep at it until you get it done quickly, but as soon as you start to add distance you end up sucking all over again because your body is used to speeding through 1 mile instead of having to hang in there. The real way to build up to 3 miles is just to start out at 3 miles, and then to continue to do the 3 miles and eventually cut down the run time to be within standards. In the same fashion, taking breaks during your P90X routine and somehow expecting your body to get the message that it needs to increase endurance (aka, learn to not take breaks) doesn't make any sense, and that's why you're still taking breaks instead of increasing endurance. I liken the body to the mind. Just like you won't learn Calculus if you just do everything up to Calculus and keep stopping at Calculus, your body won't learn to push through when you keep telling it, "It's okay, we're taking a break."

I went through NASM. From what I saw, it required the most understanding of the body and nutrition, including requirements for certifications in CPR and defibrillator training. The others didn't seem as "science intense" or completely anal about this stuff, which is why I chose NASM.

Most islands have root veggies. High in starch and therefore calories, and super easy to obtain (don't have to climb a tree or collect handfuls of berries). Seems like the best choice.

The presentation went well. I had about 50 sources from non-animal sites, did not include any photos (except of fit vegans on the "Myth - 'Vegans Are Scrawny And Pale!'" slide), and did not talk about animal suffering. After all, it's an environmental class and with the attitudes most people have about veganism, I wanted to ensure that they couldn't argue with my sources or trying to garner sympathy or shock value from photos. There were a few questions at the end, and they were answered well...at least, it seemed that way since the askers seemed satisfied. The professor works in the field as well, so I know the environment is a huge issue to him. After class, I asked him what he thought, and he said he was going to show my powerpoint presentation to his wife. Pretty cool.

I'm surprised that they didn't differentiate vegan from vegetarian. Some women may say, "Oh, no meat? Well, all the protein shakes and many of the meals call for nonfat dairy and egg whites, so I can totally do that." Other than that, I think it's great that they decided to feature a vegan!

Just got some of this for my birthday: http://www.bulknutrition.com/images/pea-protein-b.gif and it absolutely kicks ass.

In addition to Nathan's suggestion, they do make vegan worchestershire sauce.

Great advice so far, but let me add something else: increase intensity. Clearly, what you are doing now isn't working, so doing the same thing over and over and expecting new results is, well, crazy...let's just be honest. If your current activity level and diet have allowed a froofy muffin top to creep onto you, then you're not doing enough to keep it off. If you were, it wouldn't have come back. You didn't post your diet, and I do recommend that you post a sample of your daily diet so we can help you assess it. What you eat, how much of it, and when you eat needs to be spelled out. On top of this, reassess the intensity of your workouts. Too many people just "workout" by hitting the pavement or the weights doing the same thing, the same weights, the same reps/sets, the same exercises, the same distance done in the same time. The body responds to being challenged, and if you don't challenge it, you won't see the results you want.

To come at it from the other end, I went vegan overnight from being a "super omnivore" as I call it (I'd eat up to or over a pound of animal products at each of my 6 daily meals). I had no problems, and, in fact, felt better from day 1. My energy increased in a couple days, and my recovery time from workouts went back to pre-disability within a week (I initially went vegan to address a permanent disability I got while in the Marine Corps...no, veganism did not cure it, if anyone's asking that). Each day, I only felt better. I never had a problem with fatigue, feeling drained, etc.. I attribute this to my approach to making a meal: I ask myself, "What can I add to make this more nutritious?" So many people go vegetarian or vegan just by cutting out animal products from their already shitty diet, leaving them with a shitty diet minus animal products. What did your diet look like before? What does the vegan version look like? You didn't post any sample days of your diet, so it's impossible to assess.

Pat, When you consume food that has protein, it breaks down into amino acids, and your body uses them to repair your cells, including muscle cells. Your body doesn't give two shits whether those amino acids came from soy or meat. Exercise for what you want, and protein/carbs/fats/water to fuel your efforts. That's it. Now, the nutrients that accompany those protein/carbs/fat/water are also very important to how the body functions and looks, but that doesn't mean that a meat-eater can't build big, inflated muscles just because s/he eats meat. In fact, they're (omnivorous bodybuilders) realizing the importance of carbohydrates and starting to veer from low-carb diets. In fact, Jay Cutler attributed his reclaiming of his title to adding carbs back into his formerly low-carb pre-contest diet to increase the "fullness" of his muscles, as well as stamina. For the body fat issue, in the short term, a low-carb diet has been shown to really get you L-E-A-N. However, from the Profiles link on the veganbodybuilding.com main page, you can see that you can get the paper-thin skin look without having to go all meaty. I hope that answers your questions. I'm not sure what part of the "bio of it" that you're not sure of.

Well, sure, but it's not exactly going to be a good idea to focus on one protein. That's why the "incomplete protein" thing is kind of a pet peeve for me because basically saying that protein is "deficient" is to suggest that a person isn't eating a well-rounded diet.

Insanity Wolf is great, but I personally love Courage Wolf...he seems more moto and less, well, crazy. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_woU5s2fwbZo/SultkVskBXI/AAAAAAABNy8/TfoYk8KswpA/s400/nfNeT7YvTjklrfgg4rxIPEUxo1_400.jpg.jpg http://neoshinka.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/courage_wolf_pain.jpg http://neoshinka.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/courage_wolf_death_dies_hard.jpg http://cdn3.knowyourmeme.com/i/3973/original/courage_wolf.jpg http://forum.nexon.net/Mabinogi/forums/storage/8613/2736326/courage_wolf_cancer_challenge.jpg http://yasik.kiev.ua/jj/Courage_Wolf/Courage_Wolf_fear_confidence.jpg http://knowyourmeme.com/i/639/original/VuPDDPxTGjcujru3gYeAyTAoo1_400.jpg.jpg http://coleman.aksolas.com/Files/CourageWolf1.jpg http://cdn2.knowyourmeme.com/i/3062/original/Courage-Wolf-Pain-is-temporary-Failure-is-forever.jpg http://cdn2.knowyourmeme.com/i/8358/original/Courage_Wolf_3_by_Nossek.jpg http://yasik.kiev.ua/jj/Courage_Wolf/Courage_Wolf_seize_the_day.jpg http://www.antiboredomteam.com/checkitout/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3346279582_d4401c59ff.jpg http://www.omgwtfimages.com/uploads/thumb/thumb_88.jpg http://seriouslulz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/1238487412558.jpg http://www.centernegative.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/life_getting_tough.jpg I'm amped. Time to workout.

Both of these are great suggestions. One thing that helped with my pull-ups is something called the "flexed arm hang." You grab hold of the pull-up bar, jump up to get your chin over the bar, and you hold yourself up there as long as possible. Eventually, as you slowly come down, you will be able to pull yourself back up.

As Cubby said, milk contains far stronger estrogens and no one cries about dairy giving them bitch tits. On top of this, studies repeatedly show that soy does not have an effect on testosterone. As some others pointed out, Asian countries consume far more soy and they aren't sterile or full of men with breasts. Having reviewed the host of documentation out there, Muscular Development magazine published that soy was a great thing to fit in the 2-4 hour digestion window (for those that blend their proteins).

World health organization, FDA etc etc all pretty much agree as far as I know. And the numbers were for 2-5 year olds but I don't think that changes much over time.. Interestingly, it does. In doing that EAA profile thing for hemp, I noticed that two amino acids were repeatedly listed with "children" next to them...basically, those two aminos are only essential for children. I don't know what about the body changes that they're no longer essential or as essential.

The studies do support this in the short term, but after 12 months it starts to act up in negative ways. I was just reading in Muscular Development magazine that high protein diets can cause brain damage later in life.

There's a certain amount of an amino acid that does need to be met to be considered "complete" or "adequate." The problem is, unless you're eating just ONE type of food and not enough of it, you're not going to be missing out on your protein anytime soon. As for quinoa and soy being the only "complete" plant proteins you hear about, it's just due to lack of knowledge. The complete proteins I know off the top of my head are hemp, soy, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and avocado. Hemp was argued on another thread, that the WHO doesn't consider it to be complete because it's deficient in some essential aminos...but does state that the deficiency applies to children 2-5 years of age.

Powdered creatine is certainly vegan, almost always. Anyone, vegan or not, can benefit from creatine. Other than protein powder, creatine is the longest-researched and safest lifting supplement on the market. It's also being tested for other uses, like preventing muscle wasting in patients with various muscle-wasting conditions (like MS). Creatine is used in ATP production, which fuels your muscles when doing an activity for less than 2 minutes at a time (anaerobic exercise). The reason for using creatine for lifting is that the average person produces enough creatine to fuel max effort for about 30 seconds. Supplementing with creatine can extend that max power out to 60 seconds. This is all on average, and assuming you're taking it properly. Most creatine products just contain creatine. If in pill form, it's whatever else the pill is made of (almost always gelatin), so you won't typically find a creatine full of a bunch of extra bullshit since creatine just does what it does. Some brands do add things in there, usually sugar (you need sugar to help absorb the creatine...the ratio is 7g sugar per 1g creatine), flavors, sometimes amino acids...so read it and make sure you know what you're getting.

No worries. Also, just for anyone: Gaspari Nutrition Superpump should be fine for a vegan. All other products will contain milk products or gelatin that is not certified as Vegan.

Try beet juice. I made a post about it here: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1956&p=228133#p228133 There are two articles in that post...you're looking for the first one, "DIETARY NITRATES: A New Way of Increasing Nitric Oxide Production." I know some, but I'll have to double check on if they're vegan...I'll get back to you. EDIT: The two creatines that I thought of first were SizeOn by Gaspari Nutrition and Kre-Alkalyn by All-American EFX. Gaspari "No it is not certified vegan friendly. Some of the ingredients are synthesized and may contain or have come in contact with animal products." All-American EFX "Yes, Kre-Alkalyn EFX is Vegan friendly, but get our powder form because we do not have any veggie caps as of yet, maybe one day but for now they are gelatin capsules." So my suggestion is to get yourself a good creatine monohydrate (someone mentioned CreaPure in another thread), or Kre-Alkalyn. If you are okay with things that may have come into contact with animal products but do not directly contain animal products, then Gaspari's SizeOn will be okay for you as well.

It's the same way with me. What usually helps is to show up in person and refuse to leave until you're either treated or given an appointment. I did that just today. "Sorry, we can't give you an appointment, we're booked for over a month...we're booked three months out." So I showed up today and have an appointment tomorrow morning. I understand about cancellations and stuff, but if you have a cancelled appointment, then fill it. Don't wait until the clinic is almost closed (that's when I showed up) for someone to come in, visibly ticked off, to then fill the cancelled appointment.