MarsAttacks

hey. This is a hypothetical question. Let's say I started serious weightlifting (olympic) a year ago and within a few months ago started smoking regularly. Once (yes only once) a day, after all other responsibilities are done and with a vaporizer (no tar and other negative stuff from combustion). Does the THC slow down your reaction/speed of the CNS? Can it negatively affect work capacity?

Hey everyone. I thought I would share.... A couple of days ago i ordered some noodles and tofu at a fast food japanese joint. They grill the food on this really big frying surface. You could see it from where I was standing and I started wondering how well they clean this surface between orders ... apparently not very well as there were small bits of meat in my plate. Lucky for my omnivore friend who got two plates for the price of one I've been vegan for a few years but never really paid too much attention to cross-contamination. Now I won't eat at any of my favorite asian restaurants for the fear of the cook preparing my meal without really washing the wok first. Not to mention any fast food burger place where they fry meat in the same fryer as the french fries. Dayum. what a buzzkill.

Hey everyone.... Just came across this.: http://www.bellplantation.com/nutrition It's powdered peanut butter. You simply add water or soy milk to it. It tastes good and has 85% less fat than regular peanut butter. For those dieting down it's a treasure! Ingredients: Roasted peanuts, sugar and salt. Serving size: 2 Tablespoons (12 grams) Calories: 45 Total fat 1.5 g 3% Saturated fat 0 g 0% Trans fat < 0.01 g Cholesterol < 0.01 mg 0% Sodium 94 mg 4% Total carbohydrate 5 g 2% Dietary fiber 2 g 8% Sugars 1 g Protein 5 g Thought I would share this. (Assuming it's new to you too! )

Hello. I've been on the lookout for any vegan food that is very high in protein with moderate carbs/fat. The obvious are soy (i mostly use TVP), Tempeh and protein powders (i use vega). I can rarely find seitan in my area and if I do, it's super expensive. I've found some good recipes online and it doesn't seem like it's too hard to make. Anyways.. my question is, is seitan bad for you? There seems to be so much anti-gluten information out there (including Branden Brazier). I don't have celiac disease, so is there any reason to avoid it? Just looking for some opinions on it. Thanks p.s. If any of you know of other really good high protein - low carb/fat vegan foods (other then soy, tempeh, seitan and powders!) I'm all ears. cheers

I guess just like anything else, moderation is the key. If you're meals are predominately made up of soy meats, soy milk and soy protein you may run into some of those 'dangers'. Personally I don't make any real efforts to completely avoid it. I usually have 1-2 servings of soy daily. I will add some TVP with my quinoa for the added protein. Another thing I do is rotate between TVP and Tempeh (supposedly free of those nasty phytoestrogens due to fermentation) every other day or so. TVP is just so damn cheap!!! I don't remember where exactly but I read that soy isolates are the most problematic.

Hello everyone. I know this is nothing new. We have all read the infinite warnings about consuming soy. I have a question that I hope someone could shed some light on. 'They' say that soy raises estrogen in men. Something to do with the phytoestrogens or something. What I don't understand is, isn't soy just a bean?! Why would soy beans contain these hormonal wrecking balls but kidney beans or black beans don't? Thanks

oh sorry.... i guess I didn't explain myself clearly.. I know that the numbers are accurate. I use the nutrition tables on the back of the packages (ie quinoa, tempeh, TVP, canned beans etc...) and use that website for anything else. My question was more geared towards my carb / fat / protein ratio. How does it look? Too many carbs? Not enough protein? (which i already know but finding it hard to get more without adding tons more calories.) etc. thanks

Hello. I am looking to cut down a bit. I have recently calculated (pretty accurately i think my meal plan. I think I may be way off! Here are my stats /// approx. 235lbs - 6' - not sure my bf% but probably around 15-20% On training days: 2590 cals - 66 g fat - 176 g protein - 246 g carbs Non training days: 2110 cals - 65 g fat - 141 g protein - 170 g carbs I am training 4 days a week (standard bb'ing split) and trying to walk as much as possible every day (especially recovery days). How does this sound? Am I way off? I ralize I'm not getting very much protein. Thanks for the help.

Hey guys... so i've decided to compete in my first competition. I feel that I have a good base and I should not waste any time before I start cutting. Do any of you have any tips or experiences from your cuts? I am obviously an amateur and have never really followed any extreme bulk/cuts before. I typically try to eat as clean as possible and simply increase my calories when I'm training harder and lower them a little if I feel that I'm getting too soft. I am a little concerned that I will lose too much mass. As most of you already know a big part of most omnivore bb'ers diets are to cut carbs. Well seeing as everything we eat has carbs in one form or another I'm afraid that will cause excess catabolism. Any advice from the more experienced people here? Thanks a bunch

Hello.... I'm curious to see what others think of this. Do any of you not have a problem with free range / free run eggs? I was a vegetarian for many many years and my reasoning for not being vegan was that "if i owned my own farm i would have no guilt from eating my hens eggs or drinking my cow's milk". Once I started seeing what hens and cows go through in factory farms I dropped both eggs and milk immediately. -but- what if you only consumed eggs that came from a cage free / free run farm? Do they even truly exist? I have troubles believing business and animals can live together without the animals suffering greatly. Anyways, like i said I am curious to see what some fellow compassionate vegans have to say. Cheers

I've always wondered how many nutrients are actually being lost when pressure cooking beans and such. I am going to start experimenting by sprouting some lentils, quinoa and buckwheat.

Can anybody answer this? Does raw/sprouted QUINOA (or any other legume or grain) contain more protein then cooked quinoa?

thanks.... Johan... just wondering, why to you think it sucks? Don't worry I'm no Raw Ambassador or anything.

Hey Guys.... I hope there's someone on here that can help me out with this. I've been looking into raw veganism. From what I understand it is comprised of eating raw veggies, fruits, sprouted (rather than cooked) grains and legumes and soaked raw nuts/seeds. This seems like a very beneficial way of eating for a vegan bodybuilder. Except I wouldn't really know what to make! I guess i would end up eating a lot of fresh salads (both leafy green and sprouts). Does anybody have any good links or advice? Do you feel it would be suitable for a vegan bodybuilder? I typically eat a lot of "cooked" quinoa, buckwheat and lentils. I am very curious to try these raw and sprouted. thanks

Hello everyone.... Any post workout shake (nutrition) advice?

Hello everyone. Just wondering if you guys had any basic advice for bulking and cutting. I've heard so many different opinions on this topic; - Bulking only works for the first 2 weeks... after that you are just adding fat. - You have to really bulk up (close to 5000 cals a day)in order to put on any respectable amount of muscle over a short period. You cannot gain significant muscle without significant fat. - Bulking is not necessary and actually more harmful over the long run... How much bodyfat should a natural bb'er allow during a bulk before cutting back on the calories? I have never really followed a bulk or cut phase per say. I have done 'conservative' versions of both however. Just looking for opinions. Cheers

personally I don't think i would be ready for the yo-yo effects of roids. I have trained with a couple of guys who were using and actually had to stop training with them because of the roids. When they were off cycle I was much stronger then them but they would catch up and sometimes surpass me when on cycle. You could tell their physiques were changing, not so much bigger but tighter, more veiny and lost a bit of weight (not to mention the pimples!). Anyways, when they would finish a cycle they would pretty much go right back to where they began. At that point they would rarely come to the gym at all. I know if you do your PCT properly you should retain some of those gains but why gamble with your health, spend all that money, have to inject yourself etc. to go from one stage - juice go to another stage then come right back to where you began. There is an older guy that goes to my gym and he's very candid about his drug ABUSE. He says he never came off a cycle because he couldn't handle the loss in strength and size. He jokes about his viagra use. I can totally understand the temptations of roids. As natural lifters we've already gained the majority of our mass in the first year and we will never look like Arnold. I've even felt like I've reached a fork in the road - stop lifting and take up a new sport OR juice and go to the next level. For now, I'm trying to enjoy the challenges and see if I can break some of those limitations - naturally.

Hello everyone. Happy holidays. I'm sure you've all heard our omnivore bodybuilding counterparts talk about the foods that 'work'. The foods they base their nutrition program after. They are usually chicken, lean beef, broccoli, oatmeal.... In my opinion a solid nutrition program should be simple in terms of food preparation, made up of foods that are not necessarily eating for taste or enjoyment but the benefits they offer us in our pursuits. If you haven't pre-planned what you should be eating and when, you will normally end up eating what is closest and easiest. I've been having a hard time figuring out the Vegan essentials. What do you guys use or feel should be the vegan bodybuilders diet? Do any of you have any good links or resources to good vegan bb nutrition and recipes? cheers

Hello everyone... I just finished reading Thrive diet. AMAZING! Kudos. Anyways Brendan talks about including more pseudograins (buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, wild rice). I love wild rice and quinoa and find they're easy to cook with but I really don't know how to cook with buckwheat and amaranth. I know there are some recipes in the book but i was wondering if any of you guys have any other creatively delicious ways of cooking it. Can they just be added to soups? Thanks

as if bodybuilding competitions haven't become effeminate enough!!! It pains me to see Arnold say things like "Kai you are by far the best poser I've ever seen". I guess this sport will always remain a 'cult' thing.

Hello, Olympia is just around the corner. I see that a lot of people are betting on Kai Greene to win it this year. I personally don't think so but who knows!. If you google his name,the first suggestion that pops up is "Kai Greene Grapefruit Video". For those of you who don't know Kai (as well as Toney Freeman and Johnny Jackson) used to work as gay strippers. The grapefruit video is of Kai having sex with a piece of citrus fruit.lol Personally I understand that he needed money for all the food and drugs required to get that big but I can't help but feel that it will only further scare away the general public. Imagine a kid sees Kai for the first time and says "wow, he's my new hero", goes home, googles his name and sees him prancing around in leather straps flinging his member all over the place.

I've been running along with my weight training. I'm not a huge fan of running but i need to lose some fat. I've been doing it on off days. The problem I'm having is that I used to do mobility exercises and stretching on off days. I find that I just don't have the time or energy to go for a 20-30 min jog, to come home and do another 10-15 minute stretch/mobility routine. I have really tight hip flexors, so i'm beginning to miss those stretching sessions! Would doing my mobility exercises (mainly spider man lunges, lateral squats, dive bombers, leg swings etc.) in a circuit be considered cardio? How would that compare to joggin in terms of cardio benefits. cheers.

Here are my two cents... 1) As mentioned above HIIT is a great tool for increasing fitness and fat loss. 2) If you do HIIT properly, you need to treat it as a workout and not a cardio session. If you're training hard with weights and decided to add in HIIT sessions on off days, you will hinder recovery. 3) In that case, either lower the intensity and/or frequency of your workout to make way for your HIIT sessions -or- simply do very low intensity cardio (walking) on off days. It will give you some cardio benefits, help recovery and burn a few more calories. Like the advice above stated, you're better off focusing on one goal at a time.

Thanks a lot Bruce.

thanks for the input... i just get pretty confused with the whole cardio thing. A good friend suggested HIT cardio before or on off days but I've always heard that if you're training intensely for strength, HIT will only hurt your recovery. So I thought of doing very low intensity cardio on off-days (just a brisk walk) but I've read (alwyn cosgrove, charles poliquin etc.) that aerobic training is very counter productive for strength athletes. lol