cbob3000

Almost forgot my mighty awesome new shirt! http://cbob.kapsi.fi/pics/veganpolice3s.JPG

Even tho I don't post here that often nowadays, I'm still hitting the gym as often as ever. As it's more about lifestyle and just physical activeness for me, I haven't gained that much over the past couple of years. Then again I was actually bit surprised when I took the last picture few days ago, as I actually do see some changes. What do comrades think? http://cbob.kapsi.fi/pics/prog.jpg

Aaaannd I'm back, in just couple weeks! My previous introduction and training journal posts apparently got misplaced upon forum update, so here's a quick recap: I'm 29 year old guy living in Helsinki, Finland. Been vegan for almost six years now. In addition to gym I'm also quite active biker all year round, despite the snow and the ice. Regarding workouts I'm a strong believer in honest, hard work. Pain equals gain. Off to gym.

Dear VBB, Even though I haven't been visiting you guys here at vbb.com for at least a year now, I have been pumping some serious iron. Pic from yesterday: http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/hiha.jpg Need to hit the sack right now but I'll be back sooner than you might expect, that's a promise!

Dear Science, what a pics! I wish I had them as posters!

Ok, got the point. I think I'll proceed with the width-plan right after this summer. Thanks xjohanx

I gotta say I don't really get what you guys mean. You think I'm too small in general, or what? In addition to working out I'm also active in some other sports (mostly biking), so my ultimate goal is _not_ to get as big and wide as possible.

Ah, ok! Toivottavasti pääset joskus takas sieltä

Thanks, man! I was finally able to got some new ones, although I'm still slightly on the soft side for my taste. Here's a quick comparison/progression shot from my back. My bodyweight is within 1-2 kilos / 2 - 4 lbs in all of these. http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/prog.jpg

Yep, it's her. I'm pretty sure of it, 'cause I took the picture Do you come from Finland or what's going on? That's perfect finnish

Yes, I'm still very much alive and kicking, even though I haven't been here for almost half a year. My civil service ended in last year's October and I returned to my real work right the next day. At work I jumped right in to a very urgent and challenging project, on which I worked like a madman until the end of February. Now it's pretty much complete and I'm working only the normal office hours. Luckily I like my work, even the crazy projects like that However, despite working so hard, I did manage to keep my gym schedules. I've worked out five or six times a week with very few exceptions and gained quite nicely; I'm currently seven kilos (~15 lbs) heavier than in August, when the body composition test was done. In pure strength that translates to 10-15% increase in practically all muscle groups. Currently I am already dieting the excess fat away, mainly by adding aerobics and carefully watching my carb intake. I'll post some new pics when there's something new to show Have a good one

Hawt!

Thanks man, appreciated! I haven't focused to shoulders or arms that much in my workouts ever. Sure I like dips etc, but it's chest-, leg- and back stuff I really enjoy. I guess I'm just built this way.

Here's one more from the back comp -shooting. I find symmetric things pleasing to eye and thus I had to post it http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/back3.jpg

Here's my entries, fresh out from the camera. Thanks to candyflip for shooting http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/back2.jpg http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/back1.jpg

Man, how about sending few kilos this way? Honestly, if you have any left, I'd be really super-interested!

Aannd we're back! I am happy to tell that September was my most active gym-month ever with total of 20 workouts (though it's only one or two workouts more than what I ~always do, but still!). This is obviously resulting from the fact that summer is over -> I can happily gain some weight (and have done so) -> increased results -> increased motivation. Lately I've been considering adding one more workout to my weekly schedule, going from five to six. Then again, I think I could have some lighter weeks occasionally, now I haven't had one for 1.5 months. I've altered my program and it's now five-split. I have one for arms, one for back, one for shoulders and then two (diffent) workouts for legs and chest. So far it feels fine so I think I'm gonna stick with it for now. As already mentioned, I've managed to gain weight since June (~four kilos (= 9 lb)) and it has impacted my results greatly. Currently I'm in same weight than in Jan-Feb, so it seems this winter I'm going to be the biggest and strongest I've ever been. One more thing; last weekend we attended the Fitness Expo 2009, where they held the national bodybuilding competition of the year. It was my first time in any bodybuilding event and I really enjoyed it (surprise! ). Also, my old classmate competed there. Here are some pics of the event: http://www.power.1g.fi/kuvat/Fitness%20Expo%202009/

Thanks man, appreciated!

Good to see you're still around, HCP! Here's a quick update on my workouts: during the last few weeks I've gained 2-3 kilos (5-7 lbs) and increased almost all weights 5-10%. I took a glance at my logs from year ago and it seems I'm using almost the same weights but doing twice the sets. So my endurance is better, or atleast I'm really going till the end now. I should be changing my program already and since I'm definitely going for nothing else than pure POWER and MASS, I'll add just add more weights and do 1-2 sets less. Does it make sense to you guys? I might also skip some muscles altogether to make more room for my weaker areas. For example I'm not really sure if I'd really need any dedicated bicep-workouts, as they're getting punished in almost all other moves already (deadlifts, back moves etc). Comments very welcome.

Finally we managed to get to the same picture. Thanks to Robert for the awesome shirt! http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/pics/habat.jpg ps. It's my left, weaker arm that I'm showing

What's up, guys? As I already predicted in my previous post, the autumn has really put me back to the gym. I've had total of 17 workouts in this month already and there are still four days of the month left. I could've easily break the magic 20-workout limit but decided not to do so after three 5-workout weeks. The plan was to take it easy on this week but looks like I'm still going to have four (slightly lighter) workouts. It has become clear I'm somewhat addicted to workouting but what the heck, it's one of the healthiest addiction I can imagine of. Last change to my program happened in the beginning of July, when I moved from 4-5 sets to 8. At that time I dramatically cut down on weights to save energy for the additional sets. It seems this new program has worked out pretty well, because now I'm practically 100% in par with my May- and June-weights while doing two times the sets! For example, just yesterday I squatted 8 sets with 8 reps on 120 kg / 264 lb and it was easy (I actually did 10 reps in some sets just for the fun of it)!. I think there's no returning to only four sets for me, but I might go towards 3-4 warmup sets and 4-5 with the actual weights. Well, that's it for today. Stay strong! ps. thanks to Robert for the awesome vbb-shirt!

Like I probably already mentioned somewhere, candyflip bought me a thorough fitness test for a birthday present (which was a great idea, btw). The test took place two weeks ago and finally I've the results in scanned form as well. I guess I won't post of them, but here's the body composition-part: http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/pics/bodycomposition.jpg There weren't any huge surprises, except for the body fat. I honestly believed I was somewhere in 8-9%-zone. The result made me wonder where I'd be if I'd actually try to minimize my fat, for now I've done almost the opposite (fighting against weight loss). Summer is about to end here in Finland and in my humble opinion IT'S TOTALLY AWESOME. I mean, summers are great for relaxing, visiting new places, seeing new things etc, but all the time spent on those extra activities means you dont' have as much time to the normal, routine stuff (ie. gym). Actually, gym-wise this summer wasn't as bad as few previous ones have been, but now that I can finally return to my 100% workout routine, I feel like I haven't really worked out for weeks. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have few lighter weeks per year but I have to say I'm happy they're behind me now. I've still kept the 8 sets x 6-10 reps -program, which has mostly worked just fine. I think the next change to my program is gonna take place in the beginning of September, and this time I'll probably return to bigger weights. I am planning to really gain some muscle during the winter so it's better start early than late. Rock on, vegans

Thanks, Rob I've thought of it and my category would most likely be Classic BB, but I think I should get like 6-7 kilos (= ~15 lbs) of solid muscle mass to even think of it seriously. On top of that, I'd need professional help with posing. In CBB I'd go to "under 178 cm"-series and maximum weight for that is 82 kg / 180 lb, meaning I'm good 10 kilos underweight compared to the Big Guys.

I'm afraid the competition is over already, but I'll post mine for future reference if nothing else. Taken within the last hour. During the summer my bodyweight has dropped as low as 71 kg / 156.2 lb, if someone wonders why I look smaller than before http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/laardi1.jpg http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/laardi2.jpg http://www.nic.fi/~jaakkoko/temp/beef/laardi3.jpg

Yeah, I guess it's about time for me to take part in this thread. I think candy's early workouts consisted mostly of 10-30 minutes of some cardio machine (stepper and/or treadmill), followed by the muscle exercise machines in some order for some ~half an hour, or until I was done with my workout. I don't remember her having actual workout program until the main weight loss had already occured. Since that she's been going really hard, I gotta admit I'm pretty proud of her