James

With respect that routine is not good at all. You say you've tried full body before & you didn't like it - I take it you mean you didn't make the progress you'd hoped for? From looking at your journal your diet is way off base so I'm not surprised. Unless you massively increase your calories & protein intake you'll never make progress no matter how good your training is. At your height & seeing as how you want to gain so much weight I'd say you need to aiming for 4000-5000 calories per day & 200g protein. 4 day training splits were originally devised by elite bodybuilders using massive amounts of steroids. As a novice lifter (and I'm assuming a 'clean' one too) you should stick to a basic full body routine like Stronglifts 5x5: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/. If you stick to a routine like this & eat enough you will achieve your goals, no question. Good luck!

I'm sure pretty sure Strength Shop in the UK would post to the US. The guy that runs this company is a member here (Buzz). Although it doesn't mention it anywhere on the site, everything he sells is completely vegan, including the shoes: https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/clothing/lifting-shoes.html

If you're not UK based you probably won't know who David Icke is - in short he's a complete lunatic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke#Key_ideas

I know this is an old thread & I don't post here much, but I can't let this go unchallenged. To the OP: your fascist bullsh*t has no place in the vegan community, please keep your politics to yourself or better yet go away. For anyone wondering about 'NSBM', it's national socialist black metal, an overtly hateful Nazi movement.

I struggle with overhead work too, in my case due to a persistent issue with a bulging spinal disc. Apart from dips which hit the delts hard, I also do elevated push ups on gymnastic rings i.e. elevated means the rings are near ground level & my feet are on a higher bench/platform, so that the angle of my body recruits the delts more than if my body was flat. I also do an exercise call 'cross pulls' that hits EVERY muscle in the body above the abs including delts: Make sure you're very well warmed up before attempting this exercise otherwise you're likely to tear a bicep tendon!

I do a LOT of dips - weighted dips are the cornerstone of my push routine. I do full-body workouts 3 x week so for me there's no issue with overlapping. However I think avoiding superior compound movements like thiss due to worries about overlapping is going to be counterproductive in the long run. There's a reason weighted dips are often referred to as the 'upper body squat' - because they're f*cking awesome.

First off, being vegan makes no difference - you still train in exactly the same way. You want a basic gym routine focusing on big compound lifts, low reps, few sets e.g. squat, overhead press, deadlift. You could also do with finding a venue where you can practice specific strongman events like farmers walks, log press & yoke etc. Obviously you need to add some weight so you need to eat big - high protein of course but also plenty of good wholegrain carbs & healthy fats. If you want to follow the training routine of a vegan strongman competing at a decent level check out a guy called JP in the training log section over at www.veganfitness.net. An excellent website/forum for strongman stuff is www.sugdenbarbell.co.uk. There are a few vegans on that forum.

I don't thinking strength training is damaging per se, although like anything it can be dangerous if not done properly. A more serious related issue in my view is the number of young guys (teens & early 20s) I see in my gym who are using steroids despite being novice trainers.

Your trainer is full of sh*t. If you're doing strength training but not gaining you're not consuming sufficient calories, simple as that.

Hey it's easier than you'd think. I weigh around 90kg & aim for 2g protein per kg of bodyweight, so get at least 180g daily as follows: 7:30am - oats + soya milk + pumpkins seeds - 25g 10am - shake with pea protein, cocoa & soya milk - 40g 12:30pm - peanut butter sandwich - 25g 3pm - shake again (same as above on rest day, on gym day I chuck in some dextrose too) - 40g 5:30pm - pile of nuts/seeds - 15g 8:00pm - dinner e.g. pasta dish, curry, chilli (plenty of legumes, tofu, good carbs etc) - 30-40g depending on exact dish 10pm - bedtime snack e.g. homemade hummus, nuts, glass of milk - 10-20g depending on how much I eat

No offence intended, but how much can you squat/bench etc? If I read one more diatribe from some scrawny raw food hippy about how high protein diets are toxic I'll scream.

You'll be fine with dumbells for a couple of weeks. Good luck brother!

IMO this workout is really not suitable for someone in your position. Splitting bodyparts into different days, plus then using high volume and isolation exercises, is generally regarded as a more advanced technique; there are plenty of folk (me included) who simply don't like this style of working out at any level & favour a more basic approach. I reckon you need to follow a basic strength routine like Rippletoe (good summary written by the man himself here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/who_wants_to_be_a_novice_you_do) & eat like a crazy bastard for long enough to add some decent mass. If this routine includes lifts you don't know how to do find someone who can teach you - heavy compound work is going to be so much more effective than endless isolation work.

Good progress there mate. Diet looks solid; if you want to bulk up then you don't want a low carb diet & IMO what you're on currently is not low carb, so no problem. You mention being a poor student, in which case I'd suggest you switch to a different protein powder! I'm sure the Sunwarrior stuff is good but it's insanely expensive; google 'myprotein' & get some stuff from there - much much better value. What's your gym routine like?

Isolation work like curls is a complete waste of time if you weigh 60kg. Essentially, at your current weight, you 're simply not holding enough mass to get those big guns you want. Stick to heavy compound work (olympic movements, deadlift, bench, press, pull ups, dips) & add more calories (good carbs, healthy fats & protein).

Commonly known as a grappler I believe. My old gym had one; used it from time to time at the end of a workout for shits 'n' giggles but not really something I'd incorporate into a strength routine.

Serious muscle? Really? Undoubtedly this guy has very low bodyfat (not surprising given his diet) but not a huge amount of muscle mass. It's no exaggeration to say that every guy in my gym holds more mass than this guy.

Dude you've made insane progress since you starting posting here, keep up the good work!

Although I'm a real fan of bodyweight stuff I agree with the thrust of what VeganEssentials is saying. When I talk about getting bigger doing bodyweight exercises I'm not referring to endless push ups, but rather, to take the example of 'push' work, dips with over 50% of your own bodyweight added via plates dangling on a belt; there's a world of difference. Personally I suck at push ups, I can barely do more than some folk I know who don't really train at all, but I can do a dip with my own bodyweight added, so clearly there's no direct correlation between the two.

OK I do dips a hell of a lot so I've tested this out. In my experience wider grips just put a lot of stress on the shoulders & don't seem to offer any benefits, so I stick to a narrow-ish (shoulder width or thereabouts) grip. The problem some people have is that their narrow frame makes the grip on dip bars uncomfortably wide. One way around this is to do dips on gymnastic rings as you can then go as narrow as you like - using rings also makes the whole exercise a lot more difficult. If ever I have any shoulder pain I find ring dips a lot more forgiving that bar dips.

My upper body routine consists of only bodyweight exercises, for example weighted dips & pull ups. I also do a lot of work on gymnastics rings - very demanding in my experience & I've defintely gotten bigger & stronger doing it. I'm currently working my way towards achieving an 'iron cross' on the rings. Like all static gymnastic moves it may look simple but it's incredibly difficult. Having said all that though, at the end of the day no routine will add bulk if you're not eating enough. Personally I'm not trying to add mass because it'll make cross exercises even harder!

Man I love OKD. Bloodlust Revenge is probably the most played CD in my collection. I believe it's out of print so if/when it breaks I'll be heartbroken. OKD were never an all vegan band as far as I know. Straight edge yes, vegan no.

Whilst I dig the politics (aside from the problem they appear to have with straight edge) & they are responsible for probably the best lyric ever (meat is still muder, dairy is still rape) I'm not a huge fan of the music itself. Give me Undying anyday.

OK thanks for the info buddy!

Sounds interesting, I might try this. I currently squat using an Ironmind squat belt because I've got a recurring back issue so this could be a good secondary exercise for me. Do you find your back rounding when the bar comes down towards the bottom position? This is the reason I don't use the leg press. Whereabouts does the bar rest on your feet; I'm guessing the heels or the arches?