Jordanlee

Here are some pictures! Pizza Pi Pizza in Seattle: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0729.jpg Spicy Chocolate Waffles in Seattle at Plum Bistro: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0721.jpg Tempeh Creolé at Plum Bistro: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0719.jpg Hoyt Arbortorium: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0709.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0693.jpg My Dad's Mocca at Barista in Portland: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0689.jpg My girlfriend in a cute little park near the vegan stripmall: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0666.jpg Four Cheese Ricotta on a bed of Kale at Blossoming Lotus: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0664.jpg Multonmah Falls: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0663.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0658.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0657.jpg Vegan Tempeh Tacos at Proper Eats in Portland: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/heshmonster/IMG_0655.jpg That's all the pictures I had on my iPhone. The rest were on another camera.

09/08/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 132LBS (bar + 17.5kg a side) Overhead Press 3x5kg/side ... couldn't do five sets. I'll have to drop the weight I guess. My shoulders are WEAK! Chinups 3xF... 7/7/7/ ... roughly. Lost count. I was also doing negatives after. Deadlifts 1x5 132 (bar + 17.5kg/side) Incline Reverse Crunches 3xF ... about 8-10 each set, and then super setted with incline crunches. 08/23/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 137.79LBS (62.5kg) (bar + 18.75kg on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 110lbs (50kg) (bar + 12.5kg on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF ... 6-7, 5, 3-4 ... these were quite tough. Haven't done them since before Portland. Elevated pushups (feet 2.5 feet off of the ground) 3xF 12/12/10 .. last set was with a diamond stance to work the tris.These were supersetted with my bench press. Reverse Crunches 3xF ... Did reverse crunches on an incline until failure, and then supersetted with incline situps. These were quite tough to get large numbers out of. Overall, my strength was pretty similar these last two workouts as it was before my vacation. My brother and I managed to work out at the historic Loprinzi's gym in Portland while we were there, but that was only for a day. Other than that, I just tried to do pushups as often as I could, and did pullups and chinups off of random hanging objects! It was a lot of fun (especially hanging off of scaffolding in Seattle). ; Until next time! ps. Still not breaking 150lbs. What the hell is wrong with my body!?

Thanks Baby Herc! My trip was stupendous! You're incredibly lucky to live in such a progressive, beautiful and accommodating city. I had an amazing time. We stayed downtown (at the end of 23rd ave and where the big highways start?) , and managed to bike to almost everywhere we wanted to go. For hiking/biking we did forest park, Mt. Hood (and Multonmah (sp?) Falls!) and Cannon Beach. For food we loaded up at whole foods (so jealous you guys have these! Our version called "Planet Organic" is about 1/3 of the size!) for breakfast/lunch stuff, and ate out for dinners. We ate at Blossoming Lotus (THREE times! Best restaurants I've ever been to), Proper Eats (amazing tempeh tacos!), Flying Apron bakery, Papa Gs and Portobello (delicious!). Truly, a wonderful city. We only have ONE all vegan restaurant in Edmonton, and it's a Chinese themed place (which is very seitan heavy... and Chinese food is not my favorite). We also went to Seattle, and though it was pretty nice, Portland was way better! Seattle did have some fantastic coffee and food though! We ate at Pizza Pi (which is a 100% vegan pizza shop that has STUFFED CRUST PIZZA... WTF!?!!?!?! It was amazing!), Plum Bistro (Really creative and fancy vegan brunch and dinner) and at Thrive (an all raw/vegan/gluten-free restaurant that was really creative, and really delicious). I brought back a bag of Kilamanjaro from Stumptown which is fabulous! Viva la Portland!!!!!!

also... where should I stay that's somewhat central? I'm staying in a super 8 the first night (since we'll be getting in pretty late, and it's the cheapest place to stay). But for the rest of the trip, it probably makes the most sense to be somewhere central, so we can ride our bikes around and not have to drive as much (sans going to Mt Hood, Cannon Beach, etc.).

Hi all, I posted this in the Portland thread too.. so mods, if it's inappropriate to be here too (I'm just trying to get as much adivce as I can before I leave tomorrow) be please feel free to delete it. I left the rest of the post here, but for this thread of the forum, I'm mainly looking for advice on where I can work out. I'll be in Portland on Saturday (the 28th) until September 2nd. I'm very much looking forward to checking out this incredibly progressive, beautiful, and vegan friendly city (I'm coming from Alberta, which is beef central... so it's going to be a liberating experience). So, what should I do there!? I'm brining my bike with me, and I'm thinking that we'll do a lot of biking (both around town checking the city out, and elsewhere doing mountain biking). Some things we've already thought of are: - Forest Park - Mt. St Hood - Coffee Shop exploring (finding the best 3rd wave shop, with the best direct trade espresso!) - Cannon Beach Anything else? What MUST I do in Portland? Also, anyone know any cheap and nice drop in gyms that I can get a good workout at? And most importantly: which vegan restaurants are a must!? There's so many to choose from. Choice is not something we're used to here in Edmonton (We have ONE vegan restaurant, and a few vegetarian). Thanks! - Jordan

Hi all, I'll be in Portland on Saturday (the 28th) until September 2nd. I'm very much looking forward to checking out this incredibly progressive, beautiful, and vegan friendly city (I'm coming from Alberta, which is beef central... so it's going to be a liberating experience). So, what should I do there!? I'm brining my bike with me, and I'm thinking that we'll do a lot of biking (both around town checking the city out, and elsewhere doing mountain biking). Some things we've already thought of are: - Forest Park - Mt. St Hood - Coffee Shop exploring (finding the best 3rd wave shop, with the best direct trade espresso!) - Cannon Beach Anything else? What MUST I do in Portland? Also, anyone know any cheap and nice drop in gyms that I can get a good workout at? And most importantly: which vegan restaurants are a must!? There's so many to choose from. Choice is not something we're used to here in Edmonton (We have ONE vegan restaurant, and a few vegetarian). Thanks! - Jordan

I've been slacking on updating lately... I'll try and be more attentive! I've just been busy with school, music, life, work, etc. etc. etc. STILL not gaining any weight. The max I've weighed in at (and this is an hour or two after eating a large lunch) is 149lbs. What the hell!!!! I really want to get up to the 160 range. Someday... Also, I've noticed that since I've started eating more, I have 4/5 shits a day. Is my body assimilating anything, or is it just shitting everything out? Is this normal, or could it be a possible cause of why I'm not gaining? 08/20/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 110LBS (bar + 32.5lbs on each side) Overhead Press 5x5 ... 3 @ 7.5kg/side, then 3 @ 6.25kg/side. Then did 5 @ 5kg/side, and then failed the last rep of the last set. Chinups 3xF... 7/6/5 + 5 negatives on each set. LOVE doing chinups! Deadlifts 1x5 115lbs (bar + 35lbs on each side) Incline Reverse Crunches 3xF ... about 8-10 each set, and then super setted with incline crunches. Ran into my first failure today. OP was just killer. It may have been because I was essentially supersetting them with my chinups, as I was in a bit of a rush to get out of the gym. Either way, my shoulders got a hell of a workout, which is the point afterall, right? I think I figured out my squat form finally. Will post a video on Friday before I leave to Portland. 08/23/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 115LBS (bar + 35lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 85lbs (bar + 20lbs on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF ... 10 + 8 / 7 + 5 / 7 + 7 ... first number is knees down, second is knees up. Elevated pushups (feet 2.5 feet off of the ground) 3xF 12/12/10 .. last set was with a diamond stance to work the tris. Reverse Crunches 3xF ... somehow forgot to do these. Will hit abs extra hard tomorrow My sqauts are getting VERY close to max. The last few sets I had to grind through with a lot of stalls. I caught myself cheating with bad technique a few times, but quickly corrected it. On a positive note, my knees no longer hurt when I squat. It's mainly my hip flexors and groin that get sore (because I'm now squatting REAL deep). That's all for today. Wish me luck gaining weight (or send me weight gainer recipes)!

08/16/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 100LBS (bar + 27.5lbs on each side) Overhead Press @ 70lbs (bar + 12.5lbs on each side) Pullups 3xF... 2/2/1 + 5 negatives on each set Deadlifts 1x5 105lbs (bar + 30lbs on each side) Incline Reverse Crunches 3xF ... about 8-10 each set. These are killer. 08/18/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 105LBS (bar + 30lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 75lbs (bar + 15lbs on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF .. 11 (knees down)/ 8 (knees down) + 5 (knees up)/ 6 (knees down) + 6 (knees up) Elevated pushups 3xF .. 15/11/6 (this was the end of the workout, so I was already pretty tired) ... plus I did 3xF inverted diamond pushups at work to get my triceps engaged. Got about 10-12/set. Incline Reverse Crunches 3xF ... I supersetted these with incline crunches. So I would put a foam roller between my calves/thighs, and do incline reverse crunches with a "twitch" or "shrug" at the top until failure, then drop the roller, turn around, and hammer out normal crunches until failure. This was by far the most intense ab workout I've ever done! Squats are getting heavy, but good. I think I may be better off now that I'm doing low bar squat. It hurts my back a little, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I'll try and get a video when I can. I'm STILL not gaining weight, even though my calorie intake is higher than ever. I'm not sure that I'm breaching 4000 everyday (I can't always count the things I'm eating), but I've got to be around 3000-3500. Also, should I be doing a mixed grip with deadlifts? All of the guys at my gym that deadlift use it, and I'm wondering what the reasons are? Lastly, I've noticed that there are two main muscle groups that seem to get neglected by the stronglifts: calves and forearms. Anything I can do about that?

08/13/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 95LBS (bar + 25lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 70lbs (bar + 12.5lbs on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF 20/17/20 ... with knees up, and chest within a few inches of the bar or touching the bar. Dips.... got ONE proper one, and then did 5 negatives Elevated BOSO Ball pushups (feet on the BOSO ball) 3xF 12/11/8 Reverse Crunches 3xF ... did these on the incline! 8/6/7 ... absolutely killer. I'm going to sub these in (with hanging raises) for abs. Squats are getting killer. I took Chewy's advice and am now holding the bar lower on my back. It feels better on my back, but, it hurts my wrists quite a bit (because with the bar that far back they're really bent/arched). Is that normal? Is my positon likely off? I'll try and grab a video of it asap. Still not gaining any weight... 4000 calories a day is proving quite difficult for me, and it will only get tougher with school starting up again in two weeks. On a positive note: I'm going to be in Portland and Seattle in 12 days soaking up the beauty of the pacific northwest, and eating a TONNE of awesome vegan food. There's a raw vegan place in Seattle called Thrive that I'm looking forward to in particular.

08/11/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 90LBS (bar + 22.5lbs on each side) Overhead Press 5x5 @ 60lbs (bar + 7.5lbs on each side) Deadlifts 1x5 @.. didn't get to do them Chinups 3xF 6 (7th failed)/4 (5th failed)/5 Pronebridges 3xF ... didn't get to do them. Possibly the worst workout of my life. I woke up the night before at 2am vomitting, and didn't get much sleep (I must have gotten food poisioning from something). I wasn't able to eat much in the morning because of my extremely upset stomach, so by the time I was at the gym, I only had about 2 bananas in me, and I weighed 141lbs (normally I'm around 147-149). I felt very weak, but still managed to get through my squats, chinups and OP. But after that, I felt exhausted, and was unable to finish the workout. I went home, ate, and rested, and now feel a lot better. I'm going to make up for the missed deadlifts tomorrow. I wish I knew what got me sick, so I could forever avoid it... I only managed to get to about 1500-2000 calories yesterday, since half of the day was spent feeling ill. Also, I'm still having trouble with my squat bar position. It always feels rough on my back/spine. When I watch others do it, they all have much larger back muscles than I, and the bar rests comfortably on them. For me, it's either pretty much on my spine, or it's jabbing into my shoulder blades. Is there something I can do here (like use some padding until the muscles develop), or should I just stick it out and hope the muscles develop and make it more comfortable as the weight increases? Also, I think I'm getting close to my max on squats... already. Yesterday's (though I was admittedly weak) squats were very tough to get through. Hopefully tomorrow I can manage the extra weight.

I have the same problems with my diet, Chewy. It's damn hard to break 4000 calories a day eating only raw foods. I rely pretty heavily on big rice/cooked beans/curry tofu etc. meals to meet my calorie quota.

08/09/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 85LBS (bar + 20lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 65lbs (bar + 10lbs on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF 18/13/14 ... with knees up, and chest within a few inches of the bar or touching the bar. Dips.... couldn't even do one proper one, so did 5 negatives and moved to... Elevated BOSO Ball pushups (feet on the BOSO ball) 3xF around 8-10 each set. Lost track. Reverse Crunches 3xF ... I think my technique is better now, and I feel a little bit of a core workout, but still not as much as I'd like. I think I'm going to try incline reverse crunches, and hanging raises next time. Workout was pretty good. Squats are starting to get hard. My knees started really hurting about two sets in, and the pain remained late into the evening. Does knee pain mean poor technique, or just weak knees? I'll try and get a video again soon. Inverted rows were good... I must be getting stronger :0 In addition to all of this, I'm often doing squat stretches, and inverted pushups in my office.. ha. Still not gaining any weight, even though I'm eating like never before. Hopefully it starts stacking soon.

You forgot to mention you have a brother on these forums

08/02/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 80LBS (bar + 17.5lbs on each side) Overhead Press 5x5 @ 55lbs (bar + 5lbs on each side) Deadlifts 2x5 @ 100lbs (bar + 25lb on each side)... messed up on reading how much I did last deadlift... so I did two sets of this lower weight, and really worked on technique. Pullups 3xF 2/1/2 ... plus I did 5 negatives on each set. Pronebridges 3xF ... did till failure, alternating which leg was up, and trying to focus on keeping a tight core. I found my arms giving out before my core really felt much of anything, so I did them as supersets with crunches. I also did some inverted pushups (both normal stance, and diamond) when I got home to really burn. Overall, it was a good workout. I managed to skip out of work early, and hit the gym when it was fairly dead. My knees were acting up on my squats again, but I got through them fairly. My technique for deadlifts and OP were A LOT better today. I was very happy with the deadlifts in particular (thanks to Chewy's tips!). Pullups were hard as usual, but I managed to get TWO in twice, so I was happy with that. Until next time, I'll just keep eating and sleeping!

Chewy, I'm doing elevated pushups on a bosu ball to make them harder. I was getting go over 20 a set with regular, so I changed. Also, my triceps are definetely getting worked, as I'm doing diamond pushups as well. I will add the dips/pushups like you said next A workout. As always, thanks Chewy!

Also, is it a bad idea to be doing pushups (both diamond and wide stance ones) at work on my off days, to get a more full workout feeling? Since I'm at the beggining of the program, and the weight is still light, I'm not really feeling too much muscle burn. Will it help or hinder my progress to be adding things to stronglifts? I've also noticed that my chest feels severly underworked (and it's something I really want to focus on, since I look sickly in that area...ha)... will it get better as bench press gets higher weight? Can I add flys?

08/04/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 70LBS (bar + 12.5lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 55lbs (bar + 5lbs on each side) Inverted Rows 3xF 12/8/9 ... with knees up, and chest within a few inches of the bar. Dips.... couldn't even do one proper one, so did 5 negatives and moved to... Elevated BOSO Ball pushups (feet on the BOSO ball, and hands fairly wide) 3xF 12/10/8 Reverse Crunches 3xF ... still not really feeling these at all, even with implementing Chewy's observations. Is there something else I can switch to? I'll try and get another video to ensure that I'm actually doing them correctly. Squats were terrible... I couldn't quite figure out the lo-bar squat position. It just seemed to be jabbing into my spine quite hard. And then, added to that, my knees felt weak, and my hip flexors were acting up. It's not that the weight was too heavy, it's just that my knee strength and general felxibility is shit. Hopefully this will improve. Other than doing squat stretches and obviouis hamstring/quad/groin stretches, what other ones should I be doing? On a dietary note... I really need to figure out how to be breaching the 4000 cal/day mark with primarily healthy, whole, raw foods. My skin responds adversly to gluten, so large portions of seitan, or pastas and bread are out of the question. I'd like to gain weight and muscle without my skin getting worse than it is. Ideas? ps. Trueproteins RULES! I got unsweetened chocolate with stevia, 50% brown rice, 30% Gemma and 20% BCAAs and it tastes great! I'm very happy that I've found a non-soy, afforable protein supplement! That is all for today... looking forward the B on Friday, since it's usually the tougher one.

Great, thanks Chewy! I'll definetely give the dips a shot.. But my weak elbows won't like it.

So what's the main differences in bar position? Why did you switch from a hi-bar to a low-bar? The diagram was very helpful, thanks. I'm excited for my workout this afternoon. I'm going to shred those BOSU pushups and inverted rows. Work is going by dreadfully slow.

08/02/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout B: Squats 5x5 @ 65LBS (bar + 10lbs on each side) Overhead Press 5x5 @ 50lbs (bar + 2.5lbs on each side) Deadlifts 1x5 @ 100lbs (bar + 27.5 on each side) Chinups 3xF 7/5/5 (SO much easier than pullups!) Pronebridges 3xF 90sec/60sec/60sec ... did the two 60 second sets alternating one leg up for 10 seconds. Overall, it was a pretty easy workout (save the deadlifts... ugh). So, here are some videos courtesy of my brother (also a vegan weightlifter!... I'm going to try and get him to create a profile and show his stuff off!). Please critique my technique! Deadlifts Overhead Press Front view of Squats Side view of Squats ps. My trueproteins order arrived. 50% brown rice, 30% gemma, ad 20% BCAAs with unsweetened chocolate and stevia. It tastes surprisingly good! 5lb bag shipped to my door only came to $54.

Chewy, man, I hope I'm half as strong as you in a year from now. You're fucking nuts!

So here's a video of my reverse crunches... it may be a little off since I was on a fairly hard floor, and my spine doesn't like hard floors very much. Suggestions? Is there another ab/core exercise I can switch to, or my technique horribly wrong? (keep in mind, my current technique is minimizing impact on my boney back) Courtesy of my girlfriend and my terrible quality iphone video camera: Reverse Crunches

I wasn't using any weight on the reverse crunches. What exactly are dynamic stretches? I'll have to look into those. I was trying to go to a full 90 degrees with my elbows on the dips, but I couldn't do it. Negatives would be starting from the top and easing yourself down?

07/30/10 ------------------ StrongLifts Workout A: Squats 5x5 @ 60LBS (bar + 7.5lbs on each side) Bench Press 5x5 @ 55lbs (bar + 5lbs on each side) Inverted Rows with knees up, 3xF = 12/10/10 Dips 3xF ... could barely do one full one. All in all, I think I managed maybe one or two passable ones in total... the rest were failures. So I did BOSU Pushups, 3xF = 12/10/11 ... and then when I got home, I did another two sets of standard ones, 12 reps each, just to give me a good muscle failure feeling since dips failed. Reverse Crunches 3x12 ... still not really feeling too much here. I'll try and get a video of me doing them, and if my technique is judged to be spot on by you guys, is there a harder, more intense ab workout I can move to? All in all, the workout was fairly good. My knees started hurting towards the end of the squats, and even though I stretched them out pretty well, my groin, and hamstrings were getting pretty tight towards the end too. I'm sure more flexibility will come in time! Also, would you guys reccomend having a recovery drink( ala. the Thrive Diet), or a protein shake after a work out? I made a Thrive-ish recovery drink (but with soymilk, 25g of soy/brown rice protein, and without the dulse or maca, since I don't have any), and it tasted pretty damn good.

Okay, thanks Chewy!!!