vegan_rossco

I notice you have a giant watermelon! Must be all those fruit push-ups, good work!

I jest.. yeah man you look bigger for sure, around your shoulders and chest, biceps are getting there too, they look a lot more defined

Yeah, doms isnt requires for gains, but i just miss being unable to walk the day after a brutal workout l0l-ok maybe i dont miss it that much

Haha you maniac strange.. After out conversation I got real bad hamstring DOMS... Stairs aren't fun..

Fuck yes. Funny you should mention pecans. Last winter I made pralines, which is a sweet from the South. Ever heard of them? Basically like an insanely sweet cookie that melts away on contact, with pecans. Decadent!

Well I've had praline filling before.. I guess it's probably the same thing haha

Hey Ross - good to see you back.

 

Sorry about your diet issues, but glad you are still at it.

 

I mostly do front squats these days, as I suck at them, but regularly work high bar back squats. No more low-bar powerlifting for me!

 

For me a cut would be easy, I hate eating!

 

I won't be making a 2015 strength table. I don't have the desire to keep it up.

Boooo get back to those low bars dude

Well I'm tempted to make the 2015 table, but I'm not sure where to start.. I do have a wilks coefficient calculator online though, it's just making the table itself I can't figure out haha

Hell yeah!!! You alright dude? Seems we're all coming back at the same time

Strongman training is awesome!!! Wish I had access to that kind of stuff, I imagine atlas stones are pretty cool!

Anyways how are things your side of the pond?

Awesome! Yeah that would be cool mate thanks, il give them a try for myself

Lol watermelon, that could be interesting.. How about a mix up of walnuts and mammoth pecans?

Is this U.S only dude?

I've always had an issue with them, was speaking to a guy a while back that said they were great as they force thoracic extension which forces good posture, unfortunately in the process they make your back sore as hell.. And in my case my wrists.. Gonna switch the, out for Olympic squats, paused squats and squats to a chair, I wanna get some chains but fuck they're expensive.

Oh man I find it hard to eat a lot of nuts, cashews I can snack on but pistachios are the only nut that I can eat a lot of.. They're my favourite cinema snack!

Wait, Weren't you making your own mesquite cashews that you were thinking of selling??? I would totally buy a bunch!

Its coming back guys!! Let's not let it die completely, me and mike are back to chat, gonna convince a couple of friends to keep a journal here and be part of the discussions.

I do really miss it a few years back when it was a hive of activity

There's another forum that's s bit more active, mostly European/UK guys that's quite cool www.veganfitness.net but the guys there seem to have their own group and aren't too chatty with everyone else

I probably wouldn't be the best person to run it.. But anyone want to volunteer to create/maintain/update one?? Same format as the last one, bench press, deadlift, squat using wilks coef.

I suppose it depends entirely on what you're training for in regards to how much rest you need, as a powerlifter I can probably train more often than I do as I'm not fussed about muscle growth, just strength, but in the past I found that when I took a week or two off of training I would start growing... I'm sure others on here have done the same, but.anyway 6 days for a muscle to recover is absolutely fine dude,

Yeah post some pics bud, as I've said before if you're taking creatine then you're holding more water and will feel fatter/softer but it's not likely to be fat just water retention, I came off of it completely as I became so self conscious..l pathetic really haha.

In regards to DOMS, they don't nessecerally mean growth or strength increase so you may not always get em, I tend to get them if I don't sleep enough 7-9 hours, if I have a bad nights sleep after training I almost always have bad DOMS.. Since taking BCAAs I recover way better too..

That's a lot of training dude but it might work for you I like that you split your workouts into push, pull and leg, that's how it should be done

There's a vegan calisthenics guy called Frank something, think it's Medrano or something like that so look him up if you're interested in calisthenics,

It's pretty depressing ain't it :/ need some decent beach days!

Yeah it's kinda dead these days, rob and Chris are usually around, think MF is too but not as busy as it used to be

Ha thanks man I'm putting in the hard work yeah still marooned nah I love it here really, how's things in Wales bud? Must be windy where you are today huh?

Ha thanks Chris, yeah one of he houses that overlooks my garden shut their windows pretty hard.. I guess I was making too much noise haha

Also I know how ha feel, I would like to do a proper cut at some point but.... Food...

Squat day!! Heavy.

After warming up

115kg x 3 reps

115kg x 3 reps

115kg x 3 reps

125kg x 1 rep (275lbs)

130kg x 1 rep (286lbs)

135Kg x 1 rep (297lbs)

Squat Assistance exercises,

Now I normally don't bother too much with squat assistnance but I wanted to try some new things.

Front Squats (fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou)

I hate them.

50Kg x 10 reps (110lbs)

50kg x 10 reps

50kg x 10 reps

Good mornings,

Now I didn't feel like I was doing them correctly... Will have to work on them, I won't bother posting the weight and reps until I know what I'm doing.

Finished up with some stretching and light farmers walks.

I'm trying out a heavy week/light week with my powerlifting lifts,

So 3 sets of 3 reps and 3 sets of 1 rep one week,

And 3 sets of 10 reps and 3 sets of 8 reps on the other.

Assistance will be pretty much the same as I've always done,

Deadlift assistance is likely to be rows of some kind, a pull up variation and grip/bicep work

Bench assistance is likely to be shoulder pressing of some kind, dip variations and tricep work

DUDE!!! I'm back too! Haha, missed chatting with you bro! Sounds like you've become a monster

thinking about lowering my calories... not sure though

i hear people saying you can get cold feet and cut too early when ur gaining weight

DONT CUT YET!! seriously man it's the worst thing you can do, if you aren't willing to be a little bit uncomfortable for a little while with a bit of body fat then you'll most likely never increase your muscle mass significantly.. Been there, done that.. For years I would put on weight and get cold feet and basically back track wasting months of hard work.

I think when I started lifting I was roughly 70kgs and weak as fuck, whenever I bulked I would hit 80ish Kg and freak out.. (I'm now about 87/90kg at the mo and probably 16% body fat roughly)

It wasn't until I stopped caring about abs that I actually gained significant strength and size so just push through it and cut when you've reached a strength and size milestone.

Just my advice dude, I know how self conscious you can get when you start to get a small gut,

Are you taking creatine? Because some of the weight is likely just water anyway.. Also I would get bloated eating loads more than I was used to and think it was bodyfat.

Impressive benching again as always Chris! I blame my long arms for not being able to keep up haha!

Bench used to be my favourite day for sure, I think it's just because I love the tricep pump! Deadlifts day is a firm fave now though!

Have you started your new job yet??

Both my training partners bailed on me today so motivation was low and energy was too...

I had to bench with my spotter catchers on which I dislike.. Makes me feel uncomfortable... But whatever.

Bench press

20kg x 20 reps

50kg x 10 reps

75kg (165lbs) x 5 reps

75kg x 5 reps

75kg x 5 reps

75kg x 4 reps

50kg x 15 reps

Close grip bench,

20kg x 15 reps

40kg x 12 reps

40kg x 13 reps

40kg x 13 reps

40kg x 13 reps

Finished up with some overhead pressing and some dips, didn't track any weight or reps though!

Hoping to get some squats in at the weekend but I have a feeling it'll have to wait until Monday... I'm hoping to hit s new 1rm on squat so need both my training partners!!

if you arent gaining weight just eat more

PREACH IT BROTHER!

Euuuurggghhhh... I spent all morning on the sofa and flaked on training with my friends...

It was pissing down with rain all morning (still is) and my head was and still is pounding... But I absolutely refused not to at least do something today.

Despite the rain, I trained my semi sumo stance on deadlifts and tried to get some flexibility in my hips, I still fucking brought it though!!! No chalk, no belt, in sheet rain with bare feet shorts and vest haha!!

60kg x 5 reps

90kg x 5 reps

110kg x 5 reps (242lbs)

110kg x 5 reps

110kg x 5 reps

110kg x 5 reps

130kg x 1 rep (286lbs)

130kg x 2 reps (286lbs)

I can't stop thinking about cutting some fat.. I feel a bit self conscious at times and always consider getting my abs visible again...

And then I think about food and say fuck that.

So here's a little update on my lifts, weight etc.

Bench press is up to 105kg (231lbs) this is definitely an absolute max at the mo.

Squat is up to 140kg (308lbs) but I'm very confident I can hit at least 155/160kg (340/352lbs)

Deadlift is still at 175kg (385lbs) but that's all I have in terms of weights at home...

Next month at some point I'm getting a day pass at my friends gym and going to test my max, I keep telling my friends I could hit 200kg (440lbs) but in reality I think I could hit something like 185kg (407lb)

Currently my body weight is sitting around 85kg (187lbs) but at one point I was 92kg (202lbs) haha

Fair enough man, looks pretty good, shame you can't do squats and deadlifts though they are absolutely unreplaceable mass builders!

And yeah I train at home so I know what you mean in terms on motivation... That being said I absolutely despise every gym I've ever been to.. Trainee PTs that think their way is the only way and all the shite music being forced in my ears ahha!

In terms of suggestions, I would consider trying to get some kind of squats in if you can, keep it light and steady, try different stances (personally I love wide stance) try just body weight at first and incorporate Dumbbells and eventually barebell, there's no rush man especially as you've said you have injuries.

All the best dude, give me a shout if you need me, you in the UK??

New job new job new job!!! Awesomesauce dude! Where???

I've got some resistance bands that I use from time to time, normally when I'm not feeling like a huge workout but want to keep myself active and stimulated, is it worth getting trx? Mine are cheap basic bands from Amazon aha.

Yeah hot here too, well it was yesterday, burnt like a motherfucker as I was stuck at a festival in the middle of a field all day hungover.....

Hope all is well anyway Chris, and again congrats on the job : D

Hey man! High reps, low reps, medium... Doesn't make too much difference imo. As long as you fatigue the muscle it's going to grow (providing you rest and eat enough)

What sort of split are you on? Eg, Monday chest, Wednesday, back etc.

would be cool to see what exercises you use regularly