GRardB

Thanks for the advice, guys. I have started the fruitarian diet today. I appreciate the tips you guys gave me, although I won't supplement as I never do, and it'll only be for a week. There's enough sunlight right now during the summer, so I especially don't need the vitamin D. My friends think I'm crazy, but I doubt I'll regret doing this. However... I found this very offensive, and I believe you could've written that much more politely. My father is by no means an alcoholic, and rarely drinks more than a glass of beer or wine a day. In my 18 years of life I've never seen him drunk or even "tipsy," and I don't remember the last time he drank hard liquor. If your definition of an alcoholic is a glass of wine a day, then I'd like to know the word for people who get drunk daily. I disagree with the consumption of alcohol and have already decided that I will never do it. My friends have made me try many times, but I've never given in. Still, I believe that calling my father an alcoholic for enjoying wine is ridiculous and I've honestly lost a lot of respect for you. Also, from research I've just done, it seems that wine IS raw, but however might not even be vegetarian depending on the brand. I will speak to him about this. Thanks again, Gerard

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I just graduated high school and I'm going to start college this fall. However, before I do that, I need to ask my vegan buddies for some more advice! My dad and I are planning to go on a raw fruitarian diet for a week, just to see what it feels like. However, we have no clue how much food we need to buy and how much we'll need to eat. We're also confused about what exactly a fruitarian diet looks like. We've read that you should include nuts and leafy vegetables in your diet if you want to be a fruitarian, but I always thought the diet was 100% fruit? Are there disagreements about this? Anyway, what would you guys recommend we eat for one week? We're both about 165 pounds, although I'm considerably leaner and have more muscle My dad isn't really looking to lose any weight during this week (or ever, really), but I'm on a mission this month to make my abs more visible. The fruitarian diet isn't my planned method for this; they are just overlapping each other. So, just to recap: [Raw] Fruitarian diet for one week Two males, 165 pounds (18 year old and 54 year old), one of which wants to burn fat and works out daily Anything other than fruits? Which fruits? How much to eat? We are already fruit eaters, so we do have some in the house right now, including: Apples, Bananas, Peaches, Plums, Mangoes, Watermelon, Cantaloupes, Cherries, Tomatoes, Zucchini, and Pumpkin. Thanks! Gerard P.S. My dad wants to continue drinking wine during the diet -_- is that considered fruitarian? Please say no, lmao.

Whew...been a long time since I've been on the board... I sprained my ankle BADLY and was out of the gym for 3+ months...I think I might've torn the ligament. Fortunately, I'm back in the gym now. I didn't really gain or lose weight. Last time I tried, I did 10 with an already-sore back. The most I've ever done is 12 (increased since the video I posted) and I think I can still do it.

Good point about the Olympics. I forgot about that haha. Also, I checked out the vegetarian gladiators thing. I'm gonna use that info against any veggie-haters from now on. The stupid thing is that the scientists say that they were probably fat because of their diet. Barley, beans and fruits make athletes/warriors fat? I think they need to pay a visit to VeganBodybuilding.com lmao.

I'm liking the responses so far. I mentioned this post to my dad, and he thinks that in order for them to have made such art, there would definitely have to be some very muscular men, although obviously not every soldier or person for that matter looked like the Heracles statue I posted a link to. What he said was "I think that ancient people...learned how to get stronger! I'd be very surprised if they didn't know about weight lifting and all that. You should look up the history of weight lifting." So I did just that, and check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_strength_training So according to Wikipedia, people were lifting weights in 600BC. I wouldn't doubt that they were lifting before that though. Of course, this isn't a 100% guaranteed conclusion, but it's something to think about. Gerard

How so? He's not only not vegan, he's pro-death penalty and has supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as threatened to attack other countries such as Iran; Kucinich has consistently opposed war and capital punishment. Kucinich introduced a resolution to impeach Bush, and Obama opposed impeaching Bush. Kucinich opposed the Patriot Act and Obama supported it. Kucinich opposed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, while Obama not only supported it, but called dozens of House members to encourage them to switch their votes to "yes." I could go on, but I think you get the idea. While Obama is certainly preferable to McCain or Palin, he's hardly comparable politically to Kucinich. Ugh, I didn't really want to discuss politics. Sorry if my comment offended you, but they is what I mean: Kucinich was my favorite, and the only two realistic primary-winners were Obama and Hilary. Hilary was on the board of directors for Wal-Mart and Rupert Murdoch was fund raising for her. Out of these three, I would say Obama would be the next best thing.

Nice paintings. How old are they though? I was thinking of paintings too but it seems like most that I could fine were done way after these civilizations were gone. BTW, this guy is what I like to call "brolic as hell."

So I was trying to figure out...what did the ancient Greeks, Romans, etc. (not just Europeans) look like? We've all seen what the dudes from "300" looked like. I'm sure some of you have seen the movie "Troy." There was also "Gladiator," and "Braveheart." 300 seems to be the most outrageous, and Braveheart the least so (really, Mel Gibson was the only one with any kind of decent physique). Speaking of Mel Gibson, "Apacolypto" didn't have such muscular men. I know that I cannot come to any conclusions based on Hollywood depictions of people that lived hundreds of years ago. However, I think another thing to consider is how THOSE people depicted themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Helmed_Hoplite_Sparta.JPG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hoplite_grave_relief.jpg Now I know that Heracles isn't a real person obviously, but in order for them to depict him being so muscular, wouldn't they have had to know what a very muscular person would look like? They would have to know all the muscles and how they looked on a person with low body fat. Also, the other two images show men with some kind of chest/ab development, so they must've had something, right? So my question is: What do you think the ancient people actually looked like? Compare them to a modern-day person if you can. Do you think that muscular men were very rare, but that they existed and helped ancient artists create such statues, or were they common and necessary for every day life? Gerard

You guys have no idea how happy I am about Obama winning lol. I'm 17 (I wish I was 18 so I could've voted), so I've lived with Bush being president for about half my life. Sucks... I found it funny how they didn't give out any information at all from like 10:30 to 11 because they didn't want to get anything wrong. Once the time hit 11PM, "Alright, it is 11 o'clock and Obama is the next president of the United States!" They didn't even bother to separate California, Oregon, and Washington. They just all lit up lmao. Gotta love it. However...Kucinich was the man...and he was a vegan Oh well, Obama is the next best thing in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_cholesterol Interesting...carbs and trans fat give you high cholesterol. It has nothing to do with eating cholesterol (Meat, Dairy, etc.)!! Who would've thought? I hate stuff like this. BTW, is it possible for a vegan, or even a vegetarian, to get high cholesterol (I assume vegetarians can if they eat huge amounts of dairy/eggs)? If so, why? Just curious, I know I'll never have it

"I don't think bulking and fat gain should be synonymous" Sorry but you can't make a statement like that. It depends on Body type - Mesomorph, Endomorph, Ectomorph - To use a bit of a simplified system. Age - You are in your Teens GRardB, it aint the same if you are in your 20's or 30's Metabolism - some people are hard gainers some are not, if you aren't then you will probably put some fat on during a bulk. Fallen_Horse - If you want to minimise the fat, then I suggest Hill Sprints. Great for losing fat, but maintaining muscle. I got pretty fat last bulking season, so I don't think that it has as much to do wiht me being in my teens as one would think. I agree that people are different and stuff, but I don't think that the majority of people can only gain muscle and fat at the same time, so much that we need to associate fat gain with bulking.

I'm about to start my 6th week of bulking. All my weights have increased and I've gained some weight. I think I can see my abs better than when I started. Seriously, I don't think bulking and fat gain should be synonymous. If you eat low fat and work out hard, I don't see why you will gain fat.

What's the point? To get bigger and stronger, of course, and squatting is one of the best things one can do to reach such goals You can't do push-ups alone and expect to move mountains, can you? Well, no, you can't lol. I guess I phrased it wrong...."What's the point in trying to obtain superhuman strength?" I used to want to be amazingly strong and huge, but I decided that it wasn't necessary and is probably unhealthy. I dunno, maybe that's just me.

I never understood why people want to squat so much. Same with most exercises...what's the point?

I tried going low on dips today, I felt like I was going to die. My left shoulder felt terrible afterwards. I don't think I'll be doing it below parallel... About that link, though. It's strange to me that it says going until the bar touches your chest is bad for your shoulders. It says I did that at the gym today, and my hands were basically where they are when I bench (and the bar touches my chest). Is it different for different people? Can some people go lower than others and not get affected? I dunno, but another thing is that when I do pushups, I go until my chest taps the ground, which is about the same ROM I believe. Pushups did wonders for my shoulder when it was injured.

I posted a similar post a while back, and thought I fixed it, but I didn't Here's the thing: It seems like no matter what exercise I do, and no matter what muscle group, my right side is always burning more or more sore than my left. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. The weird thing is that it even happens on exercises where I'm using dumbbells instead of barbells, like curls and tricep extensions. Another thing I've noticed that might shed some light on this problem is that when I place my palms together and push them against each other (like an isometric pec fly?) my right pec feels tighter than my left, even though they're flexed the same amount. There was also once that I was jogging, and the next day my right thies were more sore than my left (huh??). Does this mean the right side of my body is tighter or gets sore more easily than my left for some reason other than an uneven distribution of workload? I'm a righty, so this is why I'm confused. Lots of people say that soreness isn't an indication of how hard you worked, which is why I'm not extremely afraid about this. I just want to know why this may be happning. Any clues? Thanks, Gerard

Well, I haven't seen veganmaster around so I'll take his place right here I gained a bunch of fat last time I was bulking, and then shredded 25 pounds off (about halfway through, I started taking veganmaster's suggestions). I'm bulking again right now (4 weeks in) and I've been consuming a low-fat diet, just like I did during cutting season, with moderate protein and high carbs. I've definitely added some mass in this time period and no fat so far. I don't think that fat gain should be associated with bulking the way that it is associated by so many people. I think it will only happen if you consume a bunch of fat or too much food in general.

Yeah, it's definitely a great start. I follow a different macronutrient ratio, but different people need different things I supposed. When I started being a vegetarian, it was nothing but rice and beans with veggie nuggets, or veggie burgers. Oh, the good old days *cough cough*.

lol, did you bump it 8 hours after you posted it? Anyway, that's insane. That dude doesn't look like he can squat anything near that weight.

Exactly. B12 does not come from insects -_-. http://www.pamrotella.com/health/b12.html +1. This guy is the man ^^^ I guess I never really answered nou's questions, so here I go *gulp* 1.) Hemp is considered the best source of omega-3/omega-6 because of it's ratio (I believe?) 2.) Hemp protein is supposed to be great, but if you're looking for pure/cheap protein, gemma or rice are probably the best. Still, I think we shouldn't stress over fats, and once my container of protein is finished, I won't be getting any more after what I've watched/read about the growth hormone stuff (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14311). Cheers

What do you mean by more "rational" arguments for veganism? I don't see how animal rights is more rational than the argument that humans are herbivores. If eating an omnivore diet was truly better than a vegan diet because humans were meant to eat like that, then to me, veganism would be an ignorant choice. I think the best thing about veganism is not saving animals, but the health that comes with it. It's the way humans were meant to eat. I don't mean to say animal rights aren't important. But if humans were truly meant to eat animals, I wouldn't think it's wrong to kill them for food, I think that since we aren't SUPPOSED to eat them, and it harms us, it is extremely cruel to kill animals. It's like walking down the street and shooting a human that will never affect your life, although the murder would affect your life in terrible ways. Just saying...

I was checking on Exrx.net to see if there was a different between bench dips and regular dips in terms of the muscles they target. I noticed in the clip for regular dips, the guy is going down until his shoulders are almost touching the bars. They also write "Lower body until slight stretch is felt in shoulders." in the instructions. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/WtTriDip.html I recently started doing Olympic Squats instead of Powerlifting Squats, so I'm open-minded about things like this. Is it bad for you to go past parallel, which is the stopping point for most people (as far as I've seen), or should it be avoided? Thanks, Gerard P.S: A far as my dips experience goes, I'm doing sets with 25lbs strapped on (going parallel), so I'm decent at them (I guess).

I'm not a raw foodist, but I agree 100%. I couldn't have said it better

This topic is all about pecs/triceps vs lats/biceps. 1.) Which are your strongest/biggest? 2.) Which should be stronger/bigger in your opinion? 3.) What do you struggle with? 4.) How should which muscles be trained? Etc... 1.) It seems to me that I was born with great pulling muscles, but not the best pushing muscles. This could either be genetic or the fact that I've never played a sport in my life. I'd say my triceps are the smallest part of my body (maybe my calves too, but I'm not sure). I think they're what make me not look muscular. I'm not sure how big/strong my back is compared to others, although I have no problem with it. My chest could be bigger, but I can bench more than my own bodyweight, so I don't think I'm lacking too much. I think the big problem is that most people are used to a huge chest but don't really care about lats, so the average person may think my chest is small. The big problem with me is that my biceps are WAY bigger than my triceps. I wouldn't say they're a great deal stronger, but they seem to grow bigger/faster than my triceps by a lot. This gets me angry 2.) I think the size order should go like this: Lats > Chest Triceps > Biceps I'm not entirely sure why, but that's just something that's in my head. Let me try to explain what may be behind my opinion...The chest is overrated and lots of people train their chest more than other body parts and many ONLY want a huge chest. The lats are often ignored in new trainees and are very important. Therefore, I think the lats should be focused on more than the chest. On the other hand, the triceps should be bigger in my opinion. Not only do they make your arms look bigger/stronger at rest, but the average person probably uses it more than their biceps (especially for sports). I think this is why the average athlete has big triceps and not biceps. 3.) Like I said, I definitely struggle with getting my triceps bigger 4.) I think this depends on the person and their goals. I used to train one muscle per day, and of course, my biceps grew more than my triceps. I'm doing Bill Starr's 5x5 program now and there's only one bicep isolation exercise per week, while there are two for triceps, yet my biceps are STILL growing more than my triceps. I don't know how they should be trained, but many someone out there with the same problem can help me out? Not sure how to explain the point of the post. I guess it's just to discuss which muscles should be stronger/bigger (if any), and whether or not the average person has the right idea when it comes to that topic. Gerard

I'll probably never drink any form of alcohol in my life. I'm 17, so people don't believe me, but most underestimate my dedication to health. I don't see the point. It's extremely unnatural, and I see no benefits. I've never drank before, but I've had sips, and it tastes TERRIBLE. Every type of alcohol I've ever sipped made me want to vomit (except white wine once, but I'm not even sure if that was actually wine). Beer, bacardi, vodka, wine, everything! People think I'm crazy for not wanting to drink, especially at my age, but what's the point in drinking something that tastes bad and that has negative effects on your body? I see none. People say they drink it for fun...I don't see the fun in drinking something that tastes bad and makes you forget half of the things that happen while you're drinking it. Just my $.02