esqinchi

Banh Mi rules dude. That's a nice workout up there too. I think your protein level looks fine, but maybe a little too much fat?

I'm sending you an email...

Thursday, November 7, 2013: Core Day w/ Trainer 1. Low to High Woodchopper - 3 x 20* @ 35lbs 2. Plank 3 Ways (10 seconds middle, 10 seconds L side, 10 seconds R side, rotate) - 3 x 90 seconds 3. TRX Knee Driver to Pike (L, R, Pike) - 3 x 12 4. Medicine Ball Wall Slams - 3 x 20* 5. Decline Reverse Crunch with Pulse Up - 3 x 20 6. TRX Trunk Rotation with Row - 3 x 20* *Done on each side Felt pretty good about today's training. Favorite part about this week? I've finally breached the threshold of 160lbs in weight. In fact, as of tomorrow's weigh in, I will have lost a total of 90lbs! Not really sure what I will do to celebrate, as both eating whatever I want, and/or training more seem a bit inappropriate. Maybe some new training shoes? Suggestions? Really wanted to abstain from drinking this weekend, but I can't stop thinking about the Revolution Brewery taproom, which is down the street from us. Also, there is this totally awesome tacqueria on the next block that happens to have seitan on the menu... I can hear a spicy burrito, chips and salsa, and guacamole calling my name. Here's dinner for tonight:

Thanks man. Glad to see I'm not alone, even if I am crazy. What kind of beer did you have? I love Mexican food as a cheat meal. There's this little tacqueria nearby us that makes seitan burritos. Damn, just thinking about them makes me hungry. And chips. I fucking love tortilla chips.

Meanwhile, I'm striving to achieve your core. It sucks when I'm not mentally focused during training. My wife is way into meditation, so maybe I should try that when I'm out of sorts prior to training. Mental focus is a big part of the game, not only for making it through the workout, but also for performing exercises correctly. You'll be back in action in no time. And, dude, I have some great gym stories like yours. Some people have absolutely no common sense, or decency.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013: Day of rest - and much needed. Felt good to come home from work and not have to worry about going back out in the cold to train. Mark my words, if I ever get the chance to own a house, it will have a legit gym inside. Anyhow, had some soup for dinner. Weight is dropping nicely this week. Usually by Wednesday I am down to 163 (from typical 165/6 after previous weekend's binge), but today I weighed in at 160. What would be awesome is if I can get down to 158 by the weekend, which would mean an overall loss of 90lbs over the last two years. Wish me luck! Also, not drinking this weekend at all. Probably not doing much of a cheat meal either - but we shall see - best laid plans, right?

Glad things are working out; always a exciting to start a new chapter in life. Sorry about the lawyers holding things up, we tend to do so. Usually it is to make sure everything is covered, including yours, and our asses. Maybe your store has enough space to get in some pushups here and there? Keep us posted on how things progress. Maybe you'll be shipping worldwide in no time?

Well, I hate to be proven incorrect, but I suppose I cannot argue with science. Thankfully no member of this forum will likely encounter such suffering. Everyone is different though, and I've had better success with less protein; and there are a few 80/10/10 people on here who would concur. Personally, when I was stuffing my face with tofu, seitan, and tempeh, I had major stomach issues (bloating, gas, constipation), even though the rest of my diet was unprocessed (and fiber rich). Try it both ways, see why works; one cannot ignore positive results.

Hey dude haven't seen you on here in a bit. Everything going well? I assume you are buried with your new business. Congrats by the way!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013: Ummm... GIANT DAY (again) 1. Decline DB Bench Press - 3 x 12 @ 120lbs 2. Deadlift - 3 x 12 @ 185lbs (up from 135!) 3. Jumpover Planks - 3 x 60 seconds (plant hands, plank, jump over a mat) 4. Slider Pushups - 3 x 20 5. T Bar Row - 3 x 12 @ 135lbs 6. Prayer Crunch w/ Twisting Punch - 3 x 15 7. Reverse Grip Incline Press - 3 x 12 @ 85lbs (these are awkward!) 8. Incline Hammer Curls - 3 x 12 @ 20lbs (need to work on biceps) 9. Rotational Box Jump 24" Box - 3 x 15 Felt pretty tired and awful at the end of tonight's training. Went in a little mentally shaken after looking at my student loan bill. Overall I've been pretty depressed lately re: career, life opportunities, etc. Seems like I (we) will never have the opportunity to buy a house, have a baby, or make and solid progress toward saving for the future. Anyhow, I don't want to bring the forum down with personal shit. Still having shoulder pain, which is annoying as all hell. Maybe I need a rest week? Anyone take these? I've read about doin full-on rest weeks (i.e. no training), and then active rest weeks (training, but at about 50%). Anyone have any advice regarding this? Here's what I had for dinner - another salad. I think it's time to buy some bigger bowls...

Hey man... Honestly, I think you need more greens. Starchy carbs should be kept low, but if you are training a lot (and it looks like you are), you should be getting a fair amount of good carbs in for energy (i.e. oatmeal, fruits, vegetables - vegan stuff, ya know?). Have you ever seen the movie "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead"? I'm not saying you are any of these, but I was in a similar situation to you about 18 months ago. I'm 5'7", weighed 248lbs, and had approx. 40% body fat. I watched the movie, followed the principles therein, and viola, I lost around 60 pounds within six months. I also did a lot of HIIT exercising, and then ventured into weight training. Back then I didn't track my macros, or focus on protein, or any of that shit. I drank a ton of fresh squeezed juice (watch the movie), and ate a shitload of salad. The weigh melted off, so fast that I bought three entire wardrobes within a single year. I'm not saying you should do this, but after about 18 months, I now weigh 161lbs, and approx 17% body fat. JUST SAYING. RE: Seitan - it is delicious, but it is also typically high in sodium, and you could develop a sensitivity. I ate a shitload of seitan, and tofu, for MONTHS. I saw no real progress. In fact, I saw no progress at all, and it was a royal pain in the ass to continue losing weight/fat. I also drank a ton of protein shakes. Pretty sure I was getting in about 164 grams of protein per day, and hitting the weights 4-5 times per week. I lifted as heavy as I could. Then I realized something (and my trainer helped me with this)... I looked around the gym, and I saw two (or maybe three, but the third category doesn't count) types of people: (1) big dudes who could lift a shitload of weight, but looked fat; and (2) smaller dudes who couldn't lift as much weight, but were ripped. I decided I wanted to be the latter, which requires me to monitor what I consume (keeping fats relatively low, and enough carbs to fuel my exercise), and incorporate both weights, and HIIT cardio (the best way to burn fat). As of today, I don't give a fuck how much protein I get in a day - I think that is a WAY overhyped ideal. Have you ever heard of someone with a protein deficiency? No, and that's what we tell non-vegans all the time when they ask us "BUT WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN!??!?!?!" So, that being said, if I were you (and I have been in your position), I would do the following: 1. Find out how many calories your body needs (aka your maintenance level, aka your basal metabolic rate - http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/bmr-and-daily-calorie-calculator.html) 2. Find out how many calories you consume in a day (get yourself a cheap digital food scale, go here http://calorieking.com/) 3. Eat at least 500 calories below, but no more than 1000 calories below, your maintenance level. (500 cals below and you will lose 1lb per week, 1000 calories below and you will lose 2lbs per week) 4. Eat whole foods, nix the bread, eat more legumes (spanish pardina lentils), greens, and fruits/veggies (seasonal shit). 5. Continue training as is. 6. Weigh yourself weekly, NOT daily, and always on the same day, at the same time (preferably mornings, after you've whizzed and pooped). 7. Every couple weeks or so, re-measure your maintenance calorie level. 8. Give yourself a cheat meal - one meal, eat whatever you want, have some beers - otherwise you will go crazy and give up. 9. Change up your training regularly - check out some of the other members' training logs - they are great! 10. Enjoy your motherfucking life, watch the fat melt away, and save up money for a kick ass new outfit; I like suits. Don't think too much about this stuff. You are a ways away from worrying about cutting your salt by specific miligrams in order to make your inguinal muscle pop - and so am I - but we will get there one day brother.

Monday, November 4, 2013: Another Mega Day with Full Body Focus 0. Jump Rope 2 minutes 1. TRX Pushup - 3 x 20 2. TRX Rollouts - 3 x 15 3. Jump Rope - 3 x 90 seconds 4. Bulgarian Split Squat - 3 x 12 @ 50lbs 5. Squat Jumps/Basketball Jumps/Squat Jacks - 3 x 60 seconds (different one each round) 6. Stability Ball Hamstring Curls - 3 x 20 7. TRX Supinated Row - 3 x 12 8. TRX I's - 3 x 12 9. Core Jacks & Buttkicks - 3 x 60 seconds (30 seconds each) Had a Monday off with the wife, so need to keep the journal short today. Glad I got this in as I definitely overate this weekend. We found this totally awesome all vegan Korean place here in town, and pretty much ate everything under the roof. Best maki of all time - and I hate seaweed wrappers. Knew I ate too much, so I had to burn some extra calories this morning; hence all of the jumprope and other HIIT stuff. Post-workout was an apple, purely to cease catabolism. Back at it tomorrow!

Nice dude. Snowboarding always intrigued me, but was so different than skiing the one time I tried; fell, a lot. If you are headed to Breck, I'd recomment Arapahoe Basin. Pretty local from what i recall, but still badass. I tried Six Point's Sweet Action beer last night. A brown-cream ale. Pretty tasty. Havent tried the Blue Moon you mentioned. I should give it a spin. Sucks for the loss, but I guess it cones with the territory. My old coach always said a 1-0 lead is the most dangerous in soccer. Probably hit your fast twitch muscles more playing football. Good for explosive power.

Saturday, November 2, 2013: Giant Day 1. DB Bench - 3 x 12 @ 130lbs 2. Single Arm Row - 3 x 12 @ 55lbs 3. Burpees - 3 x 15 4. Squat - 3 x 12 @ 245lbs 5. Box Jumps - 3 x 12 on 24" box 6. Single Leg Deadlift - 3 x 12 @ 45lbs 7. Assisted Pullup - 3 x 12 @ 40lbs assist 8. Plyo Pushup - 3 x 12 9. Assisted Dip - 3 x 12 @ 50lbs assist (need to work on these Really nice day at the gym. Not busy at all. Seems like people are either giving up because its cold outside, or moving to a different gym. Either are fine by me, provided that the gym remains open indefinitely, as I just purchased another round of 32 training sessions. Glad I got a good pump in today too, since we are going for vegan pizza and beers later tonight. Fuckin stoked to hear some metal, and have some pizza/beer. Fuck yes! Here's what I made for lunch post-workout today:

Right on, man. I think your routine would be good for a solid four or five months really. There's nothing better than training, and feeling every muscle react as you move around. As for cooking the high protein tofu, what I really liked to do was.... We bought a grill pan that went over our existing stovetop (gas stoves work best, I think). I would take the tofu out of the package, rub some grapeseed oil over the grill pan, cut the tofu into 1/2" thick squares, grill it on each side maybe 2 - 3 minutes (depending on heat setting), then put it in a plastic bag, add in about 1/3 cup of TJ's soy sauce, sriracha, spices, whatever... Seal the bag, shake it up, steam some broccoli, and put the tofu on top. Pretty good stuff!

All I can say dude, is fuck yeah on your decision to become vegan. Keep it up, and you will definitely see progress; but make sure to acknowledge your success so far! There are a lot of great resources on this forum, so if you get bored with your routine, check out what some of the others are doing. Variety definitely keeps things interesting. Best of luck!

Thursday, October 31, 2013: Core Day Got a quick set in this morning with my wife. We both had the day off, which was cool as that never happens during the week. Here's what went down: Core Circuit (repeat twice, resting 90 seconds between rounds) 1. Jump Rope x 60 seconds 2. SitUp Vup x 20 3. Side Plank w/ Rotation x 15* 4. Buttkicks x 30 seconds & High Knees x 30 seconds 5. Stability Ball Pike x 12 6. Side Plank w/ Oblique Crunch 7. Jump Rope x 60 seconds 8. Stability Ball Weighted Crunch x 50 @ 10lbs 9. Windshield Wipers x 12 / Reverse Crunch x 15 Glutes and hip flexors are really screaming after Tuesday's, and yesterday's training. Made a big salad after training, with some purple kale which was awesome! Feeling strong! See you Saturday!

Sorry, forgot to include a dinner pic.... Barley, yellow split peas, edemame, sriracha, low sodium soy sauce.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013: LEG DAY (death metal voice) 0. Jump Rope - 2 minutes 1. Front Squat - 2 x 12 @ 70lbs 2. Squat Jacks - 2 x 60 seconds 3. Angle Lunge - 2 x 12 @ 50lbs 4. Burpee w/ Tuck Jump - 2 x 15 5. Side Lunge - 2 x 12 @ 70lbs 6. Football Shuffle - 2 x (30 sec) + Buttkicks (30 sec) 7. Bulgarian Split Squat - 2 x 12 @ 50lbs* 8. Stability Ball Bridge - 2 x 20 Ahh leg day. I probably should have done three sets of each, but I was feeling tired, and definitely had not eaten enough today. I did have a vegan banh mi sammich for lunch, which was pretty good. Kind of another shit day at the office. Been feeling really down lately, as nothing is happening at work (literally, nothing), and wondering where I am going to end up after this job (which is decidedly temporary). Would really like to have something long term, very long term. Also considering more education (MBA), to add to the law degree; but it is very expensive, as was the J.D. Not sure if that's the right move or not, even though the timing may be right. Tonight's Tunes: It's a shame these guys turned out to be such tremendous douchebags.

Hey man, I think your training looks good. Even if the moves are semi-advanced to advanced, you can always find resources to see proper execution. exrx.net is a good website for stuff like that. I saw you bailed on the t-bar rows because your gym doesn't have a machine. That's a great exercise for back/delts, and you can totally get them done with a barbell, some weight plates, and a close grip row handle/attachment (if your gym has a low row bench, it should be nearby). Put the plates on one end of the bar, secure the other end in the corner of a room (or the home-plate looking thing, which your gym apparently does not have), stick the handle under the end with the weights on it (below the weights), and then lift that shit up. Just keep your back straight, and chin up. Like this... http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidPosterior/LVTBarRearDeltRow.html I'm assuming you want to add mass, so eat up, and eat often - but I'm guessing you knew that. If you like Trader Joe's, they have this high protein superfirm tofu that is pretty legit. I ate a ton of that stuff earlier this year before going mostly raw vegan. I also did a push/pull/3day/week routine, which worked really well for me for about four months. After my body got used to that routine, I started doing strength + hiit training to lean out, which really seems to be working Anyhow, keep killing it! I'll be sure to follow along.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013: Upper Body + HIIT Day. Worked with the trainer tonight, and did some new and old upper body work I haven't done in a while. Consider the following: 1. Incline Bench Press - 3 x 12 @ 125lbs 2. Raised Plank with Single Arm Row - 3 x 12 @ 35lbs (these were crazy, and tough) 3. Bar Stepovers - 3 x 60seconds (basically, you stand on one side of a bar that's just below waist height, and step over it, repeat) 4. Slider Pushups - 3 x 10 (each arm) (with a furniture slider under one hand, and both hands on foor, perform a pushup with the planted hand, while sliding the "slider" hand out in front of you; hard to explain, harder to complete) 5. Lunge+Curl+Press - 3 x 12* 6. W Runs on the Ladder - 3 x 60 seconds 7. Situp + Twist and Punch - 3 x 12* (Perform a situp, at top position, twist trunk and punch a stability ball next to you) 8. Box Dance - 3 x 60 seconds (up, up, down, down, repeat) 9. Plate Raise - 3 x 12 @ 35lbs (raise the plate from your waist, up over your head) Badass workout tonight. Felt really great to get back into it after taking a couple days off. I think I was getting depressed without my pump (and the resultant endorphin rush). Came home and made a wholly awesome salad, with romaine, split peas, zucchini, and carrots (pic below). I'm really going to start getting into animal rights activism. I came across this Mercy for Animals video today depicting treatment of little piglets at a commercial factory farm, supported by WalMart (my most hated corporate entity of all time). It was absolutely horrendous. These piglets have their tails, and testicles, cut off without any anaesthesia. They scream in agony as they are left to suffer with open wounds. The video showed factory workers slamming these baby pigs on the floor, and leaving them at their feet while they endured seizures prior to a horrible death. WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE!?!?! How could anyone do such a thing and live with themselves? If I ever encountered such activity, I would slit the throat of that worker without any feeling whatsoever. Actually no, I would enjoy it, and would feel confident that I made the world a better place. I'm not crazy, but I am passionate. Look at my salad!

Saturday, October 26, 2013: MEGA DAY (death metal voice) (a/k/a Strength + Power Day) 1. Bench Press - 4 x 12 @ 145lbs 2. Chest Pullover - 4 x 12 @ 55lbs 3. Burpees - 4 x 15 @ BW 4. Piledriver Squat - 3 x 15 @ 70lbs 5. Single Leg Deadlift - 3 x 12 @ 45lbs 6. Box Jumps - 3 x 12 on 24" box 7. Assisted Pullup - 3 x 12 @ 40lbs assist 8. Decline Bench - 3 x 12 @ 135lbs 9. Supinated Hypertrophy Curls - 3 x 20 @ 40lbs This felt great today! Really liked doing strength exercise followed by power stuff. I can't believe I even did box jumps on my own, with no provocation, as I typically hate those more than most other exercises. Goal today is to drink a TON of water since I'll be indulging in some beers tonight at this Halloween Party. My costume is "Drowned Sailor," which goes along with my wife's "Sea Siren" costume; she drew me out to sea and I drowned. Found an authentic US Navy uniform, which fits like a glove, and makes me look ripped - which is awesome. Anyhow, came home from the gym and had a red pear, and a nice bean salad I made up quickly. I LOVE BEANS! Have a good weekend everyone!

Hey dude, your PreWo dinners always make me hungry! How much time do you leave between consuming those, and actually hitting the weights?

Thursday, October 24, 2013: Total Body Day! Worked with the trainer today, and did a pretty solid workout, consisting of: 1. Pushup & Roll (pushup w/ hand on medicine ball, roll between hands each pushup) x 25 2. Pushup w/ Feet on Medicine Ball x 25 3. Supinated Row on TRX x 25 4. Pushup & Roll (pushup w/ hand on medicine ball, roll between hands each pushup) x 25 5. Pushup w/ Feet on Medicine Ball x 25 6. Supinated Row on TRX x 25 7. Squat Jump x 25 8. Box Jump x 25 9. Hi Plank x 60 seconds 10. Lo Plank x 60 Seconds 11. Burpee w/ Medicine Ball Slam x 25 @ 15lbs 12. Dips x 25 13. Burpee w/ Medicine Ball Slam x 25 @ 15lbs 14. Dips x 25 16. Assisted Pullups x 50 (50lbs assistance) 17. Bulgarian Split Squat x 25 each leg 18. Pushups with Feet on Medicine Ball x 25 19. Box Jumps x 25 20. Hi Plank x 120 seconds Did this basically as a single circuit, with random rest periods in between; no longer than a minute though each time, total of 4. The pullups were a real bitch. Not sure those ever get easier. Also, the medicine ball slams, with all of that cardio, were pretty tough as well. It's interesting how disjointed my workouts have been lately. I am seeing results though: lost four pounds this week, and dropped 1% body fat - awesome! Here's what I had for dinner - another big salad.

I tend to do sets of 12-15 with mid-heavy weights. I go higher when using light weights, maybe 30, but that is pretty rare, and then it is more about working to failure. I always thought that lower rep training (w/ heavy weights) was in the 6-10 rep range? I guess it could be different for everyone.