jonathan

This is my routine at the moment, with 150kg as my 1rm. The sets are listed as setxrepsxweight. I am just starting the second week now. Week 1 Day 1: Squat 6x6x105kg Thick bar bent over rows Day 2: Squat 7x5x112.5kg Narrow grip bench Speed deadlifts 5x3x110kg Day 3: Strongman Week 2 Day 1: Squat 8x4x120kg Thick bar bent over rows Day 2: Squat 10x3x127.5kg Narrow grip bench Speed deadlifts 5x3x120kg Day 3: Strongman Week 3 Deload, with max triple with the squats, hopefully 140-145kg Week 4 Day 1: Squat 6x6x110kg Thick bar bent over rows Day 2: Squat 7x5x117.5kg Narrow grip bench Speed deadlift 5x2x130kg Day 3: Strongman Week 5 Day 1: Squat 8x4x125kg Thick bar bent over rows Day 2: Squat 10x3x132.5kg Narrow grip bench Speed deadlifts 5x2x140kg Day 3: Strongman Week 6 Max out on squat - hopefully make at least 160, with 165 as the ideal target.

Who voted lunges? Go on, own up - we promise we won't chastise you! Jonathan

Loveliberate - you are a man on a mission Seriously though, just look at the stats. America has the highest rate of gun ownership and murders. You are more likely to shoot a family member than an attacker. Let's look at more 'civilised' societies ( ) where gun ownership is far harder to come by. Using the UK as an example there are about 1.3 murders per 100,000 people as opposed to 5.5 in the US. We have tight controls on guns, and no handguns are allowed, I think even in clubs. And your terminology really grates - 'victim disarmament'? Jonathan

Hum, I think I saw a remnant of them whilst I was over . You'll just have to try harder . Nooooooo!!! I try so hard but yet I still fail! What? Easing up? You?!? This is a side of you I've never seen Jonathan . Hope the crazy squatting routine goes well! I feel like my body just needs a bit of a rest to get used to the mass that I have now. A mid-bulk interlude if you like......but after that there will be no stopping me as I get to 300lbs Rob, great that you are wanting to raise money for good causes, but in the long term you would possibly do more good if you were 20lbs heavier and in a position to win any contest you entered Jonathan

Not necessarily. For instance, if you go to muscle failure on every set, not only will you fry your central nervous system, but also do less reps: To failure on the bench for example: 12x80kg 6x80kg 4x80kg 2x80kg 1x80kg - total 23 reps Instead of going to failure on every set, do eight reps instead, and you end up with 32 reps across four sets. This way you save you CNS and give your muscles more work. I have just started a squat program that has me squatting twice a week, with the first week with 6x6x70% then 7x5x75%. I dont go to failure, but still I make way more reps than if I went to failure, hence growing more muscle. But that said, more reps isn't always the best. You want to cycle low rep, high weight routines with high rep, lower weight routines to get maximum effect. Grow mass to use for strength, use strength to grow mass Jonathan

Haha! I successfully lost my abs, something that I am quite proud of! At the moment though I think that I am possibly gaining a little bit too quickly (14lbs in 3 months) so after this crazy russian squat routine is done (5weeks, or when I find myself in hospital) I will consider easing off a little. Up to 259lbs right now, and hope to be 264 in 6 weeks time, which is the magic 120kg mark. Great that you are giving time to bulking now Rob - I don't want to see you even thinking about entering any competitions until spring 2008! Jonathan

I love it that 30mpg is considered good! The little diesel cars we have here average 65-70mpg. On a different note, the autobahn is cool - when I was about 14 my uncle drove me in his volvo at just a little under 150mph Jonathan

You aren't going to be able to make newbie gains forever unfortunately. I mean I have been gaining consistently with only a few plateaus but I am lucky to add 10lbs to a lift over a 6week routine, and this is just normal. As regards the effectiveness of periodisation, it is good. Especially as you haven't done it before, you should see really good results. It will increase your strength and muscle mass. Jonathan

1) 203cm/6ft 8", 117.7kg/259lbs 2) Average is 6000 calories a day. Today though I will make 6700. This consists of about 280g protein, 200g+ of fat and the rest carbs. 3) Key food is pea protein isolate, which I eat about 150-200g a day of. Otherwise I just eat normal stuff. Jonathan

I read that the original veggie burger at Burger king was vegan but the new one is only veg*n. i forget what is in it. I used to love the first veggie burger they had. Even if the burger is vegan, you just can't give a company like Burger King money. It's like giving the Israeli's some grenades and saying "I know where some militants might just be, lets go blow up their village!". Socially irresponsible. Jonathan

Don't go to failure. It's usually pretty for consistant progression, and will fry your CNS (central nervous system). So I use bench as an example. Say your 1rm is 100kg. Week one: 3x8x70kg Week two: 3x6x75kg Week three: 3x5x80kg Week four: 3x4x85kg Week five: 3x3x90kg Week six: 2x2x95kg Week seven: Max out and get 105kg Even if you are not training for strength, it's important to do strength cycles in order to give you the strength to increase mass. Jonathan

Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with vitamin and mineral supplementation - I just take a basic multi vitamin. Even with just a few dumbell exercises you will gain for a little while, but to start seriously training, a gym would be much better Jonathan

Periodization means starting with a lighter weight for more reps and building up, over a period, to a higher weight for fewer reps. It gives the body a new stimulus, teaches it to lift heavier, and adds muscle mass. Jonathan

Welcome Kuramus Nice to have another tall vegan on the board - I am 2.03m, and 116kg. When I was 19 I was also very skinny, and weighed about 77kg (this was after toning up for Taekwondo too, so I might have been a little lighter before). The main key to gaining weight, and this may sound obvious, is to eat ALOT. For you this will mean eating virtually anything that you can get your hands on. Thankyou for the breakdown of your diet - this is very useful. I would say that you need to do several things: a) Generally eat alot more. You don't want to gain too quickly (1-1.2kg a month is good) but at the same time you don't want to let your weight stagnate. I would suggest going for 3500 cal a day to start off with, and for every 10kg that you gain, add about another 500cal. b) Eat a bit more protein. 80g is OK, but you will see better gains if you can push this to 120g + a day. 2g per kg of bodyweight is ideal. c) Eat more fat. This is a great way to get more calories without really noticing them. Nuts and seeds are the best way to get more fat (except for adding more oil in cooking). For instance, eating 150g of mixed nuts will give you about 900cal and over 30g of protein. A great snack I accept that you just have normal food at the moment without meat, and I admire your dedication. I think nuts would be a really good thing for you to add to your diet every day - very easy to buy, gives you the extra calories and protein too What kind of weight training do you do?? Jonathan

What weights are you using? Might also be worth thinking about periodisation rather than just sticking to 3x10. Jonathan

I was 245 in January, and about 250 6 weeks ago. My weight flutuates for no apparant reason sometimes and it has been increasing well for a while now

Excuse me? That would be 258lb thankyou! I'm not actually Scottish - from down in England, moved up about a year ago Jonathan

It's true that I do have a comically large head! Nevertheless, I wouldn't argue that I have good genetics for strength training as I have never been naturally big - skinny my whole life until lifting. I don't dispute Jay that your training is working towards acheiving your goals. I simply imply that for most people it would result in chronic overtraining. It is something that you have built up to over a very long period of time and to be honest seems like very hard work. I resent also that you said modern strength training knowledge is crap. I mean it has worked for you, and it is working for me so it cannot be that bad. I'm sorry that your injuries have stopped you continuing with powerlifting, but that doesn't mean that powerlifting will cause injuries for everyone. In the same way that I cannot apply all of my experiences to the general public, you cannot apply yours. Jonathan

I have not asked Big Al as to whether or not he is drug free or not, but I am almost certain he is. His father, in his late 50's, recently competed in the Scottish Drug-free powerlifting championship and totalled around 525kg at about 90kg bodyweight. Big Al has reasonably high body fat, but then most natural strongmen at a very high level do. He and his brother Raymond hold a lot of Scottish records. I would estimate his bodyweight to be about 340lbs and I have no doubt that he can bench 400lbs (they have a stone there that is 400lbs and he can load it to a 54inch platform, as well as being able to shoulder a 330lb stone). What relevance is the number of people who bench 400lbs to this discussion? What relevance does bringing drug users into the discussion have? It is actually the case that people who don't use drugs need more rest, so saying that you should train for hours a day is only going to result in lots of people burning out. Jay, you have been training for a really long time, but you were, as far as I can gather, strongest at about 20 years of age, through doing powerlifting. You have been doing bodyweight stuff for as long as I have known you. When I came onto Vegan Fitness your total was 330lbs higher than mine. My total is now a few pounds higher than yours, and I have barely trained for powerlilfting this year. You cannot make statements like "Conventional strength training knowledge is a huge pile of shit" unless you can back it up with your own achievements. The fact is you cannot. Jonathan

Well you wouldn't work out just once every 5 days now would you? I'm not a fan of high frequency training either if I'm honest. I fail to see the point of it. I think that there are few lifts where this actually helps. At the end of the day, you make more progress giving your body adequate rest and training infrequently. I wish that I could train more than I do as I love it, but I would burn out so I can't. Jonathan

I do also disagree that high volume equals progress, as in most cases it doesn't. You cannot equate lifting to running or other CV exercises as the demands on the body are very different. In order to get big/strong you have to eat and rest and train occasionally. When I went up to Markinch in Fife a few months back, Big Al (one of Scotlands strongest men, and a mass monster too) recommended 2-3 training sessions a week and that's it. High volume just isn't ideal for growing significant amounts of muscle. You grow when you rest, not whilst training. Jonathan

I have certainly gained some fat but it's actually more to do with the fact that I am pressing my abs against the belt cause is fooking hard work! I think my bf percentage is about 12 now. Jonathan

I think that you hit the nail on the head there mate. Eating I believe is probably more important than the type of training that you are doing. Well that and rest. I do take a lot of protein shakes these days - usually 2-4 a day, each with typically 700cal. I think that you would benefit from reducing the amount you train to three times a week too. That is all I have been doing actually, and I now pretty much fried, and am taking a rest week. I'm 21, so my recovery is probably better than yours too. Also you have to stop competing, at least for a while. You cannot bulk if you are dieting. You are not in a position to win contests at the moment due to lack of mass, so why bother? I'm not trying to be harsh, as you do have truly excellent condition, but you need to bulk at least another 15-20lbs, if not 30. I can only use myself as a comparison, but this is me in 2003: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/bob280784/meprevegan.jpg And 32months later and 86lbs later: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/vegancrystal/Edinburgh%20Strongman/JonathanFarmers.jpg Eat, sleep, eat, sleep, train compounds and repeat Jonathan

Moo shoes are great - we went there when we went to NYC a couple of years ago and I got some really funky shoes Jonathan

The site is a bit cheesy for my taste Rob. As you know I'm not a fan of celebrity culture, and this sort of smacks of this to me. Plus the Vegan Fitness association still bugs me - the VF meet-up we just had here in Edinburgh is somewhat different in 'flavour' to the movie, and it just doesn't sit well Jonathan