Week 4, Day 2 "Unbalanced"

gosh, i can't even keep track of my days now.. lol
i'm in the middle of releasing 2 children's books so life is a little hectic.

My weight is def. plateaued at 83kg.
Need to find a better balance of healthy, vegan protein, carbs and fats --

All in all everything is great.

New Years' workout is next!

Week 3, Day 3 "Sacrificing"

Made a huge decision today to workout INSTEAD of wataching the biggest NBA game of the year so far!
Dang, that's how you progress and have a better life faster.

BUT, I'll still be able to catch the 4th quarter...

Sacrifice is the name of the game to get ahead.

First one at the gym today. Satruday morning 6am

Week 3, Day2 "Tweeking Vegan diet"

At this point, diet is my main concern.
I seem to be stagnant at 84, and i feel a little 'fat'.
So, I am adjusting my diet to less fatty foods/ processed
and more nutritional dense foods/whole foods.

See if that makes a difference.
I stopped the protein powders.
I might start taking Creatine again though.

6:30am - 7:40am

Week 3, Day 1 "Thumpity thump"

Alls good. Still sore from Saturday's workout. It's Monday now.
The heavier weights are good.
Trying to eat more calories again. More protein, less fat.
7:30am - 8:40am 83kg

Week 2, Day 2&3 "The Grind"

Missed my first blog post last time. I always knew i wasn't perfect!

This week is still pretty fast / easy with only 3 sets and low reps, getting ready for weeks 4, 5.

Everything is rolling along...right in the middle of the grind.

8am - 9:20am    staying at 84kg.

Week 1, Day 3 "Just do it"

Squeezin in this workout before work even though i have no time.
When you get into a routine, it's hard to stop, which is a good thing.
So today i'm just doing it, in the past i would have not worked out and
instead went to the office.

Vegan power lifter of the future!

Week 1, Day 2 "HEAVY and FAST"

Love this phase!
Heavy weight, low reps = fast workouts
I'm late today, bye!

Phase 3, Week 1, Day 1 "Heavy and Fast"

This phase is more weight and less reps, which equals shorter time in the gym! Yes.

All new exercises to work different muscle groups for the next 5 weeks.

Thank God its Monday!

7am - 8am, 84kg

Week 5, Day 3, Phase 2 Finished - "Energy Transfer"

When lifting heavy weights, i have found more benefit, more power, more confidence when closing my eyes and solely concentrating on the muscles to be worked. Prior to that, just before lifting, I have also visualized all the cells, no - all the energy from the cells of my body to flow to those muscles to be worked. Similarly with my mantra "angels keep me safe, sun make me strong" --- if i'm asking the sun to make me strong (because it is the strongest force in our solar system) then what i'm really asking is for the energy transfer to take place from the sun to my body....interesting science there. Some people would call that crazy.

6:30 - 8am   84kg.
Can the Raptors take down the Warriors?
Time to go see!

Week 5, Day 2 "Safe, Strong and Rockin"

Angels keep me safe, sun keep me strong, cells ready to work.

This is my current mantra to protect my arm from injury, give me the ability to lift heavier weights and keep a mind-body connection.  It works great.

E=MC2  Energy = motivation x consciousness (to the power of) love

One more day to complete Stage 2, then it's on to a place i've never been before - Stage 3....

7am - 8:45am  =  84kg.

Last Week Phase 2 "Greens, Greens, I want Greens!"

This is the toughest week in terms of max reps, so i'm glad day 1 is over. Two more to go and then we start Phase 3. Took 3 days off to go on a vacation, so it was important to get this workout in!
Did some heavier weights i had never done before, so that's always a good thing ...

My post workout drink is usually organic brown rice powder, organic soya milk, 100% chocolate powder, bananas, agave and a bunch of organic berries...But i think for Phase 3 I need to switch to something more energetic, lively and .... green.  My current concoction feels a bit heavy...

Go Green or Go home!

Weight 84kg, 7am - 8:30am

Week 4, Day 3 "Saints and Sunshine"

Now while lifting heavier weights I found myself saying "Angles keep me safe, sun keep me strong" I had a football injury 20 years ago in my shoulder area that apparently has never healed, so the last thing i want to do is re-injure it. So I am extra careful when straining that part of the body, thus i call on heavenly protection as well. It also helps to command your body cells to focus their energy in the area you are working.  "Men at Work". See you on Monday for the heaviest Week - Week 5.

7am - 8:20am  84kg

Week 4, Day 2 "dog days"

When you don't want to do something, just force yourself to show up, or start it.  Once you get there, or get started usually you'll be fine and complete the task. This was my challenge today. Right in the middle of my 15 week program, and its a little draggin, but today i just showed up at the gym and the atmosphere and momentum of the last 8 weeks kicked in, and it was all good actually. Protein shake here i come.

See if steff curry and the boys can make history today.

84kg.

Week 4, Day 1 "Done"

7:30am - 9am.  Perfect.
A little earlier is even better.

84kg

Week 3, Day 3 "Break the bad Tradition"

Last time i did this program, this is where i quit. I didn't make it to Week 4.
This time is different. I will break the tradition of quitting.

83kg stable.

Week 3, Day 2 "The Nightshift"

9pm - 1o:30pm workout tonite. Packed of course, but was too busy this morning.

You know my preference though ... bed by 10pm up at 5am, but tonite ain't gonna happen.

83kg. See you Saturday morning.

Week 3, Day 1 "The Power of the Sun"

Working too hard lately and sleeping too little, so feeling too dragged out resulting in less then optimal workouts. "Early to bed, early to rise" is absolutely essential, especially the older you get.

Having said that, i was needing some extra energy for todays session and i found it. While doing dumbell chest presses, i closed my eyes! This felt weird so i opened them immediately. But then i tried again and visualized the most powerful thing i could think of to help me lift. It was the sun. And boy did it ever work. Call it placebo effect or visualization or mind over matter i don't know, but i felt so strong while doing this mental exercise. I will continue and see if it really lasts ....

Weight drop to 83kg ... eating less because little 'sick' from lack of sleep

Week 2, Day 3 "Hangover Day"

Even though I quit drinking about 20 years ago, i still remember what a hangover feels like...and with only 4.5 hours sleep last night, it felt similar this morning when i woke up to hit the gym. But as usual, once you get here, the environment and energy takes over and you feel good very soon.

Now that it's over, I'll have my post workout drink, rest and nutritious meat-less lunch. The heavy lifting weeks 4 and 5 are coming up next.

Jiayo!

Week 2, Day 2 "Tweek Time"

Easy workout, not comfortable with about 3 of them tho...so I might revert back to more stable lifts.
Front Squats, Romanian Barbell and Side Pallof holds are tricky...
Goblet squats, dumbell romanians and side planks are better for me right now.

Didn't each much as usual last 24 hours, weight = 83.5kg.
Feel good though. My push ups are much stronger now.

Carry on...

Week 2, Day 1 "Just Show Up"

It was a little tough getting to the gym this morning. But then as soon as I did, I felt great. So today's message is "just show up", and the rest should take care of itself. Easy workout today. Just over one hour.  Holding tight at 84kg. Eating less, feeling better.  Now its back home to do my homework and watch the Detroit Pistons attempt to do the unthinkable...dethrone the champs in their house! Well, if they can keep the game within 10 points, I would consider that a big success...

Week 1, Day 3 "The Grind"

Kind of feel like i'm gettin into the grind portion of the program. In baseball they call em the dog days of summer. So, this Phase 2 is important to just stay the course and not expect too much except continuing on...

I am changing my diet though. I'll be eating less so i can feel more light and energetic. I think I was eating too many calories because i was trying to bulk up, but i'm looking into more raw / vegan athletes to compare their diet plans...

I mean if you can get by with less, then why not? Lean muscle instead of inflamed muscle/water muscle. Plus i won't need to go to the bathroom twice a day!

Week 1, Day 2

Had to come in the evening today...9pm - 10pm. Peak hours of course.
God bless the mornings, can't wait to come back with the rising sun.
Week 1 pretty easy.
Weight stable now at 84kg.
Sweet dreams...

Stage 2, Week 1, Day 1

I love you Shane . . . The first day of Stage 2 consists mostly of only 2 sets for each exercise. Oh yes, what a workout should be ... fun and fast. But keep in mind by the time we get to Week 5, the sets are usually 4 and 5 !  But no problems today. New exercises are good to prevent boredom.

Weight 84kg.

Week 5, Day 3 "Stage 1 Complete"

Weight = 84.5 kg

Great job Scott!  5kg in 5 weeks.  From 1 push up to 10. From 0 chin ups to 1.
Stage 2 is another 5 weeks, so I wonder if we can double everything again.
That would be some sweet "vegan gains".
Time to rush home and watch my Pistons play....
See you on Monday morning ...  Thank God it's Monday!

Week 5, Day 2 "E=MC2"

Great little workout. While I was taking a break inbetween reps, the sun was shining in my eyes and the thought occured to me about energy.  Where does energy truly come from?  Meat protein seems like a low density energy to me. Nuts and roots a bit higher. Vegetables higher. Fruit higher. Juices higher. Then ... ? I guess the sun itself.  Then where does the sun get its energy??  Can anyone answer that question? And if the answer is gases and what not, then where do the gases and small elements get the energy...

I guess it comes down to string theory, quantum physics, the void, event horizon perhaps?  Or if you want to go spiritual - the essence, the spirit, God power, what have you.

Energy = motivation x consciousness (to the power of) LOVE

Week 5, Day 1

Weight - 84kg

Gained 5 kg in 5 weeks. That's pretty good. I did my first chin up!  It's damn sad for a 40 year old man not to be able to do a bunch of chin ups, let alone none! But, now that I can do ONE, it's only uphill from here. Next goal is 2, then 5, then 10...I have seen the mountaintop!

This is the last week of Phase 1 of my program with Bony to Beastly. If you are naturally skinny like myself, you may be considered an "ectomorph" which means normal rules for weight gain and strength training don't apply - thus the boys from B2B have built an entire community of "ectomorphs" making incredible gains. Hence the title of this journal blog "Vegan Beastly Workout".

All is well, see you on Wednesday.

Week 4, Day 3 "Early to Rise"

If you've ever followed inspirational speaker Eric Thomas before, you know one of his cliche's is "Rise and Grind". Well my God, i may have just adopted that motto because this is the second time I've worked out first thing in the morning, and both times I've felt great during and after. I prevented myself from doing so earlier because I thought my body wouldn't have enough nutrition to do the heavy lifting, but once again its just those "mind games" creeping in to stop you from doing something positive for yourself.

Since my trainers believe in moderation and recovery, I work out M-W-F with weekends off, so TGIF and i'll be chilling tomorrow and watching my Canadian Blue Jays try to push it to 7. See you Monday morning when the sun gets up ... Rise and Grind !

Weight: 83kg.

Week 4, Day 2

82 Kg today. Started at 79Kg. I did my first chin up!  That sounds so sad, but you gotta start somewhere. When i started a few weeks ago, i could only do 1 push up. Now i'm up to 10. Not bad for a 43 year old vegan ectomorph ex-jock rock n roll hippie...haha

Wednesdays are easy - Goblet squats, lat pull downs, romanian deadlift, incline dumbell bench, shoulder curls, side planks.  In the books.

Week 4, Day 1 - Persistence

Went to the dentist before today's workout and since its Halloween coming up and I'm a teacher, I asked him how to get kids to brush their teeth. The first word to come out of his mouth was 'persistence'.  If kids don't like to do something, parents need to use persistence until one day the kid will finally realize no matter how hard I kick, scream and cry, mom and dad are not giving in, so I might as well do it.  Another trick of course is to make brushing teeth fun by singing a song, or even showing a kids video if necessary for the younger ones. Regardless this lesson is also about life! Whenever you don't want to do something, (like working out perhaps) your mind will kick, scream and cry and find many excuses not to do it, but if we persist and don't give up, one day your mind will say "if you can't beat em, join em" - and you can chalk up another small success!

Week 3, Day 3 Finished!

Getting some good momentum now ... still feeling the illness so took it easy again this morning. Dropped Phoebe off at 6am, chugged a coffee then hit the gym!  Nothing like workin out to the sunrise. I'm starting to really enjoy this. Making little tweaks along the way to make things even easier, like getting a shoe locker, putting my sheets in a binder and recording my results after every workout, and my weight. . . Phase 1, Week 4 here we come.

Week 3, Day 2 Sick day workout!

It's the little victories in life that push you through and today was one of those little victories...Having a fever and feeling like you know what almost prevented me from hitting the gym, but with the support of my better half, I just went ahead and did it.  A few months ago, I was in the same predicament - feeling sick on my workout day (I go M-W-F), and so I decided to stay home. Well, i still felt a little ill on the next workout day and stayed home again which resulted in the dreaded snowball of procrastionation and needless to say, i stopped.

They say experience is the best teacher, so this time, i refused to let my physical illness stop me. I actually thought about Michael Jordan's famous flu game when he won the game after being severely sick all day.

Today, I won my game :o)

Week 3, Day 1

Great workout! First time coming to the gym early, and to my pleasant surprise, there was virtually no one here...Just me and a brand new state of the art gym, not to mention huge windows overlooking the mountains and the sunrise. I think i've found my morning routine finally.  Weighed in at 81kgs. Going for 90kgs sometime in the future. This is my first blog - so happy. They have a computer area at the gym, so i'll post after every workout. I'm Lovin It! Shout out to Shane, Marco and company at Bony to Beastly! You are the inspiration...