I am definitely getting nervous now that my first time on stage is 6 days away. On top of my regular lifting regimen I’ve been practicing my posing mandatories and my personal posing routine (will post soon) once or twice every day. Who’d have thought bodybuilding would be so much work?! (kidding). The weight routine I’ve been following is slightly different than the one I last listed and looks like…
Monday: Cardio AM, Shoulders/Posing PM
Tuesday: Quadriceps AM, Hamstrings/Calves/Posing PM
Wednesday: Cardio AM, Biceps/Triceps/Posing PM
Thursday: Cardio AM, Posing PM
Friday: Cardio AM, Chest/Triceps/Posing PM
Saturday: Cardio AM, Back/Biceps/Posing PM
Sunday: Cardio AM, Posing PM
So you can see it’s a busy schedule! I usually miss one of my cardio sessions and/or one of my posing practices per week when I feel like my body needs the extra rest, but the rest of the time I’ve stuck as closely to this as possible. To see my recent workouts in full detail check out my online training journal on the veganbodybuilding.com forums. Since I’ve just recently gained muscle weight after my time off due to injury, I’ve kept my diet much closer to what I eat to gain weight than what I eat to lose it, keeping my calories up around 5 thousand per day with plenty of carbohydrates. Before anyone faints (hah!) I will say I’ve greatly reduced my fat intake from things like almond butter and my simple sugars intake from things like fruit (except grapefruit and strawberries) and soymilk with added sugar to make sure I get as lean as possible by the big day. I will post my pre-contest food journal soon, but suffice to say it isn’t as pretty as it would otherwise be!
P.S. Only 4 days now until our screening of Planeat at Crossroads Coffee this week. Save your spot by RSVP-ing !!
View Comments (5)
First of all I want to thank you and Marcella, to share your knowledge for free.I have recently become vegan and I have lost a lot of kg due to this change.So i need to gain weight.
Can you post your current diet that would be of great help for me?
Grat job keep on pumping!!
Hi.
first of all I want to thank you and Marcella to spread your knowledge.I recently became vegan.
I have lost many kg in this change and now I need to bulk up.Can you post your current diet that would be of great help for me as well as the rest of your articles?
Great job keep on pumping!!
Hey - thanks!! Derek is going to post an example day from his food journal for you sometime in the next few days (maybe not til after his contest Saturday- not sure), and tomorrow I'm posting an overview of our meals: the stuff we typically eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, post-workout and how you can easily add calories. Then sometime in the next week I'll be posting a sample weekly menu. Hopefully it'll be useful for you!
Derek,
Just curious being an endurance runner and wanting to gain some mass, I was under the impression that most bodybuilders don't do a lot of cardio. How much cardio do you do? What are your thoughts on cardio when bulking?
Hi Joe. Bodybuilders typically don't do much cardio (2-3 times per week) unless they are cutting bodyfat in preparation for a contest. I usually do cardio 2-3x per week, but getting ready for this show I've been doing it almost daily, and a typical workout for me is 15-20min of high intensity intervals on an elliptical trainer or a 2 to 3 mile run at a fast pace. moderate cardio when bulking is a good idea because it will keep your heart healthy and prevent too much fat gain, but you have to make sure you are still getting a large surplus of calories every day on top of what you burn running or you won't have anything left to gain muscle with. The objective when bulking is to make sure your body has everything it could possibly need (excess calories/nutrients/protein/rest - all day every day) to gain muscle. I hope this helps!