More Great Workouts and Some Important Nutritional Observations

Two more workouts to list today. I am now in my power phase, so my workouts have been mostly me sitting around and once in a while lifting very heavy weights. It's not very exciting, but it is the best way to maintain great strength and muscle density. My legs day coming up will look a lot like my last two, seeing as I still don't want to push my knee, so don't expect anything enlightening there.

Yesterday's routine was:


And today's went something like:


I'd like to take a moment to brag on some new Personal Records. Yesterday I bench pressed 300lbs for the first time, but my spotter (Wes) had his hands on it so it doesn't quite count. I have pressed 295lbs with strict contest form before, so 300lbs is not a stretch. I am even happier that I improved my weighted pull up record, performing one pull up with 100 extra pounds unaided, then two more with assistance from another excellent spotter, William.

Today my entire shoulder routine involved weight I have rarely or never tried, so it was a challenging day, and thanks in part to some excellent spotting by Marcella I was able to get some more personal records. Power days may be boring, but it is fun to brag after the fact, and you never know what your limit is until you risk exceeding it.

Another note on our diet: I'd like to take this opportunity (after demonstrating that I can lift some heavy weights) to mention that my strength has increased as compared to when I was on an omnivorous diet. That's right, eating plants instead of animals has helped me get stronger. Not only that, but when I ate meat and dairy products regularly I weighed 185lbs and had 12% bodyfat. Now I weigh 171lbs and maintain about 6-7% bodyfat; so I lift more, weigh less, and easily maintain a defined physique. Neat huh? What I am pointing out here is that a plant based diet will not only make you healthier and longer lived, it can improve your fitness, performance and body composition (fat %) significantly as well.

I enjoy telling people when they ask how much cardio I do that I barely do any. That doesn't mean I advocate skipping cardio, as it is very important for weight loss and overall health, it just means I am able to stay very lean without worrying about how to burn off tons of excess calories. Sure, I have a fast metabolism, but on an omnivorous diet I had the same metabolism I do now (or faster since I was several years younger), I preformed around 10 hours of intense cardio a week, and I still carried around 15 extra pounds of badyfat compared to now! All these are just some of the reasons I have strongly come to believe that nutrition is much more than half the battle with regards to fitness and health.