Try high reps for some good lean fun

The posting seems to have come a halt as life (school exams+work) has been busy lately, but with only one more week of classes things should slow down a bit and I will be posting more often.

I have missed posting many workouts, but seeing as I was on an extended bodybuilding phase I didn't leave much out. I just finished a high rep phase, which I described a while back as type of routine I work in to maintain muscle endurance as well as definition, burn lots of calories, and just to mix it up. Those of you who have the pleasure of training with me (ie my beloved victims) would recognize this cycle's fast pace and splendid burning sensations. I feel your pain. Here are two of the high rep workouts I did to give an idea:











For those of you interested in the details of this cycle, there are a few tricks I use in addition to the obvious less weight less rest more reps. I also like to work in different styles of exercise, such as more dumbells for greater range of motion, and calisthenics to improve coordination balance etc.. Also, when I super set exercises, I will choose two for the same muscle group, rather than opposing muscle groups, to really get them burning.

Sometimes, to really mix things up, I will perform Tabata intervals on my high reps days. A select few of my clients have experienced these and know how 'fun' they are. Feel free to check them out at:

Tabata Training

I've also been playing around with the weight gainer shake recipe a bit and will give an updaed version in my next post. Suffice to say, by having two a day (an extra 2000 calories) I was able to gain 4lbs of muscle in one week with no change in bodyfat. That's gotta be a record.

Moroccan Food and Relative Muscularity

For lunch we went to go to Cous Cous, and incidentally, if you live in RVA and get a Val-Pak in your mailbox every month, there will always be a buy-one-get-one-free coupon in there for this place. They have delicious tea, and Moroccan food, which is also delicious.

We each got salads with sauteed wild mushrooms and pine nuts (amazing).

They have "familia meze" dishes for sharing, pretty much like tapas, and there are a goodly amount of options that are nothing but vegetables and protein!

Derek had a luscious (but too rich for me to order) Moroccan pot pie stuffed with tofu, nuts, apricots, and vegetables and I got portabella caps stuffed with tofu and sweet bell pepper and basil. Damn, they were tasty. We also ordered lentil soup because I was afraid I'd still be hungry with just stuffed mushrooms and a salad, but again I underestimated the food and was really full. When will I learn? I'm thinking of hosting our farewell party for the summer interns here, partly because it's awesome, and partly as revenge against all the Cheesecake Factory devotees who mock my "weird" diet.

I swear one of these days at work, when someone does that and waxes on about protein and how can I get enough, etc...I'm going to roll up my shirtsleeve, glance at my flexed bicep, reach over and gingerly feel their sure-to-be underdeveloped arm...clear my throat and say "SO anyway, as you were saying?"


No, I would never do that...the absurdity of it all just makes me laugh.


So, for dinner...yes I really did just make fajitas again. It's what Derek wanted, but I did veto his choice of black beans in favor of pinto beans.

I sliced up bell peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms and salted them just a bit and peppered them, and cooked the beans with minced onion and garlic and secret hobo spices.

Actually, not really, just cumin and garlic powder.

I also steamed vegetables...

It must be my Hispanic background or something, but I could eat these every day.



It was another shoulder day and no clean and press, what was I thinking? I also feel like I forgot a superset in there somewhere...oh well. Still a pretty "gnarly" workout as Derek would say.

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.

Two workouts and a lot of food later...

I was too tired to post last night, so tonight without further ado I will put them up. Yesterday I managed to get both arms and shoulders in because I had some cancellations in the afternoon, and today I went through pretty much the same leg routine as my first post, again with no pain (very exciting).

Here are yesterdays:


And here is today's:


As a note/reminder, anyone who has questions or suggestions about our posts please feel free to leave comments. Thus far we are focusing on our diet and exercise routines, and I will be adding nutritional tidbits here and there, but if there are any other questions/interests out there comment away!

Lions and Pizza and Pears, oh my!

Shoulders day is my very favorite workout day, something I never would have imagined. I used to have a lot of rotator cuff issues with my shoulders and couldn't extend or bring in my arms at certain angles and they always just ached.

As I've more than quintupled my shoulder strength, the aching has gradually disappeared completely; I guess whatever tendon problems I may have had were eased by having stronger stabilizing muscles? Who knows - whatever the reason, it's still a great benefit of working past initial limitations instead of giving up.

Breakfast was the usual fruit/protein smoothie.

Lunch was the same as yesterday:

with the addition of a big bag of sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes and a pear from Argentina. Who would have thought that crunching away on sugar snap peas for half an hour could be so satisfying - my co-workers may have found it less so...

Another late night at work, but, because I "happened" to have a brochure for Pizza Fusion lying on my desk when it came time to order dinner, I was able to eat this time!

Definitely a rare treat; I ordered a vegan soy cheese pizza with roasted zucchini and spinach - and a multigrain crust, of course. And since everyone was ordering larges - for themselves - I succumbed to peer pressure and was able to bring the rest of the pizza home for Derek, much like a lioness of the Serengeti. Or not, I'm very tired right now...