Author: veganhealthbenefit

I had a bit of pain in my back muscles, just very slight a couple times sitting wrong, and thought about being grateful I don’t have chronic pain. It changes perspective to spend several minutes a day thinking about what others suffer and what is taken for granted, such as chronic back pain.

Starting this strength training program, 3 weeks running, can cause slight pains that remind me of the chronic pain. Also, prehab is important, and safe proper form of exercise. The rotator cuff exercises can reduce shoulder pain because internal rotation of the arms occurs in our natural lives and in strength training much more often than external rotation. This leads to imbalance and weakness. These are supporting muscles which can help in large, compound movements, including the hand stands and the L-sit.

In both the L-sit and the handstand, the shoulder blades are said best to be retracted, which is pulled and down. It’s like this when doing the pull ups. What it does is make the whole body rigid, thereby requiring less energy to maintain the position. Efficiency is key, and the prehab of rotator cuff training strengthens this shoulder blade setting.

Abdomen strengthening, something I keep as optional but probably shouldn’t, really helps with supporting the lower back significantly. Ab bicycles and other types of movements can help that. I had one called the windshield wiper but dropped it because I don’t want to bend at the waist side to side like that. It’s a useful exercise for the obliques, but I just found a better one called the Thai Crunch.

I was going through my Youtube liked videos of which there are thousands, just cleaning up deleted or hidden videos and such. I realized I could find more information from this about when I went plant based which videos prompted me towards it. Early in the year 2017 I found the ‘sugar is evil’ set of videos. These tend to peg the government as wrong about fat being the culprit. as described in the McGovern Report and encouraging less fat to be consumed, and sugar being the problem. As we all know, many things can be unhealthy when eaten above certain levels. However, I bought into the sugar theory at first and cut out all sugar.

I can’t say it didn’t help. Eliminating from the diet probably improved me. However, when I went to the doctor and I forget exactly when that was, I got a cholesterol reading of 210, which is slightly above the medical industry’s commonly acceptable range for ideal, which is below 200.

I notice I was watching raw vegan videos also. Towards April of 2017, I watched Mic the Vegan‘s channel videos and had several likes to that. I believe I found Dr. John Mcdougall‘s name while watching his channel. At that point, my interest in Dr. Mcdougall’s program skyrocketed. I had clicked ‘like’ on many of his videos over the following weeks and months and when I started the diet program. This is probably normal for people who switch the program to gain more information about it.

One thing I might not ever know is how I decided to look at the first Robert Lustig sugar video, and what prompted me to look at raw vegan at that point. Maybe it was a video comments, which can lead in other directions, or maybe it was a recommended video, on the right hand side of the screen. I can say that I was quite enamored by Lustig’s presentation. I know not everyone will like his presentation style but I enjoyed it.

Whatever the path, it changed my life considerably: not as stark as some people who are on their deathbed from cardiac problems, for example and have them solved with proper diet, though, but still quite sharply.

Keto, anti-sugar, Paleolithic Diet: Better than the Standard American diet.

I began thinking less in terms of black in white concerning these programs programs which I believe aren’t nearly as healthy as whole food-plant based. Keto and Paleo do get people to eat more fruits. Anti-sugar does get people to eat less sugar. Anybody on the standard diet including myself for many decades at far too much sugar, and too few fruit and vegetables.

I fell back into my rest day to perform many of my exercises for the previous two days. Truth be told, at least 1/2 the exercises are done and total time will be easily less than 45 minutes. 85% of the exercises are simple and actually pretty fun.

I do make sure for the prehab exercises that I only do 2 sets. Over time, I will still progress with difficulty of form or increased weight. Consistency is key. It is analogous to making unrealistic goals when dieting. It’s easier just to track what’s happening and keep it level, or even go over for awhile, but with keeping the idea of making habitual changes.

I have a job search and a foreign language study as two other primary goals of mine. These shouldn’t take an inordinate amount of time, as the job market is superb for my work, and the study type I am doing at this juncture is word memorization with the addition of watching some Mandarin-spoken media. The job search, however, may consume 40 hours a week. One saying about job searches: looking for a job is a full time job.

The exercises that are only partially complete or not yet started:

L-sit progressions

Decline Diamond Face Pushup

Bulgarian Split Squat: Most important exercise

Side Leg Lift (Glute Medius) or Cable hip abduction exercise or Clam Shell as far to failure as possible

Nordic Curls

Face pull-cable machine; prone Ws with weight (5 lb each hand to start).

Only one requires a tremendous effort: Bulgarian split squat. It is the most important, I have marked. The L-sits are quite intense. I can perform 4 of the 6 in my room and go to the weight room later.

Anyone with exercise in strength training can look at this and realize it’s a pretty light routine. Goals are totally achievable for me so I look forward to completing them.

10PM or so, update: 17 more Nordic curls. All other mandatory exercises are complete. Ab work postponed most likely. I can tell my hamstring strength is very quickly increasing with the Nordic curls but still a long, long way from raising with a straight waist or even dropping with a bent waist. I see the progress, which is great.

A gym has several benefits such as specialized equipment that can target specific muscles in an optimal fashion, and camaraderie of like-minded individuals.

However, there can be found exercises of equal value to those ones performed in a gym, but at home or in another setting. I remember the film Rocky IV where the Russian boxer trains with high tech equipment and Rocky trains with farm equipment. A short video is below:

I don’t care for several of the Rocky films but this montage was well designed. In the same vein, I found the rotator cuff called face pull, using a cable machine, appears to have an effective replacement using gravitational force called the W. It’s part of the Is, Ts, Ys and Ws. Laying face down on the ground, do this exercise. Weight can be held by the hands. The range of motion is short but more than adequate to get excellent activation of all the same muscles.

As mentioned in a previous post, the upper chest can be effectively worked very good with the Decline Diamond Face Pushup without the gym equipment used with the Upper Chest V cable raise.

Despite these replacement exercises being very good, working with gym equipment is very interesting and engaging. That equipment also can be used to compare overall strength versus statistics and other individuals in a more consistent manner. An example of such statistics is the site Strengthlevel.com. Here are the stats for one exercise Bench Press Standards (lb).

I enjoy very much standing on my feet at the cable machine and doing face pulls. It’s convenient and fun! Jeff Cavalier of AthleanX states that it’s better for athletes, and I say for everyone, to do strength training on the feet where possible because the feet is where we do sports and our physical activity in everyday lives. It is possible to rig up a pulley system at home with weight to do face pulls. That doesn’t take much weight and a simple rope would do. However, right now a short jaunt down to the hotel gym and I can work out on the rarely used gym equipment which is of high quality.

I feel progress like it’s 5 weeks but it’s only two. I’m learning form on many drills, something that will be a common occurrence as I find new ways to exercise with varying levels of equipment available.

I have a three day schedule that repeats, and the first day is the heavy work: squats, handstands and L-sit. The 2nd day is lighter exercises and auxiliary work for injury prevention, generally.

I move exercises between the days as I see fit as long as I keep them in the three day period. I have no problem performing even heavy exercises two days in a row as long as it doesn’t happen frequently. That means I can push back my heavy exercise(s) 2 days, and then have a subsequent day with the same. It is more likely if I did squats 2 days late I’d push back the subsequent squat day 1 day because they are just so intense.

I keep finding exercises that are useful and I add them to my chart, although most of them are on standby, not in the routine. I also prioritize squats first. If things get hectic, which they will some weeks in the future, I can just do squats, even 1 or two sets if it comes down to it, every three days. The idea is a basic, acceptable level of sustainability to maintain consistency. Consistency is a key factor in progress in any endeavor, and it is emphasized by the seasoned and competent strength trainers I watch on Youtube.

Neck Exercises

I watched a few videos on neck exercises. Minimal effort can strengthen the neck. Again consistency will pay off. There are some neck exercises, such as bridge, that are dangerous and damaging to the cervical spine. The best trainers highlight this and specify movements that are allowed, including some weighted exercises.

Here’s an interesting video that’s pretty thorough.

Visual progress from neck training is said to occur quickly. It is one of the most noticeable parts of the body which can be strength trained for improved aesthetics. I find that the drills are quite easy. A big way to show progress is neck circumference. Will I need new shirts? In the future. Jeff Nippard says his neck gained 2 inches in 1 year of training, but I probably trained in a very efficient and consistent manner with increase weight load.

Jeff Cavalier states in a video that progressive overload applies in neck training: adding weight to increase difficulty pays dividends. Weight can get pretty heavy eventually, but to start smaller weights can be used. In a home environment, I plan on using bags of food staples such as pasta or canned beans, held by a rope or towel.

Aesthetics: improvement with specific training

When following strength training videos I came across from useful tidbits of information regarding the most efficient and effective way to improve aesthetics. I’m by no means an expert but several muscles will improve my physique with my current training.

Upper body: The handstand, and eventually handstand pushups, will build tremendous shoulders and trapezoid, the V-shape muscle behind the neck. Both of these are highly visible. The upper chest also will be strengthens with wall walks to handstand. Jeff Cavalier mentioned that the upper chest development can have a big impact on aesthetics, and he has some exercises to do so including the incline dumbbell press and the decline pushup (legs raised and hands on the floor).

The Lats, which are the side of the back, are large muscles that contribute to aesthetics. They are build with the handstand, and especially wall walks, but also are partly used during the L-sit, which I do. These contribute to the V-taper, where the back widens at the top and towards the armpits. The V-taper gives the appearance of a thinner waist, as do larger legs, but key is maintaining a decent waist size. This should not be a problem on a whole food-plant based diet. The glutes are worked very hard with the Bulgarian split squat and progress should be shown within a couple of months.

In the end, aesthetics can be visible with shorts and a T-shirt but most of the time, such as at work, people are in long pants and frequently in long shirts. Only size and not definition is visible in this situation for the most part.

I may start some participation in that, posting my progress so I’m also part of an active community with similar goals. I have three primary body weight fitness exercises on my big workout day-> L-sit, squat, and handstand. The 2nd day is auxiliary prehab exercises meant to prevent injury or reduce tension and tightness in the body that exists:

• Nordic curls: Hamstring injury prevention
• Rotator cuff strengthening including face pulls: for better upper body results and injury prevention, and aesthetics (upper back);
• Glute Medius strengthening: For reduced tightness on the outside of the leg after walking long distance.
• Other to add later: hip flexor adductor strengthening, to reduce chance of groin injury.

I read that several of the bodyweight participants also use weights and cables at times. It’s not strict no-weight policy in the forum. There are some really good concepts and I could tweak my routine eventually.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness

I think there isn’t a direct one-for-one relationship between pounds lifted squatting with free weight versus with cables. I just had a very nice set of cable squats but I certainly had to use high effort on the repetitions. It’s good to be close to or at maximum force on that last rep, but still in good form. I could knock out 5 with two cables at 15 pounds each, handles held together at the chest like a goblet squat. The angle of the force is not directly down like gravity and the force of free weights.

It takes a careful setup with the bench, and I raised the footrest bar on the bench so that I can have good clearance and dip depth. The distance of the bench from the machine as well as the distance between the two cable pullies is very important, and the angle of the bench needing to be at zero degrees.

It was a day well spent exercising and I’m very proud of my compound movements all being done on time. I might do a set of squats tomorrow before all the auxiliary exercises. It can’t hurt.

Drinking lots of coffee late and I slept bad. The dumb mistakes I make repeatedly! I was not in the mood to do those squats but I did them. I go deep on the Bulgarian split squat and with the 30 pounds, 15 on each side, holding the cable handles like a goblet of the goblet squats with a dumbbell, it’s brutal. The bench is too high. I completed the task! I need a lower surface for the real leg.

I did 40 seconds on a handstand. I couldn’t gracefully walk down. I fell on the side of my arm, which is fine, no pain at all. It was a very short fall as I was partly down already. I’m feeling pretty solid with that.

L-sit Discussion

The other exercise I need to focus on is the L-sit: Getting a minute of total time on a L-sit tuck, on bars such as a hotel luggage stand, I can do maybe 15s, but over time, this will increase. There are some exercises I can perform throughout the day that will help, such as single leg raises. They are brutal, feeling unnatural. Sit with back straight against the wall one leg bent, the other straight leg lift, keeping back against the wall to prevent a cheat lean back.

The muscles used are also used in this video about the seated leg lift. Straight leg strength is not built with squatting. Main muscle used to lift the leg is the rectus femoris, part of the quads on the top of the thigh.

Hamstring mobility can be focused, also with stretching; some online trainers place a bit more emphasis while others place a lot lower emphasis. The seated leg lift is in my progression exercise list for L-sits. However, I have been primarily focusing on the L-sit tuck, which is also vital and builds strength in the shoulders and triceps: significant strength. This is an example where an isometric exercise, can be used to build as much size and strength as weight lifting or other bodybuilding exercises.

Here’s an interesting description of the L-sit: L-sit prep workout by Darebee. A muscle diagram shows a significant portion of the upper body being worked, including abs, shoulders and triceps, as well as the quadriceps of the legs.

Here’s a good progression video for beginners: L-Sit Progressions: Step-by-Step Guide. Here’s another progression exercise or auxiliary exercise set Best Exercises To Increase L-SIT HOLD.

Here’s yet another very useful L-sit progression. I can hold a floor L-sit tuck for at least 4 seconds. It is quite difficult but very rewarding and useful for muscle growth. The narrator, Austin Dunham, states it is very intense on the triceps. That is the very reason I perform this exercise, although it strengthens several other exercises, and therefore is considered ‘compound’ strength training as opposed to an isolation exercise, which focuses on a single body part. Compound movements benefit novices for more ‘noob gains’, which is a substantial muscle growth anybody gets when they are first starting out.

I felt pretty bad this morning not wanting to do important tasks such as workout but I powered through it. There’s a common thread: I always feel much, much better fairly quickly getting food in the system, some exercise even if it’s just walking, some caffeine and sun. Today’s not a sun day but I used the other methods to get through.

With some flour and a good bread recipe I have been overeating in the short term, which is fine occasionally, and it’s less painful when I do it by measuring my progress so I understand where I can make an adjustment between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hear the machine rotating the blade after sitting there for 1/2 an hour, letting dough rise.

A great many people don’t believe tastes are acclimated and that a person can be as satiated by hot, homemade bread as they were with their steaks or their candies. In fact, there is less indigestion and negative consequences such as a sugar crash when eating healthy whole wheat versions. I have tried in vain to convince some relatives to eat my diet. It takes social change, and plus older people have always done what they do and don’t want to change.

The bread recipe in the bread maker is the following:

1. Whole wheat flour: 500 grams.
2. Granulated sugar: 15 grams.
3. Yeast, a teaspoon (1 packet).
4. 400 grams of hot water.

That’s it, folks. I put in everything but the flour and mix it with fingers. I let it sit and start to bubble, which is about 15 minutes. Then, I add the flour, pop it in the bread maker and fire up the dough making mode, which is 90 minutes, part mixing but most sitting idle under low heat rising.

When complete, I put the dough in parchment paper so there’s not an epic battle getting it out of the pan, which has had the teflon erode over time. I run the bake routine for 75 minutes. I add table salt to the surface of the bread while eating, which minimizes the amount of salt required.

If you cut out all the super rich foods and occasionally eat this bread, it will be like heaven to you. The acclimation occurs eventually. A lot of people still on the standard diet say this bread is great, such as family members who have tried it.

I enjoyed the machine today quite a bit. I was able to do more exercises than I did yesterday.

The Bulgarian Split squat using the cable machine is possible with good force direction when holding each cable handle together at the upper chest, with the pullies set down but as close in as reasonable. There is an outward force on each cable but they offset each other. The body does move forward somewhat during the squat, so the the force changes to a slight angle in the forward most and backward most positions, but it’s no big thing.

There is intense pressure on the leg of course, which is superb. It’s a balancing act between what is the best weight to push the limit of strength but only when true form is used. I am switching my rep range up from 6-12 and going down to 4-10. That way I can sneak into the ‘strength’ range of reps, and slightly out of the hypertrophy range. Truthfully, it’s really pushing myself instead of trying to and maybe waiting too long to increase weight when reaching 11 or 12 reps. I can back off that aggressiveness later. As long as I’m doing something for now it’s 6 of one 1/2 dozen of another.

Consistency. That’s key. Today’s an easy day, a day I want to be in that strength room working out. I am not tested today in that mental respect.

Dual Cable UCV Raise: I did what Jeff Cavalier says: I set the flat bench pointing to the machine, the end in between the pulleys. It’s important to have the pulleys low. I set the weight at about 20 pounds each. I do an underhand grip and lay down on the bench with the head furthest away from the machine. I pull both handles in an arc which angles across each other above the head. This flexes the upper chest significantly. I rotated which hand goes over the top each time. Maybe it matters. Note: Key part Jeff mentions: do not let the chest cave at the end of the rep. Keep it out. This exercise is somewhat like the incline dumbbell bench press but the cable allow a different direction of force, one emphasized by Jeff Cavalier frequently when discussing chest development: Force while crossing the chest, so that the middle chest is flexed maximally.

The lat exercise I did is similar to Jeff Cavalier’s standing cable single arm lat exercise. I do this but sitting on a bench and working both arms, plus most important difference is the arms bend and I end up in a row position at the end. Jeff’s is standing, which is a useful position for athletic training, uses a single arm, and that arm does not bend much. They are significantly different exercises. I liked what I did.

For lats on cables, Jeff recommends the exercise above, but also rocking pull-downs, which he uses a bar and one cable. . That can be done with two cables, I say. I can so this with two cable and focus alternative on the sides. Keep tucked into the said is important. Shoulder blades together and down the whole time, just like pull-ups.

Sorry if this article is hard to follow since it’s difficult to describe my routine and exercises mentioned without diagrams. I should use a camera and record it eventually, which I will do for form check on multiple exercises in the future.

There are no examples on Youtube of a true vertical force in a Bulgarian split squat on a cable machine. Many have the force at a 45 degree angle from the ground and directly in front the body. Example:

This is not what I want. The closest to a vertical force that simulates weight, is a goblet squat but with two cables, one from each side, held close together at the chest, which I will try today. Here’s an example of that but with a standard squat.

However, I want to use two cables and stand between the cables, not where this lady is a few inches in front of one. This one elicits at least some horizontal forward pull, which I want to avoid the most I can. In this single cable squat I think I could be happy if I simple move so I was standing with hands directly over the pulley. I may try it to see what I can do.

Another example not displayed but one I tried and succeeded is standing on the bench between the cables. It is tricky. Falling could happen especially going to failure, but it wouldn’t be a big fall, and the cables could simply be dropped if that happened; no risk of weight trauma. However, the goblet squat probably doesn’t require standing on that bench. The reason for standing on the bench is that the cables are slack in the lowered position when on the floor. This renders duplication of exercises requiring force at the ground to be impossible with cables.

In the end, I will attempt a goblet squat on the ground today. I can say I got tremendous force on the Bulgarian split squat standing on the bench, holding the cables to the sides. I had 15 pounds on each side.

I performed several other exercises yesterday, including cable hip abductions, shown in the image below thanks to Muscle Transform at https://muscletransform.com/cable-hip-abduction-anatomy/ .

A key to the exercises is not to move the hips. Don’t open up the hips or bend at all at the waist. This limits motion of the leg almost strictly to the glute medius. It is possible to get a strong force from the weight int his limited motion, and I made the muscle sore on my left side.

I did the face pull the face pull, shown by Jeff Cavalier of AthleanX below.

I dumped two rotator cuff exercises for this one for now. That way my exercise list doesn’t get unwieldy and therefore demotivating. When I lose cable machine access, I will jump right back on the old exercises. The only exercise with which I have some trouble now without cables or sufficient weight is the Bulgarian split squat. I will make due with furniture if I need to do it, but I won’t purchase items since I am keeping my inventory to a minimum.

I love the cable machine. I can do even more exercises and out of curiosity I am going to try some such horizontal cable crossover and the ground and pound and the inner pecs incinerator. If I target like has been recommended, for bodybuilding and aesthetics I can target the upper chest with for UCB Rays, I believe Jeff calls it. This exercises ‘follows the fiber patterns’ meaning it is a natural movement and therefore very efficient. The scientific term for this is Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF), a concept defined in therapeutic physical rehabilitation using athletic movements. Jeff has some science behind his training, and this also focuses on safety so I am happy for that.

Put the bench towards the machine between the cables. Lay on the the bench with feet at the machine. Sit, up, grab one cable with each hand, palms up, and arms a little bit out to the sides, and lay back down. Pull the hands in an arc towards body center-line, and mostly towards just above the head and crossing each other. My upper chest looks week and this can help tremendously, if anything can.

Granted I don’t think they are necessary in my routine. Coming soon are handstand wall walks and handstand pushups. The wall walks are extremely intense against the upper chest. It’s all I need for now.

Coming back around to what I really need, though, and have for 1 month is the availability to put huge weight on Bulgarian split squats if necessary using a cable machine. All else is fluff.

Those cable hip abductions are almost indispensable compared to my current body-weight routine exercises. I can add weight to my ankles on the side laying leg lift. I can put dry and canned food in a bag of 15 pounds even, to make it very good.

Cable exercises today:

1. Bulgarian goblet squat on the ground.
2. UCB Rays, described above.

Other exercises to complete today:

• Tuck L-sit: up to 60 seconds total today.
• Nordic Curls
• Ab workout.
• Optional: Walking.

The key is consistency and even though I pushed back some exercises into the rest day, no big deal. I still perform the same volume, and my rest day was simply moved forward.