Progress pics

[Licence]

First pic is from Sep 08, second is from today. If you can see any difference I'd be pleased to hear it.

I guess this is what you call a plateau...anyone got any ideas how to break out of this rut?

[AussieShane]

yea seems like you've hit a plateau man.

It's probably best you change your calories (up and down based on gaining or losing). And change the workout to something that is totally different to what you do currently.

What's your current program?

[SheThrowsDown]

What are your workouts like and how is your diet? Be sure you are changing up your workout. I try to do something different every single week and have only hit a plateau once in the years I've been working out, and it didn't last once I mixed it up again. For instance this week I'll be doing:
Monday: back and abs
Tuesday: chest and shoulders
Wednesday: cardio
Thursday: legs and calves
Friday: arms
Saturday: cardio
Sunday: off

Then next week I will switch up the days completely and do different exercises than I did this week. I also try to get a bit of cardio in at every workout, but then on my cardio days that's my primary focus. Kind of like days like Friday will be weightlifting with a little bit of cardio, saturday will be cardio with a little bit of weight lifting :).

I also try to change it up too by adding in other things. I take a boxing conditioning class each week, box in my garage, do some BJJ with my husband and starting a new class for it next week.

When it comes to diet the only thing "monotonous" is that I prefer to have oats for breakfast. But I try to switch that up too and sometimes have kamut flakes or instead of rolled oats I'll eat steel cut ones.

The point is - keep your body guessing.


EDIT/PS:
Are you on veganbodybuilding.com? If not, you should be :)

[Licence]

Thanks both you guys. Yes, I like to mix things up every now and then.

OK, here's my current programme which I've been doing the last 2 months:

Day 1: Upper - Back, Biceps, Shoulders - 3 pyramid sets 8/7/6:

Two-arm row.
Upright row
Cable curl
Seated low pulley row
Front press
Hammer curl
Straight arm pulldown
Lat DB raise
Concentration curl

Day 2 - Cardio & abs, eg. 5/10 km run / row / 15/20 km bike.

Day 3: Lower body - 3 pyramid sets 8,7,6 - 15 / 20 / 25 kgs - All DBs:

Squat
Reverse
Step
Side
Sumo squat
Front
Calf raises
Split

Day 4: Cardio & abs

Day 5: Upper - Chest, Triceps - 3 pyramid sets 8/7/6:

Incline Bench press
Overhead Extension
Flat fly
Pushdown
Decline Benchpress
Bench Dip
Pullover
Kickback

Day 6: Cardio & abs.

I do the first set in one go, then the 2nd and 3rd sets 3 or 4 exercises each, often to failure.

Its not really as strict as that in terms of days, this is just an example week. Also will sometimes change it up by using the resistance machines in the gym.

I’m careful what I eat, its 99% vegan, also take a vegan protein shake, and creatine and Glutamine powders.

[kali]

you seem to be doing a lot of different exercises there with not much improvement to show for it so you could be overtraining a bit. if it was me, id go back to basics with the exercises, dont do quite so many and increase the weight. as soon as you feel the last few reps getting easier increase the weight. basically, dont train so much but train harder. also doing super sets has worked well for me to get me past a sticking point.

[AussieShane]

Man i'm not sure on your goal, but i'll assume it's to build more muscle. And looking at your pics, you seem pretty trained already. I think you should change from the pyramid program and do high intensity training for 3 weeks followed by high volume training the next 3 weeks. And do this cycle twice.

Do that and up your calories by let's say 500 a day, and i can bet you'll break the plateau and see some good results over the 12 week period. I'll PM you some of the routines.

Also another thing that helps is ZMA. ZMA is not vegan but you can make your own because it's just Zinc, Magnesium Aspartate and B6. It improves sleep and increases testosterone and GH slightly by doing so.






Thanks both you guys. Yes, I like to mix things up every now and then.

OK, here's my current programme which I've been doing the last 2 months:

Day 1: Upper - Back, Biceps, Shoulders - 3 pyramid sets 8/7/6:

Two-arm row.
Upright row
Cable curl
Seated low pulley row
Front press
Hammer curl
Straight arm pulldown
Lat DB raise
Concentration curl

Day 2 - Cardio & abs, eg. 5/10 km run / row / 15/20 km bike.

Day 3: Lower body - 3 pyramid sets 8,7,6 - 15 / 20 / 25 kgs - All DBs:

Squat
Reverse
Step
Side
Sumo squat
Front
Calf raises
Split

Day 4: Cardio & abs

Day 5: Upper - Chest, Triceps - 3 pyramid sets 8/7/6:

Incline Bench press
Overhead Extension
Flat fly
Pushdown
Decline Benchpress
Bench Dip
Pullover
Kickback

Day 6: Cardio & abs.

I do the first set in one go, then the 2nd and 3rd sets 3 or 4 exercises each, often to failure.

Its not really as strict as that in terms of days, this is just an example week. Also will sometimes change it up by using the resistance machines in the gym.

I’m careful what I eat, its 99% vegan, also take a vegan protein shake, and creatine and Glutamine powders.

[Wishuponastar]

I don't see anything wrong with the picture ;) hehe

[Pixelle]

I'm no expert on weight training or anything, but is there any special reason why you are doing incline bench press rather than a flat bench press, because I'm thinking you might bulk up a bit more if you did a flat bench press instead?



also doing super sets has worked well for me to get me past a sticking point.

I couldn't think of a way to say this without it sounding like I've been perving on you, so I'll just say ---> I concur! :)

[zoebird]

no clue what your goals are, but i see best results from high intensity training and more rest.

eg, my huband lift 2x per week and cardio on the other days. at least one cardio is interval training.

if you want to be leaner, train less, intervals more.

[SheThrowsDown]

You said that you watch your eating and eat 99% vegan. Can you post an example of what you might eat in a day? I mostly would like to see it because even eating vegan isn't enough if you aren't getting enough nutrients in the right proportions.
My first tip with that, if you don't already do it, is be sure that every meal has complex carbs, protein, and healthy fat. Even snacks.

Also I concur with the super sets comment, they always get me going!

[clb121]

Both pics look fine to me!! hehehe...

[Licence]

Both pics look fine to me!! hehehe...

Haha, thanks.

My girlfriend says she likes my blue eyes...difficult woman to please!