Vegetarian and Vegan Strength Training

Video highlights from training last weekend.



So how should vegetarians train for strength and aesthetics? The same way as anyone else with the same goals. You need to train strategically and methodically towards your goal body type, with a balanced program primarily focussed on resistance training with a little extra cardio or interval training as well.

On the nutrition side, IIFYM or flexible dieting principles still apply. In fact, they have never applied more than they do in the case of vegetarian and vegan athletes. You do need an appropriate total calorie goal, with an appropriate ratio of protein, to carbohydrate, to fats. Obviously you will have less choices of protein sources than an omnivorous human would, but there are no shortages of vegetarian or even vegan protein sources. Generally speaking, a vegetarian or vegan is likely to have a much more comprehensive micronutrient intake, due to the inclusion of greater amounts and variety of fresh vegetables in their diet.

There's a new entry over on my main website all about Vegetarian And Vegan Personal Training In Brunswick, you should go check that out.

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80,000 successful weight loss clients in 6 months

Yes, it's true... true that that is the sort of headline most people would use to stretch the truth just a little bit and big note themselves to look like some kind of industry leader or something. What's actually happened though is that my Lose Weight No Bullshit website has just turned 6 months old and has just clicked over 81,000 views.

Actually it's a little older than that in terms of having started building it late last year... but whatever. We're six months into 2013 so this is the 6 monthly review. Or really it's the review of the 6 monthly review that I already posted on the actual site.

Uhhh, let's run through it in point form:

• Over 81,000 total views.
• I don't know how many individual people that means, but it's still a lot.
• I don't know how many that means have actually read and followed the free weight loss education and exercise program, but it'd be a lot.
• I don't even know, because I've lost track of the amount of people who've written in to tell me they have started the free program, that they love it and are making great progress and seeing great results.
• DHPT Coaching Via Email (aka paying) clients getting STRONG and looking AMAZING. Plus their photos getting stolen by marketers on their stupid "fitness motivation" type pages on facebook, tumblr etc.

Pretty damn good, eh?

So mostly I get nice messages from people telling me "Dave I'm doing your free program and I love it" but there's also some bewildering messages from people who I guess heard that I'm an answer trainer and want my advice. It's bewildering because there's a whole free system on there, the people who follow it love it and love the results they're getting... but there's the one or two who think that stuff doesn't apply to them and maybe I can come up with something new just for them for free or something. I dunno.

So anyway I'm trying to discourage such behaviour so without further ado here's my FAAQ. That's Frequently Asked Annoying Questions, if you couldn't guess.

Q: I'm [this weight] and [this age] and I want to lose [this amount of weight], but [this circumstance]. What should I do?

A: Start with my free program.

Q: I do [some other activity or program] and I think I eat pretty healthy. I lost [this amount of weight] but I don't seem to be losing any more. Why not though? What am I doing wrong?

A: How should I know? Have you read my free program?

Q: Why aren't I seeing the same results as your clients in those photos? I eat clean and I run or whatever.

A: They're doing my program, you're not. If you want those results you need to do my program.

Q: OK I read your program. But why aren't I seeing results with what I'm doing?
A: You don't get results from just reading my program and then continuing to eat and exercise the same way you always have. You need to ACTUALLY DO what it says in my program.

Q: I did the maths according to what it says in your program and I believe I should be eating [this amount of calories]. I usually eat about [this other amount of calories]. Why aren't I losing any weight?

(I swear to god, I've been asked this a few times now)

A: Eat the correct amount.

 

Q: I read your program and it says I should do [this], but why wouldn't I do [this other thing] instead?

A: You tell me, why WOULD you do that other thing instead?

I think that's about all. I need to stop I'm getting annoyed again just remembering these.

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Top ten truths about fitness and weight loss you refuse to believe.

Normal sized human beings, circa 1983

Well... hopefully YOU will believe by the end of this article if you didn't already, but these are the hotly disputed but actually true facts that people need to face up to.

1: The Body Mass Index IS a suitable and accurate assessment.

Let's set this straight, once and for all.

As of the past couple of weeks... I'm obese. aka BMI 30.

Now, a lot of what you might call BMI denialists might read that last sentence and say "see? how can you be 'obese', you're a trainer, you're healthy and active. This proves the BMI is flawed!"

No.

It took me YEARS of hard work to get up to this size. And if you think training was the hard part, you'd be wrong. The hard part was training my APPETITE in order to be able to consume enough food to maintain this body weight. Now... it might be easy enough if I didn't train, ate high calorie junk with no nutritional value day in and day out etc... but to consume enough calories with some attention to macronutrition ratios and end up at this weight with a reasonable ratio of lean mass to body fat... eating that much was HARD WORK.

In plain English, it's not normal to be this size. It's out of the ordinary. Now since I'm phenomenally strong my body is putting all of that extra fuel to good use... but to be at this weight (relative to my height) due to an inactive lifestyle and excessive consumption of unhealthy foods. That's clearly not the ideal condition for a human being to be in, and it should never be considered normal.

The scary part is, there are people out there so much bigger than I am, and not because they're elite strength athletes.

Now to further illustrate my point... I was watching some old episodes of The Goodies on youtube the other day and the first thing I thought was "wow, look how skinny people are". Then later on, I watched one of those embarrassing "spring break" type movies from the early 80s on tv. Again... I'm struck by how slim people are, especially women's arms. You know what though? Those are NORMAL SIZED human beings... probably around BMI 22 or so.

We're just not used to seeing normal sized people any more, and when you really stop and think about it... isn't that terrible?

Here's a great article explaining the Body Mass Index.

Stay tuned I've got 9 more of these to come in the days ahead! In the meantime if you haven't done so already, go check out my new profile on the gym's website especially if you're looking for a Personal Trainer In Brunswick.

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Personal Training In Brunswick, promo and testimonials video

Just a little sneak peak at the new promo & testimonials video I am putting together. This is actually like, out takes or something. I have other takes of my parts that I like better and will use in the finished video.

What you can see here is me in the infamous leg room at Doherty's world famous 24/7 gym in Brunswick, and a few testimonials from local PT clients and worldwide online coaching clients. There'll be more people in the finished product. It's going to be awesome.

Local people interested in Personal Training In Brunswick can go check out my profile at Doherty's Gym website, and if you're not a local you can go read about my Online Personal Training program on my official business site.

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Trainers who don't "Eat Clean"

I shot a little video blog before training yesterday... it was just off the top of my head in one take, so it requires a little elaboration.

A while back I was talking about french toast, on facebook... and I got a little bit of a lecture from some other trainers like I should be "setting a better example for my clients" by cutting out bread. This was in the context of... you know... the usual sort of conversation about carbs being the devil and "clean eating" being the way to manage your weight and get into great shape.

Well... my opinions on this subject are already well documented. To lose weight and get into great shape you need to eat "about the right amount, more often than not" and follow an effective training program. There are certainly better choices of foods that will make it easier to hit your targets for total calorie intake, macro nutrient rations and mirco nutrition (that's vitamins and minerals) requirements... but the idea that "you can't do it" if you're not on some kind of clean eating / green eating / caveman style / low carb diet is ridiculous and unhelpful. People already have enough of an unhealthy, disordered relationship without us trainers telling them most common every day foods are a "deal breaker" that is going to ruin their lives.

That kind of thinking is called ORTHOREXIA and in my opinion, promoting it with misinformation like that is just as irresponsible as the other forms of "pro eating disorder" and self harm glamorisation that fucked up people are putting into the heads of young people. It's terrible.

SO anyway I've already talked about that a lot and this post was supposed to be about something related but a little different, which is:

What about Personal Trainers who eat junk food?

You see these conversations on the internet a lot. Like... oh, "I was in the food court and there was a trainer in there eating something unhealthy. Lol what a bad trainer"... that sort of thing. People like to spot trainers and make an instant judgement call about them not being very good, don't they?

So I wasn't really happy with how I said this in the video so I'll type it up a bit better here.

First possible scenario: trainer doesn't appear to be in tremendous shape and is eating "unhealthy" food.

Well... you could be right. Maybe they don't have an adequate knowledge of how to train and eat for a goal body type. OR, maybe they've actually done tremendously well already... starting out as an overweight inactive person, getting into training, becoming a qualified PT, they're about half way through their own transformation and this is their one "cheat" meal of the week? How would you know?

Second possible scenario: trainer appears to be in decent shape, but is eating "unhealthy" food.

Again... they could be one of those people who simply do not get fat no matter what they eat. And that's not necessarily a good thing for a trainer, as it may or may not mean that they don't have that necessary understanding of how a normal person (aka a client) needs to eat for their goal body type. But then again, they might. OR once again, it could just be their one "don't give a fuck, gonna eat what I want and enjoy it" meal of the week. How would you know?

Third possible scenario: it's me eating pizza on a Saturday night.

People who have a real understanding of this stuff... and that means actual trainers as well as people who you might describe as "successful enthusiasts" have a healthy relationship with food, and know that as long as they get it "about right" more often than not throughout the week, it's fine to have that "this one is just for enjoyment" meal once in a while. This is important for your sanity as much as anything else. Setting an unrealistic expectation of following a perfect "clean" diet 100% of the time isn't even necessary to start with, and beating yourself up for eating like a normal, non-obsessive human being once in a while is certainly a lot less healthy than allowing yourself a little guilt free indulgence once in a while.

So the example we should all be setting is MODERATION. Achieve your goals through healthy, sensible and moderate approaches.

Anyway here's the video.

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