Fruitbat Update November 06

It as been over a year since I updated my WIP and a lot has changed in that time physically, powerfully and dietary. At the beginning of the year I started training the three powerlifts bench-press, squat and deadlift as part of routine at the time which was largely a body-building routine. After the Veganfitness Strength meet-up and watching a mate at his first powerlifting competition, I decided to train more specifically for powerlifting in the hope of competing sometime early 2007 – aiming for May. Then this autumn, my training partner, who is a bodybuilder, had a severe motorbiking accident putting him out of action up to date, and as a result my old routine of powerlifting with a small component of bodybuilding evolved into a purely powerlifting training programme with less gym training sessions, though in its place there has also been an increase in the cardio work. My diet has been improving and stabilising and sustaining me very well. All this I will now describe in my WIP update.

Monday-Friday every morning a 2.2km swim
Monday: bench workout with auxiliary tricep and shoulder work
Tuesday: run approx. 40mins
Wednesday: deadlifting session with auxiliary back bicep session
Thursday: occasional run or gym-cv session or else a “mess-around” day with odd exercises
Friday: run approx. 40mins
Saturday: squat and auxiliary legs and bodyweight session
Sunday: long run 1h30+ or a day mountaineering or climbing.

But as of next week until Xmas it will be:
Monday-Friday every morning a 2.2km swim
Monday: deadlifting session with auxiliary back bicep session
Tuesday: run approx. 40mins
Wednesday: run approx. 40mins
Thursday: bench workout with auxiliary tricep and shoulder work
Friday: run approx. 40mins
Saturday: squat and auxiliary legs and bodyweight session
Sunday: long run 1h30+ or a day mountaineering or climbing.

In the New Year I am going to implement a powerlifting routine following a Russian programme with a 9 week cycle with bench and squats on day (A), deadlifts on day (B) and squats and deadlift on day (C) with varying reps and sets at increasing weights over the 9 weeks. Looks hardcore but till be interested to see what gains I make in strength. As a female I am not particularly fussed about getting bigger in size at all. Quite happy the way I am thank you – though always seeking to reduce body-fat without strength-loss.

Current totals:

Bench: 55k (up from 37.5k in Nov. 2005) Goal 60k
Squat: 72.5k (but I know that I can do 75k if I had a spotter to give me confidence) (up from 52.5k in summer 2005) Goal 90k
Deadlift: 120k (aiming for 125k very soon) (up from 105k from summer 2005) Goal 130k (double BW)
Bodyweight: 63-65k

* Original Mountain Marathon again. In 2005 I did the KIMM (Karrimor Mtn Mara which has been renamed to OMM) and it was 2 days of agony and misery in the most rewarding experience – did Class C and finished middle-ranking. It was great and I want to get into more outdoorsy things. This year I have signed up for the Mountain Leader Training scheme and spend every weekend camping and mountaineering in all its forms in Snowdonia. I hope to get winter climbing in too.
* Skiing – had my annual ski trip and found that my new leg strength was great for finding my old ski form
* Running: been running regularly since August and ran for a few months in Jan-Feb as well. Hope to keep the running up.
*Cycling: I commute by bike but despite being the proud owner of a very decent mountain bike I have only been MTB 3 times since I bought it last summer.
* Swimming: I consistently swim 100 lengths of the university pool every weekday morning which makes 2.2km and takes me 45-50mins doing 15 lengths of breast-stroke and 85 of crawl.
*During VeganFitnessWeek2006 I got to try canoeing and rowing. I really liked the rowing and sometime in the distant future I would really love to do that.
* I like doing quite a lot of body-weight exercising and lots of stretching – it makes me feel good but above all I miss gymnastics and this makes me feel in touch with it.

My diet is always improving but my goals in eating as:
* minimum fat but generous supply of balanced omega 6 and omega 3 in a 3:1 ratio
* medium protein content but minimal from soy protein
* high carb intake with mainly quinoa, quinoa flakes, brown rice, lentils and chickpeas
* low sugar though recently I have really enjoyed cake-making and eating and still I am at lowest body fat than I have been for ages
* salt: I used to have a salt-free diet but I sweat so much I feel better and am better hydrated through adding unrefined sea salt to my supper
* the biggest guideline for my food shopping is packaging for the environment and because something that is packaged is more likely to be a processed food – NO processed foods exception being 1L soymilk per week for cakes, 1 block of tofu, and occasional weekend treats like Swedish glace or chocolate for the mountain
* no coffee
* gluten-free as gluten is not pleasant on my pathetically fragile digestive system
* I don’t need or use protein powders any more

My average day would look like this:

Breakfast: Quinoa porridge made from Quinoa flakes and boiling water, with sultanas, date pieces, freshly ground seed mix with balanced EFAs, and sliced banana
Snack (sometimes): 1 apple
Lunch: quinoa with lettuce, tomato, peas, red pepper and broccoli-sprouts; or chickpeas with tomato and broccoli sprouts
Supper: pea soup / lentils and daahl / root veg stew with rice or potatoes / salad tempeh and potatoes / lentil and rice shepherds pie / tofu coconut stirfry / jacket potato with lentil stew / buckwheat and tofu vegetable stew
Juice made with my single-gear juicer: kale, chard, carrot, ginger, broccoli, orange, lemon, kiwi, grapes/apple are optional, occasional beetroot, added spirullina powder

There you have it folks, hopefully this time next year I will have some amazing improvements to report and I will be coming back to WIP as a competitive powerlifting female!

Fruity