Tom
Hi I am Tom; 23 year of age, I have been Vegan over two years now and was veggie 4 year before that. I am a Business Studies student based in London and should attain a BA Honours degree by April 05.
I Studied Health and Exercise: on the side a UEL in 2003 and became serious about weight lifting after I gained a specialised understanding of health related fitness.
As well as a weight lifter I am also a martial
artist and runner. I have to try very hard to fit these three
activities together without over training.
I have been studying and teaching Wado Ryu Karate for over six
years,
I will be performing a Karate display at the Heart of England Vegan
Festival, see
HERE
for further details.
I like to keep my training simple these days with very high resistance low rep workouts. I currently perform pure strength training on my entire body except my legs. I am unable to run and perform endurance based martial arts as well as squat in the same week; this has led me to serious over training in the past. I normally have 1 week on one week off from endurance to strength training on my legs, I find these breaks always improve my endurance based activities sometimes negatively affect the 1RM of my squat.
I don’t have time for to many days off between training due to the fact I have to fit Karate into my schedule all days are performed systematically one after the other, this is a rough guide to my routine it is always evolving and is not set in stone, I always listen to what my body tells me.
Week one:
Day 1
Jogging – 6 Miles
Day 2
Bent over rows
Shrugs
Bench Press
Day 3 – Easy day
Vertical Sit ups – Gravity boot and chinning bar
Bicep Curls
Neck Curls
Shoulder press
Forearm pronation to supination
Leg Abduction
Grip work – Pinch grip and crushing grip
Day 4 – Rest / optional Jog – Eat plenty of carbs
Day 5 - Karate
Day 6 - Karate
Day 7 - Rest
Week two:
Day 1 - Changed
Hip-box squats: Sumo from the floor
Stiff Leg dead lifts
Day 2 - Changed
Bent over rows
High Pulls
Bench Press
Day 3, 4, 5, 6 ,7 are the same
Weight..... Squat...... Bench...... Dead....... Total.......
83kg........ 130kg...... 75kg........ 140kg...... 345kg......
This is me performing front splits followed by almost compete side splits below.
I am the flexibility guru of my dojo a regularly perform belt stretches etc as shown below
This kind of extreme flexibility helps me prevent injuries from occurring if any techniques were to be applied practically in a defence situation, I can perform high kicks as below with no stretching with a decreased chance of injury to my self.
I don’t have the perfect physique yet but I am working on it; here are some pictures.
I am very lazy and am not into making complicated foods, I eat purely to fuel my body, and these are my most commonly eaten foods:
Oats
Beans
Kidney Beans
Peas
Wholemeal Pasta and bread
Soya mince
Lentil Mung (30% protein)
This is probably not the best example of good vegan eats but it is functional as all of the above are high in protein.
I also mill my own flax seed for my omega 3s and take B12 and multivitamin supplements.
As you can tell I have excess body fat which I have been struggling to get off for over 3 years, I don’t believe in dieting unless in extreme circumstances as it can seriously harm your health; if you don’t know your nutrition but: I have given up that creed for now, I plan to get my body fat down to six percent, I am currently losing 1 to 2 pounds a week while maintaining my muscle though strength training, I hope I will not lose to much of my hard earned muscle in the name of vanity.
Finally here's a picture from September 2004 for comparison
