Interesting workout today…or more accurately, interesting conversation overheard during my workout today.

A couple of drug-using bodybuilders were training beside me, and one was getting ready for a competition. They were talking openly about the steroids he was on and the ones he thought he should be on.

In case you didn’t know, different steroids result in different results. Some cause more water retention than others, some are more effective for building muscle, and some have more side effects than others.

Now I’ll be honest, I’m not educated enough – or interested enough – to know the differences, but I can tell you this:

There are way more guys are on steroids than the average person would guess. Put it this way…if you see a guy and he makes you stop and think, “wow, that dude is big”, I’d say 9/10 times the guy is on juice.

Is that prevalent.

Its not rocket science why these guys are so big.

And we are all far too naive about how many people use steroids.

So you might be thinking, “Would I ever use them?”

Nah.

I’m too vain to use steroids. I want to hold on to what is left of my hair for as long as I can…and of course, I consider it cheating for a young man to use steroids. Oh yeah, and they are illegal. That’s kind of a big deal to me too!

So I listened and learned to the 2 guys training at my gym, but its not something I’ll be doing.

Back to my workout…it went down like this:

1) Deadlift – worked up to 345×3 double overhand and 385×3 alternate grip. Not bad.

2A) Military Press – 3×6
2B) Front Squat – 2×6

3A) Back Extension – 2×12
3B) Bodyweight Row – 30, 20

Not bad, and I’m definitely not getting weaker, even though I haven’t eaten meat in about 8 weeks. But then again, I didn’t expect to get weaker. It’s only food. As long as you get enough calories on a veggie diet, you’ll easily get enough protein by default. You don’t really need that much.

I guess you could say that most people give way too much “power” and credit to protein, and completely overlook the fact that most big guys are just big because they are on drugs.

The magazines have done their job! Completely brainwashed the world into thinking protein supplements have a significant effect on our bodies – which they really don’t.

But that’s another topic for another day…

And then after my workout I bought a loaf of multi-grain pumpkin seed bread and make some almond butter sandwiches, and then followed that up with another blender drink.

• Frozen strawberries
• 1 banana
• almonds
• cacao nibs
• 1 tbspn peanut butter
• almond milk
• hemp bliss

Good stuff.

Unfortunately that will be the last blender drink till Sunday, since I’m heading out of town – to Arlington, Texas – for a few days. Going to a Texas Rangers game on Friday night…should be fun. And getting some business help from “The Barefoot Executive”, Carrie Wilkerson, during the day.

Should be good times,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Don’t miss the free veggie meal plans that my friend Kardena Pauza is giving away.

If you’ve ever wanted to make the switch to the Vegetarian Lifestyle, she’s got a great starter plan for you!

Click here for your vegetarian diet plan

I’m not going to lie to you…I wanted to write an article today about how Mac Danzig, the UFC fighter who follows a vegan diet, won his fight last night…but unfortunately Mac lost.

But that doesn’t take away from the message that athletes can achieve peak performance without high-protein meat-based diets.

We’ll take a look at a few in a second. You’ll be shocked at a few of the names that come up.

Unfortunately the UFC pay-per-view didn’t show Mac’s fight last night, but I tuned in with some friends to watch the rest of the matches. Some guys ordered pizza and wings, but I kept it vegan and ate a bag of pistachios.

(Pistachios are a good “fat loss diet” movie/TV snack because it takes some work to get the little suckers out of their shells. And that way you don’t eat as many as if you were eating peanuts or almonds out of the bag.)

According to the internet, Mac ended up losing a thrilling match in the lightweight division and almost won by submission in the 2nd round but his opponent was saved by the bell. Danzig, who won Season 6 of “The Ultimate Fighter”, has put on a lot of great matches and should get another shot in the UFC. Hopefully he’ll get some PPV action in the future.

As for me, I continued my vegetarian experiment this morning with more vegan eating and another good workout. I started the day with a vegan breakfast bowl of:

• oat groats (soaked in water overnight)
• 1 banana
• 1 tablespoon organic peanut butter
• some blueberries
• And 1 apple and 1 pear

After that, I hit the gym. Here’s my workout, you’ll notice it included a lot of bodyweight exercises:

1A) Overhead Squat – 135×3x5
1B) Pullups – 3×12

2A) DB Chest Press – 90×3x6
2B) Inverted Bodyweight Row – 25,20,20

3A) Pistols – 3×3
3B) Hanging Leg Raises – 3×8
3C) Dips – 3×15

Good and fast. Finished in about 35 minutes.

After my workout I walked home and then blended up a shake/smoothie with…

• pineapple
• banana
• almond milk
• hemp bliss
• cacao nibs.

It was okay. Should have added some nut butter.

Then I had lunch which was one of my infamous “big boy salads” and 1 cup of almond milk.

• Spinach
• Black beans
• 1/2 avocado
• salsa
• red onion, red and green peppers, and broccoli

Then I hit the park with Bally the Dog.

When we got back, I tried another smoothie. The2nd shake attempt featured:

• Frozen strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1 tablespoon cashew butter
• hemp bliss
• almond milk.

This was much better, although it still could have used more cashew butter. And possibly some chocolate…

So that’s the day in the life of this vegetarian “athlete” for now. As I mentioned before there are many vegetarian athletes, and a couple of them hitting world class performance levels.

First, I stumbled across this quote from gold-medal winner Carl Lewis.

“Can a world-class athlete get enough protein from a vegetarian diet to compete? I’ve found that a person does not need protein from meat to be a successful athlete. In fact, my best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet. Moreover, by continuing to eat a vegan diet, my weight is under control, I like the way I look. (I know that sounds vain, but all of us want to like the way we look.) I enjoy eating more, and I feel great.”

But an even better example is Tony Gonzalez, all-pro tight end in the NFL.

Tony is a vegan and has gotten help from my friend, strength coach, and all-around nice guy, Jon Hinds.

Tony’s change in diet has even been featured on the Wall Street Journal’s website.

Here’s a little video of the 247 pound NFL pro-bowler showing you how to make a high protein vegan shake.

Let me know if there are other vegetarian athletes that I’ve missed, or if you are achieving peak performance on a vegetarian diet.

And hey, no matter what diet you use, just remember to…

Stay Strong!

Looking forward to your success,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Got a good shake or smoothie recipe?

Just let me know in the comments section below.

Alright, so my strep throat is gone. Hurray! What a difference a day makes.

So now I’m back on track…with a new diet for this month and a new workout program.

I’m sticking with the vegan diet, but switching it up a bit. Last month I ate a lot of grains…you might even call them processed – depending on how literal you want to be. But as you know, I was eating whole grain breads, spelt bread and pasta, and oatmeal.

This month I’m going to cut that out and go with as many raw foods as possible. I’ll probably cook beans and chili for some dinners, but I’m going to skip the pastas and breads.

Really makes me feel like I’m running out of food sometimes, but it will make me do even more digging for ideas. 

Gotta keep learning. Never stop!

Plus, I always have my friend Kardena for ideas…she’s the queen of raw food and vegan eating and will help me get enough calories to gain more weight and hopefully get up to 190-ish by the end of the month.

And another go to resource is Jay Ferruggia. He’s always posting big vegan smoothie recipes on Twitter or Facebook. Click here to read Jay’s diet and workouts on Twitter.

Or check out his gym here:

Now let’s look at what I’ve had to eat today…

Started the day with breakfast of oat groats (soaked 24 hours in water to soften them up) mixed with organic cashew butter, a banana, and blueberries. Also had a pear.

Before my workout, I had raw vegetables and hummus, and a quinoa bread sandwich (last sandwich before I stop eating all bread for the month). The sandwich spread was Mystery Butter #2 (I swear that’s what the label says!) and a banana.

(The actual contents of mystery butter #2 are peanut butter and hazelnut butter. The company that makes it calls it mystery butter.)

After my workout I had a bowl of aat groats with almond milk, blueberries, and a banana. On the side I had a bowl of cherries, and an apple with another tablespoon of mystery butter.

I need a snack, then dinner, and then another snack to finish off. But even that won’t be enough. I have to add a big power smoothie to the plan tomorrow. And more raw nuts.

Did you see the mistake I made?

I was not fully prepared. My bad. Don’t let this happen to you!

And that’s the same mistake I see a lot of TT users making. That’s why I recommend getting Done-For-You Meal Plans.

Alright, more to come on better nutrition tomorrow. Now let’s look at my workout today…

1) Power Clean 2×5

2A) Squat – 4×4-6 (worked up to 335)
2B) Chinups – 3 sets going 2 reps short of failure

3A) Good Morning – 2×8
3B) Close-Grip Bench Press – 2×6

and for the Meatheads

4A) DB Curl – 3×6
4B) DB Triceps Extension – 3×8

Got that done in about 40 minutes. Very little rest. Very efficient warm-up.

Back in on Friday to deadlift,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Let me know your diet plans for this month. Please comment below!

Well, June’s over, so the Diet Reconstruction is done!

Or is it?

I’m having a lot of fun with this vegan diet and learning new foods and trying out different meals, so I’m going to keep it going.

I’m going to knock out the meat and dairy for another month…then I have a new secret diet plan scheduled for August…it will be a very interesting experiment you won’t want to miss.

I’ve learned so much in the last month and tried so many new foods for the first time, including:

• spelt flour bread, spelt flour linguine, and a spelt flour veggie patty
• pumpkin seed butter
• organic cashew butter
• oat groats
• coconut meat
• almond milk
• hemp beverage (not so good!)
• quinoa
• ezekial cereal
• kamut pasta

But I still think I can do better. As you can see, I was heavy on the grains this month. So in July I’m going to cut back on a lot of the boxed foods (even though they are healthy) and eat more fruit instead.

So I’ll be moving away from the box-vegetarian diet towards more of a raw vegan diet, and I’ll keep pushing to force-feed myself more calories.

I actually lost about a pound and a half in the 4 weeks for 2 reasons. First, it’s hard to eat a lot of calories when you cut out meat, dairy, all added sugar, and alcohol. The fiber-rich, low-processed food diet I was on fills you up fast. So that’s good if you want to lose weight.

Second, I got sick twice. Strange, isn’t it? I go two years without getting sick, and then I switch to a vegan diet and get sick twice in a month.

I still claim the first one was food poisoning. And the second one – my strep throat – was just bad luck. And bad timing. So I wasn’t able to eat much the last 3 days.

But I’m going to bounce back in July and gain that weight back fast. My throat is already a lot better and ready to take on more calories.

Plus, I finally bought myself a big-time blender to create smoothies. That will help get more calories in. My buddy Jay Ferruggia is the master of creating high-calorie muscle building smoothies.

Alright, so who is with me?

Who is going to continue to improve their diet for July as well?

Are you ready to give up alcohol for 4 weeks?

Going to give up chocolate for 31 days?

Ready to ban the booze from your belly for just a few short weeks?

I guarantee you’ll feel better in days just by doing it.

And yes, I know that July 4th is right around the corner…so you have two options. First, start the Diet Reconstruction on July 5th. Or second, stay strong and be loud and proud and start your Diet Reconstruction right now!

Either way, I’m proud of what you are doing…keep on striving to be a little bit better everyday!

That’s the baby-step way to success, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Let me know how this month went for you,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Click here to discover the original diet depletion challenge

The #1 question I get about eating a vegan diet is, “How do you get enough protein?”. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that question, I’d be able to afford another Bally the Dog.

Well, it’s actually quite simple when you’re eating to build muscle for a couple of reasons.

First of all, we just don’t need as much protein to gain mass as the supplement companies and bodybuilding magazines try to make us believe.

And second, if you’re eating a lot of calories, you’ll have no problem getting enough protein even on a vegan diet.

Just take a look at this quick video to discover how most foods commonly known as “carbohydrate foods” actually contain a large amount of protein (10-25 % of the calories in these foods come from protein).