SUBJECT: Vegan Bodybuilding
& Links
DATE: January 18, 2007
Tony El Guapo
is still on the Vegan Bodybuilding kick. Some key points to consider:
1. Kellogs Total now has a soy-fortified cereal that has 10 grams of protein
per cup. Which isn't a whole heck a lot of cereal for that much protein.
Add soy milk and you're up to 16 grams of protein.
2. SOY SHAKES! Oh, we sampled two. One that was soy, one that was vegetable
based. The veggie based one was an affront to nature! Avoid by all means
necessary! Avoid! The Soy stuff is fair and well. You have to keep a few
things in mind... You need a blender. Handmixing will lead to powder clumps.
You add water, then powder. Mix. Then add a frozen bannana to cool it
out. You peel and cut up a bannana and place in wax paper, then put in
freezer. Lukewarm soy protein smoothies are an affront to nature. Add
frozen bananas. This creams it up, makes it richer and palatable. You
can add OJ or frozen berries, as well. But Water-Protein-Banana is the
bare minimum, and quite adequate.
3. Soybeans.
I made a soybean/blackbean vegan chili for Tony, and though Soybeans have
a crazy amount of protein your body fails to absorb so much of that protein
in its natural bean state. Vegan crumbles, patties, etc- the processing
someway or another makes your body better able to absorb the protein.
Who'd of thunk it? All the same, it's pretty great to do a vegan chili.
So though Chili is more Mex than PR, food is food and vegans can't be
choosers after choosing vegan. You'll eat what you've been given. Shut
Up!
That's the
finale thought. Vegans eat a lot of carbs and little protein, which is
why it's a dumb diet if you want to lose weight. But you can gain quality
muscle if you keep track of your protein intake. At least half your weight
in grams of protein (Tony is 160- he needs AT LEAST 80 grams of protein
a day, but he should have 120 grams. That's a lot of soymilk!)
Happy eatin!-
Anthony Team Torres
SUBJECT: Vegan Bodybuilding
& Links
DATE: August 10, 2006
Tony El Guapo
has it in his head that he's going to be a vegan bodybuilder. He loathes
the image of vegans as either soft and doughy or rail thin sticks. You
could never compare a natural bodybuilder to a steroid enhanced bodybuilder.
A steroid user can quit using steroids, but he's already reaped the benefits
of steroids and will maintain that edge over a natural bodybuilder. That's
why most natural bodybuilders aren't as impressive as say the guys in
the 70's and 80's. They all juiced up to one form or another. And if they
juiced, quit, and now compete natural, well... it's kind of a sham. They
beat the plateau with drugs. Nothing natural about that. Muscle memory
is a crazy thing.
All said,
it is possible to look better than average, in person, with a vegan diet.
But in photos, you'll be less than roid impressive. Why? Because you need
to understand posing and lighting and tanning and all the other secrets
bodybuilders use when the compete on stage. It's a lot of muscle control
you only develop through deliberately flexing and holding a pose for a
period of time.
Let's face
it- some people are naturally gifted with muscular and cut bodies. They
just got awesome bodies and that's that. But those people aren't the norm
in bodybuilding as the super motivated winners have a damn good reason
for working out: they're either fat or super skinny. They have a deep
desire to change their appearance, and that's what keeps them working
out. It's a bit of vanity, a lot of esteem. And so long as they don't
abuse drugs in the pursuit, there's no harm in self betterment.
Tony's been
joking that "vegan bodybuilding competitions are really slim."
He thinks he can take them on, quick. But the jokes on Tony. You gotta
work out to develop your potential, and then work harder to improve on
that.
As I have
quite a deep knowledge of bodybuilding (as opposed to strength training
which has a different approach, I went ahead and looked up links. Tony's
trainer, Piratés Craig, sent Tony some links, as well, so there
may be some overlap.
Some thoughts on Vegan bodybuilding:
You need protein. You need protein supplementation in the form of soy
protein powder shakes. One heaping scoop for 8 oz of water (which is a
cup)
Can Tony get built? Yes. It's a matter of workouts as much as diet. You
need the protein to grow new muscle tissue. That's about it. Eat how you
want to eat- all day long, or wait until night to pack it in. For a growth
program you should focus on the workout itself.
Training
Session One:
Got up with Tony.
He's been doing some benching, incline exclusively to develop the upper
chest. So I tried something I read last night. The thinking is if you
REALLY want to grow fast, you have to use heavy weight. The downside is
you can only pump out a few reps. It's not enough to encourage muscle
growth. The answer is a high number of sets.
An experienced lifter or someone with strength could lift 140 for 12 reps.
Not Tony. So to get him there, he lifted 140 for 2 reps, for 8 sets with
30 seconds between sets.
The math
means Tony did 16 repetitions. Which is good. We'll see how he feels tomorrow.
Then he did
bicep curls, 6 sets of 3 reps. He could only handle 50lbs plus bar. It's
always a shock to everyone when they realize how weak they are. But you
can up your lifts pretty quick as your body just has to get adjusted to
the movements. No need to be discouraged.
Then he did
squats of 50 lbs for 21 reps, one set only. Tony has the skinny legs.
I want the guy proportionate. Since he's doing this for vanity, the emphasis
will be on chest, shoulders and traps to sell the idea that he's bigger
and stronger than in practice. Still, he should work out his legs because
maybe he can develop them. Maybe he can have Tom Platz thighs. It's up
to him to show up and lift the weights.
We cut it
short after that set. 20 minutes had passed. I have other things to do.
Here's the links as I promised:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler53.htm
http://www.mikemahler.com/newsletter/
Mike Mahler
is the first vegan bodybuilder I heard of. I bought a huge stack of M&F
magazines for cheap at the Orlando Library Bookstore and in the letter's
column someone wrote to thank the editors for featuring this vegan lifter.
I didn't have that article in my stack, but this is the guy, as he's all
about kettleball workouts in that M&F article and on his site.
He writes
that he got into vegetarianism in part due to the Cro-Mags, which is pretty
funny, as they were -at a time- extremely violent individuals. It's no
secret they beat up people for fun. Far from the goodtimes of today. Anyhoo,
he has a lot of resources and articles online that debunk myths of vegan
bodybuilding. Mahler is not the first nor only vegan bodybuilder, and
I don't think he considers himself a bodybuilder as much as a trainer.
He is the most prolific and productive in terms of writing output. So
check him out. His links resulted in the following links...
http://www.workingclassfitness.com/MMAStrength.shtml
http://www.trainforstrength.com/workouts.shtml
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/vegetarian-bodybuilding.asp
This site has a
vegan meal plan that's quite easy to follow.
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SUBJECT: FESTIVAL
FEVER
DATE: JANUARY 18, 2007
I'm getting
stuff together for the Barrio Boys screening at Ola Fest. It's a lot of
fun, as all I ever wanted to do related to Barrio Boys now has a darn
good excuse for getting done. My screenprinting will happen tonight. Other
stuff, as well.
I'll post pix to the Photo site so everyone can enjoy the beauty of the
pieces.
Just wanted
to update this page. Didn't realize I haven't thought much of much since
August. Aye! Que Lastima!
SUBJECT: 1 Man Band
DATE: August 2, 2006
I shot a
scene with Craig and Stacey this weekend. Solo. Only me with a GL-1 and
a Seinheiser shotgun mic hooked up to a wireless link for onboard recording.
Here's some thoughts on it...
1. One person can hold the boom and operate the camera. You're gonna make
a movie. It's not going to be as slick as ATL, but you will make a movie.
To accomplish an ATL, you'll need a grip truck, dedicated grip, electric,
and camera crew, not to mention a full production to support their efforts.
Plus ancillary crew like Steadicam operator/owner, and so forth. I was
blown away by the imagery of ATL. And at the same time, I'm thrilled by
the low-tech imagery I'm getting. Ultimately, it's faces and words and
movements. And sound having as much importance as image (meaning get clean
sound with a shotgun mic aimed at the subjects)
2. You can
shoot without deep memorization. Just break down the shots and shoot the
parts for short term memorization. Meaning, if you have a 5 page scene,
don't bother with a master shot. Run through a half page a few times,
switch angle, run it through. I tend to move the mic to the off-camera
subject, as sometimes the line reads are better off camera than on. So
you shoot a half page at a time. Sure it'd be great to watch it unfold
in real time, but masters are such a headache to edit, as they prevent
inter-scene editing from occuring. You can glom them together and have
a movie. I've done that. And I'm no longer a fan of it. Use all the tools
at your disposal, editing being the fundamental tool of moving images.
3. Always
keep the camera running for rehearsal.
This is why I'm shooting myself as an experiment. I've found golden moments
etched into my mind but lost forever as I had no way of signaling for
the operator to shoot right then and there. And as an operator, I understand
they get tired and want a break so you shut everything down. As a filmmaker,
it gets frustrating when you see you're getting it on rehearsal but losing
it on the take. So that's the upside of a 1 man band. With digital video
you keep rolling for 60 minutes. Three minutes here, four minutes there
aren't a huge cause of concern. Just roll. You'll get some unguarded moments...
4. Boom in
the shot? Digitally erase it.
Digital video solutions don't stop at a computer and a camera. You need
a good mic and in a perfect world a wireless mic system. Camera manufacturers
are not audio engineers. They'll give you superior optics, but the sound
is universally crap. So that's like a $400 investment to own a wireless
get up. You need a good wideangle lens adapter. (Thanks Perfect
Sky Productions for all the hook ups!)
And then there's software. It's not just final cut studio. You need an
after effects or commotion. Why? Digitally erase stuff or clone it out.
Sure, you could do it in Photoshop, too, but commotion is just as well
for immediate cleaning up of a shot.
You can do it manually or automate.
So I am liberated from my bad booming. The shot is NOT ruined. Clone over
your mistakes.
And then you always have to color correct it and at the minimum adjust
the gamma.
That's the big thing with DV: you must treat it like film. Watch the deleted
scenes of a movie like Transporter 2. The Feature movie is crisp and vibrant.
The deleted scenes look poor. Why? The final movie is put through color
correction and scene image adjustment. The deleted scenes are raw shots
from the set. Untouched. Boring and flat. You light enough to get the
shot, and know you can print contrasty at the end.
You have
to touch the image. You have to manipulate the colors and gamma and levels.
A. Improve improv with rehearsal
We just went at it. And that's cool. You shoot and shoot until you feel
you have something there. The uncool part is that there are too many hats
for a one man band. Watching the takes, I realized I had given no direction,
and all my responses to questions were poor, at best.
Am I a rotten
director? No. This is an experiment. And the result is you have to write
the script and you have to work off the script to develop the character
and their interactions. All the things that fall under the umbrella of
director can't be ignored because you're holding the camera and boom.
I learned that this weekend.
B. Understand
what the story is about. Is the movie about Donna or Piratees trainer?
Or is it about Tony El Guapo? It's Tony El Guapo. That's the point of
view you focus on. When you have to drop shots, you can lose things without
losinig the plot only if you understand the movie.
C. Making
movies is everything. Yeah, I could do it perfect with awesome rehearsals
and so on. But the experiment is to see if I can pull it off, and what
compensations are required.
The compensation
I see now is SCRIPT and a readthrough, and basic scene work so people
understand the relationships and where threads of narrative join together
for the fabric of the movie.
AAAA. If
you just meet up and shoot, withhold judgement until you review the footage.
If you cast friends and think the traditional actor monlogues would be
a waste of everyone's time, then shoot a scene from the movie and let
them go at it. This becomes your audition / rehearsal. What sounds off
on set may be spot on at the computer editing session. So withhold judgement.
Movie magic is captured through a lens, not your on-set dulled eye. Watch
your "dailies" as you capture tapes, and review it when selecting
shots in Final Cut pro.
With that,
I'm nodding off. - Anthony Team Torres
SUBJECT: Trailer
Stuff
DATE: August 2, 2006
As a goof,
I checked out Adobe.com and their after effects page for info. Here's
a pretty solid link
on creating a website for a movie. No,
it's more involved than just html coding. But what do you expect? It's
a worldwide medium and now you can go head to head with anyone. And at
the same time, you are butting heads with everyone.
SUBJECT: The Best
DV Book You've Never Heard of
DATE: June 29 2006
By a chance
lark , I found this book:
Five Essential
Steps in Digital Video: A DV moviemaker's Tricks of the Trade by Denise
Ohio, published in 2001/2002 by Que Corp.
Of all the
books I've read, and I've read 'em all, this is the thickest, least patronizing,
and most informative. Quite frankly I can no longer recommend books by
first time filmmakers or any that hype Final Cut Pro or what not.
Whereas the
Guerilla's Handbook is marred by the author's poor taste in movies and
the UK focus, and the Raindance Producer's guide STEALS passages from
Dov SS Siemen's book, and every other book is so specific to one filmmaker's
path, this filmmaker is working outside of the major production centers
and shares a true wealth of information relating to producing small DV
films over 820 pages and a DVD full of releases, interviews, and more.
If I were to dream of what a perfect film book would have, this is it.
And the messed up thing? I haven't heard of it until this month, June
2006! I guess they focus on educational markets rather than glutting every
B&N out there.
So if you
are curious about "Oh, where do I turn?" Turn to this book and
start turning pages. Even the marketing section is better than the film
marketing books I've read! This is a COMPLETE RESOURCE! Even if you know
it all, you'll learn a few things more. Those forms on the DVD make this
book totally worthwhile. Plenty of books publish the form, but next to
none actually share them digitally.
Go to Amazon and buy this book. I just bought another copy for only $6.50
(shipping included), which is crying shame when so much junk is out there
and none of that goes to the author. (That's why I hate buying used CDs,
as well.) So though that sucks for the author, it's great for you because
you can get the best book ever written for under $10!
Denise Ohio's website is HolyToledo.com.
Happy Reading-
Anthony Team Torres
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