It’s time for Vegan Man’s “Men’s Health” edition! Every man wants rock-hard abs and to be irresistible to women and/or men, and to know the 10 secret tricks that Brad Pitt uses to hypnotize pythons!

A bit over a year has passed since I’ve begun strength training. I’m fortunate to be working with an amazing personal trainer who has guided me from the start. While being fairly fit in some ways, strong has not exactly been the right way of putting it.

It’s been quite an adventure. I suppose that some people concentrate on the results – and there have been results – but for me it’s been the process of the thing that’s pleased me the most. There’s a practice to it, one of consistent application and patience. It’s like being vegan or playing a musical instrument or anything else; there’s an essential will to do something, but more importantly is the actual drive to do it, and do it regularly and with full attention. Those who know me have heard the practice speech in various forms, so this is not a surprise.

So, practicing strength training for a year; where has it got me? I’ve dropped a few percentage points in body fat to 9%, and gained lean muscle mass, going from around 135 to 141 pounds. I am, obviously, stronger – I’ll spare you more numbers. Development of muscles in my chest and back has helped my posture, balance, and general stamina. And oh yeah, I’ve got rock-hard abs.

Looking better, feeling better! And it’s great to be able to be strong when I need it. I’ve carried tree stumps, furniture, opened jars. To be a healthy and strong, to do it as a vegan, is a great thing.

The thing about practicing is that there’s always more to come, and that’s a great thing. I look forward to continuing down the route and seeing where it comes from. Hopefully I can learn Brad Pitt’s python trick at some point.

Here’s the obligatory before and after picture. The before picture is from a few years back, and I included it not only because it shows off the torso but because it also highlights my magnificent Goatee of the Past.

My food photography has been a bit disappointing in recent weeks, partly because it’s very hard to get enticing pictures of the simple French lentil soup I’ve been obsessing over, and partly because I’ve been in such a hurry to actually eat what I cooked that I haven’t taken the extra time to set up the shot. I’d rather not share blurry and unappetizing pictures with the world, and I hope you agree.

There has been a lot of good cooking, with the exception of last week, which was at the monastery, in which case there was just a lot of good eating. The food there is nothing especially fancy, but it’s got fresh ingredients and is prepared with a lot of attention and love, truly food that Vegan Man thinks is the best.

Looking at the menu for the upcoming weeks, I hope to have a lot more to share. I’m working up some of my own recipes as well; being as I’m not a cookbook writer, it takes some getting used to the process of cooking with the intent of writing a recipe in mind. It takes me out of the act of cooking in a sense.

It’s good to have time to cook this week. This morning I made some coffee chip muffins:

And for dinner, tomato couscous with capers, and grilled tofu:

Tonight’s dinner. Chile corn-crusted tofu and Mexican millet, with greens.

Tonight’s dinner was a bbq sandwich, a big fluffy french roll filled with a chickpea cutlet from Veganomicon covered in sauteed onions and bbq sauce. And a side of oven fries! A hearty meal, to be sure.