Jim Morris, 78-Year-Old Vegan Bodybuilder – Is He Natural Or Not?

Jim Morris /78 y.o./ is a vegan and a former bodybuilder champion who posed to show off his young looking body for a new compaign organized by PETA. The main idea is to break the idea that the vegan diet is not healthy and that chemically processed meat products are not the way to go.

“The protein in animal products is so laden with fats and chemicals and all sorts of stuff that’s harmful to you,” said Morris to PETA.

While all of this sounds so sexy and cute we know that you just can't trust anybody these day. {More}. IronGangsta is here to tell you that Mr. Jim Morris is not a lifetime natural bodybuilder. In the photo below you can see him together with his friends Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Eddie Guiliani, Joe Gold, Danny Padilla and Bob Paris. {All known steroids users!}

Image source: http://robbyrobinson.blogspot.com/

Obviously, Mr. Jim Morris is as big as well known steroid users who officially admitted steroid usage {Arnold}. While it may be all cool and magical to believe that what you see is what you get IronGangsta is here to make you think just a little deeper.

via http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/

There are a lot examples of lifetime steroid users who have become mainstream examples for young looking bodies even at an advanced age. Below are just two examples:

Swedish bodybuilder Andreas Kahling at 60 years of age

French bodybuilder Serge Nubret at 66 years of age

The bodybuilders above have been on anabolic steroids and related products for a very long time. They are really an example that you can have a good body even at an old age, but there is more to it than just good training and proper nutrition.

Mr. Serge Nubret is a well known meat eater who used to consume a lot of horse meat during his prime and later on switched to beef. He had a great physique pretty much his whole life. Today, we see Mr. Jim Morris claiming that vegan diet is the way to go and uses his body to back it up. So, what is the secret in the end of the day? It seems that the absence or presence of meet is not the main thing that is going to help you achieve that sexy look. Things like good training, quality food, sleep and low stress life are important factors but the real deal breakers are HIGH hormone levels. That's what keeps the muscle on your frame. Since testosterone decreases as age advances you need to get it from an outside source which is something professional bodybuilders are all used to and do all the time. Even what is considered a normal TRT dose (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) makes a huge difference in how big you are.

Disclaimer: IronGangsta.com respects the accomplishments of Mr. Jim Morris, Mr. Serge Nubret and Mr.Andreas Kahling but as always there is more truth to every story. 

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Easy On The Knees Cardio

If you are ultra fat or have some knee issues the classic cardio knows as running may not be for you. In that case this post is dedicated to you.

Kettlebell/T-Handle Swings

Kettlebell shit is very easy on the knees, unless you smack the kettlebell right into your knee. The range of motion at the knee joint is very small during kettlebell movements.

Swimming 

Swimming is a very low impact cardio but to be honest a lot of people are too lazy to put any intensity into their swim and just float. 

Walking

Walking is also not the hardest activity on the knees and it's free.

Riding a bike

Riding a bike is another good form of cardio that seems to be more knee friendly than running. Give it a shot. Make sure the bike is big enough for you and your legs extend completely otherwise you may have some joint pain.

Diet

Like it or not diet is the ultimate way to lose weight. Nothing beats diet - nothing. It works every single time. You can read my simple guideline here.

Obviously diet has zero stress on your knees. However if you have a knee injury make sure you caloric restriction is small otherwise the healing process will be much slower.

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Be The Motivation

You probably think I am a big hater. Well, I am but not that big. When I was starting training and learning about dieting and healthy lifestyle in general I was constantly judging other people around me, especially my family for their food choices. That did not bring anything positive to the table. This is when I got the message - the only way to have influence on other people is to be an example. As Gandhi said it:

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

This is 100% true and the fastest and most effective way to impact people around you is to improve. Success and improvement are attractive. You can't and you shouldn't expect other people to love what you love. You can't expect them to love training. The only thing you can do is show them an example of how your life was changed due to weightlifting or whatever. This is when the sexy part happens - everybody is asking questions and suddenly everybody gives a fuck about your advice.

In the iron world all this could become a little problematic because genetics and drugs are too important and not always the biggest guy is the one who knows the most. If someone is genetically very gifted obviously he/she will have a different opinion on the subject than a mediocre person who worked much harder to get even close to the level of the genetic freak.

I've never been supported by my family when it comes to training and I could not blame them. After my bulks I was too fat, after my cuts I was too skinny but at the same time all the people around me were jealous of one thing - I never gave up despite the fact that I sucked. That's one of the things I am somewhat proud about .

So the next time you see your wife, husband, sister, mother, brother, father...etc eat unhealthy make a simple remark but you should now that you can't be responsible for the decisions of other peole. After all if that was possible how would anybody buy something labeled this way:

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Drinking Coke Zero On A Diet?

Is it ok to drink coke zero on a diet? Yes and no.

Coke Zero does not contain calories, unless you believe 1 calorie is crucial for fat loss. You will still lose weight because the basic and only requirement for losing weight (caloric deficit) will not be broken with 1 calorie. There are a few problems however.

Problem 1: Coke Zero is still not a healthy choice

Think for a second. If Coke Zero has not calories what the hell is in it? Shit? Like it or not Coke Zero contains a lot of chemicals and can be harmful to your teeth, stomach and what not. According to some beliefs diets sodas are the worst because they contain acrtificial sugar known as splenda which the body cannot digest and therefor it stays in your body for years. Is it true? Well, I doubt it stays in your body for years but it sure as hell is harmful. However Coke Zero does not contain that shit but comes with a decent load of aspartame which is a dangerous substance that can cause cancer and brain damage. Whether that's true or not I don't know. If you want to know more about aspartame and it's harmful effect you can visit: http://www.aspartamekills.com/.

At the same time many people believe that diet sodas in general make you crave sugar even more due to the sweeteners and it's a dirty little trick to get the addicts back on the horse. 

Problem 2: Coke Zero Can Be Addictive

Have you ever been on a diet? If so you probably know how hard it is. I believe that one of the biggest problems are the people around you for one very simple reason - they buy all this crappy food and eat it right in your face. When you are on a diet other people become drug dealers. They have all the goods you crave and you suffer. That's where Coke Zero comes in handy - it allows you to "break the habit" and cheat without cheating because there are no calories in it. However all of this can be problematic because if you drink diet sodas everyday you will still lose weight if the rest of your diet is not disrespected but you will make the diet drink a habit. Bad habit. This can be problematic. That's why I don't recommend to people to drink diet drinks in the beginning of their diets. You can add diet drinks only during the last few weeks of your diet and you should not drink more than 0.5l every two days. This is just a basic guideline that will help you in the long run.

Problem 3: Coke Zero Contains Sodium Which Causes Water Retention

It's a well known fact that diet drinks contain decent amount of sodium which causes water retention. Water retention can mask fat loss and usually blurs your muscular definition. It can be problematic. Therefor if you want to drink Coke Zero you must drink a lot of water as well to get all that sodium out of your body and avoid holding water.

Conclusion:  Having a few bottles of Coke Zero at the end of your diet is ok but making it a daily habit will only cause troubles in the long run. Don't do it.

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Maintaining Strength and Mass When Cutting

A lot of people are afraid they will lose tremendous amount of muscle mass if they try to cut some bodyfat. Of course not. It's pretty simple to maintain your strength and muscle mass when losing bodyweight. Here are the main rules:

1. The fatter you are the easier it is to maintain your mass. In other words if you are over 20% you should not worry about losing mass until you get to at least 14% BF. This does not mean that you should disrespect the diet plan.

2. Diet is more effective for losing weight than cardio.

3. To keep your lean body mass on a cut you should consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of LBM. In other words if you are 200lbs and 20% BF you should consume around 160 grams of protein every day. Don't worry if you screw up on some days.

4. You should keep lifting heavy to keep your strength but reduce the volume as the diet goes by. On severe super calorie restricted diet it's ok to train only 1-2 twice a week going heavy (5 reps) on basic exercises. Cut all isolation exercises if you are doing this. Also no cardio.

5. You initial caloric restriction should be based on your bodyfat levels. If you are 20-25% BF 1000-1500 daily caloric deficit is perfectly fine for males. For females it depends. If you are 5'4 150lbs you probably need just 1500 calories to maintain. Obviously 1000 caloric deficit would kill you. You would need much smaller deficit.

6. Don't over think. Take a break after 2-3 months.

7. This is an example of a simple cutting plan.

THIS GUY WANTS YOU TO GET LEANER.

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The Problem With Cardio And Calories

When you want to lose weight cardio is the first advice, right? However there is one big misunderstanding when it comes to cardio.

Cardio burns much less calories than you would think. The cardio sensors on the machines are usually wrong and not very accurate way to measure how much calories you are burning during cardio sessions. Actually it's almost impossible to know exactly how much calories you are burning during cardio manifests. 

Our body wants us to survive

The body does not give a singular fuck about how much muscled or ripped it is. Truth. The body gives however a lot of attention to surviving each day. That and the fact that in nature nothing is ever lost is the reason why extra caloric intake is stored as bodyfat. 

The body is very efficient when it comes to burning fat and uses just as little as needed. In other words if we were burning 5000 calories everytime we walk for 5 miles we would simply die becuase this is not efficient and one of the reasons why we burn much less calories than we think during cardio. 

Think for a second: if in an hour of cardio you burn 500 calories you have actually used much less extra calories because out of those 500 calories 250 would have been used just to live during that hour. In other words the reward is smaller and if you eat one banana the reward is gone. That's why diet is more effective for burning fat than cardio and faster results are seen from it. 

When you introduce 500 or more caloric deficit to your daily intake your body is receiving 500 calories less no matter what. You have a calculated, pure and real caloric reduction and you did not have to sweat like a pig to achieve it. 

With that being said cardio comes with other benefits diet will never provide - reduction of excess water, improved cardio vascular system, improved agility, stamina...etc.

Conclusion: Diet is more effective than cardio for losing weight but cardio still offers a lot of benefits outside the fat burning spectrum.

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Getting Lean In 3 Months

The following strategy is designed to take you from something like 23-25% BF to 10-11% BF in about 12 weeks or three months.

Note: For females add 5-7% to the above values.

Also small females may need to add 2-3 days of cardio during the last weeks instead of reducing the calories because eating something like 500 calories a day for weeks would be a torture. 

Important

While on this plan you will NOT gain a single pound of muscle unless you are beginner. This program is designed to get you to decent bodyfat levels. Unless you use PEDs you won't be able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Sorry.

This approach will get you lean faster but is mentally pretty hard.

Week 1: Multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 9. So, let's say you weight 200 lbs. 200lbs x 9 = 1800.

Those are you calories for 4 days out of week 1. The rest three days eat as usual. NOT more - just as usual.

Exercise plan does not change. You still train the way you trained the previous weeks.

Week 2:

Eat around 1800 calories for 5 days. The week-end eat as usual. Exercise program does not change.

Week 3:

Eat around 1800 calories for 6 days. On Sunday eat whatever you want. Exercise program can be kept the same depending on how you feel but you can also reduce the sets. Don't train more than 3-4 times a week.

Week 4:

Welcome to hell. Keep calories at around 1800 for the whole week. You can have a cheat meal for breakfast 2-3 times a week but overall calories should not go over 1800 by much.

Reduce training days to three and cut isolation exercises completely.

Week 5:

Same as week 4 but on Sunday you can cheat a little.

Week 6:

Reduce training days to 2. Keep weights the same and sets really low. No cheats. Calories are the same as Week 5.

Week 7:

Same as week 6.

Week 8:

Welcome to the real hell.  Same as week 6 but add two days of 30 minutes cardio of choice. No cheats.

Week 9:

You can end your diet here if you have your goals reached. It depends on how fat you started.

You can also take one week off and keep eating plus 1000 calories to your calculated caloric intake for the previous weeks.

Week 10:

Cut training days to 1. Reduce calories by 500. In our case that leaves 1300.

Week 11:

Same as week 10.

Week 12:

Reduce calories by 500 more. In our case that leaves us with 800. Enjoy hell. All the calories should come from protein.

Note: you can add an extra week at 800 calories if needed.

Week 13:

Eat at maintance levels. Usually about 1000 calories on top of the caloric intake for the whole cutting cycle.

Note: If you have some sort of health issues that may become problematic due to this diet DON'T DO IT.

Possible side effects: 

I think most people will be fine. The last three weeks are hell. No doubt about it. Actually all 12 weeks are hell. Once again if your body tells you to stop. STOP!

Keep protein at about 1gram per LBM. This means that if you are 200lbs and 20% BF your LBM is 160lbs. You will need about 160-200 grams of protein to keep your mass. No more is needed.

This is how I cut weight. I had to lose 30-35 lbs on two occasions and that plan worked both times. I got from 23% BF to 10% BF.

Are there other ways? Yes. No doubt about it but this one sure as hell works.

If you have any questions ask in the comment section.

Disclaimer: This type of dieting can cause health issues. Consult your doctor before engaging in similar activities. This blog does NOT carry any responsability for your actions. Be careful! Stay safe!

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