Rea Frey - Power Vegan: Plant-Fueled Nutrition for Maximum Health and Fitness

Rea Frey is an author, nutrition specialist, and International Sports Sciences Association certified trainer. She has done extensive research on plant-based diets and overall nutrition and has been a practicing plant eater for the last 15 years. She is the author of The Cheat Sheet: A Clue-by-Clue Guide to Finding Out if Hes Unfaithful (Adams Media, June 2011) and has been featured in Fitness, Ladies Home Journal, and Whole Living. She lives in Chicago and blogs about her workout routines, recipes, and life as a vegan mom at www.reafrey.com. (And yes, those earrings in her photo are cruelty free.)

Thank you to the wonderful team at Agate, who allowed me to write the book Ive always wanted to write. Your steadfast advice and encouragement are rare in this business.

Thanks to Heather Crosby of YumUniverse for supplying endless dinner recipes when I was too tired to come up with my own (and for contributing a few to the Power Vegan Recipes chapter as well). Thank you to Brendan Brazier, who continues to shed light on how easy and successful a vegan life can be, and has inspired me in numerous ways, both on the page and off. Thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer for his enlightening book Eating Animals, which prompted me to dive back in to a vegan life. Thanks to Nikki McFadden, who stayed up all night, rode a disgusting bus, and shot the exercise photos on no sleep. You are a photography ninja.

And thanks to my husband, Alex, who chops, cooks, folds, cleans, loves, smiles, parents, impersonates, laughs, and provides the best companionship one could ask for. Thank you for the humor, the friendship, the love, and the loyalty. Thank you for being my first reader, my sounding board, my exception. Thank you for it all.

In this section, Ive included descriptions of all the exercises mentioned in . I have also demonstrated some of the more complicated exercises with step-by-step photos. These photos are included to assist you with the proper form (disclaimer: They were taken five months post pregnancy, so be kind).

Many of the following exercises use a row and/or a clean movement. Here are some definitions:

Row: This term means to lift a weight by pulling the arms in toward the body, flexing the muscles of the back, and bending your elbows to complete the movement. (See photos of Barbell Swim, .)

Clean: Using your trapezius muscles (the flat triangular muscles of your shoulder and upper back), shrug the weights up to your shoulders as you drop into a squat. Flip your wrists up toward the ceiling to catch the weights by your shoulders. This should be a fast and powerful movement. (See photos of Clean and Press, .)

BARBELL SWIM: Grasp a light barbell in front of you at shoulder height with both hands. Bend right elbow back and straighten left arm. Move fluidly to bending the other elbow, rowing arms as if you were swimming. Keep the barbell at shoulder height throughout the movement.

BEAR CRAWL: Begin on hands and knees. Knees should be bent, hands directly under shoulders. Begin to crawl forward by bending your left knee and moving it forward (your left knee should almost kick your left elbow). Keep your butt down and continue moving forward with your right arm and leg. Alternate arms and legs crawling forward, using your core to propel you forward. Try not to swivel your hips.

BOX JUMP: Begin by facing a low/medium step or bench. Squat slightly, keeping your back flat and core engaged. Spring up, landing with both feet firmly on top of the bench in a semi-squat or deep squat. Hop or step back down.

BRIDGE: Lie down on a mat and bend your knees, feet flat on the floor. Try to move your heels close to your butt. Slide hands down the length of your back toward your heels, and clasp hands together underneath your lower back as you lift your hips and bottom off the ground. Tighten the backs of your legs as you lift hips higher. Try to pinch shoulder blades together. Hold for 1030 seconds. Come down. Repeat three times.

BROAD JUMP: Find an open space. Squat, swinging your arms back. Propel your body forward and land softly on your heels, sinking into a squat. Continue jumping forward for all reps.

BROAD JUMP TO WALK-OUT PUSH-UP WITH BEAR CRAWL BACK: Perform a Broad Jump. Immediately walk hands out to push-up position. Perform a Walk-Out Push-Up and walk hands back to standing. Continue moving forward with Broad Jumps and Walk-Out Push-Ups for reps. Then perform a Bear Crawl moving backwards to the start.

BRONCO BURPEE: Squat and place hands on the floor. Using your core, shoot both legs up to the ceiling into a handstand. Lower both legs back down and jump straight up in the air. Repeat for all reps.

BURPEE: Squat until your hands are touching the floor. Shoot your feet back to a push-up position, hop them back in to your hands, and stand up, jumping up at the top.

CABLE TWIST: Face a cable that is positioned at about hip height. Load it up with a medium weight. Grasping one handle in both hands with an overhand grip, use your abs to slice the cable over to your right hip, back to center, then over to the left.

CHEST TAP PUSH-UP: Begin in push-up position. Perform a push-up and spring from bent elbows into the air, tapping the chest and then lowering back into a push-up.

CLEAN AND PRESS: Hold a barbell in front of your body, palms down. Using your shoulders and core, clean the barbell up to your shoulders by rowing up, and then bend your elbows forward and flip your wrists so the barbell is at your clavicles. Press barbell up overhead, stopping before elbows are locked. Return to start.