Vegan Bodybuilding

By Dan Beaton

The Vegan Pledge

Reflecting on what animals were put through en route to becoming dinner on my plate I decided to become a vegetarian at around the age of 10.  For all my interest in animals and all my fascination with ethics (later reinforced by my study of Philosophy at university) I couldn’t help but pick up an altogether different, and so I’m told, conflicting interest along the way. Like many an insecure teenager wanting to improve upon his appearance, I started going to a gym. My appearance was pretty emaciated back then and in the hope of adding muscle to my skeletal frame I started a weight training regime. Here began an interest in bodybuilding that continues to this day.

I pounded the weights for several years without making much in the way of gains: moving from a meagre 10 stone to a paltry 11.  At 5ft10 this hardly made me a stand out in a crowd let alone a gym, but I plodded on.  Like most people who spend a lot of time in the gym I never aspired to be ‘bodybuilder big’. This however did not mean I ignored what bodybuilders were up to.  A friend of mine, two years my junior, but making rapid muscle and strength gains told me: “if you can do half of what the ‘pros’ do then you will be half as successful”.  That wasn’t meant to be a defeatist remark, but rather sound, practical advice.  Heeding such advice, I started to pay more attention to what I discovered to be the corner stone of bodybuilding: nutrition.

Those unfamiliar with bodybuilding are often shocked to discover that most people committed to this lifestyle claim that gaining muscle is much more about what you eat than how you train.  At university I met many people who lived up to this mantra.  Some of my peers were using performance enhancing substances but equally shocking to the laymen would be the kinds and volumes of foods being consumed:  6,000 calories a day, 12 egg whites for breakfast, whole chickens and stacks of tinned of tuna. This kind of eating was pretty common among my gym colleagues and it seemed to be yielding impressive results, though lets not pretend it is in other ways healthy.

In my final year of university my eating started to pick up speed.  Adopting a high protein and high calorie diet seemed at last to be yielding some positive results as I crept past 13 stone and gained some solid lifts in the gym.  As much as I gained satisfaction in seeing my strength increase and my frame widen, my conscience was not exactly in its best shape.  

As has probably been made clear, bodybuilding involves levels of food consumption that go far beyond what normal healthy eating requires.  
If you follow a bodybuilding diet but also spend any amount of time thinking about our obligations to the third world – where many children die of malnutrition each year - you cannot help but ask: is all this food the best way I can spend my money?  It probably isn’t. But as other people waste more money on more worthless things, and as a bodybuilder’s over-eating is not the direct cause of other people’s under-eating, maybe you can be let off the hook.

My weight training had however become increasingly reliant on a range of animal products and these products support industries that cause harm to animals and ecosystems. Wanting to make my bodybuilding as ethically respectable as bodybuilding can be, I therefore resolved to see what success I would have as I enter what could be described as the subculture of all subcultures: vegan bodybuilding.

Vegan Bodybuilding: A Quick Guide

Vegan bodybuilding is in essence very similar to normal bodybuilding, the only major deviation being the dietary approach. That being said this diet does pose a range of challenges: many plant foods are rich in protein but not all of them are as readily available, as cheap, as easily prepared, or in a carbohydrate and fat ratio most appealing to those hoping to gain muscle without gaining fat.  Ideally bodybuilders aim at around six to eight meals a day, including approximately 30g of protein, 30g of carbohydrates, and 5 - 10g of fat per meal. These ratios tend to change depending on whether you are attempting to gain weight and muscle or aiming to drop fat. The time of day you eat should also be factored in, with most bodybuilders preferring to tail off carbohydrates in the evening time. 

Eating many meals comprised of whole foods is generally regarded the best way to add quality muscle, but work commitments, social and family life make short work of that idea. Most of the time we do not have the time and this is why supplement markets thrive and why vegans rushed off their feet should also make the best out of these supplements.

Myprotein is a company that boasts an impressive range of vegan supplements. As well as offering soya isolate, and amino acids — a sure choice for the post-workout period — they also stock some lesser known proteins, including pea protein and brown rice protein. Pea protein is particularly useful replacement for milk protein which is used by bodybuilders before they sleep as a form of slow-releasing protein. Those looking for more alternatives to soya might be interested in hemp protein which can be blended into a morning smoothie. Hemp protein is available from www.hempnatural.com.

The supplement Creatine is an organic acid that supplies energy to muscles and is a popular choice among athletes and bodybuilders. Creatine is most abundant in meat and fish but fortunately the supplement form is vegan friendly and its latest reincarnation ‘ethyl ester’ is very easy on the gut. The general reputation of caffeine as a health-promoting substance seems to fluctuate fairly often, but it has remained an important sport supplement for good reason: caffeine can increase mental alertness, up physical performance, and by increasing your metabolic rate play a key role in fat-burning.  You may wish to take caffeine pre-workout in the form of green tea or as a powder or tablet. 

Supplements may give you the edge allowing you to train harder and recover faster but the main thing to remember is to consistently aim at high protein. ‘Carb chasing’ is never much of an issue as carbohydrates are all too abundant in vegan foods.  When it comes to packed lunches — where other bodybuilders turn to easily prepared tuna and chicken salads – an excellent vegan alternative is Fry’s excellent high-protein product range. Realeat also offer some tasty proteinous meat replacements, including bacon and mince. These products are not available in most supermarkets but can be ordered from www.goodnessdirect.co.uk. Fry’s chicken and beef strips are quickly cooked and work well with wholemeal pasta and salad in a lunch box.

Lentil and bean based dishes while more easily prepared in the evening are a little too high in carbohydrates. This means that if you wish to avoid slowing your metabolism and storing fat then these sorts of meals, situation permitting, should be consumed earlier in the day.  

Finally, as all this protein and Creatine is a little taxing on the kidneys, remember to drink plenty of water between meals.  A bodybuilder’s RDA of water is said to be approximately four litres.  

When it comes to training, the one area in which you will wish to part ways with your dairy or meat consuming peers is in the level of cardio-vascular exercise you add to your weight-training regime. As a variety of lean proteins are out of bounds to vegans you will probably be consuming more fats and more carbohydrates than your average bodybuilder. Adding some extra fat burning exercises to your routine is therefore advisable.  

Reflections

Having trained for several weeks on a plant-based diet I am convinced that vegan bodybuilding is by no means the contradiction that some people would assume.

There are certainly challenges and adjustments to be made in adopting this lifestyle, but with planning and commitment it can be done. Within a relatively short period of time I have made strength gains in the gym and noticed improvements in my appearance. Outside the gym I have also been exposed to a lively community of vegan bodybuilders and athletes. Individuals from across the world converge on internet forums such as www.veganbodybuilding.com to discuss their training and diet, and everything between. As well as receiving excellent advice from many people, it is also good just to see others out there striving to crack the association of meat and muscle.

Top tips

• If you are going out on the town where you won’t have access to vegan foods take two Trek Bars. This will give you 22g of protein.
• Always make packed lunches the evening before work. You don’t want to be caught short of protein!
• Blend bad tasting shakes with apple juice or add vanilla essence.
• Fry’s Polony sausage from Goodnessdirect is an excellent sandwich filler an incredible 97g of protein per sausage.