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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Plant-Based Fitness - “MAKE PROGRESS” ARE THE ONLY TWO WORDS THAT MATTER

 

James H. Hatchel, III, a personal trainer, shared about the path that led him to plant-based fitness, his sample meal plan for building muscle, training regiment, tips for success in fitness and advice for someone who wants to try a vegetarian diet.

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Build Muscle & Lose Fat By Eating Plants


“Around that time I ran into an old gym buddy who told me about his son that was playing football at a major Division I school as a vegan with no signs of losing strength or energy. Once I heard that I decided to try it for 28 days, and by day 10 I was in love.”

Name: James H. Hatchel, III
Occupation: Personal trainer and online training
City/State/Country: Marietta, Georgia, USA
Age: 30
Height: 6’0″
Type of Competing: Circuit Bodybuilding
Weight: 224 lbs

Website: www.goefitness.com
Instagram: 
instagram.com/jamesgoefit3
Facebook: 
facebook.com/goefitness

Q: Who is your hero?

My hero is Lee Haney. Lee Haney is my hero for a couple reasons. First obviously his consecutive Mr Olympia victories are incredible, and the time period when did it was a time when bodybuilding was blossoming into the industry that it is today.

Secondly, he was the first Christian Bodybuilder. I used to watch his workout show every morning on TBN as a youth try to mimic him.

Q: What are your personal passions outside of fitness?

Self-development and church-related activities are my other passions. Self-development includes reading books, getting advice from successful people, and always being willing to learn. Church activities include community service and going to church.

Church is my first sanctuary and the gym is my second.

Q: What uncommon activity do you schedule into your daily routine?

Cartoon time is essential. For at least twenty minutes a day I like to laugh at mindless entertainment.

Q: Tell us about the path that led you to plant-based fitness?

I have been exercising since I was six years old. Some children learn how to play an instrument, some do flips, I learned how to do perfect push-ups from my father. I read every issue of Flex magazine during high school trying to figure out how my muscles worked, what they needed, and most importantly how to make them grow.

I have always had a love for fitness and exercise. Around 23 years-old I decided I would become a vegan when I was around 45 years old just to prevent cancer. After my last bodybuilding show I grew to 265 lbs. I wanted to lose the weight with doing hours and hours of cardio.

Around that time, I ran into an old gym buddy who told me about his son that was playing football at a major Division I school as a vegan with no signs of losing strength or energy. Once I heard that I decided to try it for 28 days and by day 10 I was in love.

Q: Sample meal plan for building muscle:

  • Meal 1: 8 ounce sweet potato, 3 cups of broccoli, 1 cup of brown rice, 2/3 cup of beans
  • Meal 2: 3 cups of spinach, 1 cup of avocado, 8 ounce sweet potato, 1 cup of quinoa
  • Meal 3: 8 ounce sweet potato, 3 cups of broccoli, 1 cup of brown rice, 2/3 cup of beans
  • Post-workout meal: 3 cups of green peas, 1/2 cup of quinoa, 1 cup of brown rice, 1/2 cup of pinto beans

Q: Philosophy on supplements and which ones you take?

Supplements are awesome. I do not think everyone needs them. I think most people don’t exercise as frequently, or intense enough, to warrant supplementation. Most people can get the nutrients they need in sufficient quantity through whole food.

Athletes such as bodybuilders, football players, and any person that endures rigorous training may want to consider taking supplements.

I take amino acids, creatine, L-glutamine, and protein powder on occasion.

Q: Describe your training regiment (favorite exercises, weekly training schedule, etc.):

My training is regimen is compilation of everything I have learned over my lifetime. I would call it GOE Fitness. GOE Fitness is high volume and high repetition. My training weekly schedule just changed to:

  • Sunday: Quads
  • Monday: Back
  • Tuesday: Shoulders
  • Wednesday: Hamstrings
  • Thursday: Chest
  • Friday: Arms

I switched training my back to Monday to see if it will help it grow in density.

“I constantly switch something about my training and start a new chapter to my training journal.”

Being in the fitness industry, I feel I should know how theories will affect clients from experience. I would say picking a favorite exercise is like a mother picking her favorite child. There is no way I could pick just one. I do have a favorite per muscle group:

  • Quad-day: Leg press
  • Back-day: Pull-ups
  • Chest-day: Incline barbell press
  • Shoulders-day: Barbell shoulder press
  • Arms-day: Dumbbell biceps curl
  • Hamstring-day: Lunges

On any given day I will do from 5 to 10 sets of my favorite exercise.

Q: If you have to pick only three exercises, what would they be?

I would say:

  • Front lat pull-down
  • Incline barbell bench press
  • Barbell back squats

Q: What tips can you share about your particular method of training?

My method of training goes with the rhythm of your body. Sometimes your body needs to lift light and double the repetitions or your body wants double the reps and the sets. GOE Fitness knows no limits. GOE Fitness is leaving the gym different everyday.

“‘Make progress’ are the only two words that matter.”

Q: What 3 fundamentals would you tell a beginner if you were to start training them?

Pick a time to exercise that fits your regular schedule, not a time that only works when the stars align and the moon turns into a rainbow (be realistic).

Your goals won’t happen overnight so try not to get frustrated. All good things come to those that wait and all better things come to those that work harder than everyone else. So be patient.

Always be truth seeking. Everyone has their own fitness journey and strategy that will work for them. Being truth seeking means to not be afraid to try new methods of exercise and research new ideas.

Q: What tips can you share that have led to your success in fitness?

Being consistent is what I attribute to any amount of success I have had. With exercise I try to only take one week off a year. For instance, in college I tried to study everyday to keep the information fresh on my mind. Every study session was not extensive but served as a quick refresher.

Q: What are the three biggest trends you see in fitness right now?

  1. Being conscious of your fitness level is more pervasive between every generation and socioeconomic status.
  • The addition of the Physique category and Bikini category plus increased fitness consciousness, more people to participate in bodybuilding competitions.
  • Supplement abuse is growing. When people that should be real food for their primary source of nutrient are taking supplements.

Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to try a vegetarian diet?

I would tell them to try it for at least twenty-one days minimum before you make a final decision. Twenty-one days gives you time to adjust and try an assortment of dishes.

For more ideas about plant-based fitness, watch this video - Plant Based Diet What I Eat in a Day | Plant Based Diet Workout



Author Bio:

 

Chris Willitts (creator of V3), is the founder and owner of Vegetarian Bodybuilding.

 

V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System is a mixture of science and author’s advice, providing users with optimal diet and exercise. This system is designed for vegans and vegetarians only.

 

A lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising its progressiveness and efficiency.

 

The program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. 

 

Instead of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to prove it.”

 

To find out more, visit the website at V3 Bodybuilding – Benefits of Plant-Based Fitness


What are the Benefits of Vegan Diet for Athletes in Terms of Health and Performance?

 

Benefits of Vegan Diet for Athletes – Patrik Baboumian, a weight lifting champion, shared about effects of adopting a vegan diet on his training, tips for success in strength training, and his sample meal plan in bulking up.

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Build Muscle & Lose Fat By Eating Plants


VEGAN BADASS PATRIK BABOUMIAM: “I COMPETE TO CHANGE THE WORLD”

“I have won the German Log-lifting Championship every year since it was held for the first time in 2009. I have set three world records…after turning vegan in 2011.”

Name: Patrik Baboumian
Occupation: Speaker, Author, Sport Psychologist, Media Consultant
City/State/Country: Berlin, Germany
Age: 35
Height: 5’6″
Type of Competing: Strongman
Weight: 282lbs
Website/Social Media:
www.veganbadass.com
www.facebook.com/patrik.baboumian.fanpage

Q: Who was your hero as a child?

The Incredible HULK. I was deeply fascinated by his unattainable strength. As he represented a more childlike mental state led by an incorruptible “just” anger. And being practically unstoppable, he was the perfect character to identify with for a child growing up in the early 1980s in Iran (a place of war and uncertainty).

Q: Do you meditate?

I have recently started using meditation as a means to calm down and find a deeper mental focus.

Q: What are your hobbies outside of fitness?

I produce electronic music in my home recording studio.

Q: What inspired you to start lifting weights as a young man?

I was a fan of pro wrestling when I was in my mid-teens, and as I was dreaming of a future wrestling career, I started lifting weights to develop strength. Soon, strength training became my number-one priority, and the wrestling thing was forgotten. I started competing at powerlifting when I was 16.

As I made great progress, I stuck to strength-sports for many years, trying out different sports like powerlifting, bodybuilding, and arm-wrestling. I was quite successful on some level. For instance, I won the junior overall championship title at the 1999 International German Bodybuilding Championship of the IFBB.

Q: What uncommon activity do you schedule into your daily routine?

I do long late-night walks every night with my companion dog, Basco, to relax, calm down, and develop new ideas for the coming day. I live on the countryside near Berlin, and the nights are really quiet here. I love to be in nature when everyone else sleeps. I enjoy the quiet, tranquil atmosphere without the noise of human life that is omnipresent at daytimes.

Q: What are some of your strength competition feats?

  • Won the lightweight German title twice in 2007 and 2009
  • Runner-up heavyweight champion in 2010
  • German champion in 2011, acquiring the title of “Germany’s Strongest Man”
  • National Heavyweight Top 5 in 2007 and 2009 (as a lightweight)
  • National Heavyweight Top 3 from 2010-2014
  • Set a lightweight world record in the log-lift* in 2009, lifting 165kg
  • Placed 4th at Log-lifting Worlds in Vilnius 2011, lifting 185kg.
  • Won the German Log-lifting Championship every year since it was held for the first time in 2009
  • Set three world records at the front-hold (20kg/1m26sec), the keg-lift (150kg), and the yoke-walk (555kg for 10m) after turning vegan in 2011.

*My personal best at the log-lift is 200kg in training.

Q: Why did you initially become vegetarian in 2005? In what ways has your health improved?

For many people I know, external pressures (media, friends, etc.) have played a crucial role in their decision for a vegetarian diet or vegan lifestyle.

For me, that wasn’t the case. One day out of nowhere, I started to reflect on my personal worldview and actions.

I realized that my meat consumption wasn’t compatible with the compassion I felt for the animals.

It was at this conclusion I decided to stop eating meat. The decision-making was done in a rather level-headed way. There were no emotional, external factors that influenced me.

What I realized after thinking about it was that all my life, starting in childhood, I always had felt very compassionate for animals. This was expressed in my need to help animals that were in danger or distress.

For example, I tried to nurse an injured bird back to health, and let it stay over winter at my home. Another time, I spent a whole day with a former girlfriend to save tadpoles from a puddle that was drying out.

We provided refuge for a little abandoned hedgehog (Harald) one autumn to let him hibernate in our house, and set him free the next spring. One day, I realized that when I see a bird suffer in front of my eyes, I have the urge to help it. And that this is inconsistent with me going into a supermarket the same day and buying chicken breasts.

It makes absolutely no sense that I feel compassion for the bird in the first case and that I don’t care at all about the product that I consume in the latter case. I understood relatively fast that in the one case, I saw the suffering directly before my eyes, and in the other case, it just wasn’t visible.

I also repressed the fact that my own consumer behavior lead to animal suffering, just like the greatest part of our society does every day. But I didn’t want to carry on with that. I realized that I could not reconcile this with my own conscience, and I had to make a decision. The decision could lead in two directions.

One possibility could have been to decide not to be compassionate anymore, and to say: “It’s important to me to be able to eat meat and not care about the animals.” The other possibility was to follow my compassion and change something about my life. I had to stop letting my habits as a consumer be responsible for the death of animals.

“To be honest I was very anxious how switching to a plant-based diet would affect my performances before I went vegan. The interesting thing was that none of my fears became true.”

I had expected that everything would be very hard for me to get used to. But that wasn’t the case. It was much easier than I had anticipated. Above all things, this desire for dairy products was swept away within one or two weeks. In retrospect, this is hardly surprising because when you’re addicted to something and you’re abstinent for a while, the craving goes away after some time.

Within two weeks, I had no urge to drink milk anymore. I had no yearning to consume anything that contained milk or dairy products. The second thing was my performance. I had assumed that it would suffer, but nothing of that sort happened. My sporting prowess was totally stable, the only thing that changed was that my overall sense of well-being noticeably improved.

I suffered from constant heartburn while consuming dairy products, and was chronically, overly acidified due to the gigantic amounts of animal-based protein that I consumed.

It’s important to know that animal protein contains especially high amounts of sulfur-containing amino acids.

This leads to an over-acidification of the body. This becomes evident when one gets heartburn, and the fiendish thing about that situation is that at first it helps to drink milk.

The stomach has something to do in this moment, and the acid gets balanced. Though that was my reasoning, I didn’t realize that the heartburn was caused by dairy products in the first place.

I only understood that when I started to omit dairy products that the heartburn disappeared after two or three days. I asked myself what had happened. Before I switched to a vegan diet, I had feared that I would die of heartburn without milk.

“I had assumed that dairy goods were a remedy for heartburn, whereas in reality, they are the cause for it.”

So for the record – and let us savor this one: Nothing of all the things I had feared had become true. What actually happened was the opposite of everything I had expected.

“My athletic performance stayed stable and even improved in the long run. Today, I am significantly stronger than I used to be. And my well-being improved dramatically.”

My acid-base balance is regulated, the heartburn improved – these were naturally only two aspects. If you have a balanced acid alkaline metabolism, there are a whole lot of other bodily effects that are very positive. For example, you recover faster after athletic training. A balanced acid-base metabolism is important for the body to be able to absorb nutrients.

“If your body is too acidic, it can’t digest protein at optimal levels, and for a strength athlete who is concerned about a sufficient protein supply, this is a nightmare.”

As a strength athlete, you are anxious to consume huge amounts of protein. Your goal is to develop a considerable quantity of muscle, and this demands a substantial amount of building material, which after all, is protein.

When your body is hyper acidic and consequently can’t absorb protein, this is actually one of the worst things that can happen to you as a strength athlete. By changing to a vegan diet and omitting animal protein, this has shifted to a gigantic part in a positive direction.

Q: Sample meal plan for bulking up?

Please remember that this schedule was planned according to my needs. You will, of course, find all the listed meals, smoothies, and shakes in my book, “VRebellion,” that can be ordered online.

  • 9:00 – Breakfast: Baboumian Shake
  • 11:00 – Between meals: Snack assortment of nuts
  • 2:00 – Lunch: Bean soup with rice
  • 2:30 – One liter of soy cocoa as dessert
  • 3:00 – Between meals: Smoothie
  • 5:00 – Pre-workout: Protein shake with 50 grams soy isolate and a vegan calcium preparation with D2 (D3 isn’t vegan)
  • 5:00 – Workout: I drink water or a homemade Isotonic drink
  • 7:00 – Post-workout: Smoothie with creatine, 50 grams multicomponent protein, vitamin C, zinc, and magnesium
  • 8:00 – Dinner: Tofu with rice and sweet and sour sauce
  • 10:00 – Snack: Peanuts
  • Before going to bed:  Protein shake with linseed oil

Q: Favorite pre-workout meal?

I do not eat before a workout to keep my blood-sugar-level stable. Instead, I just drink a water-based protein shake with plant-based proteins.

Q: Philosophy on supplements, and which ones you take?

“I have stopped using a lot of supplements as I went vegan, and I feel that I have overrated a lot of supplements in the past.”

I still use some supplements that I feel help optimize my results, such as:

  • Creatine
  • Beta-alanine
  • Nutritional yeast
  • B12
  • Fenugreek
  • Ceylon cinnamon (for anti-oxidants)
  • Glutamine

Q: If you have to pick only three exercises, what would they be?

I think that these three multi-joint exercises are the most effective movements when it comes to building mass and strength. They are also quite functional movements.

Q: How has your training regimen changed over the years?

Not so much [laughs]. I have always loved to train heavy and build strength. I love functional movements. I have always trained according to Mike Mentzer’s heavy duty principles. As I began training more with strongman disciplines and less with gym-based routines, I still stuck to the fundamental principles I always believed in.

Today, 22 years after touching a dumbbell for the first time, I’m still able to improve. So I assume I will go on training this way for some more time.

Q: What unique tips can you share that have led to your success in strength training?

My main advantage over most of the athletes that I have been able to best in all these years have been more on the mental side.

“As I am quite small for a strongman competing in the heavyweight division, my only chance to overcome the physical disadvantage has been to simply be mentally stronger.”

One thing is that I literally never give up.

For example, I have won the title of Germany’s strongest man only three weeks after a muscle-tear in my left calf, barely being able to walk until three days before the competition just by training around the injury and doing everything in my power to recover as quickly as possible.

Another thing is that I know exactly why I do what I do. As a vegan athlete fighting the common stereotypes of vegans being skinny, weak guys, I consider myself more of a warrior with purpose than an athlete.

“I do not compete to win, I compete to change the world.”

Q: What are the three biggest trends you see in fitness right now?

have the feeling that the industry realizes that there is a big movement towards a more health-based approach to fitness and strength-training. I see a revolution according to the “stardom” within the industry, away from the pro-bodybuilders and toward the more everyday guy type personalities fuelled by social media. And I see a big trend towards outdoor training, bodyweight training, and more functional training approaches away from the gym and toward the street or nature.

Q: Tell us about your new book.

I wrote “VRebellion” to answer frequently asked questions about vegan nutrition and how my diet enables me to gain weight, power, and muscles. I also wanted to provide a little insight into the unique particularities of my vegan diet, because I simply think that there are certain things I do differently.

Maybe I can give one or two useful hints to people interested in the vegan lifestyle regarding how they can understand what it involves in practical terms that would save them time and trouble.

Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to try vegetarian bodybuilding or powerlifting, and struggles with the same fears and hesitations you had at first?

I believe that there is a simple error in reasoning that plays a big role in a lot of the fears and misconceptions people have regarding what a vegan lifestyle truly is: as soon as somebody mentions that he or she is living on a diet that is based purely on plant-based products, people immediately assume greens and vegetables.

The first picture that comes to mind when one hears the word “vegan” is a diet consisting mainly of vegetables and salad. We know that vegetables and salad consist mainly of water, so presumably one has to eat gigantic amounts of vegetables and salad in order to gain any weight. That’s why many people probably ask themselves how one can get so muscular while on a vegan diet.

How is this even possible?

Well, you simply have to think about the fact that a vegan diet does not consist of salad and vegetables alone, but also food like nuts or legumes with high calorie content. Even if we consider the food that many meat-eaters rely on as a source of energy, we find that much of it is of plant origin as well.

Whether it is potatoes or oatmeal, rice or noodles made from durum wheat semolina, there are plenty of wonderful sources of energy for the body that are not meat.

Peanuts, for example, are a wonderful source of protein. They contain a higher amount of protein than a steak, and have a higher energy density than most animal products.

The peanut contains lots of vegetable fats, as well. It’s wonderfully suited to supply us with calories and with protein. I could go on and on about all kinds of other legumes like beans, lentils, or peas. We would find that it is quite easy to supply one’s protein needs.

For more ideas about the benefits of vegan diet for athletes, watch this video - Vegan Diets for Athletes! | Better Endurance and a Healthier Heart



Author Bio:

 

Chris Willitts (creator of V3), is the founder and owner of Vegetarian Bodybuilding.

 

V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System is a mixture of science and author’s advice, providing users with optimal diet and exercise. This system is designed for vegans and vegetarians only.

 

A lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising its progressiveness and efficiency.

 

The program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. 

 

Instead of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to prove it.”

 

To find out more, visit the website at V3 Bodybuilding – Benefits of Vegan Diet for Athletes

 


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Vegan Muscle Building Tips - How Much Protein Does a Vegan Bodybuilder Need?

Vegan Muscle Building Tips - How Much Protein Does a Vegan Bodybuilder Need? How to eat less protein to build more muscle? Muscle Growth HACKS with Less Protein



HOW TO EAT LESS PROTEIN TO BUILD MORE MUSCLE?

Protein Matters, But There Is So Much More to the Puzzle

When we think about building muscle, the first thing that pops into most people’s minds is PROTEIN! Especially when eating only plants! “Where do you get your protein?” is a common question.

There is an ingrained belief within the fitness industry that in order to build muscle and get stronger, we need protein (especially animal protein) as our primary and often singular focus for growth.

Don’t get me wrong, protein is important. It is a precursor in muscle growth, BUT it is not the ONLY precursor or important variable either.

It’s part of a system of components that come together to create the perfect muscle-building storm, and in this article, I will explain how and why you can afford to drop your high protein intake to actually make more gains.

First and foremost, realize that the commonly suggested protein requirements most people think are needed to build muscle within the fitness industry are often totally excessive.

All we are doing is allocating excess calories to a single nutrient that is ONE part of the muscle building equation, over-saturating that one variable to the point of excess waste and by-products, when we could be more strategic and maximize all the variables, not just one.

More protein doesn’t necessarily equate to more muscle; there are more factors at play than one nutrient. Your average-looking gym goer drinking protein shakes all day is an anecdotal example of this.

What We Have Been Taught

The standard notion of 1 gram to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight, for example, is for most average people totally excessive and unnecessary. That would put a person like myself at around 210-300g of protein per day. Whoa. Overkill.

Some people go even higher than this with the notion that more must be better. How often is this not true! Especially when cutting calories, it leaves fewer alternative fuel sources and key phytonutrients that can help boost your performance.

Research Suggests

There are so many various conflicting research papers that show differing results, so understand first off that your goal, expertise level, output, and disease state all play a role in this.

That being said, I want to share with you my own experience along with those of my clients and friends, coupled with some basic understandings of the research, to give you a kick-start toward adjusting your own protein intake to further your gains.

Here are a few cited research examples.

  • Tarnopolsky et al. (1992) observed no differences in whole body protein synthesis or indexes of lean body mass in strength athletes consuming either 0.64g/lb. or 1.10g/lb. over a two-week period. Protein oxidation did increase in the high protein group, indicating a nutrient overload.
  • Walberg et al. (1988) found that 0.73g/lb. was sufficient to maintain positive nitrogen balance in cutting weightlifters over a seven-day time period.
  • Tarnopolsky et al. (1988) found that only 0.37g/lb. was required to maintain positive nitrogen balance in elite bodybuilders (over five years of experience, possible previous use of androgens) over a 10-day period. 0.45g/lb. was sufficient to maintain lean body mass in bodybuilders over a two-week period. The authors suggested that 0.55g/lb. was sufficient for bodybuilders.
  • Lemon et al. (1992) found no differences in muscle mass or strength gains in novice bodybuilders consuming either 0.61g/lb. or 1.19g/lb. over a four-week period. Based on nitrogen balance data, the authors recommended 0.75g/lb.
  • Hoffman et al. (2006) found no differences in body composition, strength, or resting hormonal concentrations in strength athletes consuming either 0.77g/lb. or >0.91g/lb. over a three-month period.

Fear-Based Nutrition Keeps Us Stuck

So often, those high-protein suggested intakes are more fear based than science based — it is fitness industry hype and guesswork. The best way to know for sure is to DO IT yourself, implement it, and see.

Believe me, anyone whom I have coached or guided to do this has always had great results when we tapered protein down from the high amounts and then added various other nutrient sources to boost performance, recovery, and hormone profiles. It is the paranoia around muscle loss that keeps people stuck.

Beyond Protein (The Key)

Beyond that, I want you to understand that incorporating other macronutrients and micronutrients into your nutritional equation is the KEY for building more muscle and strength with less protein.

Keep in mind, the focus being on how the body partitions and assimilates nutrients by elevated and optimal hormone responses.

What this means in simple terms is that hormones are like the body’s software.

They take protein, carbohydrates, fats, and micronutrients and allocate them toward specific jobs, like building muscle, fat stores, bone regeneration, brain function, and hair and skin growth.

Your hormone profiles on many levels dictate what your body does with protein anyway. So why not optimize these variables so you become more effective at using the protein to begin with?

It is primarily why someone who is obese vs. someone who is very muscular can have the same diet and calorie intake and even the same height and body weight (with vastly different body compositions).

Yet, their bodies both assimilate and partition the nutrients very differently due to various hormone profiles like testosterone, estrogen, thyroid, and insulin sensitivity.

It is also why men and women have different body compositions — the hormones and partitioning ratios dictate over protein intake and calorie intake.

The way to optimize hormones in the body is by putting optimal health FIRST, which means a lot of micronutrient-dense plant foods. The denser and wider range you can get and the less processed garbage you consume, given time, your body will become more responsive.

The point is, if you can optimize your internal systems through micronutrient-dense foods, then this often gets the job done. The body simply becomes more efficient at using fuel.

That is the goal here: efficiency.

It is important to realize that in order for us to actually perform well in the gym and create progressive overload (being able to lift more weight or more reps for weight each week), we need some form of high-octane fuel.

My go-to macronutrient source for heightened performance is always going to be carbohydrates. Just think when you were a kid, what did they give you to drink while playing sports? Gatorade and Powerade?

Now these might not be the healthiest options, but they are fast-acting carbohydrates, designed to push sugar into the system to fuel performance. In some cases, depending on the goal and challenge, fat could be used as a fuel source too. This is where it varies, but know it is never just about protein intake.

Carb/Fat Phobia and Nutrient Timing

Most people in the fitness world are carb phobic, especially the Paleo and Ketogenic crowd, which comprise mostly of people who aren’t Vegan. It’s just what they’ve been taught.

They will even add loads of protein into pre-workout meals, which in my view is not fueling performance, just increasing digestive function, which then impairs performance.

Think of our blood as the primary transporter of fuel to our systems. It shuttles oxygen to muscles, breaks down glycogen into glucose for energy, and pushes blood through our heart faster and into our lungs to increase oxygen uptake.

Digestion takes up a huge amount of blood volume and metabolic energy. So, adding extra protein sources and food to meals through fear of going catabolic just allocates more metabolic energy toward digestion and less to performance and output.

We need to optimize and time our digestive function just right so we can channel as much energy into performance, endurance, and mechanical strength as possible.

If you time your carbohydrates and fats, fiber, and micronutrients around your workout and daily routine, you will get fewer cravings, better controlled sustained energy levels, and better pumps in the gym. More strength and recovery result in better muscle growth with a well-rounded plant based diet.

I often get asked, “When is the best time to get my protein for my workout, before, during, or after?” There is no real timing or strategy with most people — it’s just an over saturation.

A blanket approach with the idea is, “I’m not really sure what I need, how much I need, or when I need it, so I will just throw everything at it, including the kitchen sink.” While this can work, believe me, it doesn’t yield the BEST results you could get either. So, let me explain a bit more about timing.

Adjusting Protein for More Gains

Let’s say you are at 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (200 lb.), so approximately 200g of protein per day. For the time being, forget the total calorie intake too. For all intents and purposes, let’s say you drop to 0.64g/lb., approx. 120-130g.

You now have about 280 extra calories that you can now time in and around your workout to help you overreach and overload the amount of weight and reps you can do — and therefore, outperform, which is key for muscle growth.

For example, let’s take that 70g of protein lost and replace it with 70g of carbohydrates. We could do two servings of coconut water during the workout for electrolyte replacement (90 calories).

This leaves us with 190 calories of fruits, along with any whole food plant protein like sweet peas or shelled edamame we can pack into a post-workout smoothie for glycogen and amino acid replacement, helping with recovery and driving more sugars and vital nutrients to repair muscle tissue.

This helps you train harder and lift heavier, which creates that vital progressive overload needed to even build muscle in the first place.

Research indicates that even setting protein requirements at 0.64g/lb. has shown NO muscle loss or lack of nitrogen retention. Obviously, total calorie intake comes into play here too, which is the next point.

My Approach — Calorie Cycling

When we are either trying to gain muscle or get leaner and hold muscle, allow protein intake to move up and down like a sliding scale as your total calorie intake tapers up or down.

The reason for this is just logistics. It’s much easier to focus on one variable change than to try and coincide two together: focusing on total calories going up and down over total calories + every single macronutrient ratio remaining totally intact.

Again, if you are that 200 lb. guy going from 120-160g of protein based on total calorie intake increasing or dropping, it is fine, it’s what I do! This is another strategy to building more muscle with a lower intake, even when we are sometimes in deficit too.

Beyond the calorie deficit are peaks/calorie spikes where by you can “refeed” (a higher calorie meal or day) and fuel up around workout time to really enhance performance.

Traditionally, when people are trying to get lean, they pull carbs to try and drop water weight, and by doing so, replace those lost calories with protein. If the calories are uniform each week, protein remains high and carbs low. It doesn’t have to be this way, but it is how most fitness people approach things.

If you cycle through periods of calorie deficit (example, 1800 cal.), calorie maintenance (example, 2200 cal.), and calorie surplus (example, 2600 cal.).

You can use the sliding scale approach with your protein, so dipping lower on a deficit day won’t be an issue like people think, because you come back up to maintenance and peak into spikes of surplus calories/protein at strategic times during your training week.

It also allows for the body to rest and digest (on lower calorie days), enhancing the parasympathetic nervous system on rest days to bring stress responses down and allow the body and gut to regenerate.

Then it spikes higher into a caloric surplus on days where you need to over reach and train hard (a hard leg session, for example).

This way, you allow the body to tap into fat stores and heighten insulin sensitivity on rest days, which then helps partition carbohydrates more effectively anyway — and on training days, you fuel yourself for maximum performance, so you can create more progressive overload during your training.

Calorie cycling with a sliding protein target and not stressing over the tiny details is a great way to make gains without the constant fear and obsession about grams of protein.

This way, your protein intake can be set lower, and by spiking carbs and fats on certain days, you fuel performance and output. Realize that once your body adjusts to a higher carb ratio (but also be aware of your sodium intake alongside this), you won’t retain water like you may have in the past.

It’s like someone who is dehydrated in an attempt to dry out for a competition. If they spent a long time dehydrated coming into their show, they can often end up holding MORE water.

The way to shed more water is to consume MORE, so the body doesn’t struggle to find balance when you pull it suddenly right at the end.

The same rings true for macronutrients too. Give the body time to adapt and it will, but keep changing up the variables, and the pendulum will swing wildly as the body tries to find homeostasis (balance within the body).

When it comes to undulating calories to help you overload during your training sessions, think of all the macronutrients as a sliding scale.

What I mean by this is that yes, you can fix your protein intake at a certain number and just add in more carbohydrate and fats, but often a lot of plant foods come with some protein too.

So to allow for a wider, more diverse range of food choices, be okay with your protein intake peaking and dipping as your calorie totals do.

For example, it might look like this:

  • Low day — 2200cals — 100g protein / 300 carb / 66 fat
  • Moderate Day — 2600cals — 120g protein / 380 carb / 66 fat
  • High day — 3200cals — 150g protein / 450 carb / 88 fat

Don’t Pigeonhole Yourself

Now obviously, this is just for demonstration. Some people might elect for more fats or taper their protein up more depending on their body composition and training output.

The take home point is: be okay with your protein intake sliding up and down a scale to allow for the inclusion of more plant foods into your diet.

You can keep it fixed and add in more fruits too; a lot of this will come down to your own unique biofeedback and how your body and hormones handle the various nutrients.

I coach people on an elite level, high-performing business people, and I would tell them to not stress over total calorie adjustments AND try to hit specific macro ratios too. It becomes so time consuming and stressful trying to find foods and measurements to make it all fit.

As I said earlier, focus on total calorie adjustment and allow for a sliding scale (a range) of your macronutrients.

Take-home point: Protein can dip and peak based on your calorie intake, and if done right, you lose no muscle. In fact, you gain some.

Muscle Growth HACKS with Less Protein

It is important to understand not all carbohydrates or fats are created equal and that different kinds of carbs will play different roles in the body based on when they are used. Think of these two macronutrients like fuel sources that enable us to perform at a higher level.

I generally consider carbohydrates like an explosive fast-acting fuel source perfect for acute bouts of high performance. Fats are a more sustained release energy source, ideal for longer endurance work or stable blood sugars through the day outside of the training session.

A key mistake I see people make when trying to get lean is they pull their carbs or fats right down and increase protein, with the notion that more protein will have a muscle sparing effect and that is all we need to focus on.

While in some cases, this is true, the lack of carbohydrate and fats for training often means the person loses strength. Stamina drops.

The workout capacity decreases, and this is the perfect environment for no muscle gains and even some muscle loss, because the progressive overload aspect to muscle growth is absent as the body adapts, sometimes in a way we do not want.

Our body tends to hold muscle best when there is a physiological need for strength and regular stimulation. As your strength drops via lack of fuel to progressively overload, so too does the need for high levels of muscle mass. Now, it’s not to say if you lose strength, you lose muscle.

Sometimes this is a nervous system recruitment response, but the best way to make amazing muscle gains will always be progressive overload in the gym, and the best way to fuel that is with carbohydrate and fats and bringing that high protein intake down to allow for that.

Alongside carbohydrates, we have to factor in micronutrients (Minerals/Vitamins).

Most fitness people think in the realm of macronutrients (Protein/Fats/Carbs) only, often not paying attention to vitamins and minerals and how they can help us recover, over-reach in the gym, and give us the ability to contract our muscles with more force and duration.

Without a well-rounded micronutrient intake in your diet, all the protein in the world won’t build muscle optimally, because we will be in a constant state of under performance in the gym needed to stimulate muscle growth.

It’s Very Rarely a Lack of Protein (What Is It, Then?)

A great example of this is the mineral sodium. Sodium is looked upon by most people as a bad thing, but in the right amounts at the right times, it is a powerful weapon.

The amount of times I’ve heard someone say, “Oh crap, I’m losing strength, I must be losing muscle, do I need a second protein shake!?” Sigh. I remember watching a video by famous powerlifter/bodybuilder Stan Efferding.

Though he is far from Vegan, he made a fundamental point about the need for micronutrients in relation to sodium before a powerlifting meetup.

He had been dehydrating to try and cut water weight to qualify for his weight class and with that, lost sodium (electrolyte) levels in his system. He began to cramp and lose strength during his opening lift and barely made the lift. It wasn’t a strength issue, he had the strength base, it was a software issue.

Sodium plays a key role in muscle contraction, and without that, we cannot overload or over reach. If you have good sodium levels in your diet with a focus being right around training time, you won’t need that extra protein shake! It’s not the cause or solution. It is a lack of micronutrients.

Micronutrients are another term for vitamins and minerals, from Vitamin A, B, C, D, and so on to magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, sodium, and many more. A great way to see your micronutrient intake is to track for food in an application like Cronometer.

This way, you can then troubleshoot the low areas, get them optimal so you can recover faster, improve sleep, improve strength, and as a result of all of this, grow some more muscle — and potentially get leaner in the process.

Take-Home Points!

1.    The average fitness goer or training will always overshoot their protein requirements. I have tested the theories in this blog on myself over years and countless clients with great success.

2.    It is one thing to read something on the internet and tout it as absolute truth. It is another thing entirely to get in the trenches and live it. Do not let the fear of muscle loss or the supplement industry push for you to buy protein powder out of your eyeballs. It is a money-making industry backing this way of thinking. There isn’t profit to be made in eating whole plant foods to get minerals and vitamins! But there sure is money to be made in protein powders, drinking dairy, and eating meat pushed by animal agriculture research funding to promote the “need” for these products. Connect the dots.

3.    At the end of the day, plant-based proteins like animal proteins are all just chains of amino acids. You can still get the same results and effects using plant-based proteins over animal protein. Do not buy into the belief that plants are less superior. I believe they are far more superior.

4.    Adapt, test, and master your own calorie cycle; allow for your protein intake to move along a sliding scale as your total calorie intake goes up or down.

5.    Get a wide range of micronutrients and food choices in your diet to help boost recovery and performance. Avoid eating one dimensionally like a lot of fitness people do.

6.    Time your food choices the right way. Certain foods used at certain times can enhance output and muscle growth. You can interchange fats with carbs once your protein intake drops based on your goal, output, and needs — don’t be locked into one paradigm of thinking.

7.    Stop sweating over the small stuff. All the most successful people in any endeavor often got there by doing the basics consistently and with accuracy and not stressing over minor details. “Success is a habit.”

8.    Use a tracking app like Cronometer to track your food to see where you can optimize mineral and vitamin numbers. Track your performance in the gym: weight lifting, circumference measurements, and so on. Tracking these things is feedback, which gives you means by which you can adjust your diet, nutrient timing, and calorie intake to make some serious vegan gains, all with less protein!

9.    If you are truly paranoid about muscle loss while tapering protein down, just use a good BCAA supplement while you work out. I suggest Clean Machine BCAA, as it is a high-standard vegan brand, owned and operated by a vegan of 31 years.

10. Get a coach. If this all sounds appealing to you but outside of the realm of your understanding or ability to apply it, invest in a coach like myself to streamline that process for you, expedite your results, and get you to your goals

To get more vegan muscle building tips, watch this video - VEGAN BODYBUILDING MACROS 101 | How much Protein!?


 

Written by:

 

Fraser Bayley is the founder Plant Strong Fitness and Evolving Alpha and a contributing writer for VegetarianBodybuilding.com and other fine plant-based fitness publications.

 

Author Bio:

 

Chris Willitts (creator of V3), is the founder and owner of Vegetarian Bodybuilding.

 

V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System is a mixture of science and author’s advice, providing users with optimal diet and exercise. This system is designed for vegans and vegetarians only.

 

A lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising its progressiveness and efficiency.

 

The program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. 

 

Instead of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to prove it.”

 

To find out more, visit the website at V3 Bodybuilding – Vegan Muscle Building Tips


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