WHY VEGAN MUSCLE?

Nothing has benefited me more physically, mentally, and spiritually than adopting a vegan diet. It is the best decision I have ever made.

When I went vegan, I didn’t expect to be able to maintain, even GAIN, muscle mass. Since becoming vegan, I have gained 15 pounds of muscle (and counting!) and significantly increased my strength and endurance. I didn’t miss a beat in the gym. In fact, I began to feel better and stronger than I did when I ate meat, dairy, and eggs. My workouts have became easier. My strength has increased. I have more energy throughout the day and in the weight room.

THE 5 LAWS OF VEGAN BODYBUILDING

When I started lifting at the age of 17, I made a lot of mistakes. I ate way more food and protein (mostly from animal products) than necessary and did a lot of long (2+ hour) high-rep workouts consisting mainly of isolation exercises. These workouts were incredibly boring and I never looked forward to going to the gym.

My results were decent, but they were mostly “beginner gains.” Knowing what I now know, I should have achieved way more from the hundreds of hours I spent at the gym.

From 8 years of weightlifting experience – the last 2.5+ of which have been on a vegan diet – I have developed the 5 Laws of Vegan Bodybuilding that you absolutely MUST follow to gain muscle mass and strength:

1.   You MUST progressively overload your muscles

2.   You MUST focus on compound exercises

3.   You MUST avoid caloric deficits

4.   You MUST eat plenty of protein

5.   You MUST not overtrain

Okay, let’s break these down into 3 simple steps…

THE 3 STEPS TO GAINING VEGAN MUSCLE AND STRENGTH

STEP 1: Train with HEAVY weights

The foundation of your weight training must be heavy, compound lifts. You must maintain proper form through these lifts. NEVER compromise your form in an attempt to lift more weight.

You MUST emphasize heavy compound weightlifting in your workouts to gain muscle and strength as a natural weightlifter.

A compound exercise is an exercise that involves multiple joints and muscle groups. The best compound exercises are the squat, deadlift, bench press, dip, row, and overhead “military” press.

Because compound exercises employ multiple muscle groups, they allow you to lift heavier weights through a large range of motion. Therefore, compound exercises better progressively overload your muscles.

Although compound exercises are most effective at building muscle, isolation exercises are important too. Without isolation exercises to fill in the gaps, compound exercises can create imbalances in the mass and strength gains of your muscles.

A well-designed weightlifting routine for strength and aesthetics includes both compound and isolation exercises.

Compound movements comprise about 75 percent of the exercises I do in the gym. The other 25 percent are isolation exercises.

STEP 2: Eat enough for energy and protein

You need to eat enough food, especially protein, to maximize muscle growth. I center my nutrition plan on whole plant foods that are minimally processed and high in protein like quinoa, almonds, and pea protein. My nutrition plan allows me to gain muscle without gaining fat, being hungry all the time, or compromising my long-term health.

After coaching dozens of guys with different starting points and goals, I know that your nutrition plan is just as important, if not more important, than your workout plan in gaining muscle and strength.

To build vegan muscle, you’ll need to eat plenty of food, with a focus on whole foods that are high protein such as quinoa, legumes, and nuts. Beyond whole foods, I consume a few servings of pea and rice protein powders daily.

If you're the type of vegan who gets full on things like brown rice, quinoa, potatoes, legumes, beans and lentils, nuts, seeds, nut butters, and avocados, you've given yourself a good chance to build muscle. On the other hand, if you're a vegan who feasts mostly on salad, stir-fry, fresh fruit, and other vegetable-based dishes, you're likely falling short on your macro (especially protein) needs for optimal muscle building.

When working to gain muscle, you should limit yourself to a caloric surplus of 10 percent beyond your BMR plus activity burn (the amount of additional energy you burn from movement and exercise). In other words, you don’t want to eat more than 110 percent of the calories you burn each day.

Similarly, you want to make sure you are meeting your protein needs, but you don’t have to go crazy.

The goal when building muscle is to do a clean bulk, NOT a dirty bulk.

Note: If you aren’t familiar with the term “dirty bulk,” I’m referring to the overindulgent, undisciplined muscle building dietary approach in which people eat as much as they can to gain as much mass as they can. While you can build muscle using this approach, you’ll gain a significant amount of fat as well. The “clean bulk” approach with a minimum (about 10 percent) daily caloric surplus and a lifting routine structured around heavy compound exercises ensure you’ll gain muscle without bulking fat onto your frame.

STEP 3: Get Plenty of Rest

With strenuous workouts, you’ll need a properly structured workout schedule that ensures you don’t overtax any muscle group. You’ll also need plenty of sleep. Overtraining or sleep deprivation will kill your muscle and strength gains.

One of the most common problems with weightlifting programs is excessive training. While many guys undertrain in the gym because they’re too busy checking themselves out in the mirror and scrolling through Facebook, there are also many guys who overtrain.

Your muscles can only take so much of a beating every week before your body falls behind in its ability to repair the damage caused by training.

Training frequency alone doesn’t determine much in the way of gains. In weightlifting, I’ve found that doing less of the right exercises actually improves results. Quality over quantity.

Remember, total weekly volume (number of reps performed) and intensity (load in terms of percentage of 1RM) are more important. Get these right and you’ll be in the money.

Now you know the 3 steps to gaining vegan muscle and strength!

That’s it! Three simple steps!

And two of the steps simply require eating and sleeping a lot. Sounds pretty easy, right? :)

I’m kidding of course. It will take A LOT of HARD work, but if you follow these three simple steps, you will see an EXPLOSION in your energy levels, muscle gains, and strength.

Please feel free to email me with any specific questions (leif@thevegangym.com)!

Congrats on taking the first step in deciding to pursue a stronger, more fit body and I wish you all the best in your journey!

Your vegan trainer,

Leif