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Bruce Achterberg · 01-29-2008, 02:32 PM

A very interesting article, but it still leaves me unsatisfied. Plus he loses points with me for saying "OK, this is working" when all he was really doing was eating healthier, not strictly vegan (obviously you'll feel better eating more plant foods instead of a "high-protein, high-fat smorgasbord of steaks, chops, burgers, pizza, ice cream and beer").

I'm really curious to see if people can build substantial amounts of muscle (build, not maintain) on a whole foods vegan diet that doesn't make use of protein powders, other similar supplements, processed foods (such as tofu, imitation "meats", etc), and crazy extremes such as eating kilos of legumes and nuts everyday.

I'm a vegan myself (since Oct 2006), so I'm certainly not a skeptic or a zealous advocate of meat and protein powders (vegan or not), but I'm yet to see anybody who's done it. I also haven't had access to decent training facilities since I went vegan, so I haven't been able to try it myself.

People "say" it's possible, but I'm yet to see it. All the vegan bodybuilders I've seen all have pretty unimpressive musculatures (at least by my standards). I don't expect results akin to those of a 'roid pumper, but I do expect some decent size relative to body type.

Also, most vegan bodybuilders who do have a semi-decent amount of muscle on them give me the impression that they were like that before they went vegan. I'm not 100% sure whether that's an influencing factor or not, but I assume it's harder to build muscle then it is to maintain it. I could be mistaken. There's also a possible muscle memory effect at play.

Most omnivore bodybuilder folk say that building substantial muscle (naturally, with no 'roids or supplements) can't be done. But then they're wolfing down meat and supplements, and as far as I know, any attempts they made to building muscle on a vegan diet could have failed because of their lack of understanding about veganism (being vegan isn't easy... building decent amounts of muscle on a diet isn't likely to be easy, either), so it's really hard to say.

You also have to consider how much of an impact belief has in this. If people can heal themselves through visualisation and the like, I imagine it's very easy to get no size gains on a vegan diet when you believe that it simply won't work.

I guess I'll have to experiment on myself once I get some more cash.

01-29-2008, 02:32 PM	#10 (permalink)
Bruce Achterberg Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New South Wales, Australia (GMT+10) Posts: 970	Can a vegan build substantial amounts of muscle? A very interesting article, but it still leaves me unsatisfied. Plus he loses points with me for saying "OK, this is working" when all he was really doing was eating healthier, not strictly vegan (obviously you'll feel better eating more plant foods instead of a "high-protein, high-fat smorgasbord of steaks, chops, burgers, pizza, ice cream and beer"). I'm really curious to see if people can build substantial amounts of muscle (build, not maintain) on a whole foods vegan diet that doesn't make use of protein powders, other similar supplements, processed foods (such as tofu, imitation "meats", etc), and crazy extremes such as eating kilos of legumes and nuts everyday. I'm a vegan myself (since Oct 2006), so I'm certainly not a skeptic or a zealous advocate of meat and protein powders (vegan or not), but I'm yet to see anybody who's done it. I also haven't had access to decent training facilities since I went vegan, so I haven't been able to try it myself. People "say" it's possible, but I'm yet to see it. All the vegan bodybuilders I've seen all have pretty unimpressive musculatures (at least by my standards). I don't expect results akin to those of a 'roid pumper, but I do expect some decent size relative to body type. Also, most vegan bodybuilders who do have a semi-decent amount of muscle on them give me the impression that they were like that before they went vegan. I'm not 100% sure whether that's an influencing factor or not, but I assume it's harder to build muscle then it is to maintain it. I could be mistaken. There's also a possible muscle memory effect at play. Most omnivore bodybuilder folk say that building substantial muscle (naturally, with no 'roids or supplements) can't be done. But then they're wolfing down meat and supplements, and as far as I know, any attempts they made to building muscle on a vegan diet could have failed because of their lack of understanding about veganism (being vegan isn't easy... building decent amounts of muscle on a diet isn't likely to be easy, either), so it's really hard to say. You also have to consider how much of an impact belief has in this. If people can heal themselves through visualisation and the like, I imagine it's very easy to get no size gains on a vegan diet when you believe that it simply won't work. I guess I'll have to experiment on myself once I get some more cash.