“How can you build muscle when you are a vegan!?” is a common, uninformed retort to anyone going down the vegan path. Whilst such statements might be irritating or frustrating to have to constantly refute, you might start to find some doubt in yourself about this.
Can you build muscle when eating only a vegan diet? The answer is a resounding yes.
Just like
building lean muscle on any kind of diet, it’s going to take hard work and a lot of effort on your part to make it so. If you wish to start caring for your body more, though, you will find that making some simple adjustments to lifestyle will be important. So, if you want to help prove these people who tell you that it cannot be done wrong, let’s take a look at the most important contributing factors you might need to consider.
If you can keep up the below ideas, you will start to find that you build natural, lean muscle in no time at all.
Eat Real Food
Start off by getting yourself into the mind-set of eating whole foods, not just any old foods. Most people think they can just consume some snacks and then go work out; even if you eat very healthy vegan snacks, this is not going to help you out too much for building lean muscle.
Try and make sure that you start moving towards more wholesome foods. Instead of eating processed foods and nonsense protein bars, you should look to start adding in more and more whole foods: the more whole your meals are, the more your muscles have to work with.
Try to Eat Regularly, Not Just Large Meals
Many people make the mistake of sticking to the societal standard of having one or two huge meals in the day and not eating for the rest of the day. Not only will this inhibit your chances of building the strong muscle that you want, it is going to limit the level of energy that you have.
Instead, it’s better to get into the habit of eating at more regular intervals. It allows you to vary up your nutritional intake, and it will also help to give you the energy needed to help recover after your workout which will use up much of your glycogen. Pre-work and post-workout meals are essential, so try and get into the frame of mind of eating smaller portions on a regular basis instead of waiting all day for sustenance.
Increase Intake of Protein
Your body is going to need a lead of protein if you wish to try and build some lean muscle. We recommend that you try and take some vegan protein supplements. These are useful for those who need to make up for a protein imbalance due to your diet. If you find that you are getting less than 1.6g of protein for every 1kg of body weight, then you need to work on that.
Lift Heavy
When it comes to lifting your weights, you should go for it and really make sure that you push the body to the limit. Large compound movements, including squats, will really help to give your body the workout that it needs. It will also put the muscles under more pressure, which is going to help them shed and strengthen to be the muscles that you always wanted.
Gym equipment have created a list of
55 exercises you can try in the gym or at home, which should help when it comes to finding an exercise for every part of your body.
If you want to start seeing major results when it comes to building lean muscle, don’t cheapen out and use the lighter weights: go for it!
Multi-Directional Movements
Lastly, don’t make the mistake that many people do and keep working out in the one direction. Get yourself moving, turning and vaulting from side to side. You will find it easier to work more muscle groups, but you will also find that your core muscles – the ones which support the muscles we want to turn leaner – need that extra added support.
With some more multi-directional movement, you will find that it’s much easier to improve your physical form. Don’t just stick to a rigid exercise regime: a bit of flexibility in your movement will only help those muscles to form into the lean, sturdy shape you intended.