Hi all,
Vegans/Vegetarians there are several things I am interested in from people's experience:
- what supplements or foods have you found that have helped you build muscle mass?
- What diet have you found to be most successful?
- Have you found it possible to defy the notion that its not possible to become muscular as vegan/vegetarian?
personally, being a vegetarian often tending towards vegan I have experimented with many supplements, and I am curious what others have gone through. I definitely have to say that for me when I took vegan supplements such as rice protein, hemp protein and soy, I felt like no matter how much i was working out gains were difficult. Friends who were on meat based diets had a much easier time and did the same exercises. (Albeit I have to say that soy itself I always used sparingly due to the slight increase in estrogen it can cause in men). When I switched from a Vegan diet back to a Vegetarian, whey seemed to be better than vegan proteins I tried.
I am certain that genetics plays a role as well, and possibly trumps any supplement use. For instance, I have always been excellent at endurance sports and worse at sprinting/building great strength. Hence, a higher proportion of type 1 muscle fibers (slow twitch/endurance) compared to type 2 (fast twitch/explosive) will always hinder in building great muscle mass.
Would love to hear your experience.
Hey! I'll try to give a pseudo answer as I am not a vegan/not vegetarian, but you're touching on a few points.
I definitely see challenges with taking enough protein into your system if you're not eating meat. There are always lots of options everywhere for meat, and protein heavy 'other'foods are sometimes hard to come by. In addition, I've tried a hemp protein powder once, and it tasted awful :)
However, one way or another, I don't believe that the kind of protein matters (hemp vs whey vs meat etc) as long as you take enough in. If you're falling considerably short here, gaining muscle mass will be very difficult. Genetics definitely play a role, but I think only at a certain point. As in, if you don't have the right genes you won't be able to look like Arnold, but you can still be buff and muscular (without steroids etc).
I'm a strong believer that good results can be achieved with the right exercise and the right diet (unless there are underlying physical issues).
Anyways, my 2 cents :)
Edit: I actually wrote a bit about my personal opinion if protein powder itself is necessary for gaining muscle mass. Have a read if you're interested: https://steemit.com/fitness/@the-big-ginger/body-building-do-you-need-protein-powder
Congratulations @thandschin! You received a personal award!
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!