vegan male bodybuilding

Hi!

Got my partner vegan a year back, now he wants to build muscles but thinks he can't because meat is a first class protein which is "essential" he was taught at medical school. Fact is he hasn't tried to with soya proteins but likes the powder from Holland and Barrett I've bought him.

Any soya protein powders that can be recommended to me that may be even better I would appreciate in finding out. I live in the U.K.

Thanks,

Keely Jolliffe

Welcome Keely,

Great to have you here!

There are many ways to build muscle on a vegan diet and a lot of has nothing to do with supplements. There are a bunch of vegan athletes here who don't use any. I only use a couple and I've had quite a bit of success as a vegan bodybuilder.

I lived in the UK for a short time a few years ago and I enjoyed the Chocolate Soya Powder by Holland and Barrett. I remembered that I really liked the taste! There are "better" protein powders in my opinion, such as hemp, rice and pea protein.

A lot of vegans tend to eat a lot of soy anyway, so taking protein powders from soy could be "over doing it." Not that it is "dangerous" but it's just better and healthier to get protein from a wide variety of sources.

These days I focus on whole foods, nuts, beans, green vegetables, seeds, and other foods that tend to have a lot of protein in them, such as hemp or soy-based foods.

We do have members from the UK here, so maybe some of them can give you specific names of products over there.

Also, check out some of the nutrition programs the athletes here follow. There can be a great variety, with lots of protein and calories without using supplements.

All the best and welcome aboard!

Hi Keely, welcome to VBB&F

Tell him to start trying to build muscles, he will prove himself wrong.

If he is eating a healthy whole food vegan diet, he will build muscles.

Meat does have all the essential amino acids required to build muscle.

But so does nearly every vegetable, grain, legume and even fruit.

Some might be slightly lacking in an essential amino acid.

But there are 8 essential amino acids, and not all plants are lacking the same one.

What might be lacking in one is abundand in many others.

If you get enough calories to survive, you will get enough protein.

Hi,

I read that the current British national heavyweight bodybuilding champion is vegan : http://www.spotthevegan.co.uk

I don't think you need much more protein over what you can eat to get to be the size of a natural bodybuilder...unless of course you natural build is extremely thin...but if you want it anyway I took a ton of Soy Protein Isolate(some claim it causes alot of problems but I took a ton if it for year and never experienced any problems)...pea , rice protein, and hemp are good too

Hi,

I read that the current British national heavyweight bodybuilding champion is vegan : http://www.spotthevegan.co.uk

I think that the 2005 World Bodybuilding Champion is also vegan.

Hello & Welcome!

Welcome!

Hi & Welcome!!

Check out this link for info on how to get vegan supplements in the UK

http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/supps.htm

The website is also very informative.

Welcome !