Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I just recently started lacrosse training. 1 hour in the weight room and 1 hour cardio in a gym. Last year, conditioning kicked my butt! This year it has come a lot easier, something I credit to my diet switch to veganism. The first day I was pretty sore, but the next time I went, I wasn't sore. At all. I had upped the weights and pushed my self harder. I did more than I had previously and lifted more. I ran harder and faster. I don't know why I'm not sore. I have been going back to conditioning 3 times a week for two weeks (that is the only time we have it). Has this happened to anybody else? Why am I not sore?

When I first started training I was sore after every workout. After the first couple of weeks my body seemed to adapt and start recovering faster. As I have gotten my diet and supplementation on track, soreness has come only with truly exceptional workouts.

Yep same with with above mentioned. It happens maybe once every week or two weeks.

I have been training for 25 years and I am sore for a few days or more after almost every workout....I train pretty hard.

Some people do find that changing to a vegan diet does aid in their recovery and reduces soreness. This doesn't happen for everyone, but occasionally I do hear about such a thing happening, which may well be attributed to better post-workout recovery for some after going vegan.

Soreness will also dissipate more over time as your body adapts to the training you're doing, not to mention, varying rep schemes tend to have a strong impact on overall soreness aka DOMS.

When I trained low-rep with near maximal weights, I NEVER felt a "pump" and was rarely sore. I made my best progress this way, as soreness is NOT an indicator of progress gained in training.

When I dropped down to do more moderate to high rep lifting in years past, I found that I was sore more often. When I train 5 reps or less, soreness just isn't a factor for me, but if I'm training well, the gains come quickly even if I feel fine the next day. Now that I train more with sets in th 8-20 rep range at this time, I'm more sore than I was in the past (but find that gains aren't coming as fast as when I train heavy for low reps). Some people do better with higher reps, for me, it primarily builds more muscular endurance and helps with fat loss, and is the only way that I get any real soreness after training.

Could be other factors as well, but perhaps your recovery has improved with better nutrition on a vegan diet, or, you're just adapting to the training at a more rapid pace than in the past, allowing for faster recovery, too.

Ain't it wonderful?

Soreness can be caused by the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles during/after exercise. When you eat a clean vegan diet, the fruits and vegetables are alkaline-forming and neutralize/reduce the lactic acid. You can read all about this phenomenon in Brendan Brazier's "Thrive". I've definitely noticed a huge correlation between cleanliness of diet, and how much bad of a beating I can give my body without getting sore.