new vegan dealing with soreness

[shoeman8000]

I recently became vegan about 4 months ago, and am loving my decision. However, i've been having some trouble with general soreness and pulled muscles lately. I eat what i consider a pretty balanced diet every day, especially for a college student. I eat about 3-4 servings of fruit, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-4 servings of nuts/legumes, 3-6 servings of soy products (soy milk, a serving or so of roasted soy nuts after my workout, tofu and soy yogurt), and 2-3 servings of imitation meats a day. I drink lots of water, about 64oz or so, as well as a glass of green tea in the morning. I take a flax seed pill twice daily, and a multivitamin in the mornings. I work out monday-wed-fri twice a day (maybe less depending on how busy my week is), and once a day on tues-thursday. On m-w-f, i do cardio (30-60 min) in the morning, and then come back and lift weights and more cardio (30-45 min). On t-t, i lift and do about 30-60 min of cardio. I really feel as if i am doing well on my diet and exercise, and the only problem that i am having is that i don't "bounce" back as well as i did when i eat meat before and after work outs.

 

the best way i can describe it is, is you know that soreness when you haven't worked out for a couple of months, then lift hard, and you really feel it the next day? That's what i feel like a good portion of the time. Also, the other day i played a little game of football with my friends, and the next day it felt like someone had beat me up, and feel as if i have been more susceptible to muscle strains, like hamstring pulls, pulled thighs, etc.

 

So my questions are, am i doing something wrong? Is there a food i should be eating that would help this? Should i be eating less of anything? I've thought about consuming more protein, but don't feel like i have much room for any food, unless i were to continually stuff my face and have that REALLY full feeling. If anyone has ANY suggestions please let me know, because i'm in some ruthless pain, and trying to play at a high level on my flag football team! Thanks for your time!

[RawVgn]

Sounds like a lot of intense exercise to me! As your fitness level increases, your intensity increases so that you can create more muscle micro tears per unit of workout time. However, your body does not increase its recovery capacity as strength increases; so overtime, you have to reduce workout frequency and/or duration in order to recover. Also keep in mind, your strength does not increase while working out; it's the recovery time that builds muscle.

 

I use a lifting system developed by a world class bodybuilder and exercise physiology Phd; for an intermediate bodybuilder like me, I only lift twice a week for no more than 30 minutes each workout- that's just one hour a week lifting and only about half that time is spent actually lifting weights. I lift to utter failure on every set, and it takes me 3 to 4 days to fully recover. I do high-intensity intervals on one or two of the off lifting days for no more than 25 minutes- only about 7 minutes sprinting.

 

Listen to your body; if it's sore, rest until its not. Frequency and duration do not build muscle; intensity does! And the more intense you are, the more recovery you need.

[shoeman8000]

sounds great! thanks for your help! i will give that a shot. However, i do have some questions. Do you still gain muscle with no problem? Or is it difficult because you are only lifting twice a week? Also, is there anything that you make sure to add into your diet in order to gain muscle, or even prevents soreness for that matter? Thanks!