I am vegan and want to build more muscle. I just recently joined Crunch fitness in Somerset and intend on going at least 4 times a week. Any information/tips regarding ways to increase muscle building for vegans would be great

Answer:

Crunch Somerset has our program and products available for you to give you exactly what you need for your fitness goals and matched to vegans as necessary. You can ask one of the personal trainers for help in training and in using the dotFIT program or simply being a member of Crunch, you can use it on your own if you aren’t able to work with a trainer. I have placed a typical Vegan muscle gain supplement program below and a complete list of dotFIT vegan supplements.

Here’s a frequently asked question that has more info:

Q: I’m a vegan, how can I build muscle?

A:The simple answer is, you build muscle like anyone else whether you’re an omnivore (eat anything), vegetarian (many different types such as pesco and lacto-ovo) or pure vegan.

As an adult, to add muscle and increase weight, you need to eat total calories slightly above maintenance, 1gm of protein (P) for each pound of lean body mass (LBM) with the rest of your calories divided up between fats (F) and carbohydrates (CHO) and do some form of regularly unaccustomed resistance training. Generally the ratio of CHO, P and F would be: 40-50% CHO, 25-30%P, 25-30%F.

If you’re a pure vegan, you can combine grains and legumes, eat plant proteins such as soy including supplements to reach protein requirements. Below I have placed a vegan supplement program you can use with your meal planning, which you can get from the dotFIT program.

The dotFIT program can create the perfect program for you as it also contains vegetarian and vegan menus samples with the correct calories for your goal. A fitness professional at your gym can set it up for you. 

Vegan Sport Health, Activity Recovery, Performance & Muscle Gain Program

Daily:

• dotFIT Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral

o Take 1 daily, with first large meal of the day

• CreatineMonohydrate Loading & Maintenance Strategy

o Mix 1 scoop (5gms) with 4-8oz of favorite fluid/shake and take 4 times daily with a carbohydrate containing meal/drink for first 5 days. Thereafter take 1-scoop twice daily to maintain stores. To help maximize creatine uptake, split doses throughout the day with meals/drinks containing protein and carbohydrate

o On training days, use one dose before workout and one after with meals/drinks. May mix with your pre & post training formula

*Programs total daily creatine first 5 days: 20gms/d. Maintenance phase: all days-10gms.To maximize uptake, creatine intake should be spread as evenly as possible throughout the day with carb containing meals or shakes.

Daily as needed:

• BestPlantProtein

o Use as directed to make sure you get ~1gm of protein per pound of LBM (or weight if not overweight) daily from all sources including foods divided 5 times daily

 If exercising use ~35gm 30-40min before workout & repeat dose immediately post workout (see below)

o Can be used as a supplement to a meal or by itself (or mixed with desired supporting contents) to shore up total daily protein needs

• Super Calcium

o Use if you do not meet the daily needs of calcium (~1000-1200 mgs) from food/shake intake

 Females take 1 or 2 daily with meals; if you need to take 2, take one with AM meal and the 2nd with PM meal; Males take 1 only if necessary

Workout days

• BestPlantProtein

o Take 2- scoops 30-40min before workout & repeat same dose immediately following exercise

• Creatine Monohydrate

o On training days, use one dose before workout and one after with meals/drinks. May mix with your pre & post training formula

  Meal Timings 

• As possible eat every 4-hours

• Large pre-training/event meal 2-3Hr before training

• Large post meal ~30-60min after last post workout supplement

Early morning training

• Eat a large pre-training type meal the night before

• Consume only the pre-workout snack/shake & AB before training (as shown above) & follow workout day supplement schedule above

Tournament play (multiple games)

• 1.5-2.5Hr: small pre-training-type meal

• >2.5Hr: normal pre-training meal

Fluid Recommendations*

• 16 oz 2Hr before activity (extra 8-16 oz 1hr before on hot days)

• 4-8 oz every 20 minutes during activity

• 20 oz for every pound of weight loss post-activity

*Use electrolyte formula (e.g. Gatorade) and water as directed

Here is a link to the list of dotFIT products that are vegan and vegetarian friendly.



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