Can a vegetarian gain muscle mass?

S

seahare

New Member
Dear Cathe-
I am such a huge fan of you and your workout DVD's. I am also looking forward to your new series of DVD's to be released sometime soon.
My question to you is based on the vegetarian lifestyle.
I would like to change by body by gaining significant muscle mass, is this possible on a vegetarian diet?
If so, what kind of daily diet plan would you recommend?
I have been working out for the last year (using your gym style DVD's), with some muscle gained but not to the degree I would like.
To change my program (so I do not plateau)I have starting doing a descending pyramid (i.e 12-10;10-8;8-6;6-4;4-1) total 5 sets.
My workout consist of 5 days a week, 60 minutes of stenght training, and 25 minutes of cardo.
Is this enough time to develop the significant muscle mass I am looking for?
If you could make any suggestions I would be so grateful.
:)
thank you,
Sid
 
Sid,

I am vegetarian too.

The answer is yes to the question on whether it is possible to build muscle on a vegetarian diet.

If you consume eggs and/or dairy you have two easy and convenient sources of protein. Especially egg whites. (I dont eat eggs).

If you are vegan, you can still build muscle except you have to plan your meals a bit more until you get the hang of well rounded nutrition. Here is a good resource:
http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/main.htm
I know being a body builder and ganing some muscle are two entirely different things, but there is still some good nutrition info there.

Bill Pearl was vegetarian. He won the Mr universe title in the 1970s. He was anti-steriods too. He is a respected source of information, knowledge, and coaching on weight training.

~* Vrinda *~
 
Actually, you can absorb protein a lot more from beans than meat. You don't need to eat as much to get the same amount. And not to say about iron. Veggies have iron and at least it doesn't come from blood unlike meat!!! I would prefer getting my iron from pills than blood. Anyhow, it's a whole different topic. But we believe that meat is such a good source of protein. The truth is that you need to consume a lot to get the same amount of protein than in beans / tofu. I have this book "Becoming Vegetarian" http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Vege...bs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216305550&sr=8-3
A must for all vegetarians!!!
 
Absolutely! How on earth do you think cows build muscle? :p

Here's a great website to check out. No doubts here!

http://www.veganathlete.com/

Check out the Carl Lewis article. Many veggie and vegan athletes say they reached new fitness heights once they changed their way of eating to eliminate meat or animal products.
 
Hello Seahare,

I am vegan and it is possible to gain musle mass. I have to be honest though, it is definitely harder for me now, compared to when I used to consume dairy. I don't mind though. I just have to be consistent with my weight training.

Monica
 
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