An experiment in strength

[Fire Ant]

I haven’t posted much, but I enjoy reading posts and knowing there are others like me.

I’m planning to conduct a one-year experiment. I am curious about the nexus between a lean vegan diet and strength. I’ve been vegan for 14 years and powerlifting for a few years, but I don’t take either nearly as seriously as I should. I want to see what my maximum potential is in a twelve month period.

Here’s where I’d like some advice. Although I’m leaving my power training to my trainer, I need to structure my diet. I want to get the maximum benefit from the healthiest foods, nothing unnecessary. I also want to be as lean as I can while getting as strong as I can. Any recommendations? I’ve tried nutritionists and doctors, but they don’t know about vegan diets. Does anybody know of a good information source on creating the most conducive diet for health and strength? If you were to design an ideal, simple diet for strength and overall health, what would you focus on?

By the way, this past weekend I completed in my first powerlifting meet in over a year. At 115 pounds, I benched 165 (equipped with shirt) and deadlifted 395. I think that if I really dedicate myself, I can do well in the sport, and I want nothing more than to prove to others that vegans (and women!) are powerful.

Thanks for any feedback!

[JP]

good deadift! Did you just do push & pull meet, or where is your squat?

personally, i dont pay much attention to the diet thing. Just cover the basics and thats it.

Gut instinct is that the person most qualified to give you a hand in this could be Mike Mahler - extensive professional esperience in both strength training as well as vegan diet. You can send him a private message at:
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=63

Could we tempt you to start a log here at VF to chart your progress?

[Fire Ant]

Thanks, JP. The federation I competed in was just push/pull.

I've been looking for a bit of help on the nutrition side of things because my trainer and nearly all of the powerlifters I know (99% men) are overweight and eat horribly. My trainer feels that I would be stronger the more weight I gain. He's not talking muscle, but fat. I just don't buy it.

Maybe I'll start a log at VF. I've set August 1st (my 14th anniversary of becoming vegan) to begin my year of experimentation and I want to get my research and planning done prior to that so it'll be a smooth transition. Unfortunately, I found a new vegan chocolate-almond spread at Whole Foods last night, and it's delicious. I'd better binge on that for the next months before I give up the junk.

[vegan hal]

damn dude. that's one heckuva DL especially at your weight. good job. I'll let the more qualified folks here help you w/ you answers though.

1 question. what was the name of the choc/almon spread? that sounds good I want to look for it.

[JP]

I've been looking for a bit of help on the nutrition side of things because my trainer and nearly all of the powerlifters I know (99% men) are overweight and eat horribly. My trainer feels that I would be stronger the more weight I gain. He's not talking muscle, but fat. I just don't buy it.

yeah when you get to superheavies that is pretty common thinking I know because i used to think so too

It has an element of truth in it but many people end up putting on 10kg of weight just to add 5kg to their total and the returns start looking a bit useless.

If you have a weight category you want to be in, then it makes sense to weigh a bit more than that in training and be as solid as possible. That adds nice elements into the training and thinking when you have to stick to a weight class.

You train the squat though even if you have only done push/pulls?

[Webb]

1 question. what was the name of the choc/almon spread? that sounds good I want to look for it.

Justin's brand makes a chocolate hazelnut and several other nut butters. They carry it at the Whole Foods in Charlottesville.

Anyways, I haven't posted here in awhile, but I still check somewhat regularly. I'm going to try to get back on here more, and while skimming through old threads I thought this would be a good way to get back on board.

[Lordmuppet]

joining Precision Nutrition is what you want. They are actually quite good at catering for Vegans. Ryan Andrews (not to be confused with Ryan Andrews that runs veganessentials) who is vegan writes a lot of their stuff.