Bodybuilding The Vegan Way, Part I: The Workout

by Jeremy Lapro Jan 18, 2007

Vegan Lifestyle

Vegetarianism, more specifically a vegan lifestyle has gotten more mainstream attention in recent years and I am writing this article in an effort to show how it is possible to adhere to a vegan lifestyle and still make great gains as a bodybuilder.

Different Kinds Of Vegetarians

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarianism: Lacto-ovo vegetarians are people who do not eat meat, but do include dairy products (lacto) and eggs (ovo) in their diets. Lacto-ovo vegetarianism is sometimes recommended as a dietary therapy for a variety of conditions, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol, obesity, osteoporosis, hypertension, gout, gallstones, kidney stones, ulcers, colitis, hemorrhoids, premenstrual syndrome, anxiety and depression.

Lacto Vegetarianism: A lacto vegetarian diet is a vegetarian diet that includes dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream, and kefir. Unlike a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, eggs are excluded. This diet is popular with many followers of Eastern religious traditions, such as Sikhism, Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. It has also been popularised internationally since the 1960s by the Hare Krishna movement.

Ovo Vegetarianism: Ovo vegetarians are vegetarians who eat eggs but not meat or dairy products.

Veganism: Vegans (pronounced vee-guns) are vegetarians who do not eat any foods (eggs, dairy products, meat, etc.) derived from animal sources. Most vegans also do not use products that require for their production the death or suffering of animals, such as leather, fur, wool and certain cosmetics.

It is my goal to show how a vegan lifestyle can still help bodybuilders make great gains but in no way am I attempting to push my beliefs and lifestyle on anyone. This article is for anyone who is interested in a vegan bodybuilding lifestyle and those who would like to know more about being a vegan bodybuilding.

This article is the first of many installments that I will be writing over the course of the year. In this first part I will highlight workouts that will help vegan bodybuilders build muscle.

Vegan Vs. Regular Capsules

Regular capsules use animal gelatin (or animal ‘jelly’ – made from boiled bones, skins and tendons of animals) while Vegetarian caps are all natural non-gelatin based.

Vegetarian caps can also be made from Agar-agar, which is derived from seaweed, (but expensive). It can also be made from Kazu.

Products like Jello, gum and snack pack can potentially have gelatin in it, but there are variations of each of these products made by the same companies without gelatin.

So, if a product has ‘gelatin’, it cant be vegan

Vegan Workouts

It is tempting to try the workouts that are listed in many of the muscle magazines. However, it is important for vegans to realize that their lifestyle and nutrition programs do not support the recoverynecessary to train with high volume and frequency. I can vouch to this from experience.

It does not take much to stimulate muscle growth, heavy weight and low reps will get the job done. It is important to keep workouts under 45 minutes. Most of my workouts last only 30-to-35 minutes. Later on in the year toward “beach season” I will highlight workouts and routines to help shed body fat and cut up but the main point of this article is to build muscle.

How much, if any cardio to be done is based on the individual. When I bulk up I do not do any cardio at all, but I would say that those who would like to do cardio, do 2-to-3 sessions of 15-to-20 minutes at a low intensity per week. The bike, elliptical or walking or jogging on the treadmill are great choices.

Keep the intensity, frequency and duration low. Also, make sure to have a vegan-friendly protein shake (soy, rice, hemp) 20 minutes before doing cardio to prevent any muscle loss during the cardio workout.

Weight Lifting Guidelines

1. Work each body part once per week.
2. Keep workouts under 45 minutes.
3. Lift heavy weight and low reps.
4. Perform 3-to-4 exercises for large muscle groups and 2-to-3 exercises for smaller muscle groups.
5. I keep my repetitions between 4-and-6 for core lifts (Bench Press, Deadlift and Squats) and 6-to-10 for all other lifts.

The Workout Split

The following is the way that I split my workouts up. If I have time and my schedule allows for it, I do two separate workouts with a workout for the first body part of the day in the morning and the workout for the other muscle group to be worked that I perform later in the evening.

• Sunday: Off
• Monday: Chest & Triceps
• Tuesday: Back & Biceps
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Legs & Abs
• Friday: Shoulders & Traps
• Saturday: Off

The Workouts

I used to have workouts set in stone and I never varied from them, but after having seven years of training under my belt, I have become more aware of my body and in-tune to how I feel. Now I go into the gym with a plan and goal of what I want to achieve but I listen to my body and adjust the sets, reps and exercises that I perform based on how I feel on that given day.

For example with chest I may have planned to do the barbell bench press, incline dumbbell presses and dumbbell flyes, but for some reason my body tells me that the flyes are not going to happen today, I switch to the cable cross-over or pec-deck flye instead.

With all of that said, here are my typical workouts with each body part with the substitutions that I use for certain exercises.

Monday: Chest & Triceps

•  
  

  Barbell Bench Press – Medium Grip

  4 sets of 6 reps2 warm -up sets of 5 to 10 reps

•  
  

  Incline Dumbbell Press

  3 sets of 6 reps

•  
  

  Dips – Chest Version

  3 sets to failure

•  
  

  Cable Crossover

  2 sets of 10 reps

•  
  

  Lying Triceps Press

  3 sets of 8-10 reps

•  
  

  Standing Overhead Barbell Triceps Extension

  3 sets of 8-10 reps

Tuesday: Back & Biceps

•  
  

  Barbell Deadlift

  4 sets of 4 reps2 warm-up sets of 5 reps
  

•  
  

  Chin-Up

  50 reps

Note: I do as many sets as it takes to get in 50 reps which usually amounts to 4 sets of 12 to 15.

•  
  

  Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

  3 sets of 8-10 reps

•  
  

  Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Row

  4 sets of 8 reps

•  
  

  Barbell Curl

  3 sets of 6-10 reps

Note: I will do 21’s as an “shock” technique but no more than twice per month. Also, the other thing I do with barbell curls, is to do 2 sets of 6 to 10 reps and then do 21’s for my third and final set.

•  
  

  Dumbbell Alternate Bicep Curl

  3 sets of 10 reps

Thursday: Legs & Abs

•  
  

  Barbell Squat

  4 sets of 4-6 reps2 warm-up sets of 5 reps

•  
  

  Barbell Lunge

  3 sets of 6 reps

•  
  

  Romanian Deadlift

  3 sets of 5 reps

•  
  

  Standing Leg Curl

  3 sets of 6-8 reps

•  
  

  Cable Crunch

  3 sets of 10 reps

•  
  

  Hanging Leg Raise

  3 sets of 10 reps

Friday: Shoulders & Traps

•  
  

  Machine Shoulder (Military) Press

  1 set of 10 reps

•  
  

  Push Press

  4 sets of 6-8 reps

•  
  

  Front Plate Raise

  3 sets of 10 reps

•  
  

  Side Lateral Raise

  3 sets of 10 reps

•  
  

  Seated Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise

  1-2 sets of 10 reps

•  
  

  Barbell Shrug

  2 sets of 8 reps

Conclusion

There you have it. This is how I work out and this workout will definitely help you to maximize your gains, minimize your time in the gym and maximize your recovery potential which leads to the growth of new muscle tissue.

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