I have recently had a spiked interest in bodybuilders, specifically vegan bodybuilders. Robert Cheeke is a trailblazer in this field and has (literally) written the book on Vegan Body Building and Fitness. He also started the ever-growing website: www.veganbodybuilding.com. Take one look at this site, and you will know that it is very possible to gain definite muscle on a plant-based diet.
"BUT WHERE DO THEY GET THEIR PROTEIN???!?" You ask???
Well, where do you get YOUR protein? How many grams of protein do YOU eat? How does it stack against the WHO (World Health Oranization) recommendations?
Have you ever heard of someone being "protein deficient"?
WHO recommends getting NO MORE than 15% of your total calories from protein daily. I usually get at or below 10%. And the only possible way to actually be deficient in protein is to be deficient in calories AKA starving. That makes sense, since everything, yes contains some protein. (Bananas? 7%. Oranges? 6%. Dates? 2%. Watermelon? 5%. Mangoes? 6%. Tomatoes? 8%. Celery? 4%.)
We are so unbelievably hardwired in our society that meat=protein=muscles. In reality, NONE of these words are synonymous. We don't need as much protein as we think to be healthy. Protein supports muscles growth, AFTER the muscles have been stressed and torn under pressure (weight training), but we still don't need to overdose on the macro-nutrient. And meat? Totally unnecessary. But don't take my word for it! Try going meat-less for a week, google vegan recipes, try them out yourself, get your own results.
The real answer to the question, "What builds muscles?" is training. Training builds muscles. Food fuels and heals muscles. Strength training, literally pulling your muscle fibers apart and challenging them to lift, push, or pull an abnormal amount of weight until it adapts, and then pushing that limit again, is what literally makes one have muscles.
This makes perfect sense. You can eat an extremely high protein diet and watch TV all day and it will change nothing in your body (except possibly give you kidney stones). Having said that, you can also weight train like crazy, push yourself to the limits consistently, be a complete "gym rat" and you will probably have a chiseled physique no matter what diet you follow. That is simply because: training builds muscle. As long as you are eating enough calories, if you are also training like crazy, you will gain muscle. Those could be plant calories, supplement calories, meat calories, grain calories, whatever. Those calories will also determine the health on the INSIDE of your body however (blood pressure, cholesterol), which you hopefully also care about. If you do care about your inner health, namely digestion, lymph system, clarity of mind, nervous system, and overall stamina, then you will (like me) be interested in vegan bodybuilding. It is the perfect connection of inner and outer health.
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