Building Muscle on a Plant-Based Diet - What You Need to Know

As plant-based lifestyles become more popular, so does the need to fully understand what it takes to support health and fitness goals while going plant-based. For general fitness goals, not much may need to change. However, building lean muscle on a plant-based diet could be a different story. Some think following a plant-based diet plan and gaining muscle mass do not go hand in hand, that achieving enough grams of protein to allow for growth won't occur. Is it true?

Protein alone is not the only contributing factor in promoting muscle. A client needs to follow a comprehensive workout program that includes strength training. The strength training program should apply all of the laws of training, including the overload principle. Creating a well-structured workout program that emphasizes hypertrophy is a significant contributing factor to your client's results.

And it's your job as their personal trainer to craft a plan that accounts for their nutritional lifestyle, effective training programs, and their fitness goals. Consider the following factors to determine if building muscle mass without the use of animal protein sources is possible for your client.

The Importance of Limiting Factors

Limiting factors are the areas in life that consistently reduce your potential, your capability for peak performance, fat loss, and muscle gain. You can find these in your behaviors, your habits, and the choices you make when your willpower is low. Addressing limiting factors is essential for all clients. It is especially important for those whose nutrition program requires more attention to detail than the average individual.

Addressing the limiting factors such as habits that damage the quality of their sleep can play a significant role in the progress your client makes. It may be easy to blame the lack of animal protein in the client's diet. However, without addressing the limiting factors that each person has, you cannot isolate the problem to be a deficiency in protein.

Another limiting factor to consider is the amount of resistance training a client performs on a moderate-protein diet. It is unlikely that a client who is consuming moderate amounts of protein can adequately recover with a high-frequency program. Ensure your client understands how much training they will need for muscle growth while considering the reality of their lifestyle. Stressing the need for your client to recover from the intensity of the exercise performed is important for all clients.

How Much Protein?

With a periodized program in place and limiting factors addressed, you can now discuss protein. Before deciding if muscle growth is possible for the client, first figure out how much protein to consume for growth to occur. Knowledge is power, and if you understand the amount of protein your client needs to consume, you can determine if building muscle on a plant-based diet is possible for this individual.

As an example, suppose you have a 200-pound client with a body fat level of 15% has a fat-free mass of 170 pounds. Following the recommendation of 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass, this individual needs to consume 170 grams of protein per day. Consuming this much protein on a plant-based diet could be tough for some individuals, but it is certainly possible with proper food pairing and the option to add high-quality vegan protein supplements if needed.

Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)

The amount of protein is not the only consideration for a muscle-building nutrition program. Aim of a diet rich in BCAAs. BCAAs consist of three essential amino acids:

• Leucine

• Isoleucine

• Valine

They play an important role in building muscle as they increase protein synthesis. Increased protein synthesis speeds up the rate of repair from the muscle damage created during our workouts.

Animal-based proteins are abundant in these amino acids. Achieving adequate levels on a plant-based diet may require some creativity. Each food will have higher or lower levels in each of these amino acids. Rarely is a plant-based food found to be rich in all three BCAAs. If needed, vegetarian protein supplements can help by supplying enough BCAAs.

Attention to Detail

The choice of foods in your meal plan matters. As a fitness professional, you must aim to create a well-balanced program allowing for optimal nutrient absorption and food digestibility. Without considering this, a plant-based nutrition program can cause a lack of energy, strength, and results.

Consuming not only the correct amounts of macronutrients but also micronutrients becomes a more tedious process. However, taking the time to be certain these nutrients are high enough is a worthwhile process. Not only for ensuring your client has the greatest chance at success, but also to strengthen your relationship. The time you take is affirming to them that you have their best interests in mind.

Your meal plans should ensure the client is consuming adequate levels of leafy greens and other colorful vegetables. The nutrients found in these foods will play a surprising role in your clients' ability to build muscle.

Carbohydrates Matter

A well-balanced nutrition program for a client following a plant-based diet includes the use of carbohydrates. This may not be a concern for many plant-based individuals, as the tendency is to have excessive carbohydrates. However, with many clients choosing to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, it's best to be aware. The consumption of adequate carbohydrates is important because it will further increase protein synthesis. Quality carbohydrates give the client struggling to achieve enough protein an opportunity to make better use of the protein they consume.

Determining Deficiencies

While consuming enough protein is crucial to developing muscle, it may not be the only deficiency inhibiting muscle growth. If muscle growth is the priority, be sure your client is consuming at or slightly above their caloric needs. A client in a caloric deficit will have a more challenging time increasing strength and size. They may make small gains initially, but beyond this, they'll need to consume enough calories and protein.

Without proper planning, a plant-based meal plan may cause B12, iron, vitamin D, zinc, or calcium deficiency. The elimination of animal-based foods minimizes the options available for these micronutrients. Many forget that these key micronutrients have a role not only in health but also in muscle growth. Deficiency in vitamin D, for example, may lead to lower levels of testosterone, which can impact muscle growth.

A client may find that food alone will not help them reach protein, macronutrient, and micronutrient needs. Here, the use of high-quality nutritional supplements may be an option to consider. If diet alone is not enough, quality supplements can help reach these desired levels, ensuring they have the ingredients for growth.

Getting Educated to Support Your Clients

So, can you help clients who want to build muscle while adhering to a plant-based diet? Yes, with a full commitment by the client and yourself. As is the case with any client. A plant-based lifestyle may require more time reviewing nutritional needs if you or your client are new to the lifestyle, but building muscle is still possible.

Want to know more about how to help clients with their specific nutrition needs? Check out ISSA's Nutrition course and master the subject of nutrition and accelerate your personal training career.