The majority of us will get our protein from meat sources such as steak and chicken. What happens though, if you don't eat meat? My good friend Evan has been kind enough to give us an insight into his life as a vegetarian - aiming to get more buff than Arnie.
Evan, thanks for stopping by. First off, your pictures are very impressive. What sort of gains have you made in the few short years you have been training?
"Erm, OK, but this is rough stuff and I'm not sure of my measurements before, but I was 145 and now I weigh slightly more than 200lbs at the same body fat percentage, my arms are now over 16" and there's no way they were anything more than 11 or 12 at most, chest is now 46-47" and again, there's not a chance it was more than 40" a couple of years ago.
In terms of strength, I can overhead press 70K for 10 reps, when I started I think I was doing about 20K, benching I started off doing poor form 45K for 6, now I can do 120+ for 10 with much better ROM (Range of Movement), bent over rows I think I was doing maybe 40 or 50K for 6 or 7, most recently when I was doing hammer bar rows I was getting 130K for 10."
Great gains, but why no meat?
"When I was 10 or 11, my best friend was a vegetarian and I saw a couple of documentaries about the appalling conditions animals were kept in in the meat industry. I won't go into details but some of it is absolutely horrific and you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy, and I made the decision then that I wouldn't be a part of that industry. Over time I've come to find the thought of eating flesh absolutely repulsive."
Hmm , thanks for that (sets down burger and chicken wings). What the hell did you eat to change so drastically?
"Well to be honest I tend not to be too anal about my diet when I'm bulking. I make sure to eat more than enough. If I'm being strict and sensible then I'll eat things like baked beans with wholemeal pittas, low fat cheese slices, I'll make large meals of stir fry with lots of veg, wholemeal spaghetti, veggie mince and and soy sauce, or I'll have lots of veg with wholemeal spaghetti and veggie mince with pasta sauce, herbs and garlic, that sort of thing. However, when I'm bulking I tend not to be too strict and I'll eat chocolate bars, buy sandwiches when I'm out, eat ice cream, etc. It's a bit of an excuse to be a pig, but I seem to be adding muscle OK, so I can't complain really! My post workout meal has always been a tin of baked beans and a tin of new potatoes for absolutely ages though. It's a bit of a habit by now!"
Can you hit your protein requirements ok? (choc and ice cream ! you fat mess!)
"Hard to say. I don't count my macros or anything, but I have 5 shakes a day which is 150g of protein, and the protein I get from the rest of my diet like baked beans, wholemeal pittas, etc. is bound to take me to over the 200g mark, which really is more than enough. If I wasn't getting enough protein then I wouldn't be gaining really, so yeah, with the aid of protein shakes I'm fine. I'm also intending to start blending cottage cheese up with yogurt's to up my protein intake, and maybe drink less shakes (can't stand the texture of the stuff)."
How does your 'bulking' diet differ from your 'cutting' plan?
"The two are worlds apart to be honest. When I'm bulking I eat everything that isn't nailed down. When I'm cutting up I drink far fewer protein shakes, am very strict with my diet and consume as few carbs as possible. Being a vegetarian there are carbs in more or less everything I eat, in some form or another. For instance, if I blend up 200g of cottage cheese with 100g of natural yogurt and a scoop of banana protein, we're talking 15g of carbs there, so it all adds up. Same when we're talking about vegetables in stir fries and carbs in veggie mince. Hence I try to consume foods as low in carbs as possible and don't eat pasta and rice, etc. because my carb intake soon adds up. I tend to eat stir fry with veg and mince but no pasta and no pasta sauce, peanuts, a cottage cheese and natural yogurt and banana protein blend, that sort of thing. I try not to go over 1500 calories a day, since I find it very easy to maintain muscle but a lot harder to lose fat."
Cheers Evan, I won't hold you back from you Turnip soup any longer. :-)
In the future I would love to get more interviews uploaded to the blog. I think its great to cover other aspects of training and dieting that differ from myself and the majority of blog readers. Only by doing things like his do we increase our own knowledge.
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I found this old site which I hadn't seen in a while.
