Muscle Building Using Plant Protein

Building Muscles And Remaining Fit On A 100% Vegan Diet

Bodybuilding and muscle building has taken the world by the storm. People are consuming insane amount of protein to make their muscles pop out of their T-shirts. But very few people understand muscles scientifically to know what is really good for their muscles and what not and what is required and what is not.

In this blog, we would talk about muscles, their working mechanism, the process of muscle building and vegan foods that you can consume to build muscles.

Muscles: Basic Science

First, let’s talk about the muscular system of our body briefly.

Muscles are associated with movements. We can not move without muscles in our body. Muscles do much more than we usually imagine. When we think of muscles, we think of biceps and triceps but there are muscles in our heart, stomach and on all parts of the body have muscles. Muscles our instrumental to our survival. Digestion, blood circulation, smiling, walking, running. lifting, all these actions are done by the relentless collaboration of muscles in the body:

Broadly all muscles in the body can be categorised in two categories:

1. Involuntary Muscles: Involuntary muscles are the muscles on which we don’t have conscious control. Like the muscles in our stomach and heart. The process of digestion and blood circulation is not under our conscious control.
2. Voluntary Muscles: Voluntary muscles are the muscles on which we have conscious control. Like the muscles of our hands and legs.

Involuntary Muscles are of Two Types:

1. Cardiac Muscles: Cardiac muscle forms the heart. These muscles are responsible for the rhythmic contractions of the heart. It is not in our conscious control and hence put in the category of involuntary muscles.
2. Smooth Muscles: Smooth muscle is found in the walls of blood vessels, urinary bladder, the intestines, and the stomach. Smooth muscle is used by various systems to apply pressure to vessels and organs. Smooth muscle is composed of sheets or strands of smooth muscle cells.

Now, in colloquial language, when we talk of muscles, especially when talking about sports, training, athletics etc, we don’t mean any of these muscles. We talk about the third type of muscles which is under voluntary control.

Voluntary Muscle is of only one type:

1. Skeletal or Striated Muscle: This type of muscle is the only muscle which is under our conscious control. These muscles are under voluntary control, and that is concerned with movement, posture, and balance. Skeletal muscle is made from a series of bundles of muscle fibres called myocytes. Each myocyte contains many myofibrils, which are strands of proteins (actin and myosin) that can grab on to each other and pull. This shortens the muscle and causes muscle contraction for movement. The bundle of muscle fibres is surrounded by protective membranes. This allows skeletal muscle to contract and release swiftly without subjecting the individual fibres to too much friction. Skeletal muscle tissue can be found across the animal kingdom, in most multi-cellular forms of life. Skeletal muscle tissues are joint with bones using another connecting tissue called tendons.

Image Courtesy: Pearson Education

So someone is a better sprinter and the other one is a better marathoner. Someone is better at jumps, whereas someone is good at holding difficult positions. Someone can lift more weight and others can do more reps with the same weight. The difference lies in the proportion and strength of different types of skeletal muscles

Skeletal Muscles are further divided into two categories:

1. Slow Twitch Muscles: The slow-twitch muscle fibres are more efficient at using oxygen (Aerobic metabolism) to burn carbohydrate or fat as food to generate more ATP fuel for continuous, extended muscle contractions over a long time. They contract slower the than fast-twitch fibres and can go for a long time before fatigue. They can contract for longer periods but with lesser force. Therefore, slow-twitch fibres are great for making athletes run marathons and bicycle for hours. These muscles are red and the muscles get their red colour from this tissue. The muscles that help us maintain posture are rich in slow-twitch cells.
2. Fast Twitch Muscles: Fast-twitch fibres make use anaerobic metabolism to create fuel. They generate short bursts of strength or speed than slow muscles and then become fatigued. They fatigue much faster than slow-twitch muscles. Fast-twitch fibres generally produce the same amount of force per contraction as slow muscles, but they get their name because they can fire more rapidly. Having more fast-twitch fibres is helpful to a sprinter since she/he needs to quickly generate a lot of force. Fast-twitch muscles are further divided (Fast twitch type IIa, and Type IIb) depending upon contractile speed and force generation but we need not go in that detail.

Image Courtesy: Verywell

Now, the natural proportion of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibres in our body and their strengths play an instrumental role in, what sport are we good at and if we are stronger, faster, or both.

Olympic sprinters have been shown to possess about 80% fast-twitch fibres while those who excel in marathons tend to have 80% slow-twitch fibres. Your maximum muscle growth potential also depends upon the proportion of these muscles.

When fibres in a particular muscle group consist primarily of fast-twitch muscle fibres, then it is much easier to build mass in that muscle. Fast twitch-muscle fibres have greater potential for gaining size than slow twitch. That’s why sprinters tend to be more muscular and bigger compared to endurance athletes.

The training, types of exercises for improving the efficiency of different types of muscle are different. Hence, having an understanding of the physiology of the body helps us develop more effective exercise programs for our specific needs.

Courtesy: Ace Fitness

That’s why different athletes even though competition in the same sports also have different training programs depending on their capabilities and weaknesses.

Now, let’s understand how muscles are broken, repaired and strengthened in brief.

Muscle Building

Muscles adaption to increased stress to improve its efficiency, strength, density, shape and mass etc is called muscle building. Muscle cells resemble a bunch of sticks bundled up for firewood. Myofibrils are cylindrical bundles of filaments composed of sarcomeres. Sarcomeres are the fundamental unit of muscle contraction and are composed of proteins namely, myosin and actin.

The composition of muscle is about 20 % protein and other Water, phosphates, and minerals comprise the other 80% of muscle.

Muscles growth is called as Hypertrophy. When someone does resistance training consistently, they may notice muscle growth. The growth is due to increased water, several myofibrils, and connective tissues.

Why Muscle Growth is Important?

Muscle gain is not about gaining a mass of muscles. It’s not becoming like a heavyweight bodybuilder. Muscle growth is about strengthening them, making them more flexible, making them produce more force, in lesser time. Even if you don’t want to increase the mass of your muscles a lot, even then the growth of muscles is needed and is important. Let’s know why and how:

1. Muscle growth makes the body look toned. The people who gain muscles while remaining lean, appear tight, firm and more in control. They look more confident and fit.
2. Muscle growth improves day to day functions of the body like locomotion and other body-related movements.
3. Muscles tissues are metabolically active. Growth in muscle improves the way the body handles nutrients and their absorption. For instance, people who are more muscular and lower body fat generally have better insulin control.
4. Muscles are like engines. They burn calories to provide motion. Muscles keep burning calories in the form of carbs and fat all the time and hence related to increased metabolic activity and fat loss.
5. With advancing age the body experiences loss of muscles. It is also known as sarcopenia. It is due to the lesser number of muscle fibres, decreased size, impaired contraction mechanism and decreased motor unit recruitment. Hence, it is important to keep working for muscle growth to make up for the lost tissues and keeping the tissues metabolically as active as possible. If we don’t do that then with age our strength would keep dwindling. Movements and control of the body would become difficult with time. Hence, it is advised to keep working for muscle growth.
6. Muscle gain also fortifies connective tissues like tendons and also strengthens bones. This helps in preventing injuries and hence, many modern athletes gain muscles to avoid injuries.
7. The gain of muscles would make you overall fit, more immune and lesser prone to catching diseases. People, who work out consistently have much better immunity compared to sedentary people.

Now, that we know, why it is important to strive for muscle growth let’s study the factors affecting muscle gain.

Factors Affecting Muscle Gain

Muscle growth is known as hypertrophy. It is the development of mass, density, shape, and function of muscle cells as we have already discussed.

Hypertrophy is generally broken down into two types by the scientific community:

• Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy: In this type of hypertrophy increase of muscle size is due to an increase in the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell.
• Myofibrillar hypertrophy: In this type of hypertrophy increase of muscle size is due to the increase in the contractile proteins. This is also known as functional hypertrophy.

There people who say that bodybuilders primarily demonstrate sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and that their muscles look puffed up, while weightlifters primarily demonstrate myofibrillar hypertrophy, and their muscles are denser.

Muscle gain depends on various factors other than physical work out and diet. Let’s take a look at some prominent factors that affect muscle gain.

1. Physical Work Out: Our muscles are smart and hence, if we keep doing the same type of exercise daily then the muscles become used to it. We have to keep pushing our muscles by changing the workouts, increasing the load, increasing the time. increasing the number of reps or making the exercise more difficult to do. Keep surprising your body. Keep using different muscles and keep experimenting with your work out. Do yoga, do cardio, do weights, do Zumba, keep changing and keep improvising. Don’t let your muscles sit idle and think, we have been doing the same thing for months, so no problem. Keep throwing news things at them. You have to be consistent as well. Once a week or twice a week is not gonna help. You have to be consistent with your workout.
2. Rest and Sleep: Muscle is not built when you’re working out, they are built when you’re resting. You have to push your muscles but not to the point it gets injured and hence, the appropriate amount of rest in between the exercises (Not too less and not too much) is needed. Similarly, a proper sleep of 7–8 hours is required. Although, there can be no fixed number. You have to know it for yourself. Your body needs a night of good, and deep sleep for recovery. That’s the time when your muscles recover and rebuild.
3. Proper Hydration: Water is crucial for the health and instrumental for survival. Even then many good athletes also don’t understand the importance of proper hydration. It is required for proper circulation of blood, digestion, nutrition transfer etc. It keeps joints, bones and muscles healthy too. Water doesn’t provide energy but it is the medium in which all energy reactions take place. And hence, if you don’t keep yourself hydrated, you would feel fatigued. Mild dehydration is the most common day time fatigue. The decrease in water makes it difficult for muscles to burn fat and hence, it keeps depositing. Water helps in the formation of the structures of protein and glycogen. For moving and flexing your muscles, you need water. During dehydration, the muscles will be deprived of electrolytes and cramp. Muscles are controlled by nerves, and hence without the proper hydration and electrolyte balance, muscle strength and control will also be impaired. Keep yourself hydrated to grow your muscles and experience optimal performance.
4. Hormones: Muscle growth also depends upon the hormone environment in our bodies. Many hormones are instrumental in endurance training and muscle growth. Hormones like testosterone, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) increase strength and stimulate muscle growth. Whereas hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and glucagon increase the availability of glucose, (the primary source of fuel in our body.). The optimum level of hormones can be maintained with proper pre and post work out meals. Don’t fall in the trap of supplements and drugs. You can keep your hormones at a good level naturally with a healthy diet and life.
5. Diet: When people talk about muscle growth, they only talk about protein conveniently overlooking the other micro and macronutrients that are also instrumental in muscle growth. If you’re working hard for muscle growth then you need to eat holistically. A balanced diet that provides you with enough calories, fibres, protein, vitamins and minerals is essential for muscle growth. Taking protein and blatantly ignoring other nutrients would never let you become fit and gain muscles. You need to consume a good amount of calories for gaining muscles. Research shows that people can lose weight by restricting their calories intake without doing resistance training. But it’s an even distribution of muscle and fat. We would like more muscles and lesser fat. One roughly 2,800 calories to build a pound of muscle, largely to support protein turnover. Proteins turnover can be increased with training. The contractile proteins and fluid (sarcoplasm) in muscle fibres are broken due to stress and strain on them. They are rebuilt every 7–15 days. Training improves turnover by affecting the type and amount of protein produced. Other than calories and protein, Vit D, C, E and calcium also play an instrumental role in muscle building.

Note: The, muscles that are overloaded with fat in your body can grow during starvation (energy from adipose fat stores is used by muscles). although ample nutrients (e.g., protein, carbohydrate, etc.).

Although growth can take place during starvation/restriction, for overweight people or the newbies. But muscle growth with insufficient calorie consumption is not likely to take place with advanced trainees.

If you’re more experienced and looking to make your muscles denser, and stronger then you’ll most like would have to to eat more calories so that your muscles can consume them to make repair and make muscle fibres.

Now, that we know the basics of muscles, type, muscle building and factors affecting it. Let’s know what you can eat to gain lean muscles.

Vegan Diet for Muscle Building

Now, the myth that vegans can’t be world-class athletes has been shattered to pieces by various world-class athletes, sportsmen, mountaineers, and endurance athletes etc. All the nutrients that are essential for muscle gain can be easily attained from plant-based sources.

Let’s discuss them in detail:

Calories: To build muscles, you have to keep a calories surplus in your body to feed the muscles. But don’t go overboard. You have to eat enough so that your muscles have the fuel that they need for repair and rebuilding.

Some of the healthy vegan sources of calories are: Sweet Potato, Potato, Rice (white and brown), Legumes, Sprouts, Nuts, Oil seeds, Nuts, Dry Fruits, Banana, Millets, Tofu etc. All of these are good sources of calories. You can supplement your diet with them for calories surplus.

Protein: There is so much cry in the market for protien. There is a general notion that you need 2 gm protein/ kg of your body weight. So if you’re 50 Kgs, you need 100 gm of protien daily.

Although, there are many researches which say otherwise. We don’t need as much as protien as it is touted by various industry. Some say an average person needs something like 30 gm-50 gm of protien depending upon intensity of workout and size. Some say we need 0.8 gm of protein per kg of our body weight. In fact, consuming too much protein damages the body and various organs. It’s not good for health. So, don’t be obsessive about it. If you keep eating a healthy balanced diet as per your need, you will be good. Now, let’s discuss some good vegan sources of protein that you can easily access.

Legumes: (Mung, Chickpea etc) are really good source of proteins. It is advised to consume them as sprouts. In form of sprout, legumes are a nurtitional power house. Loaded with fibre, B complex, Protein and other micro and macronutrients. Add different raw, seasonal and local vegetables like onion, tomato, cucumber, carrot etc to make it like salad and relish it. It’s really good for your muscles, digestive system and overallhealth. d

Lentils: are also a rich source of protien. It’s rich in fibre and carbs too. And hence, really good food source for muscle building. Their fibre is known to feed good bacteria in the stomach.

Hempseeds: Hempseeds come from Cannabis sativa plant. This belongs to same family as marijuana plant. Hempseeds are not well-known like other seeds. But they are a really good source of easily digestible protein. It contains 10 grams of complete, easily digestible protein in 28 grams. They are also rich in magnesium, iron, calcium, zinc and selenium. It’s a good source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Interestingly in the ratio that is considered optimal for human health.

Grean Peas: Green peas is often ignored as a good nutriton source. But it green peas contain 9 gms of protein per cooked cup. One serving of green peas covers can fulfil the 25% of your daily fiber, vitamin A, C, K, thiamine, folate and manganese requirements. It is an excellent source of many other micronurtients.

Nuts, Dry Fruits, Oil Seeds: Nuts, Dry fruits seeds are great sources of protein. They are generally rich in fiber, micronutrients and healthy fat too. Including them in your diet and consuming them every now and then in appropriate quantity would give your muscles and other body parts the fuel and nurition they need.

Soy Milk and Other Products: Soy products when consumed in limited and regulated quantities can be very good for your health. They are loaded with protein, fibre, calories and various other micronutrients. You can easliy extract soy milk at home. You can consume soy paneer too, which is known as tofu.

Pumpkin Seeds: Another lesser known seed that is a nutritional power house. Pumpkin seeds are very rich in nutrients. And an excellent source of protein, magnesium and calories. It roughly contains, Per 1/4 cup (30g) 160 calories, 10g protein, 13g total fat, 4g carbohydrates, 1g dietary fiber, 1g sugars, 0 mg sodium, 20 mg calcium, 7.5 mg iron. It is really good food for your muscles.

Other than these there are hundreds of other food items from plant origin that you can consume for meeting your protein requirments like Quinoa, Amaranth, Almonds, Nutritional yeast, Spirulina, Chia Seeds, Flaxseeds etc. So there is no dearth of plant based protein sources that you can consume for the protien requirment of your body.

Vit and Minerals: Vitamins and minerals are also intrumental to muscle growth. Hence, their deficit won’t let your muscles grow in proportion to your hard work. Hence, it is important to supplement your diet with seasonal, and local fruits and vegetables. You can eat vegetables raw and consume them as salad. Eating seasonal fruits and raw vegetables as snacks is gonna give your body the micronurtients it needs for proper functioning of various cells, organs and tissues. They also provide with the dietary fibre. Dietry fibre is really good for your digestive system. Having a good and strong digestive system would aid your muscle growth. Else, you would face difficulty in digesting protein. Although, it is important that you consume fruits in right way and at the right time. Most, people don’t know how consumption of fruits at wrong time can have adverse effects on your body.

Few world-known vegan athletes:

1. Virat Kholi: Caption of Indian Cricket Team
2. Sunil Chhetri: Caption of Indian Football Team
3. Venus Williams: American Tennis Player and Grand Slam champion
4. Lewis Hamilton: A British Formula One Racer
5. Mike Tyson: American Professional Boxer
6. Patrik Baboumian: Holds multiple weightlifting world records and was declared Germany’s strongest man.
7. Carl Lewis: Carl has an illustrious career with 9 gold and one silver Olympic medals voted World Athlete of the Decade for the 1980s and was also voted as Olympic Athlete of the Century.

There are hundreds of such names in almost all sports, be it surfing, long-distance running, climbing, etc. These athletes are live proof that you don’t need animal protein to gain muscles and improve performance, you can do it on a plant-based diet too with better and faster gains.

Happy Healthy eating to all. :) Stay healthy and stay fit. :)