Posted on
March 10, 2026 by
The VRG Weblog Editor
photograph from Freepik
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
There’s good proof {that a} mixture of resistance train and a comparatively excessive protein consumption will increase muscle mass and energy. Can a vegan food plan promote elevated muscle mass and energy throughout resistance coaching? That’s what a current examine (1) requested.
What’s the examine?
The examine topics had been younger girls who had not engaged in a daily train program for at the least 6 months earlier than the beginning of the examine. They had been both vegans who had adopted a vegan for a median of three years earlier than the examine began or non-vegetarians who both ate meat every day or at the least 3 times per week. The examine included 25 vegan girls and 20 non-vegetarian girls. The ladies ate their common meals all through the examine and didn’t take protein, amino acid, or creatine dietary supplements. They reported what they ate all through the examine.
The ladies participated in a 16-week total-body resistance coaching program immediately supervised by skilled trainers. Twice per week, on non-consecutive days, they did energy coaching focusing on particular main muscle teams together with workouts reminiscent of leg curls, bench presses, belly crunches, and pull-downs. Whole coaching volume-load (units x load x repetitions) didn’t differ between teams. In different phrases, the 2 teams educated equally.
Originally and the top of the examine, the ladies’s thigh and calf muscle thickness had been measured with ultrasound and their energy was measured.
What did this examine discover?
On the finish of the examine interval, each teams had a major improve in muscle thickness of their thigh and in general energy. There was no important distinction between the teams. Weight-reduction plan information confirmed that the vegans consumed a median of 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram physique weight and the nonvegetarians consumed a median of 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram physique weight. The considerably larger protein consumption within the nonvegetarians didn’t end in higher muscle or energy achieve.
The researchers commented that the ladies’s protein intakes which had been modestly above the RDA of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram physique weight “possible falls inside an efficient vary to help muscle variations, significantly in beforehand untrained younger girls” (1). They concluded, “each vegetarian [vegan] and nonvegetarian diets can successfully help early positive aspects in muscle mass and energy when dietary and coaching circumstances are comparable” (1).
Reference:
- Martini GL, Schemes MB, Strey B, et al. No variations in muscular variations to long-term resistance coaching between younger strict vegetarian and non-vegetarian girls. Scand J Med Sci Sports activities. 2026;36(2):e70224.
To learn extra about vegan diets for athletes see: Athletes & Vegan/Vegetarian Diets
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