Generally, it is assumed that being a vegetarian won’t make your strong bodybuilder but that is of course not true. This is because vegetarians are equally successful in bodybuilding as others non vegetarians. Vegetarians are rather considered more committed and devoted towards bodybuilding and healthy eating.
Normally, vegetarians are further categorized in three sub categories which are pseudo-vegetarians, meat vegetarians, and vegetarians only. Those who are pseudo vegetarians avoid beef, chicken and poultry but eat fish and other animal products. While meat vegetarians do not eat meat at all and vegetarians only do not eat any sort of animal products.
The only difference in vegetarian and non-vegetarian bodybuilding is diet and there exist no other prominent difference in how both build muscles. People involved in bodybuilding consume more proteins reason being it helps to repair damaged muscle tissues from strenuous bodybuilding exercises. Only because of this reason people wrongly assume that vegetarians do not receive enough quantity of proteins and hence they are weaker when compared to those who are non-vegetarians. Everyone knows that protein is mostly enriched in meat while many are unaware of the fact that soy is equally enriched in proteins as are meats. Soy is equivalent to whey while a lot superior to beef in enrichment of proteins. For muscle growth and repair, soy provides all 8 necessary amino acids to the body and hence is highly recommended to vegetarians.
Soy is a marvelous source of proteins as well as glutamine which is generally consumed in the form of supplements. It can be obtained from tofu, miso, soy powder, soy milk, almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and pistachio nuts. These all food products contain a blend of proteins and fats that greatly assist bodybuilding to the best extent if you are vegetarian.
Besides proteins and fats, vegetarian bodybuilding also requires consumption of vitamins and minerals to ensure the availability of all the nutrients required by the muscle mass to develop. A great source of vitamins and minerals is a multivitamin tablets recommended daily to all the vegetarians in bodybuilding. Especially, vitamin B12 is highly suggested.
Therefore, a vegetarian bodybuilding can be equally successful provided you comply with all the diet guidelines referred above.
