Adapting to a vegan diet has many health benefits. However, becoming vegan has several challenges. How can I adjust my workout into my vegan diet? Do I need to change my workout routines? If you’ve thought about these questions before, read on.
Ideal Workout Routines For Vegans
Over the years, there has been growing debate between fitness kings about the best types of workouts. Some swear by longer workout sessions, claiming that getting in more reps, sets, and variety is better for burning calories and building endurance. While others claim that short, intense workout sessions are more beneficial because they prevent energy slumps, keep you focused, and provide faster results.
When it comes to veganism, short exercise routines may have an edge. This type of workout routine complements a plant-based diet lifestyle due to the body’s specialized need for nutrients. When you shorten the length of your workouts while increasing the intensity, you adapt to your body’s protein needs, gain muscle, boost insulin sensitivity, balance creatine levels and achieve faster results.
Here, we list several ways for how short and intense workout sessions can benefit if you are vegan.
Easily Adapts to Your Body’s Protein Requirements
If you’ve become a vegan recently, taking your body’s new protein requirements into account is crucial. Especially since you’ve been fulfilling your protein requirements from animal-based sources previously, it may take time to adapt to getting your protein from plants now. Nevertheless, exercising for more extended periods can elevate your protein needs. Hence, sticking to shorter workout sessions can help accommodate this change because your body won’t rely on stored protein to get through the training sessions.
Eating right is also essential, especially before and after your training sessions. Good nutrient timing boosts protein synthesis, supports muscle hypertrophy, and replenishes glycogen stores, which is essential to optimal resistance training performance. Consumption of plant-based protein fuels your workouts for longer if they are shorter as your stored protein doesn’t drain as quickly.
Helps Balance Creatine Levels
Creatine is a natural substance that can only be obtained through meat or supplements. The body uses it as a crucial source of energy during workouts. The longer you exercise, the more creatine is used by your body. Since meat is the only natural source of this substance, vegan naturally have lowers levels of creatine. Combine low levels of creatine with extended periods of working out can leave vegans feeling fatigued.
On the other hand, short bouts of intense training can help counter the effect. It expedites lesser creatine, allowing your body to sustain a substantial amount of it, which also reduces post-workout fatigue. Yet, it is necessary to include some creatine supplements in your diet as well. Keep in mind that most creatine capsules contain gelatin; so be sure to read supplement labels.
Enhances Insulin Sensitivity
The relationship between how much insulin needs to be produced to deposit a certain amount of glucose is represented through insulin sensitivity. It helps muscle and fat to absorb glucose, produce new blood sugar and prevent certain diseases.
The insulin sensitivity of a vegan athlete plays a vital role in their performance as it reduces inflammation, prevents food from being stored as fat, and speeds up post-workout recovery. When athletes perform interval training, it can boost their sensitivity to insulin and tolerance to glucose.
Helps Gain Muscle
Short, strenuous training sessions increase your body’s ability to retain muscle mass. It is important to note that various factors contribute to muscle gain or loss, which include age, diet, exercise frequency, and sleep.
However, vegan diets naturally tend to be lower in calories. Low-calorie diets help improve muscle activity and protein synthesis. Combined with good workout sessions, this can enhance your body’s ability to building muscles.
Helps Achieve Faster Results
Interval training is your best option if you’re looking to lose weight. Keeping the intensity levels up during shorter workout session can help you burn fat and translate into quicker results. In fact, this advice can be beneficial for anyone who wants to shed a few excess pounds, irrespective of the diet they follow. American Physiology Society presented research regarding the integrative biology of exercise that showed that high-intensity training burns more calories faster.
Additionally, interval training provides quicker results, making it easier for most people to stick to their workout routines. Since it is less time consuming, you have substantial time to focus on other aspects of your life including preparing healthy meals and spending time with loved ones, making it a smarter and faster way of working out.
A vegan diet should not complicate your workout routines. You need to learn how to keep your body fueled with a healthy amount of high-quality foods, and you’ll set yourself on the right track to achieve your fitness goals without any issues.