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I am a long term vegetarian of 25 years. I have never felt the need for taking protein supplements but am considering it now. Does anyone have any thoughts on the benefits etc of this. I run c30 miles a week, all off road and do about 5 hours a week of resistance/strength work but feel I am getting no where. Do you think increasing protein could improve things?
Neil
Er...no. Unless you're not eating a normal veggie diet at the moment. I've been veggie for as long as you, & never considered supplements except for a year 20 years ago when I went vegan. And then it was just vitamin B12. Why do you think you're getting nowhere? Nobody keeps on getting faster indefinitely. Just get your share of brown bread, pulses, cheese & eggs & you'll be getting more than enough protein. Unless you want to be a bodybuilder of course.
Stop buggerin about n get some meat pie down yer gregory.
With a good, varied diet protein should never be an issue. Even as a vegan it's waaay down my list of things to worry about.
I'm technically piscaterian, and I confess I do use protien. Mainly I use it as an additional, easy way of getting it into my system after a hard, long run, or occasionally if I do a hard session in the gym. If I see a benifit its mainly in my ability to think better!! I'm not really sure as to other benifits per say. I'm just a bit rubbish at the 'veggie' thing I guess!
as long as your diet includes protein from somewhere then you'll be fine. however, lacking protein isn't great as muscles require it - read this:
To repair damaged muscle fibers, your body has to make new proteins because the muscle fibers themselves are made out of protein. To make new proteins, your body needs an adequate supply of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Your body gets some of the amino acids it needs from dietary protein. When you consume protein, your digestive tract breaks down the protein and absorbs the amino acids, which can then be used to make new proteins in your body.
I have protein shakes after work outs and long or demanding runs to keep myself topped up.
I've been vegetarian for 17 years and currently run about 30-35 miles a week. At the moment I feel strong and quite healthy but at the beginning of the year I was struggling with lots of niggles and feeling tired all the time and I was working up to a long distance event. A veggie friend of mine who is a cyclist and climber with a very physical job suggested I use protein shakes after each run. He found that they really helped him loads. To be honest, I'm really bad at remembering to do things like that but I did do it regularly for a while and I think it helped. I still do make a shake up now and again if I have a tough run ahead of me or I know I won't get a chance for a decent meal for a while afterwards.
Glad it's not just me thats looked at this from a veggie point of view.
So long as your diet is on the 50/25/25 you should be alright in general. I'm leaning towards 'targeted snacking', which for me is eating before, during, and after exercise. Especially after exercise. This way I am able to compensate for the extra requirements needed with running without overdoing it with my general diet, something I had been doing. Much to my waistlines expansion!
Stacks of protein options for veggies/piscaterians/vegans though. Scott Jurek manages it, I think some pulses are actually among the best quality sources of protein you can get.
If your really concerned record and analyze your diet over a period of say 4 weeks, bit of a chore but it'll highlight any nutritional deficiencies. I did it and clocked I was only getting between 20% and 50% of my protein requirements. The link below is for a website that helps with this sort of thing;
http://caloriecount.about.com/
There are probably others and if you have a smart phone probably some Apps too
Cheers! I'll take a look! The problem with me is I'm lazy really. I just eat what's in the fridge or cupboard so the shakes an easy option...if potentially inaffective!
Me too, thanks Shaunaneto. I live on my own and the main problem is that I often work in the evenings or go running and so I spend as little time as possible cooking or preparing food and tend to rely on salads and easy stuff like baked potatoes, beans on toast etc. I do like cooking and enjoy cooking for other people but can't really be bothered just for myself but recently I have started thinking that my running stamina could be improved if I paid attention to my nutrition. I had no idea what ratio of protein/carbs/fat I am supposed to eat and so I'm grateful that there is some good information provided on this thread by people, cheers!
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Originally Posted by that_fjell_guy
I'd suggest picking up some Italian food tastes, simple, quick, and easy to balance. Not as quick as grabbing something ready to eat admittedly. But lets face it, a well balanced meal can be knocked up in less than 20 minutes if you keep it simple. Shame there's 20 minutes of washing up afterwards!
If you are looking for some in depth info I'd recommend Matt Fitzgeralds 'Racing Weight', stacks of info. Possibly too much but there's enough info that you can scan through to get the ball rolling.
A banana and a glass of milk would also work well!Quote:
Originally Posted by that_fjell_guy
Thanks for your replies, well most of them anyway. Not sure what a 'gregory' is. I do follow a pretty good veg diet and try to pack in a variety of protein sources like pulses, eggs and dairy. I was thinking of supplements as I had noticed that my climbing had got a bit worse recently and I have had a couple of races where I haven't performed as well as I'd hoped-not that I'm at the front end of anything. I was wondering whether to spend some time trying to develop better leg strength by way of gym work etc and had read that to develop better muscle I should up my protein intake. I also thought about 'bulking up' a bit as I'm pretty lanky-6.2 and 11.5 stone. That said, I don't want to end up like arnie. I suppose it's a fine line really. I have tried to increase weight before but it just seems to go on as fat around my waist.
Gregory Peck. Neck. Sorry. Just being me usual facetious self. Actually don't eat meat meself but quite a lot of fish. Good luck with it.
Neilly, the friend that I mentioned did bulk up noticeably from using shakes but not to an extreme and it was not just due to the supplements. He also changed his diet a bit and started eating more low fat but high protein things including making smoothies using quark, fruit and the protein shake and it seems to have worked. My main problem is that I'm not a big fan of dairy products such as quark, yoghurt, milk etc (and they don't like me much!) and I rarely eat them. I like cheese but that's pretty high in fat. I've got plans to try and up my leg strength with more hill cycling and strength training but so far the plan is in my head...could do to make it a reality!:o
Quote:
Originally Posted by neilly
Cheers Shaunaneto. I do tend to stray towards Italian cooking cum Chinese/Indian. Maybe I do get enough protien from my diet. Who knows? I used to make my own 'shakes' using milk, two eggs and several scoops of dried milk (Marvel!!). It was lovely slightly chilled! But really the protien probably works out cheaper! I'll have a look at the 'required reading list!'
Cheers again.
it would be helpful to define the 'improvement' you are looking for.
faster? leaner?
Basically stronger on climbs. I know that to get faster I need to do more speed work, to get more endurance I need to do more long stuff etc. I try to do a speed session on treadmill once a week and try to get in a two hour hill run each week. I do about 2000m of climbing a week and do all my running off road in the hills around Skye. I feel I've been stuck for the last few years and my times are starting to get slower. I've always been fairly average and am a middle of the packer. I suppose I was hoping that there was some kind of magic pill I could take so I didn't have to A do more training or B accept I'm past it-I'm 42.
Everyone has plateau's etc. Leg strength and endurance is the key. I use a cross-trainer a fair bit and definately think that it has boosted my climbing performance. But really, no secret pill, just getting out up hills I guess. I know I sometimes think I'm not improving but sometimes I reckon I just need to be more confident at pushing on in races, so thats my plan!! Get down Glen Brittle three times up Scurr Dearg!! :thumbup:
At 42 you aren't going to end up like arnie. If you want to bulk up you have to accept that you will gain fat at the same time. If you can't deal with that then bulking isn't an option. Apparently the fat gain can be limited by intermittent fasting - not something I've tried myself but I know people who have with good results.
Not sure what you mean by better muscle, but to gain more muscle you will have to eat more protein, and probably a lot more calories than you do now.
As far as gaining muscle do the 5 basic compound exercises into your programme which are bench, press, row (power cleans are better, but they are technically more difficult to perform), deadlift and squat.
Check out Mark Rippetoe's starting strength programme for a good guide.
Whats also worth remembering is that bigger muscle doesn't always mean stronger.
I'm 41 and I am getting faster and stronger and its mainly down to pushing myself more, doing some of my running with people that are much stronger and faster than me and changing my routes and getting up more hills. I am really enjoying my running at the moment and I wonder if perhaps you are feeling a bit jaded and that's why you have plateaued? Nutrition is really important and I, too, would like to improve that side of things because I think it will help my running but ultimately, I think that in order to get faster and stronger, you have to just get out there and run more.
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Originally Posted by neilly
It really is that simples:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hes
Might be worth watching Panorama tonight 8pm, BBC1 - The truth about sports products.
I'll stick with a banana and a glass of milk
Article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18863293
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Originally Posted by stevefoster
Pretty much, so long as you've got a reasonably sensible diet.