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Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness
One of the world's most recognized vegan body builders presents a comprehensive guide to building a fit body while eating a plant-based diet. Author Robert Cheeke inspires people to develop magnificent bodies. His passion for doing the most amount of good while causing the least amount of harm has inspired athletes, trainers, and anyone interested in a strong, healthy body. This title includes information on the most important things to consider in order to be a successful vegan bodybuilder including the best way to put together vegan meal programs and training regimens, how to find sponsorship and make bodybuilding a career, and where to find access to vegan products, services, and equipment. There is also advice on how to take bodybuilding beyond a personal endeavor and use it for activism and outreach.
317 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published April 7, 2010
39 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Robert Cheeke
12 books45 followersRobert Cheeke is an American bodybuilder, motivational speaker, and author. He is a vegan activist and spends his time touring the United States for speaking engagements and book promotions.
Cheeke is the co-founder of C-VEG, a Corvallis-based Vegan group, a former Board Member for non-profit groups OrganicAthlete and Northwest VEG in Portland, and the founder and president of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness.
Robert Cheeke transitioned to a full vegan as a teen and began organizing animal rights events at Corvallis High School including the initiation of recycling programs and providing vegan meals to those in need with the organization Food Not Bombs. He is proud that all of his gains as a bodybuilder has been made on a cruelty-free diet.
Cheeke began his athletic career as a cross-country runner for Oregon State University in 1999 but soon developed an interest in weightlifting and strength training. He became a competitive bodybuilder the following year in 2000. Five years later, in 2005 Cheeke won the title of INBA Northwestern USA Natural Bodybuilding Overall Novice Champion. In the following years he competed in the Natural Bodybuilding World Championships in 2006, and the Northwestern USA Natural Bodybuilding Championships in 2009 (where he took first place in his class).
Cheeke is the co-founder of C-VEG, a Corvallis-based Vegan group, a former Board Member for non-profit groups OrganicAthlete and Northwest VEG in Portland, and the founder and president of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness.
Robert Cheeke transitioned to a full vegan as a teen and began organizing animal rights events at Corvallis High School including the initiation of recycling programs and providing vegan meals to those in need with the organization Food Not Bombs. He is proud that all of his gains as a bodybuilder has been made on a cruelty-free diet.
Cheeke began his athletic career as a cross-country runner for Oregon State University in 1999 but soon developed an interest in weightlifting and strength training. He became a competitive bodybuilder the following year in 2000. Five years later, in 2005 Cheeke won the title of INBA Northwestern USA Natural Bodybuilding Overall Novice Champion. In the following years he competed in the Natural Bodybuilding World Championships in 2006, and the Northwestern USA Natural Bodybuilding Championships in 2009 (where he took first place in his class).
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 11, 2015
Suitable only for the absolute beginner. The book is nigh unreadable due to the excessive amount of amateur motivational speaker personal testimony from the author. The sample menus and workouts are minuscule and of little help. Overall it is very disappointing.
January 8, 2012
While there were some useful bits of information in the book, it was mostly dedicated to the author talking about how awesome he is. There are significantly better vegan nutrition/fitness books
April 30, 2023
Well I seriously need to rebuild muscle after losing it over the past few years. I need to get more protein. As a long time vegan, this is something that requires more thought and planning. I used to watch my protein intake but over the past 3-ish years I haven't. The effect is clear. My muscle strength is way lower. My muscle mass is down. I am weaker. Yikes.
I want to do this right. I want to gain muscle. I initially chose to turn to vegan body builders (books, websites, etc) because the people who know about this topic best (gain muscle on a vegan diet) are vegan body builders. Not regular body builders, and not regular vegan people. Vegan body builders can show the results of what they claim; not just the theory but what happens when you apply it in practice. If I see a vegan with well built muscles, I know that this person knows what they are talking about. Show me the results first.
However, I must point out that body building itself does not seem healthy in terms of aging and long term health. While following the principles body builders follow will get you short term results (muscles!) doing these things long term could shorten your life span or wear down your body. For one, a high protein diet, while the best diet for immediate muscle gain, is associated with accelerated aging. The same goes for dosing yourself with high levels of amino acids. You get faster short term results, but doing this year after year will decrease your lifespan and inhibit processes like autophagy. See David Sinclair's research for more here:
https://www.nad.com/news/david-sincla...
Robert Cheeke doesn't hide this. He admits that body building in general may be unhealthy in the long run, because this is an extreme hobby and it requires pushing your body to extremes, “I admit the calorie totals seem a little outrageous, but nearly everything about mass-building bodybuilding is outrageous, including the physiques of those who do it right.” However he also suggests that high protein intake is healthier when people are working out and making use of the protein, compared to an average person consuming a high protein diet. I'm not totally sure about that.
The main takeaways:
“There is a bulking phase, a maintaining phase, a toning phase, and then a contest-ready ripping up phase just prior to competition.”
If you want to gain muscle and lose fat, you have to do one of these first, and then the other (usually gain muscle/bulk up, then cut fat). Trying to do both at once is not efficient. The body needs huge amounts of protein and calories to really build muscle effectively, and usually you will not be losing weight when increasing your calorie intake. However, you might not necessarily be gaining fat either. I think this depends on how many sugars/ simple carbs you include into your carb intake.
It's important to get not only protein but also carbs. Carbs before working out to fuel your work out, protein afterwards for muscle repair. In the months before a competition you need to seriously reduce carbs to shock the body into losing fat; this is the "cutting" phase. The day of the competition you need to be dehydrated but consume a lot of carbs/sugar to plump up the muscles and make them round. Most body builders spend most of the year "bulking" and maintaining their muscles, and give a few months to cutting away fat.
According to Robert, the most dangerous thing you can do to lose progress is to get lazy after the competition. Years of progress can be undone in a few weeks if you stop working out. This lifestyle is a real commitment. If you want huge muscles, you have to constantly work to keep them huge.
Cons:
This book is very diffuse, with a lot of focus going to tangential topics like mindset, vegan outreach, Robert's life story and self promotion for his other projects. It's not the detailed guide to muscle building that I hoped for, and to be honest, I think nowadays the internet and youtube will provide that quick delivery of information better than a book.
At the time this book was written, vegan body building was still exceedingly rare. These two lifestyles did not overlap very much and Robert Cheeke was a pioneer for showing it was possible.
Nowadays there are more resources online that go into greater depth on topics like building muscle, supplementing, how to build a workout plan, etc.
I want to do this right. I want to gain muscle. I initially chose to turn to vegan body builders (books, websites, etc) because the people who know about this topic best (gain muscle on a vegan diet) are vegan body builders. Not regular body builders, and not regular vegan people. Vegan body builders can show the results of what they claim; not just the theory but what happens when you apply it in practice. If I see a vegan with well built muscles, I know that this person knows what they are talking about. Show me the results first.
However, I must point out that body building itself does not seem healthy in terms of aging and long term health. While following the principles body builders follow will get you short term results (muscles!) doing these things long term could shorten your life span or wear down your body. For one, a high protein diet, while the best diet for immediate muscle gain, is associated with accelerated aging. The same goes for dosing yourself with high levels of amino acids. You get faster short term results, but doing this year after year will decrease your lifespan and inhibit processes like autophagy. See David Sinclair's research for more here:
https://www.nad.com/news/david-sincla...
Robert Cheeke doesn't hide this. He admits that body building in general may be unhealthy in the long run, because this is an extreme hobby and it requires pushing your body to extremes, “I admit the calorie totals seem a little outrageous, but nearly everything about mass-building bodybuilding is outrageous, including the physiques of those who do it right.” However he also suggests that high protein intake is healthier when people are working out and making use of the protein, compared to an average person consuming a high protein diet. I'm not totally sure about that.
The main takeaways:
“There is a bulking phase, a maintaining phase, a toning phase, and then a contest-ready ripping up phase just prior to competition.”
If you want to gain muscle and lose fat, you have to do one of these first, and then the other (usually gain muscle/bulk up, then cut fat). Trying to do both at once is not efficient. The body needs huge amounts of protein and calories to really build muscle effectively, and usually you will not be losing weight when increasing your calorie intake. However, you might not necessarily be gaining fat either. I think this depends on how many sugars/ simple carbs you include into your carb intake.
It's important to get not only protein but also carbs. Carbs before working out to fuel your work out, protein afterwards for muscle repair. In the months before a competition you need to seriously reduce carbs to shock the body into losing fat; this is the "cutting" phase. The day of the competition you need to be dehydrated but consume a lot of carbs/sugar to plump up the muscles and make them round. Most body builders spend most of the year "bulking" and maintaining their muscles, and give a few months to cutting away fat.
According to Robert, the most dangerous thing you can do to lose progress is to get lazy after the competition. Years of progress can be undone in a few weeks if you stop working out. This lifestyle is a real commitment. If you want huge muscles, you have to constantly work to keep them huge.
Cons:
This book is very diffuse, with a lot of focus going to tangential topics like mindset, vegan outreach, Robert's life story and self promotion for his other projects. It's not the detailed guide to muscle building that I hoped for, and to be honest, I think nowadays the internet and youtube will provide that quick delivery of information better than a book.
At the time this book was written, vegan body building was still exceedingly rare. These two lifestyles did not overlap very much and Robert Cheeke was a pioneer for showing it was possible.
Nowadays there are more resources online that go into greater depth on topics like building muscle, supplementing, how to build a workout plan, etc.
June 1, 2011
I read this book for the novelty of the topic; I believe this is the only book out there on vegan bodybuilding. I also read this because I know that Robert is an awesome person. Most of the content is focused on bodybuilding (meal plans, supplements, exercises, competition and marketing advice), but there is a decent amount of content for a general audience too, such as motivation to make something of yourself, Robert's take on veganism and activism, and what the best vegan restaurants and cities are.
March 28, 2022
I really really wanted to like or even love this book, and while parts of it were interesting, it felt so incredibly repetitive and the "testimonials" about how awesome Robert Cheeke over and over, were so redundant. Yes, it is awesome he was one of the firsts of the vegan bodybuilding world, but not everyone reading this book wants to become a promoted vegan body builder- some people are just looking for tips and advice on vegan body building as an amateur.
March 7, 2015
Just finished, good book for the subjects covered. There are better bodybuilding books out there in regards to being more descriptive with exercise plans, but I did learn a lot. If you are a vegan or vegetarian this is a good resource. I also recommend Joe Mangienello's book: Evolution for nuts and bolts exercise regimens and Robert's for nutrition.
June 14, 2011
The author is passionate about his subject, but the book has very little substance.
September 2, 2019
This is a great book for what it is--- very, very niche. It is a very broad book and entirely worth it to those who want to take up vegetarian or vegan bodybuilding. Robert is quite a character as well.
September 24, 2015
Very little substance in the book. I felt like this was closer to an autobiography than a development/fitness/nutrition book.
The nutrition wasn't detailed enough either. For example one of the foods he lists to eat are burritos and green smoothies. Well that's pretty vague, I was expecting him to list what specifically to eat and list ingredients.
This book is also geared towards a male diet. I was hoping he would include a sample of a woman's diet as well.
Overall it's extremely vague, talks in detail about himself too frequently, with very little useful information I could apply to myself.
The nutrition wasn't detailed enough either. For example one of the foods he lists to eat are burritos and green smoothies. Well that's pretty vague, I was expecting him to list what specifically to eat and list ingredients.
This book is also geared towards a male diet. I was hoping he would include a sample of a woman's diet as well.
Overall it's extremely vague, talks in detail about himself too frequently, with very little useful information I could apply to myself.
January 19, 2016
I don't agree with the philosophy of veganism, however I believe firmly in plant-based whole foods as your main diet with a flavor of meat if you want. This is a great book for anyone wanting a better understanding of fitness with this mindset. There are a few chapters and random mentions of veganism and it's philosophy and activism, but I just ignored that because my interest was more in exercise and nutrition with this lifestyle. Cheeke's new book Shred It is more in line with my thinking and beliefs however, minus the ethical reasoning for veganism.
June 11, 2015
If you want to seriously involve with bodybuilding based on a vegan diet then this is the book for you, it covers everything from what kind of food to eat, what kind of exercises to do, marketing yourself, everything, you will save a lot of money and time if you read this book and you will have a head start.
September 18, 2013
Great book for vegans. Yes, there's nothing new in terms of working out or diet, but there is some info on other aspects of body building like getting sponsors.
In the end it's a must have for fitness vegan.
In the end it's a must have for fitness vegan.
December 15, 2010
Read it, use it!
December 9, 2013
Excellent book. I am not looking to become a bodybuilder but it still has great info for those who are into fitness and the Vegan lifestyle.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews