Jon VenusMany bodybuilders view meat as an important part of bulking up. However, Jon Venus believes plant based proteins are the way to go and his sizeable muscles are speaking for themselves.
Jon was inspired to cut out the meat after the documentary Earthlings opened his eyes to the realities of the meat industry. He believes plant based proteins are ‘easier to digest, ethically produced and better for the environment’.
Jon thinks plant based proteins are just as effective at building muscle as meat based proteins, and has noticed numerous health benefits to veganism:
I got a lot of surprising benefits when switching to a plant-based diet, the first thing I noticed was more energy and strength in the gym. My Immune system got stronger and my digestive problems were completely gone within two weeks.
YouTube star Jon has since gained 225k followers through his channel, where he shares his diet and training tips for building muscle while following a vegan diet.
Here he encourages fans to strive to be the ‘best version’ of themselves, covering a range of topics, including junk food temptations, binge eating and cutting the belly fat.
He also isn’t afraid to chat about the personal fitness issues many of us can relate to, such as piling on the pounds after getting married.
Jon offers the following advice to those who want to follow his example:
The main advice I would give people who want to try plant-based is not to overthink it. Most people looking to get in better shape always stress about the small insignificant details such as meal timing and grams of protein consumed.
I recommend just focusing on eating the right foods and lifting heavy weights.
I always recommend people to eat as much whole-foods as possible including any fruit and vegetable, grains such as oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, wholegrain bread, quinoa, buckwheat and barley, legumes such as beans of any sort, lentils and chickpeas, nuts and seeds such as almonds, walnuts, chia and flax seeds and organic and fermented soy such as tempeh and tofu.
Jon is also keen to bust some of the negative myths surrounding fitness and plant based diets:
In terms of bodybuilding, on a diet, vegans can have it much easier than their meat eating counterparts. It is often a lot more fun for vegan bodybuilders as they get to eat larger meals while dieting and because of that, feel more satisfied on less calories.
Also I think a lot of people think eating vegan is boring, I also used to think that vegans only ate fruit and kale, but there is a tonne of variety in the plant-based diet
Check out Jon’s guide to vegan bodybuilding below:
Jon Venus is an ambassador for Vivo Life (vivolife.co.uk) whose health products are 100% natural and plant based.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.