The Vegan Gym Podcast

Have you ever felt societal pressure to look a certain way? Have you ever struggled with your relationship with food? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be less obsessed with the number on the scale or the size tag in your clothes and more obsessed with fueling your body to be fit and healthy? This episode with Vegan Superhero Academy Coach Laura Marks is just for you! In our conversation with Laura, we take an honest look at these issues and more. Laura weaves together client success stories and personal, powerful stories of her own to unveil the truth of what it is actually like to be a woman in the fitness community. She offers practical advice and encouragement to any woman (or man) who is facing issues with eating disorders, body image struggles, or cultural pressure. Laura emphasizes the benefit of shifting your mindset to focusing on becoming stronger, rather than skinnier.  "I had to change my relationship with food.  I had to change my relationship with falling in love with myself and figuring out how I was going to fuel my body to be the best athlete I could be. So weightlifting saved my life. I had something to fight for." - VSA Coach Laura MarksSupport the show

Creating motivation is just the first step of momentum towards your goals. Maintaining motivation is the long journey. Everyone experiences ups and downs in their level of motivation. The key is to recognize when you are getting off track, course correct, and ultimately not throw in the towel. If you’re not in a motivational rut right now, you will likely be in one at some point on your journey. Which is why over our last episode and this episode, we’re sharing 12 ways to get your drive back. This episode is part two, ways 7-12, where we’ll share useful methods for maintaining motivation by helping ourselves stay accountable to our personal whys and goals.Support the show

Motivation is not something that you just have. You have to create it. In this episode, we explore how our personal whys, goals, and priorities play an important role in building momentum. You'll learn practical tips for implementing these six ways to get your drive back: 1) Create your ultimate vision; 2) Define your identity; 3) Have crystal clear goals; 4) Be clear on your priorities; 5) Look at who you spend your time with; 6) Make small habits and commitments. Stay tuned for our next episode, part two, where we'll discuss maintaining the motivation we've built.Support the show

Are you going to check out from your health and fitness goals over the holidays? The holidays are a wonderful time to be grateful for the most important things in your life like family and friendships. It’s also the time of the year when people are least committed to their health and fitness. In this episode we talk about how to cultivate the power of consistency and setting yourself up to start the New Year with massive momentum.Support the show

When you take care of your body and your mind, it makes you far more effective at helping others. Many people, especially parents, feel guilty for taking time out of their busy schedule to focus on themselves each day. But you can’t pour from an empty cup. "You have to be selfish in order to be selfless”. In this episode, we take a fresh look at the difference between being selfish and selfless and explore how these concepts can help us live a more meaningful life.Support the show

At our 2021 Vegan Superhero Retreat, Robert shared his inspiring transformation from a scrawny farm boy to a champion vegan bodybuilder and New York Times Best Selling author. I wasn't planning to turn this into a podcast so we only recorded it on an iPhone, but his story was too good not to share. Please excuse the audio quality. I hope you enjoy listening!Support the show

During a Zoom call with our clients, one of them, Michael, talked about how he often struggles with comparing himself to others. Towards the end of week 4 of our Vegan Superhero Academy coaching program, he was stretching after a workout and feeling super proud of all the progress he had made, but then he began scrolling through social media and comparing himself to others. He began thinking, "But I don’t look like that guy" and "I wish I was as strong as that guy." And then he caught himself thinking those defeating thoughts and told himself, "No, this is not the kind of conversation that I want to have in my head." We had an amazing conversation with Michael and the rest of our Vegan Superhero Academy clients about comparing yourself to others and we wanted to share some powerful takeaways from this conversation with you.Support the show

There are many common “broscience” myths in the fitness industry that have zero scientific merit. One of the most well-known bodybuilding myths is the idea that your body can only absorb a limited amount of protein from a single meal. Well, the truth is that your body can absorb nearly an unlimited amount of protein into the bloodstream. The more accurate question (that actually does have scientific merit) is, “how much absorbed protein can your body use from a single meal to build muscle?” Or in more technical terms, “what amount of protein maximally stimulates the postabsorptive rates of myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis?” That's the question we'll answer in this episode.Support the show

In this episode, we’re going to cover 6 lessons that I learned while training for my Ironman. Most of these are lessons that I re-learned or reinforced (they’re not groundbreaking new things) but my hope is that you take away a meaningful nugget or two from these lessons that you can apply to your own fitness journey.Support the show

IRONMAN Maryland 2021 was an exciting, challenging experience. In this episode, I'll tell you how it felt to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles (140.6 miles total) in a single day.Support the show