I am a personal trainer with 6 years of experience and have been a vegan for the past 5. I'm here to help, ask me anything

[extraneous]

I am a personal trainer with a Sport Sciences degree who became a vegan during its course. Had many jobs on the field but am currently working as freelance while enrolling on a masters in Health and Nutrition.

Plant-based diets as a complement to scientific-based PA protocols has helped me improve the life of patients suffering a varied range of metabollic diseases and physical injuries. I mainly work in rehabilitation and injury prevention but I can help any of you with the usual diet/aesthetics.

I haven't done much of the reddit-trainer stuff as I don't aggree with the philosophy of most communities, but I can definitely stand behind r/veganfitness. If you need any help, just ask.

P.D: if the mods need credentials to verify me I can hit you up with the european certificate of my degree, meanwhile just ask away.

Edit 3: finished answering everyone a while ago. Might do another AMA next week. Have a great weekend!

 

[letters2words]

@extraneous Whats your take on fasting workouts? I’m a female and do spin classes 5x a week and weights 3x a week. I workout in the am on an empty stomach and feel good during workouts.

 

[extraneous]

@letters2words This one requires quite the explanation, I'll simplify it as much as possible and point you to in-depth explanations later.

To start with the basics, what's your objective here? I'll assume you already know the benefits of intermittent fasting and that's why you chose to start training this way.

AEROBIC TRAINING:

·If it's increasing the fat metabolism for weight loss, the gym is about 2/10ths of the answer, fasting can even decrease your resting metabolic if you've been doing it for more than a couple of weeks.

·If it's for health, boosting autophagy via ketosis requires a very specific protocol of low-intensity aerobic training after prolongued fasting that does not fit into spin classes. Most of these protocols involve 3-4 hours of low intensity training just to enter ketosis.

·If it's to improve performance for a long-distance sport such as marathons, you're as close as you can be to have a real impact with this method, but again, generic spin classes do not fit into the category of training you should be doing while fasting, it can even hinder your performance during them.

STRENGTH TRAINING (including hypertrophy):

·For weightlifting fasting is always a bad choice, whichever type of strength training you choose to do, you're always reducing the ammount of load you can put in a session by fasting without any benefit.

TL;DR: it's quite hard to plan even an aerobic protocol to boost the metabolic benefits of fasting, plus most of the benefits of fasting are already present with a whole-food plant-based diet. The science seems to be pretty clear about long-term strength and hypertrophy gains, in which diet reigns paramount (it's even more important than the training protocol itself). Despite all this, fast training has some benefits, but these are not efficient enough to be used realistically given the impact in performance on the gym.

Here's a quite lengthy interview about fasting, its metabolic impact and exercise while fasting.

 

[letters2words]

@extraneous I am looking to get leaner and more toned, it seems like breakfast first is wise for me then. I don’t want to mess up my resting metabolic rate. I really appreciate the in depth answer. You’re the MVP.

 

[extraneous]

@letters2words

breakfast first

Just a small final note: the key for body composition changes is total caloric intake. It really does not mater at which point or even if you do intermittent fasting as long as it does not affect your workouts. These fasting protocols work because people have unhealthier diets and restricting the amount of hours they can be eating burgers and chips improves their overall health.

Wish you the best, hope you meet your goals ASAP.

 

[dawn16]

@extraneous How many of your clients ask how you get protein?

 

[extraneous]

@dawn16 Hahahaha, surprisingly enough, not as many while doing PT sessions. And whoever survives me for a couple of months finishes transitioning towards plant-based diets. My clients tend to have severe health problems and understand that I try to back everything I do with science, which I guess gives me enough authority for them to follow my steps. I've made a lot of vegetarians and some vegans along the way.

Now, I've also worked in worse environments, as a gym monitor and you find the most paleolithic members of our society now and then, which works pretty well to have laugh.

 

[in_his_glory]

@extraneous I fractured my foot and can’t put any weight on it for eight weeks. Can I still work out? What exercises can I do? I have been doing upper body and thought maybe leg extension/leg curl and leg abduction machine could still work. I am a 24 y/o female. any other advice you can offer would be appreciated

thank you so much for doing this

 

[extraneous]

@in_his_glory Eight weeks of immobilization is definitely too much for a proper recovery. Obviously without your full diagnosis and doing a field test myself I can't be as accurate as it's needed to properly recover from an injury, but I can give you some tips and point you on the general direction of a typical protocol.

There are five steps to a proper rehabilitation/readaptation (and I'll only cover the injured foot in this part):

·The first starts right after injury, and has to last as little as possible (typically half a week).

·As soon as you recude swelling enough, isometric exercises, always progressive in intensity, such as an isometric variant of the small foot exercise are the way to go, but this is the most dangerous part of rehab and I can definitely not recommend you do anything other than the small foot without supervision. A rule of thumb during the whole rehabilitation is to never train if pain during or after the exercise rises above 4/10 on a perceived pain scale (PPS).

·Around then days after the injury, when swelling is no longer present and the intensity of the isometric exercises has reached a 6-7/10 (you can always compare this to the healthy foot) slow concentric contractions should be introduced. These tend to be careful variants of basic ankle extensions (most likely unilateral and seated at first, even adding some weight, until you can progress to standing extensions) or seated band leg presses. Being able to perform the concentric contraction of a step-up below 4/10 on a PPS is good measure to progress further. Excentric variants can be introduced afterwards or left for the next step.

·Three to five weeks after the injury you should be strong enough to perform the most basic excentric variants of exercises, if you don't have assistance, unilateral leg presses, self-assisted with the healthy leg to bring the weight up is one of the best exercises you can start with. This step can extend up to three months after the injury, in which you'll be progressing from excentric variants of basic compound exercises to excentric overloads and full-on squats, weighted step-ups and deadlifts.

·The last step isn't relevant for accidental injuries (unless you have a high risk of relapse because it's common in your sport). It's basically injury prevention and complements the training cited in the last phase of step 4, using advanced methodologies such as planning excentric microcycles at different points of the year depending on your objectives.

Lastly, everything else that does not involve putting weight in the injured foot, you can do everything and it will improve vasculation which is a key factor in a faster recovery. Hip adductions and abductions, knee flexion and extension in all their variants with any tool at your disposal (from machines to pulleys to bands, for instance).

 

[johnab]

@extraneous What's the hardest part of building a career as a personal trainer? Did you start with your own practice or as a part of another trainer's team?

 

[extraneous]

@johnab Sorry for the late response, just came back from work and am catching up with everyone.

I'd say it definitely depends where you are from, and even your personality. My country's regulations for my profession range from poor to non-existant so we're forced to either work free-lance or for peanuts on a box gym.

Most of my colleages during uni stopped to work somewhere else in the field or just a totally different job, and the most successful ones have either started their own gym or are working freelance.

If you don't have connections who can bring you clients, social media is the only way you're going to get out there and build a client porfolio for yourself, once your name is out there you'll have enough work to get by as a freelance.

I don't enjoy being up on instagram self-promoting so I've never done it. I started training a couple of close connections by offering them my help, then transitioned to a gym, then a PT center where I ended up being technical director, and left when I got fed up the boss with the clients I've been working for the past two years.

As a final note, I want to point out that anyone with higher ambitions than me can build a ridiculous portfolio as PT is becoming popular everywhere and will continue to do so for the foreseable future. I've seen instagram celebrities who couldn't draw a circle in the sand with hundreds of clients around here, I simply find that unethical and value my free time above everything else.

 

[johnab]

@extraneous Thanks for the reply! I almost changed career paths in uni but didn't like the idea of self-promotion either. My brother in law took the plunge to change careers about two years ago though and has been really thriving.

 

[js2911]

@extraneous I suffer from shin splints all the time. I ahve ran marathons in the past but now i sometimes get shin splints just from walking. I have transitioned to barefoot shoes and that does seem to help but if i go back to wearing normal trainers for a day i get shin splints.

What can I do to stop having such fragile shins?

 

[slds]

@js2911 My first thought would be stabilization exercises on an unbalanced surface or with weight that shifts, people hate on bosu ball exercises only because it does directly help build muscle, but for prehab and rehab it’s fantastic, I would also say front calf raises, so heel on the ground raising toes up, it works the anterior tibialis which should help with shin splints, barefoot shoes are definitely the right way to go, just make sure you’re landing underneath u with a mid foot strike

 

[extraneous]

@slds Careful with exercises on unbalanced surfaces during injuries as they require stabilization which is comprised of two factors: nerve firing rate (which unbalance helps) and muscle strength (the lack of which can cause injuries on unbalanced surfaces).

Most of what I've read about training in unbalanced surfaces pointed out the low transference of these protocols to day-to-day or even sport movements, as we normally do those on solid ground.

Also, tibial perostitis mostly needs rest time, anti-inflammatory drugs and heat, not exercises to be cured. You can easily maintain the inflammation for months if you force the fascia while it's not fully healed.

 

[extraneous]

@js2911 Sorry for the late response, I'm answering during my break right now.

Shin splints are cured as most inflammations of the muscles and fascia are, heat, rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. That is assuming that you aren't injurying yourself on your day to day, or they can be extended indefinitely.

The first thing I'd do would be to apply warmth by any means necessary (heat pads, creams or even infrarred lamps which are cheap nowadays and handy to have around for recoveries).

As for solving the problem, which is the long-term solution not to suffer from them again, the best answer I can give you without proper diagnosis is to go and get one, a single visit to the podologist can go a long way understanding what caused it, especially if dropping to barefoot shoes helped you (which I recommend for most people too). Give me further details on when and how does it hurt you and I'll elaborate a bit more, but exercises and stretches focused on improving plantar fascia (such as the small foot) always help with walking/running cycle-related injuries. Also, I need to know if you train and what do you do weekly as there are more generic exercises that can help (squats, especially split squats are an example with good metodology).

 

[mgrov49]

@js2911 Have you been evaluated for fallen arches? If it's this, a good set of orthotics can have you back running and free of shin splints very quickly. I would go see a podiatrist.

 

[isthisreal]

@extraneous I just started a few months ago having plant based diet, but it is hard for me to keep find protein in my foods. Is there a general guide of the diet I should follow. I am 83kg and 1.75m height. Also how much protein should I consume. (I drink 2 scoups of protein powder 1 in the morning one after workout)

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[extraneous]

@isthisreal Sorry for the late answer, came back from work a while ago and am working through the messages.

I'll go out of the lane for a seconds to point out that the most important part of a successful hypertrophy protocol to gain muscle is caloric intake, no macronutrient ratio, by a huge margin. This is the biggest flaw of most vegan diets to bulk hands down.

That said, science points out at around 1.4-1.8g/kg of protein a day (with some sources going up to 2,2kg/day), but most of these are conjetures based on isolate trials with unrealistic diets. The only stablished factor in a healthy diet is that you'll always gain muscle mass with a slight caloric surplus (and the effect increases with a higher one). Furthermore, the body has a pool of about 100g of readily available aminoacids on our liver which replenishes constantly with whatever food you eat, as long as you eat enough to compensate for the calories you have to burn just to build muscle mass.

As a small disclaimer: cereals (including wheat which is bread and pasta) and beans have good, even better macronutrient ratios than most animal products, theyre just not caloric enough (that's why I've been recommending thick oat shakes around here for bulking).

 

[isthisreal]

@extraneous Thank you so much for your help, I will try to keep track of what I eat with fitness pal, and maybe 2 protein shakes a day to keep high protein if needed. I will got for 1.5 my weight I guess.
Thanks again for your time and knowledge.