The Tofu Trainer

🌱👉🏻 My simple breakdown of everything you need to include in your training to build vegan muscle:

✅ Smart training split
✅ Exercises that are easy to progress
✅ The sweet spot for sets + reps
✅ Exercise order that makes the most of your energy

No more guesswork or long routes to get there. Instead: An optimal structure that saves you time, stops confusion and prevents wasted effort from overtraining.

~ Ro, The Tofu Trainer

To celebrate 26 years on this planet I wanted to give back 26 things I have personally learned over the 8.5 years of veganism ☺️🌱

1. Get yourself in a community. Being vegan can be lonely, find others who make you feel part of something big.

2. Nutrients to prioritise: B12 (have to supplement), Omega 3’s (EPA and DHA), Vit D, Iron, Calcium, Iodine

3. Not everyone around you will be vegan, but don’t tolerate anyone who hates on you or tries to pull you away from it. We don’t need anti vegans in this space

4. Building muscle as a vegan is so doable. Look at all the athletes who are plant based, look at Torre Washington who is natural and going to Mr Olympia.. look at all the examples out there that show you it’s possible.

5. Quinoa/chickpeas/beans/nuts/lentils are not vegan protein sources. They’re carb or fat sources. Please do not rely on these for protein and then wonder why you’re tired/not growing muscle/have no energy blah blah blah

6. Some of my best vegan protein foods: Tofoo tofu (obviously), My Sunflower Family sunflower mince, Holland & Barrett Edamame or Black Bean Noodles, Protein Noodles (most supermarkets do these, check that they’re vegan), if you have bread Jason’s Sourdough protein loaf (not a huge bread person anymore but used to love it), Sunwarrior in chocolate is my go to breakfast to make my protein shake too!

7. You think you’re getting the omega 3’s you need by chomping on walnuts but you’re just overloading on ALA rather than EPA/DHA. Unless you can get algae in your diet, the only real way to get your omega 3’s is to supplement with algae oil.

CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS 🌱

If you’re going to Madeira as a vegan, here are my top 3 tips for making vegan eating as smooth as possible:

1. Stay near (or in) Funchal. Pretty much all the vegan options we found were in Funchal. We stayed in Garajau so had to drive there every evening which took 15 minutes but depending on where you stay Funchal could be over an hours drive away.

2. Plan in advance, plan in advance, plan in advance. First dinner and the lunch following were the kinds of foods I was eating when I didn’t plan- beyond burgers. And that was after walking and looking at menus before finally finding somewhere that did a beyond burger. As soon as I actually started planning and reserving places it became easy.

3. Don’t just go for all the places that people post about on TikTok- I bet you get places like Mundo Vegan, Terra and Alforno on most posts suggesting vegan food in Madeira. But actually Gavinas and Horta were places we stumbled across- Gavina having the loveliest ocean views and Horta having that lovely fine dining experience I love. We also found Avista which we never got to try, and I’m sure there are so many more if you look. Help make Madeira easier for vegans by finding 1 spot no one is talking about and then post your food yourself so people become aware of that option! 🌱

Have an amazing holiday on this beautiful island, these are just my opinions and I’m grateful to each and everyone of these places for giving me the option to dine with them 😊

(sorry tiktok made all the slides weird 😅)

~ Ro, The Tofu Trainer

Here are my top 7 protein sources as a vegan muscle builder 👆🏻
And no, it’s not just about tofu (even though I am The Tofu Trainer 😉)

🌱 Tofoo Tofu/Tempeh
🌱 H&B Protein Noodles
🌱 Sunwarrior Protein Powder
🌱 Marigold’s Mo-Du Seitan Pieces (H&B)
🌱 Silken Tofu
🌱 Yellow Lentil Lasagne Sheets (Amazon)
🌱 Sunflower Mince (Sunflower Family)

❗️ Reminder: It’s not just about grams, it’s about amino acid profiles and consistency. The key things are variety, getting your EAAs and most importantly staying consistent with it!

~ Ro, The Tofu Trainer