Research
Macro partitioning
Vegan athletes may experience slower recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) compared to omnivores, characterized by greater delayed onset muscle soreness and reduced jump performance, likely due to lower protein and amino acid intake.
If you are vegan, pay close attention to your protein intake, especially around training. You may experience more muscle soreness and slower return of power (jump height) after intense workouts. Ensure you are consuming enough total protein and diverse plant sources to provide all essential amino acids for repair.
LimitedQualifiesLOW confidence
After 72 hours vegans showed a 4% reduction and omnivores a 6% increase in CMJ. Greater delayed onset muscle soreness was observed in vegans 24 and 72 hours after the tests were applied. Vegans had lower amino acid intakes than omnivores. It was concluded that vegans may show impairments in muscle recovery after EIMD when compared to omnivores.
Why this rating
Small sample size (N=42, split into groups) and short-term observation.
Source
Influence of the vegan diet on sports performance
Patrícia Filipa Saraiva de Sousa · Sustainability and Sports Science Journal · 2023
DOI 10.61486/lisw1172
narrative_reviewCited 2×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- A well-planned vegan diet is compatible with and supports athletic performance, offering benefits such as increased glycogen storage, reduced oxidative stress, and improved blood flow, without compromising strength or aerobic capacity compared to omnivorous diets.Moderate
- Short-term adoption of a vegan diet (e.g., 3 weeks) leads to significant weight loss and reduced caloric intake without negatively impacting fitness scores or sports performance.Limited
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