In this episode, I’m joined by the one and only Dr. Eric Trexler. Eric has a PHD in Human Movement Science, earned his pro card as a natural bodybuilder, has been a coach since 2009, and is currently a metabolism researcher at Duke University in North Carolina. Eric is also co-owner of the MASS research review, which if you didn’t know, is a monthly newsletter that breaks down the most recent nutrition and exercise related research into easy to digest content. Eric has also published dozens of his own peer-reviewed research papers on exercise and sports nutrition related strategies and is at the forefront of the evidence based fitness community.
I’ve personally been a follower of Eric’s content for years – probably since around 2015 – and have the utmost respect for the unbiased, high quality information he puts out which is why I was excited to find out Eric went vegan for ethical purposes in 2020 during his studies into Buddhism and spirituality. Eric and I delve into why exactly he chose to follow a vegan lifestyle, how his experience has been so far both personally and within the fitness industry, the research on plant vs. animal protein, the health benefits of a plant based diet and general healthy diet practices, dietary nitrates, supplementation and so much more. We packed a lot of great content into this episode and I’m excited to share with you all.
Eric can be found on Instagram at @TrexlerFitness and at trexlerfitness.com and I definitely recommend checking out MASS and massresearchreview.com.
Thanks so much to Eric for taking the time to drop the knowledge bombs this episode and without further ado, on with the show!
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Episode preview with Eric
00:30 – Intro to Podcast
01:05 – Intro to Eric Trexler
2:45 – Podcast episode start and intro
4:45 – What got Eric into fitness and nutrition?
7:05 – Eric’s experience with bodybuilding
7:45 – Eric’s injury and working around it
9:45 – What led Eric to going vegan? His experience with spirituality, religion and morality
17:30 – Did Eric have any expectations going on a plant based diet at first? Pervasive myths
18:45 – Differences in plant and animal protein and muscle building
20:00 – When did Eric go plant based and the research then vs. now
23:30 – Powerlifting numbers in the past vs now
24:30 – Advantages or disavantages of plant based diet for health
26:45 – Three diets that have the most evidence as being most health promoting
28:30 – Challenges of a plant based diet
29:45 – Lower threshholds of plant based protein vs. animal protein for building muscle and how to calculate a cutoff number
32:45 – Protein inconveniency
33:45 – Micronutrients of plant based foods and supplementation recommendations
36:15 – Antinutrients
37:05 – Do benefits of plant based diets seem to be more with restricting animal products OR including more plant based foods?
40:45 – Example of why some people have bad experiences with plant based diets
42:15 – Advantages or disadvantages of a plant based diet on sports performance?
45:45 – Dietary nitrates and benefits of increased nitric oxide/blood flow
48:30 – The potentially beneficial compounds in the matrix of specific plant based foods and how they interact with each other in complicated ways
51:15 – Do nitric oxide boosting supplements have beneficial effects? Quality control in supplements
55:00 – Citrulline malate, efficacy, risk profile and taste
58:00 – What supplements would Eric recommend for plant based athletes for performance and/or health?
1:04:30 – Is creatine supplementation a higher priority for vegans?
1:06:45 – Closing statement, encouragement for being a good ambassador for veganism
1:09:45 – Where can Eric be found on social media? Mass Research Review, coaching, instagram
1:12:05 – Episode outro
