My Journey as Vegan Athlete by Ed Bauer

My Journey as Vegan Athlete

By Ed Bauer

I committed to the vegan lifestyle as a 16 year old skateboarder. I just started lifting weights with my dad the year before. This was over 20 years ago now. Since then I became a certified Personal Trainer in 2006. As a vegan, I felt I did not want to be preachy to my new clients so I was pretty quiet about it at first. Then as time went by, I realized it was my duty to let my clients know, and for that matter, let the world know.

I moved to Portland in 2008. I started working at 24 Hour Fitness and it was the same gym that Robert Cheeke worked out in. He is the creator of www.veganbodybuilding.com and he was (and arguably still is) the most recognized vegan athlete out there. We became friends and he inspired me to step on the bodybuilding stage. I did in 2010 and won my weight division my first show. With my success in the field, I started gaining online recognition. I became a sponsored athlete for www.veganbodybuilding.com and was a contributing author for the website. Then I competed a second time in bodybuilding, but already lost my excitement for the one dimension of the sport. I then began focusing on CrossFit. I got my CrossFit Level 1 Certificate and open my first gym in Portland called PlantFit Training Studio. I ran that for a few years, and focused mainly on coaching functional movements for most of my clients. My primary focus at the time was cross training.

Then in 2012, Giacomo and Dani of www.veganproteins.com asked if I wanted to join a vegan athlete team to compete together later that year. I said I was in. We ended up naming the organization PlantBuilt and we competed as a team of 14 athletes in Austin, Texas. I have been on the team since the very beginning. With the team in 2012, I competed in the Men’s Physique Division. I took second place out of 24 athletes. This wasn’t a victory, but the PlantBuilt team showed a lot of athletes that vegans can come in better shape than the meat eaters. The team has since grown to about 50 athletes and the next event we are having is the summer of 2017. During the second year of the PlantBuilt team, my girlfriend Holly Noll and I were featured on the cover of Vegan Health & Fitness magazine. This was a defining moment in our lives as ambassadors of the vegan movement.

In 2013, I decided I was ready to leave Portland, so I packed my things, sold my gym, and moved to Oakland, California. My partner Holly lived there and I wanted to be closer to her. Plus living right outside of San Francisco is really cool for so many reasons. A year later, we found a gym space with an apartment over it and we opened NewEthic Strength & Conditioning in January 2015. As a CrossFit focused athlete for the last few years, I became frustrated with my lack of top end strength. I took a step back from cross training and solely focused on getting stronger. At 175 bodyweight, I had a 335 squat, 290 bench, and 435 deadlift. I ate a lot and focused on powerlifting. I competed at the USPA Old Skool Iron Classic in May 2016. At 214.4 pounds bodyweight, I worked up to a 418 pound squat, 315 pound bench, and 507 pound deadlift. These were lifetime goals for me. At 36, I want to now find goals I can be happy with, and move on. Currently I am focused on olympic weightlifting. I set my personal goals for the clean & jerk, and snatch. Now I am focused on breaking through strength plateaus in this area as well.

With over 20 years as a vegan athlete, I have experienced a lot of variance in the fitness industry. As a gym owner, champion bodybuilder, CrossFit coach, fitness model, and powerlifter, I now want to set my focus on a few more specific goals. After that, I simply want to continue to be a steadfast contributor to the movement. Veganism is the future. The more we continue to smash PRs (all while eating delicious plant-based foods), the more people will see this is better for their health, the health of the planet, and the health of the animals.

How Kyle became Vegan!!!

Hey, my name is Kyle DeLaney and I’m 30 years old. I’m also vegan and I like to lift weights. I grew up in South Jersey, and moved to Portland, Oregon in March 2015.

If I had to pinpoint one thing which initiated my interest in becoming big and strong, I would have to say it was professional wrestling. While I haven’t really followed it in about 15 years, it was instrumental in my desire to be big. I remember having a WWF VHS tape at a very young age with a handful of matches on it. Of course there was a Hulk Hogan match (late 80s/early 90s), but there was also a match involving a man named Ivan Putski. I’ll never forget how big he was in that match. He wasn’t ripped like he became later on, but he certainly had a lot of muscle. He looked like the kind of man who could knock down a brick wall with his bare hands. After that, I discovered Andre the Giant, and I was awestruck. He was just so massive and I thought it was the coolest thing on earth. 

A few years later I remember seeing the World’s Strongest Man contests on TV. Magnus ver Magnusson was the man to beat at that time, and they would always play older competitions, often featuring Bill Kazmaier. I thought he had the most impressive physique in his day. His traps were like two grapefruits which sat between his neck and his shoulders. The competitions themselves got me really riled up. There were a bunch of actual giants throwing around larger than life versions of everyday objects. I would get excited to go do yard work after that, running with the wheelbarrow full of mulch and dragging tree limbs to the street.

Around that time I started getting very into the punk and hardcore music scene. It was the first place I ever felt like I belonged in my life. There were rooms full of passionate, aggressive people listening to bands who were singing about real life things I could relate to; being angry and insecure and a black sheep. Some of the bands also sang about things like living a drug and alcohol free lifestyle (something I made a conscious decision to do when I was 13), and some sang about not eating and enslaving animals (something which struck a chord with me, but I didn’t adopt until several years later). I always considered myself an animal lover, I grew up wanting to be a zookeeper and spending much of my early years poring over books about dinosaurs and lions. 

I grew up playing sports, but once I got involved in the music scene, I gave them up. I realized I felt more at home in a room full of strangers than I ever had on any team. I realized teams weren’t really my thing. After a few years, when I was 16, my friend convinced me to join the track team to throw shot put and discus with him. He was the best thrower we had, and wanted a good partner for the relay meets. I had never tried either, but I joined the team and after a few weeks of practices and some size on my side, I became the #2 thrower on the team, and my buddy’s relay partner. As a means to get better at throwing, I started lifting weights with my buddy. We mostly benched and used the leg press and did a lot of curls. After high school, I went away to college and got pretty into lifting weights. At the time it was mostly an aesthetic thing for me. I loved reading bodybuilding magazines, memorizing some of my favorite bodybuilders’ routines.

One day I was reading one of the magazines, and in the back there was a two page ad. I don’t even remember what it was for to be honest, but I remember the man in the picture. His name is Scot Mendelson, and there was a brief article explaining how he weighed 320 pounds, had a six pack, and was the strongest bench presser in the world. I was amazed. From that point I started going back through the magazines I had and finding articles about bodybuilders who employed powerlifting into their training. I started lifting heavier, and not worrying as much about the number on the scale. It was also about this time some of the music I grew up listening to started to really take hold of my thoughts. The band Earth Crisis posted a link from their Myspace page to a PETA video, showing footage from slaughterhouses. I became vegetarian the next day. I could no longer rationalize eating something which unwillingly lost its life, and in such a terrible manner. I realized the only difference between my dog and a cow was how their roles are dictated by society. They are both sentient beings with the ability to love and hurt as much as us. To make up for the protein I was no longer able to get from meat, I started to eat a lot of eggs and cheese. After tearing my rotator cuff, my weight rose as I continued to eat the same way without training. When I finally got back into the gym after about two years of no lifting at all, I weighed 275, even going up to 285 once I had been lifting weights again for a few months. 

The idea of going vegan had been growing stronger in the back of my mind for quite some time, and one day in April 2009, I just decided enough was enough. I told myself I would not eat any more animal products, and I’ve stuck to that ever since. Over the next few months I lost about 40 pounds. My energy was through the roof, and I felt good about being alive, something I hadn’t felt in years. Over the next few years, I went from doing mostly cardio (woof), to bodybuilding style training, and eventually deciding that powerlifting was the thing for me. 

In 2012, I tore my rotator cuff once again. Unfortunately, it never healed properly from the first tear, as I never had surgery on it and didn’t do any physical therapy. Don’t think because you’re 19 you’re invincible. It’s actually never been properly repaired, and is something I’ve been training around for over a decade now. I eventually got back into the gym in 2014, taking it very slow in the beginning. I started out just benching the bar for five sets of 20 reps, working up to that set and rep scheme with 95 pounds until I no longer noticed any pain in my shoulder. Since then, I’ve had some flare ups with it here and there, but I’ve learned when to stop pushing through the pain, and what seems to aggravate it the least. 

Being vegan is not something I talk about much. Most people don’t know I’m vegan until it somehow makes sense to mention it in conversation. I’m fairly shy, for one thing, and it’s not that I’m ashamed of it, far from it, it’s just that answering the same questions and hearing the same unfounded criticisms time and time again eventually starts to take its toll. That having been said, every once in a while I come across someone who’s genuinely interested in it, and have honest, engaging questions. Those are some of my favorite conversations. I’m fortunate to live in a city now which has an abundance of vegan culture; it’s so accessible here. There’s definitely still a stigma attached to veganism, particularly within the powerlifting world, but there’s such an awesome community for vegan athletes via the internet. It’s really been a powerful motivation for me to start to put myself out there and connect with people and showcase what I do. I still have yet to compete in a powerlifting competition, but have worked a few at my gym, and it’s such an awesome atmosphere, very reminiscent of the hardcore punk community which made me who I am. There is a meet at my gym in July I hope to do, as long as old injuries don’t get in the way. Most recently I broke my hand at work last year, and my wrist and grip strength are still a little iffy. Current training PRs are 425x2 in the squat (knee sleeves and a belt), 285 bench with a competition pause (haven’t handled that much weight since breaking my hand), and a 605 deadlift with a belt. Hopefully I can continue to push those numbers up for a long time.

Holly Noll "NewEthic Strength and Conditioning"

     SO honored to be among this elite group, dang! So many bad ass vegan folks up in here! My name is Holly Noll, I co-own NewEthic Strength and Conditioning in Oakland, California with Ed Bauer, a totally vegan (though we have non vegan members) gym that focuses on CrossFit and Powerlifting style, functional, dynamic workouts in the form of super fun classes that build our strong vegan community as well as personal training and mobility. I also own FitQuick Protein Waffles, a company I started when I was still all up in fitness modeling and staying lean while eating all the waffles. It's a dry mix that just needs non dairy milk making macro-friendly, delicious, high protein, lower carbohydrate, high fiber, lower fat waffles hella quick. In addition to those I co-own a remote training company called Rise & Resist Training, with Lacy Davis, that was born out of the need created by the listeners of our podcast of the same name. I also compete on the international team of athletes called PlantBuilt and you can find me online here. Oh, I've also been straight edge since 1998, which has come to define me in the sense that it gave me focus, drive, integrity and clarity.

     Jeez, now that I got all that out of the way, I guess I should get to my story! I've been into punk and hardcore since I was a kid (my parents are super cool) and exposure to the political undertones made me a full on activist in my very early teens. Listening to bands like Propagandi, Nausea, Dead Kennedy's and others, reading the record sleeves, and absorbing the punk news telling me about all the injustice in the world gave me a sense of urgency, a call to action. This meant starting many bands over the course of the next two decades but I also became light weight vegetarian, fading in and out of caring when I was 14, but getting more and more aware or serious as the years passed. By 20 I found myself in college teaching with an organization trying to end rape and domestic violence through education, and I was traveling to different Bay Area High School, Jr High, and College classes to spread that message. I was in school for gender studies and sexuality, and it would be safe to title me "anarcha-feminist" at the time. So, when I was 20 I found my vegetarian self in a co-op in San Francisco waiting for a friend to pick me up and, I know I'm dating myself here, but sans smart phones, I found myself picking up "zines" (small, independently released, magazines typically out of the punk and DIY scenes). After reading for a moment I came across a short article, not longer than a small page, that connected the dots between the oppression I was actively fighting in our culture, for reproductive and sexual rights and freedom for human women, to the oppression of female animals in the diary and egg industries. I realized, right then, that I was living a hypocrisy that was so easily avoided. I gave the rest of my cheese containing burrito to my friend when they came and I was officially vegan. 

     It's worth noting, here, that I came up in the restaurant industry. Much of my family are/were chefs so I was literally in baby seats in industrial kitchens. So when, 20 ish years later, I told them I was going vegan it didn't go terribly well. They said I was ruining my career as it was generally unheard of to be a chef that limits their range in food. Turns out it was actually one of the best things I could have done for myself. It gave me passion, drive, urgency. It gave me a reason to make everything I sent out perfect, because it was a tiny representation of the end of oppression, a tiny light on every plate saying that vegan food can be as good, if not way way way better, than oppressive food. Turns out I wasn't destined for a life of being a chef, however, but the skills I learned from work ethic to nutrition information has turned out invaluable when "macro hacking" so I can eat delicious food but have it make me look and preform how I'd like and in coaching nutrition for others. My history with food got me into nutrition first, where I became a health coach, helping folks heal themselves from heavy lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, and others. Understanding how to fuel your life, and your performance, is a crucial key to success.

    Fast forward a bit and I'm in Seattle, working as a Sous Chef at several awesome veg spots and beginning my fitness journey. I started going to the gym because I knew no one, it was super dark and wet and depressing in the PNW and it seemed to make me happy. I started just running on treadmills, and doing basic lifts with lighter weights or machines. I say I "tripped and stumbled" through fitness for a few years then I found out about CrossFit. 

     I saw these epic strong women, and men, but the women really caught my eye. These ladies were on par with the dudes, not like other sports where women are an afterthought or entirely barred for participation, they were valued just as much as any other athlete. I saw these lady folks with huge shoulders, six packs, working their asses off to move big weight and slaughter workouts like I'd never even dreamed. I was in love... I never joined a CrossFit "box" but I started finding workouts online and doing them at 24 hour fitness. It wasn't the raddest but it got me started. I would watch videos of lifts online and then do them with the bar or very little weight until I got them down. It was not a fast process. But eventually, now back in California, I realized that I actually just wanted to focus on the heavy lifts. Enter Powerlifting.

     I dug into the sport of powerlifting for a few years, culminating in 2015 when I got third in my weight class at the Naturally Fit Games in Austin, Tx (an event with over 10,000 competitors) with my team PlantBuilt. I love lifting heavy and it's worth noting that I got into it not because I wanted to "get toned" or any other printer inspired explanation, I got into powerlifting because it made me feel invincible. I felt like I got the bouncing star in Mario and I was untouchable. When you're a small lady, you are prey in our society. We haven't rid ourselves of the oppression of ladies and, as a survivor of sexual assault, I wanted to feel like I could take care of my own damn self. Powerlifting gave me that. It made me hold my head high, it helped me heal, not feel like a victim and so much more.

     Recently I decided to diversify and will be competing in my first CrossFit competition in September. I've also gotten pretty deeply into training weightlifting, and would love to compete in that sometime soon but mostly, because my team is taking a year off, I'm currently focused on getting stronger, getting bigger, and being the raddest coach while nurturing and building up our community. Rise & Resist has been a huge driver lately too, as we have a certification process in the works, so big things are coming! 

     I love that, at NewEthic, we can focus on strength, and grit, rather than the typical globo gym mentality of diet diet diet diet diet. I my help people with nutrition and with any goal they have but it's not our focus. Our focus is strength, body positivity, and achieving goals that make you strong and stoked. It's way fun and the community rules. Lets hope the future of this rad strength journey I've been on continues to rule as much as it has historically.

-- 

Holly Noll

"Get Strong. Get Stoked."

Media https://instagram.com/xvxh https://www.facebook.com/xvxhx 

Gym www.newethic.net

Waffles http://www.veganproteins.com/proteins-more-shop/fitquick/

Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rise-and-resist/id979966926?mt=2

Powerlifting http://www.plantbuilt.com/profiles/powerliftng/holly-noll/

Cooking Show https://www.youtube.com/user/VeganShortcake