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.