Powerlifting as a vegan - Eeva Ylimäki
Powerlifting as a Vegan
This guest post is brought to us by Eeva Ylimäki, a powerhouse of the FuturePeaks team and a vegan powerlifter. Let's find out how Eeva is doing and how a powerlifter manages as a vegan.
Foreword
On December 14th, I was training, and after 45 minutes of warm-up, I loaded 150 kilograms onto the squat bar. In the summer 2024 competitions, this same weight was my competition squat. It was the lift that earned me a total of 365 kilograms and a spot in my first Finnish Championships. I had been aiming for that spot for two years.
The autumn had been tough. Even 80 kilograms had felt heavy on my back and legs, which was particularly frustrating because squat is currently my strongest lift. When it falters, it really gets under my skin. A senior at the gym asked, "Are you going for a max today?" I replied that I was just doing sets. The look in his eyes told me he didn't quite believe me.
This time, however, I had decided that the squat struggles would end here. Before a heavy lift, you need to get the adrenaline flowing and silence the doubts. Magnesium on hands and back, a whiff of ammonia to the nose, and off I went. 150 kilograms is supposed to feel bad on the back. Still, you have to trust that your body knows what it's doing.
Rep after rep, I noticed other trainees stopping to watch. Eventually, I did five reps with 150 kilograms. That's five kilograms more than my best five-rep set since August and only 12.5 kilograms below my current competition result (162.5 kg). My legs burned so much that I collapsed to the floor after the set.
What is powerlifting and how did I become a vegan powerlifter?
What is powerlifting? Powerlifting is a weight class sport that measures raw maximum strength through the combined total of squat, bench press, and deadlift. Appearance or style do not matter in a competition; only how much weight is on the bar and whether it is lifted within the rules.
I started strength training at the beginning of 2020 and told my then-coach that I was a vegetarian. He was wonderfully understanding, but the truth is that building a sensible vegetarian diet would have been challenging for anyone unacquainted with it back then, and it was for me too. I just thought I could replace meat with something else, and I didn't understand to nutritionally examine the contents of my plate. Six months later, I transitioned completely to veganism for ethical reasons, and the content of my plate didn't become any more sensible.
When I started, my squat was 80 kg, bench press 45 kg, and deadlift 110 kg. My first competition under the Finnish Powerlifting Federation (under anti-doping agreement) was in the autumn of 2022, and my result was 307.5 kg. That same year, I had switched to Juhani Pitkänen's coaching. Juhani taught me a tremendous amount about a vegan diet: what to add to my plate and what supplements to use. After that, my results in the gym and competitions soared.
How does powerlifting work as a vegan?
So how does powerlifting work as a vegan? Over the years, I've received many skeptical comments about whether one can train hard and progress on a vegan diet. I decided to let the results speak for themselves. I started sharing my workouts, diet, and progress on social media. I explain how I recover well and can train hard week after week. When my diet is in order, records usually come weekly. I've gained a huge amount of muscle mass, and nowadays I compete in the heavy-weight class. My goal for this year is to reach the top 20 in the all-time ranking of my weight class (445 kg at the time of writing). This could mean, for example, a 185 kg squat, 90 kg bench press, and 170 kg deadlift in a competition. Nowadays, I'm no longer the only vegan powerlifter, and the increasing popularity of vegan diets has also begun to show in this sport.
To illustrate the kind of performance powerlifting demands: I train at the gym four times a week, and in addition, I do cardio to develop my basic fitness. A single workout often lasts 2–2.5 hours and includes heavy lifts from start to finish, such as squats, Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, and back isolation exercises. After training, I'm usually completely exhausted, and all I can think about is food and rest.
Competitions typically last about three hours, plus warm-ups and preparations. In practice, you're at the competition venue for at least 4–5 hours, and just the three-hour competition itself is a long time to keep performance at its peak. The body is pushed to its limits multiple times, and each lift requires full concentration. It's a completely different matter to perform a deadlift at the end of a competition than to do the same lift "fresh" in a training session.
I have often found that if I, at 90 kilograms, can maintain high performance, progress year after year, and get everything I need from a vegan diet, then anyone who moves or trains actively can do it, not to mention those who don't exercise at all. It's not rocket science; it's about having a sensibly structured overall plan and a diet that supports your goals.
After the squat set I mentioned in the foreword, another trainee remarked, "You're incredibly strong." I smiled. There was a time when I was considered crazy for combining veganism and powerlifting. Now people ask me for tips and wonder how I do all this. And I think: everyone wants the strength of a gorilla, but few want to eat like a gorilla.
So, what supplements do I use as a heavy-weight powerlifter? My daily routine revolves around a fairly simple basic framework: Vitamin D3 supplement, a multivitamin designed for a vegan diet, and iron are part of my daily routine. In addition, I use Nutri+ proteins and creatine a couple of times a day to support hard training and recovery. They have been an easy way to ensure I get enough building blocks when training volumes and loads are high.
Thanks to Janne from FuturePeaks for the supplements and cooperation. His online store's supplements are delicious and support my training and recovery.
This year, we will compete in small competitions in the spring, from which we will move at full speed towards the autumn's Helsinki regional championships and the Finnish Championships.
Good luck with your training, everyone!
-Eeva
Merchant's closing words
Many of you are probably wondering: Can a vegan build muscle? Can powerlifting be done as a vegan? Where do vegans get protein? Are vegan proteins good for athletes? etc. etc. The world has many top vegan athletes, Olympic champions, world champions, European champions, and all-time bests in their sports. And then, of course, there's Eeva. Eeva keeps lifting more and more weight, and it will be fun to see where her development takes her! Additionally, Eeva is a fearless advocate for human and animal rights and a great person! You should follow Eeva on social media at https://www.instagram.com/eevuli_/ if you have any questions!
-Janne
