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3 years ago i was a professional soccer player and i was really fast and had great acceleration. Then i started doing low carb diets and stuff to get leaner and everything collapsed.
Im just 25 so i want to get back there again and be better then ever. Ive been on McDougalls program for 3 months and my muscles and explosivness has gotten better but im still lacking the last 20-30%. I was wondering what is causing this? Is there any mineral or anything that im lacking that can cause this?
Sodium ? calcium? iron ? what does relate to explosviness muscles and how does it work. Would be great to know so i can really be lightning fast again.

I was just thinking about fast twitch muscle training the other day. What you are asking about sounds related, so I'll be interested to see what Lani has to say!

Yeah im thinking also about that in terms of training so fire away if that can help aswell

Gulp, I hate to say it, but it is creatine. Plants don't have much creatine and creatine supplies energy to all cells in the body, primarily muscle, by increasing the formation of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Creatine is naturally produced in the human body from the following amino acids: L-arginine, glycine, and L-methionine. Since plants are naturally low in the amino acid methionine, vegetarians are going to have some difficulty making enough creatine for explosive muscle energy (and stamina).

"In humans and animals, approximately half of stored creatine originates from food (mainly from meat). A study involving, 18 vegetarians and 24 non-vegetarians, on the effect of creatine in vegetarians showed that total creatine was significantly lower than in non-vegetarians. Since vegetables do not represent the primary source of creatine, vegetarians can be expected to show lower levels of directly derived muscle creatine."

I don't use supplements, but you may need some creatine. Or you have to do what I do and adjust by eating more whole unrefined carbohydrates so you can rely on glycogen stores and get enough methionine, arginine, and glycine -- it can be done, but you have to eat lots of whole plants (grains, legumes, and nuts). (So you have to exercise to burn off the extra calories -- in a way it is a symbiotic relationship.) If you do supplement with creatine, the good news is vegetarians and meat eaters show the same levels of creatine after using supplements. See, e.g., Burke DG, Chilibeck PD, Parise G, Candow DG, Mahoney D, Tarnopolsky M (2003). "Effect of creatine and weight training on muscle creatine and performance in vegetarians". Medicine and science in sports and exercise 35 (11): 1946–55. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000093614.17517.79. PMID 14600563

When you say you are on Dr. McDougall's program I hope you don't mean the Maximum Weight Loss Program, and, instead, mean his original McDougall Method program.

Lastly, a great textbook to read that includes lots of information for vegetarians is the Ninth Edition of Nutrition for Health, Fitness & Sport. It has lots of information supporting Dr. McDougall 100% including important information on how little protein athletes need. You may find the material on creatine and ATP informative.

Stay plant strong.

Superhuman,

If you are eating enough quality calories to fuel your workouts, it's in the training. If you want explosive muscle response, you've got to train specifically for it. Of course there are going to be genetic predispositions - those with more Type ll muscle fiber are going to have more natural talent with explosive exercise, yet it can be trained too.

By training for it, I mean duplicating the action you want in your workouts. It's possible that your training has shifted somewhat from when you were previously experiencing more explosive power. Training as a professional soccer player no doubt pushed your limits on explosive action training .

You might want to take a look at the literature on PAP - "Postactivation Potentiation". Research is in its early stages, yet promising. Put in simple terms, PAP involves doing heavy lifting - or even intense isometrics - prior to explosive activity which can actually help you fire higher threshold muscle cell motor units. This translates to enhanced ability to jump higher or run faster with explosive power. If you look at your soccer training schedule, I'm betting drills and workouts were tailored to utilize this phenomenon somewhat.

You might be interested to read:

Postactivation Potentiation: A Brief Review

Post-activation potentiation: underlying physiology and implications for motor performance.

Post-activation potentiation

The idea of heavy loading before using lighter resistance - what PAP is about - has really been around for at least over half a century in some forms. Pre-loading & doing partials or negatives to make a weight feel 'light' has been used in some form since at least then; PAP is a formalized look at the process.

As noted,there's not a whole lot in the way of research to back it up, similar to many other training protocols. You might need to be a well-conditioned athlete to benefit the most (which professional soccer players are!) Genetic predisposition (fiber types) will play a role.

There's more, yet this is a start. Training usually trumps supplementation when it comes to athletic performance.

Lani

I'd also like to chime in:
Type 2, explosive muscle relies on carb. Probably the best way to lose these abilities is to go on a low carb diet and constantly deplete your glycogen stores, or maintain a state of only semi-carb repletion.

Thank you, that was really interesting

True, i ve gone on low carbs for a long while and im back on the carb wagon now. But do you loose it or just pause it?

SteelHead: do you have a good source to recommend taking?

I believe you briefly "lose it" as the body adapts to burning fat as fuel and needs to adapt back to burning carbs. So really not "lost", just hidden in storage. Can take a couple weeks at most, but shouldn't be a longer term issue. More likely a few days to a week.

Seems like its taking longer for me then. Do you need to consume alot in terms of calories/carbs then or ?

You need as many calories as you need (DUH! right?) and 80% or so of those from complex carbs. If you aren't "coming back" in a timely manner then could be something else needs to be addressed ie as mentioned, creatine, taurine. (I won't mention animal protein on these forums, though there are some experts who think that some small subset of the population needs very small amounts of it to be fully healthy.)

I am currently reading "The All-Pro Diet" by Tony Gonzalez. For those who don't know, Tony is an NFL tight end all star who adopted a plant based diet.

He said that when he went plant based, he lost weight and strength and determined that he needed more protein in his diet to maintain his strength. He is mainly plant based but added some animal based products to increase his protein intake.

Protein intake can be increased without eating animal based foods so you might want to try that......

Do a search for vegetarian/vegan MMA fighters and you will be a bit surprised. Several mention increased endurance and quicker recovery. Several are very highly ranked...

Thanx