Bodybuilding – Vegan Muscle and Fitness

Navigating Setbacks: My Journey with Hernia Recovery and Fitness Adaptation

Introduction (Note: This is also posted on YouTube if you prefer video) Hey everyone, I want to share a personal journey, one that might resonate with some of you. It's…

Bodybuilding Fitness Health

3 Game-Changing Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Seen Before (With Videos)

Tired of the same old crunches and planks? After years of training clients and experimenting with core training, I've developed three unique ab exercises that deliver serious results.

Bodybuilding Disease Prevention Fitness

Mushrooms: The Overlooked Superfood for Muscle Growth and Longevity

Mushrooms have been high on the nutrition trends list for a while now. I remember prior to 2015 it seemed like mushrooms were some kind of empty calorie topping you…

Bodybuilding Fat Loss Fitness

Who’s got Goals!?

It's next year! Wait, did I say that right? Anyway, it's not 2020 anymore, hooray! Hopefully you got plenty of sleep last night, because it was awfully loud here and…

Bodybuilding Contest Prep Disease Prevention

Interview with Chef AJ!

I had a great time recently speaking all about my story, as well as my training and nutrition with the esteemed Chef AJ! We have crossed paths many times in…

Bodybuilding Breakfast Contest Prep

Plant-based Nutrition – BarBend Interview!

Want to know the nuts and bolts of how vegan strength athletes eat?? Nick over at BarBend was a pleasure to speak with about plant-based nutrition and did a phenomenal…

Bodybuilding Fitness Health

Plant-based workouts in the time of Corona, April 28th

Who wants some novel core exercises they can do at home?? In this episode of 'Derek shows you tips and tricks while the gym's empty' I share a couple of…

Bodybuilding Fitness Health

Plant-Based Workouts in the time of Corona, April 5th

Yes, we're still closed for the time being, but luckily I've got a decent backlog of quick workout tips to share! I’ve been using movements like the ones I've been…

Bodybuilding Fitness Rehab

Plant-Based workouts in the time of Corona, March 23rd

As mentioned in our last post, Root Force Personal Training is currently closed due to COVID-19. I've been posting some short workout videos from our *empty* gym, as well as…

Bodybuilding Disease Prevention Fitness

Breaking: Exercise Makes You Happier Than Money

According to new research from Oxford and Yale, physical activity has a greater impact on your mental health than your economic status! I think this is an intuitive result (at…

Bodybuilding Disease Prevention Fat Loss

Switch4Good Podcast – and Updates!

If you haven't seen any of their work, Switch4Good is a platform for athletes advocating against dairy for health and performance. They feature world class athletes, produce excellent, well…

Bodybuilding Fitness Health

Activism, Athletics, and Raising Vegan Kids

Last month Max, Forest and I were privileged to be interviewed by David Yastremsky of Vegan Wear, the cruelty-free men's wear company. Our discussion was pretty broad so we…

Bodybuilding Disease Prevention Health

All Plants Have Complete Protein

Just in case anyone wasn’t sure on this point, they do. This myth came from the 1971 book Diet For a Small Planet by Francis Moore Lappe, who stated that…

Bodybuilding Fitness Health

4 Tips to Step Up Your Warm Up

I think everyone can agree that warm ups are one of the most tedious parts of working out. You've gotten to the gym and you're ready to get to…

Bodybuilding Contest Prep Fat Loss

Another Plant-Based Bodybuilder is Born

Plant-based bodybuilder --> Plant-based figure competitor, to be exact! Kalie's experience: She went vegan, reduced her protein intake, and ate a moderately high carbohydrate diet and still kept her strength,…

Bodybuilding Fat Loss Fitness

Muscle Tea

Muscle Tea - our daily recovery beverage! - Green Tea Hibiscus blend from Traditional Medicinals ✅✅ - Ginger ✅ - Cayenne ✅ - Juice from 1/4 lemon ✅ -…

Bodybuilding Breakfast Disease Prevention

Plant Based Protein Super Shake

I've been perfecting the craft of whole-food vegan shakes for nearly a decade now. When I started, my goal was simply to pack the most possible calories and protein into…

Bodybuilding Fat Loss Research

Marcella’s Latest Research Published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology

We're always experimenting on our own bodies here at VM&F, trying to find the best strategies for achieving fit, functional bodies on a whole foods plant-based diet. I've been lucky enough…

Bodybuilding Contest Prep Fat Loss

Guilt Free TV

I recently had the pleasure of doing an interview with Jeff Morgan of Guilt Free TV alongside fellow vegan athletes Crissi Carvalho and Jon Venus. In it we went over some…

Bodybuilding Fitness Workout

New Exercise – The Deep Squat Calf Raise!

I've invented a new awesome looking exercise! 😂 Our studio doesn't have the space for single use machines, so I've spent plenty of time trying to creatively train my calves…