The Rise of the Plant-Based Athletes: Matt Frazier and Robert Cheeke
Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running
RunnersConnect: Coaching Community, Running Experts, Inspiring Runners, No Fluff Blog
4.5 • 936 Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2021
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Matt Frazier is a vegan ultramarathoner, author, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the No Meat Athlete movement and host of the No Meat Athlete Radio podcast. Matt found he could run longer and faster with the help of a plant-based diet, and shortly after adopting a plant-based diet, Matt qualified for the Boston Marathon after taking over 100 minutes off his first marathon time. He has run several 50-milers and a 100-mile ultramarathon on a vegan diet.
Matt's books have sold over 125,000 copies in five languages, and his work have been featured in books including Rich Roll's Finding Ultra, Brendan Brazier's Thrive Foods, and Seth Godin's What to Do When It's Your Turn. Matt was named by Greatist as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness, and Sports Illustrated has called The No Meat Athlete Cookbook one of the best Health & Wellness books.
Matt has a brand new book out called the Plant Based Athlete and I couldn't leave out his equally amazing co-author Robert Cheeke.
Robert began a vegan lifestyle for ethical reasons at age 15, weighing just 120 pounds. Today he is the author of the best-selling books, Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness, Shred It!, Plant-Based Muscle. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Vegan Bodybuilding," growing the industry from infancy in 2002, to where it is today.
As a two-time natural bodybuilding champion, Robert is considered one of VegNews magazine's Most Influential Vegan Athletes. He tours around the world sharing his story of transformation from a skinny farm kid to champion vegan bodybuilder. Robert is the founder and president of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness and maintains the popular website, VeganBodybuilding.com. He is a regular contributor to No Meat Athlete, Forks Over Knives, and Vegan Strong.
In my conversation with Robert and Matt, we talk about common nutrition myths about plant-based and vegan diets (here's a hint--they are not always the same) and how more and more top athletes around the world are discovering that plant-based nutrition is not simply some fad diet, but a powerful performance and recovery enhancer.
We talk about protein, calories, macros, and whether or not you need to be all in to reap the benefits of plants.
As you can probably guess, this was a delightful conversation for me because not only did I get a chance to interact with two people whose work I think so highly of, but I also get to talk about my two most favorite subjects: running and food.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Matt Frazier. And this is Robert Cheek. And you're listening to the Run to the |
| 0:12.0 | Top podcast. |
| 0:15.0 | Hi there, my running friend, this is Coach Claire Bartholic, the Planted Runner, |
| 0:22.0 | and this is the Run to the Top Podcast, one of the first and only |
| 0:25.6 | running podcast dedicated to making you a better runner with each and every episode. |
| 0:30.8 | We are created and produced by the expert team of running coaches at runnersconnect.net where you can find the best running information on the internet as well as running coaching plans to fit every runner and every budget. |
| 0:44.0 | Let me tell you a little personal story. |
| 0:51.0 | Before I ever started running marathons, I decided to change my diet to completely plant-based. |
| 0:57.0 | I had learned about some of the health benefits from a popular documentary at the time, which deeply resonated with me. Without even |
| 1:05.0 | specifically trying to diet or cut calories, I lost about five or six pounds and |
| 1:09.9 | I hadn't even started running yet. |
| 1:13.0 | But I have to admit, as enthusiastic as I was about my brand new way of eating, |
| 1:18.0 | I had a long way to go before I could really say that it was a sustainable and delicious way of life for me. |
| 1:24.4 | I made some pretty terrible tasting food all in the name of health which of course |
| 1:29.1 | meant my family was not entirely convinced. A few months later I started running to get in |
| 1:35.5 | better shape for my upcoming high school reunion. As many of you already know |
| 1:40.1 | the reunion came and went, and I kept running. |
| 1:44.2 | I had gotten it in my head that I was going to run a marathon, |
| 1:47.7 | and through one of my deep dives down the running rabbit hole, |
| 1:52.0 | I stumbled upon the work of Matt Frazier at the no meat athlete. |
| 1:56.3 | On his website, Matt had training tips, recipes for fueling my runs, and a ton of information that I needed to figure out this whole plant-based thing. |
| 2:06.1 | At the time he was on tour promoting his book and was making a stop at my local bookstore. Of course I had to go, buy the book and meet him myself. |
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