What Was Vegan Bodybuilder Jim Morris’s Diet and Workout Routine That Helped Him Maintain His Muscular Body?

Jim Morris won 29 titles over the course of his bodybuilding career and set several records. He was a personal trainer to celebrities such as Elton John and even Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Brought up as a vegetarian since childhood, he went vegan at age 50, and 15 years later, he adopted a plant-based diet for his health and fitness, winning several titles along the way.

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What Was Jim Morris’s Workout Routine?

Jim Morris always set goals for himself during his fitness career, as he wanted to make consistent progress. He was able to add lean muscle mass, allowing him to perform well on the bodybuilding stage.

Morris did a workout that alternated between leg and upper body exercises:

On Sunday and Thursday, he did squats or leg presses for 5 or 6 sets of reps, with 5 or 6 sets of some kind of thigh extension movement. Monday through Friday, he did lat pulldowns (for 5 sets), cable flyes (for 5 sets), and dips with a machine.

Tuesday through Saturday, he did triceps pushdowns on high pulleys (for 5 sets each) and straight-arm curls with dumbbells (for 5 sets each). Wednesday is his rest day.

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Jim Morris' Diet

Jim Morris consumed a lot of protein from meat sources early in his bodybuilding career to maintain his growth. At the time, it was the traditional diet for bodybuilders. Morris believed it was the ideal nutritional strategy to employ.

However, in 1985, Morris stopped competing in professional bodybuilding contests and switched to vegetarianism. He discovered that eliminating meat from his diet allowed him to get rid of the digestive issues that had plagued his body for years.

He said the following about his dietary preference:

"After I retired from competition in 1985, I started considering my health and eliminated what I had identified as the cause of my digestive, respiratory and joint problems. I continued to have fish on rare occasions as a treat but eventually decided to become a vegan in 2000 and keep my diet simple."

When he was 60, he stopped having refined and processed food. He says that for a healthy body you need three things: a healthy diet, exercise and stress reduction. Jim Morris’ staples include fruit, vegetables, grains and nuts.

He turned to a vegan diet when he realised that the American way of living was not healthy. That was not promoting health but only doing profit for the companies that sold processed food, the meat industry and other non-health promoting entities.

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Takeaway

Jim Morris spent his entire life working out. He was able to maintain his superb physical condition till his untimely death in 2016. His impressive 50-year fitness career attests to the fact that bodybuilding was a way of life for him.

Morris maintained a healthy lifestyle throughout his life. He was committed to helping others while debunking the myth that growing older requires giving up pursuing your health goals.

Jim Morris demonstrated that consuming meat is not necessary to maintain a fabulous physique, which is something we can learn. He was also an inspiration to everyone who knew him, and he will be missed in the bodybuilding community.