The Vegan Superhero AcademyReviews of thevegangym.com

My approximately 7 months with VSA were somewhat of a mixed bag. I think I communicated from the beginning that my main struggle was with an incredibly unkind mindset that made it very difficult for me to make lasting, meaningful changes to my eating habits and workout habits. Looking back I don‘t believe I was given enough support or practical tools to learn how to behave in kind ways towards my body and mind. Towards the end, my negative self talk, my obsession with food and my sense of guilt and shame was pretty much at an all time high, which ultimately led me to decide to leave, or as one coach phrased it to „graduate from“ the academy. The good: I do believe that each of the coaches I‘ve spoken with had my best interests at heart. Especially my main coach seemed eager to be of service and to care genuinely for me. I appreciated it. I appreciate the willingness of many of the coaches to connect with me on very short notice and try to be present with whatever was going on for me. For about 2-3 weeks I was living with a weight and a body that somewhat matched my vision. I‘m grateful for some of the literature I was exposed to in my time with VSA („Unf*ck Yourself“, for example). I‘m grateful for a few moments of grace during conversations with some of the coaches. What could be improved: The price. I didn‘t feel great paying approximately $500 monthly for the service. There was always a feeling of doubt for me when the monthly payment came up - a doubt I was never fully able to get rid of. Throughout my journey with the VSA I kept going back and forth between using recipes from the recipe books, to relying on protein powder and processed foods for my protein and overall nutrition intake and I struggled to get a clear direction once I was provided with the recipe book and the meal plan. The first 3 months I was trying to live with a calorie deficit in order to „shred“, which most of the time had me feeling miserable and irritable and hungry. The daily „consistency level“ strikes we were encouraged to post often had the opposite effect on me than what I think they intended to have: Rather than feeling pride, I‘d often feel defeated when there was no real „food win of the day“ for me to show, or real „movement win of the day“. I often thought I had to force some positivity into those „wins of the day“, when there weren‘t necessary any wins I could think of. And speaking of forced positivity - that‘s another thing that had a counter effect on me. Words like „crushing it“ and „being part of the herd“ and „being pumped“, etc. well, they just turned me off. Sometimes it didn‘t seem like there was room for honesty in the public forums, just room for stories of success to be „liked“ by other members of the group. To me that was toxic positivity. Both workout plans and recipe books had various typos and unclear instructions that were answered to me, once I checked in about them. A few times several of the coaches were not responsive, or not following through on what they promised they would, which was disappointing. Most of the time the coaches apologized for it, but sometimes they simply just didn‘t get back to me. I originally signed up for 90 days and was surprised to hear „I was surprised that you didn‘t automatically choose to sign up for longer“ from one of the coaches - it felt a bit manipulative to me. I did not benefit much from the weekly zoom meetings. I found the gallery view distracting and watching the meeting leader read off from a document on their screen not very engaging. I guess, at the end of the day, it wasn‘t quite the match. I‘d love to look like some of the coaches, to have their mindsets and attitude on life, but I‘m not sure VSA would be the way for me to get there. „Amazing results that stick around long term“, „tons of fun along the way“, „teaching all of our clients the secrets of pro-metabolic vegan nutrition so they can eat what they want while burning fat and building lean muscle“, „help you ingrain the right eating and exercise habits so you can develop a healthy and sustainable relationship with food and training“ and „we give our clients all the tools and knowledge that they need to confidently forge ahead in your fitness without paying a trainer for the rest of your life“ - none of those things, now that I‘m about 2 months back in the wild after 7 months with VSA, feel like something I‘m taking with me, unfortunately.