Vegan Olympic Weightlifter Kendrick Farris proves you don't need to eat meat to build the explosive strength required for Olympic weightlifting, after being the only USA male weightlifter to qualify for the Olympic games.

Prior to going vegan Farris also competed in the 2012 Olympic games in London. Since then Farris has packed on more muscle, moved up a weight class, and at 94kg he set an American Record total at the 2016 Olympic Trials in Salt Lake City.

During the Olympic Team Trials, Farris set a new USA record and a personal best by lifting 800 pounds and claiming the only quota spot awarded to the United States in men’s weightlifting by placing highest in his division among the U.S. men.

In May 2016 he broke the American lifting record for clean-and-jerk with three lifts totaling 377 kg (743 lbs).

Farris made the switch to a vegan diet after his son was born September 2014:

Farris noted "I really don't know what happened to me. My son was born almost two years ago, he was born in September 2014 and something happened where I was like I'm just seeing the whole thing. So I'm like I need to do something different. Like how do you get back to what is the most purest form of our life, our being and it started with the food."

The 29 year old athlete joins fellow vegans Morgan Mitchell (sprinter) and Marquise Goodwin (long jumper/NFL player) in Rio, Brazil for the 2016 Olympics which started today.



