Vincent Crapello
powerlifter strong vegan
Vincent is a 75 kg powerlifter who started competing in his 30s and soon started recording fantastic totals and victories.
- Winner at Mr America sport festival
- State record holder in Squat, deadlift and total
- Squatted 208 kg in the 75 kg category
In 2024 Vincent entered the DT PWRBLD St Patty’s Day Bash, winning their weight class both in Submasters and Open age category. They then competed at Mr America Sports festival with PlantBuilt and again won the OpenDT and Submasters category. He did the same in the Tested Battle at Atilis IV in 2025, where he took Pennsylvania State submaster records in squat, bench, deadlift and total.
Vincent has squatted over twice his bodyweight (208.6 kg) and benched 125 kg. His deadlift is 235 kg – over three times bodyweight.
It’s a record that tells of a determined and effective approach to the sports which has paid dividends.
“As of this interview [2025], I currently hold multiple state records for powerlifting in several federations” says Vincent. “But my favourite achievements aren’t records at all – it’s the growth from my first competition to my current. My squat alone has gone up like 60 lbs (33 kg) in a very short time which feels like a difficult task in your late thirties.”
Vegan powered
“Enough being a wimp. I’m vegan now”.
All of this has been achieved vegan. He was vegetarian until 2009 and remembers the date (May 2nd) that he went fully vegan.
“I have always been in it for animal rights” Vincent explains. “Going vegetarian was a different story, but I’m big on learning and growing so when I was initially veg, I decided to look into why others do it. Is to health? Religion? Oh what’s this animal rights thing? It took some time, but once I felt fully realized what it meant to be as cruelty free as possible, I decided that’s going to be my guiding politic.”
“I had done unintentional fortnights of veganism and realized I could just do it, and the next day said ‘enough being a wimp. I’m vegan now’ ”.
Years – and state records – later, Vincent described himself as ‘staunchly vegan’, questioning the term ‘plant-based’ as they recognise that this is about ethics, not just choice of food.
Fuel for growth
Anyone who knows powerlifting will be unsurprised that Vincent has a demanding training plan.
“My coach has me on a rotating squat-bench-deadlift cycle where multiple times a week I’m either training my lifts in a competition style or I’m doing a variation thereof, with your standard accessories. But I’m known in my gym as the person with the most accoutrements as I’ll be dragging every type of barbell, chain, other apparatus around.”
They have to eat well to support this, and there’s no trouble doing so.
“While I do love the vegan meat substitutes, I’m still an old school vegan at heart who loves seitan, tofu, tempeh, and veggies. But that doesn’t mean I won’t demolish a full family sized bag of vegan soy nuggets. I’m here for the animals.”
With some massive lifts behind him, it would seem there’s not much room to question Vincent’s veganism. They are coached by Ryan Stills, who is multiple Masters World Champion and also vegan.
“Being one of the strongest in my gym means people don’t often have much to say with me being vegan. If they ever want to make jokes I make sure to ask if they’re positive that’s a road they want to go down.”
More to come!
Vincent’s come a long way and is pleased with their progress, although they’re planning to work towards higher levels.
“I feel like a nationals level or worlds level competition might be just out of my reach at current but I think if I continue my trajectory toward a masters competitor, I’ll be worlds-ready in just a few short years.”
That progress will be fuelled by plants, as Vincent knows the importance of his decisions.
“Veganism is all encompassing but it’s not a path to perfection. It’s intersectional. It’s a pathway to liberation for not just animals, but also humans and the environment. It’s also not the only tool toward this goal of total liberation, while it’s an important one.
“Too often I’ll see vegans stand on a single issue of animals, but forget the farm workers are also exploited. They’ll talk about the importance of it environmentally but shop frivolously in fast fashion. They’ll then also police those who don’t embody their version of their mission. It’s important to remember that we are all fighting not for us but for others.
“Yes, being the physically strong vegan is good to break the weak-vegan-stigma, but it’s also important to just maintain mental resolve and remember veganism helps animals, the earth, and other humans and we should always strive toward that idea of total liberation by any means necessary.”