To Meat or Not to Meat? That is the question

I was speaking to some of my old highschool buddies about the good ole days!lol One of the guys who by my opinion is one of the best athletes I have ever seen or played with, recently turned Vegan. I messed with him and then my other teammate says he has been a Vegan for 2 years. So this inspired me to today's blog.

A few years back while training and living in Atlanta, I stopped eating beef, chicken and pork. I was merely on a fish diet. I felt very good on this diet, but I was noticebly weaker in my lifts and squats missing the raw power I possessed during my mid 20's. I thought it was merely age, but more recently I began to embark on a diet that included Beef, Fish and my veggies of course. I actually focus on Testosterone building foods, like Almonds, Avacado, Steak(beef and Lamb). So this leads me to the question to Meat or Not to Meat I want to hear from you tell me your ideas about your workout regime who you feel while lifting and more.

Personally, I feel that meat gives me the testosterone I need in my diet to perform on the track and off. I have a few tips I found in Muscle and Fitness Magazine:

 Research shows that, unlike a diet rich in meat, a vegetarian diet can cause a drop in testosterone and that a diet higher in fat promotes higher testosterone levels than does a diet lower in fat. Meat contains cholesterol, a precursor to many hormones, including testosterone. Red meat is high in zinc, which is a must-have mineral for supporting testosterone. Include steak, lean ground beef or roast beef in two of your five or six daily meals to sustain testosterone levels.


Stick With Tough Exercises

To beef up your testosterone levels, the bulk of your workout should involve "compound" weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups, and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example, studies have shown that doing squats, bench presses or back rows increases testosterone more than doing biceps curls or triceps pushdowns, even though the effort may seem the same. This is why doing squats could help you build bigger biceps.
Make Nuts Your Midnight Snack

Nuts are good for your nuts. Research has found that men who ate diets rich in monounsaturated fat -- the kind found in peanuts -- had the highest testosterone levels. "It's not known why this occurs, but some scientists believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes," says Incledon. Nuts, olive oil, canola oil and peanut butter are good sources of monounsaturated fat.
Squeeze Out Five Repetitions per Set

Throwing around 5-pound dumbbells won't help you effect a rise in testosterone. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only five times. That weight is about 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum. A Finnish study found that this workload produced the greatest boosts in testosterone.
Do Three Sets of Each Weight-Lifting Movement

Researchers at Penn State determined that this fosters greater increases in testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest a full minute between sets, so you can regain enough strength to continue lifting at least 70 percent of your one-rep maximum during the second and third sets.
Rest Harder Than You Work Out

If you overtrain -- meaning you don't allow your body to recuperate adequately between training sessions -- your circulating testosterone levels can plunge by as much as 40 percent, according to a study at the University of North Carolina. The symptoms of overtraining are hard to miss: irritability, insomnia, muscle shrinkage, joining the Reform Party. To avoid overtraining, make sure you sleep a full eight hours at night, and never stress the same muscles with weight-lifting movements two days in a row.


All in All there some things combined with eating a fat juicy steak that will help you get right!

Cheers