For the optimum in athletic performance, you don’t need to have bulging muscles that rival the ones Arnold Schwarzenegger used to sport when he was in his prime. What you do need to have, though, is a clue as to what you put in that bod of yours. While it might seems clique in the worst sense of the word, what you eat really can make a huge difference in how you feel, and ultimately, how you perform at your favorite sport. Of course, this doesn’t apply if you are exclusively an armchair coach.

When it comes to building muscles, though, you will want to make sure you find a way to increase your testosterone levels. It’s this powerful hormone that is behind the more muscular build that men tend to get when compared to the body of a woman. Study after study has shown that eating a diet with a strong meat component helps increase the levels of testosterone. While improving testosterone production is not normally on someone’s radar when they start training it should be.

Increased levels of testosterone

It make you feel better and stronger, giving you the will power to get to your goals. There are lots of methods to boost your test levels as well. Often times just being healthier will improve your testosterone production for instance just losing weight can give you a 20% increase in available testosterone.

Or decreasing cortisol levels by lowering your stress can give you up to an extra 15% of added testosterone. That is enough added test to take you from 600 ng/dl to 800 ng/dl, If you added increased protein to that then you’d probably be up around 900 ng/dl which is about what the average male has in college.

Finally to get the last added boost of testosterone you should take TestRush or another natural testosterone booster. They contain powerful adaptogenic properties that help you to decrease your cortisol and give you improved mental focus.

Building muscle, and the associated increase in strength, are the crux of improving your performance. Keeping sports nutrition foremost in your mind means being aware of every morsel that crosses your lips. The best way to do this is to eat a variety of foods, focusing on carbs, protein and fats. Washing this diet down with plenty of water helps to keep you well hydrated since you are not likely to reach your best performance levels if your body is not.

It’s a good thing most men who are athletes are into the whole meat and potatoes part of the typical American diet. Because sports nutrition has a heavy focus on the carbs and protein aspect of foods, along with a healthy serving of fat thrown in as a backup fuel source, this diet often works well. Your body uses the carbs and fat to provide it with the energy it needs to perform.

Performance and strength

Since the goal is to improve your athletic performance, you are going to find it necessary to have the muscle power to actually perform. Eating meat based dishes will help you meet this requirement for your body. Maintaining that performance, though, will require extended stores of energy.

The carbs, and to a lesser degree, the fats of your diet will provide this energy boost. You want to be able to reach your performance goals first, then you want to be able to maintain them for as long as required. The key to sports nutrition is to make sure you are eating the foods that provide you with the resources to meet those goals. Not having the adequate nutrients can make it so you are not able to push through that envelope and actually grasp the performance level you want to achieve.

Study after study has shown that there is a correlation between the consumption of adequate amounts of protein aids in the amount of testosterone in the body. Diets that lack protein, such as a vegetarian diet, tend to leave men with testosterone levels that are abysmal when compared to their meat eating comrades. Unfortunately, for those busy men who want to reduce their consumption of meat and rely on other protein sources, soy substitutes are not a good choice either. For those guys, a natural testimonies supplement could be the ideal way for them to get the jump they need so they can meet their goals.