Beef Vs Chicken – Which Protein is Best to Build Muscle?

The chicken breast as we all know is a tried and true muscle builder used by many professional fitness, bodybuilder, and figure competitors across the world. However, beef (specifically grass fed beef) has many muscle building benefits of its own, as many winning pro bodybuilders of the past contest to. In fact, there are many reasons why beef may even be a superior muscle building protein compared to chicken!  Let’s take a look…       

While most bodybuilders and a lot of general fitness buffs seem to think that most of their meals need to revolve around boring chicken breasts or canned tuna, they may be missing an important source of vital nutrition for building a leaner, healthier, and stronger body through good quality beef.  One of the benefits of chicken breasts is that they are a high quality lean protein source that is very versatile for meal ideas.

However, beef (good quality grass fed organic beef) provides potentially even more diverse nutrition benefits compared to chicken.  As you’ll see in a minute, beef from free range cattle eating grass can even provide a specific type of fat that actually helps you build muscle and lose body fat.

Beef contains high levels of creatine, minerals, and b vitamins which help in red blood cell production and protein metabolism — all of which will help build lean muscle tissue. Beef can also help you to break the routine of a bland chicken or fish diet.  Its just a matter of choosing the right cuts for you. 

The “round” cuts tend to be the leanest cuts of beef available. However, it’s important to note that the fat content is not all that important once you are using GF beef instead of grain fed beef (most grocery stores carry grain fed beef).  This is because the fats of grass fed meats are healthier for you than grain fed meats.

For example, the omega 3 fatty acid content of grass fed beef is many times higher than that of grain fed beef.  And we all know that the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 in your diet is very important.  Beef helps you to improve that balance of fats in your diet.  In addition, a healthy fat called conjugated linoleic acid found in grass fed beef can help to build muscle mass and lose body fat (and there is even evidence of possible cancer risk reduction benefits of CLA).

So it’s important to realize that the healthy fat found in grass fed beef can actually stimulate the release of stored fat in the body and increase strength levels.  This is all on top of the fact that grass fed beef is one of the highest quality sources of protein that you can possibly eat with a very high bioavailability in the body.

These are just some of the benefits that draws many people to this awesome muscle food. So don’t be afraid to put some variety into your bodybuilding diet and start including grass fed beef as one of your best protein sources and healthiest meats available.