Martial arts and nutrition: does a fighter need a diet?
As much as in the fitness world nobody questions the role of proper nutrition in sculpturing your body, in the area of martial arts that subject is often neglected. A common belief is that in disciplines such as boxing, wrestling or Brazilian ju-jitsu, a success results from proper and well-inducted training, and the matter of diet is restricted only to the period of reaching a certain weight point, when – realistically – it is mostly a drastic loss of water-weight rather than a rational loss of fat tissue. Is that approach correct though? Doesn’t a fighter need a proper diet?
Martial arts and the necessity for continuous development
You do not have to be particularly interested in the physiology of exercise to notice, when watching a random fight on TV, that the fighters need to be prepared in a versatile way. Not only as far as oxygen capacity is concerned, but also strength, power, and endurance. The training therefore must be diverse, which takes a heavy toll on their bodies, and that is the reason why – for them to be effective – it is necessary to provide specific conditions for the body to be able to regenerate from microdamages of muscle tissue, refuel the energy, balance the body fluids and electrolytes, protect the joints and tendons and recuperate from minor (and serious) injuries.
Nutrition vs. recovery
Without proper recovery, there is no way one can build physical condition. The time and efforts that body needs to regenerate depends not only on the time spent sleeping or resting, but also on nutrition. There is no doubt that through an accurate choice of diet, both quantitative and qualitative, one can drastically influence the process of post-workout recuperation. Particularly important here is to provide light carbs (such as rice, potatoes, fruits, yams), high-quality protein (meat, fish, eggs, dairy), and a certain dose of potassium and sodium directly after workout. Any other meals eaten during the day also have an impact on the process of recovery, which is why it is important to pay attention to diet throughout the day, and not only after the physical exercise.
Nutrition vs. exercise capacity
Qualitative and quantitative composition of meals, except from supporting a long-term ability for regeneration, can also bring radical - desired or not – results. The meal eaten directly before the workout is crucial here. It is important to supplement your body with a dose of energetic substrates which can be spent (together with both glycogen and reserves of fat tissue) during the workout, so a well-balanced meal is worth eating approx. 1-3 hours before hitting the gym. Remember though, that if that meal is too hefty and heavy on you digestive system, it will very likely become an energetic burden and a discomfort, causing a loss in concentration. The less time separates your pre-workout meal and the workout itself, the lighter and smaller it should be.
Nutrition vs. body’s weight and composition
With an exception for disciplines such as sumo fighting, it can be stated without a doubt that fat tissue is, when it comes to fighters, an undesired load, which doesn’t carry any practical features. That is why keeping the right weight - as well as the composition of that weight – is directly linked to achieved results, and the fighters themselves should be careful of keeping the above intact. There is no doubt that one’s nutrition is one of the key factors affecting the body weight and the amount of fat tissue. Both quantitative and qualitative choice of meals is crucial here, which is why fighters should pay attention not only to how much they eat, but also – on the kind of meals they consume. During all the stages of a long-term training session, and especially during the period of building weight.
Nutrition vs. mental condition
The matter of the influence that diet has on your mind is very rarely discussed, which is unfortunate, since that dependence can be essential - both for direct and long-term effects. As far as direct influence is concerned, you can perform a little experiment on yourself, rating your motivation on a scale of 1 to 10 after a eating portion of salmon with vegetables, and – for comparison - a pack of pancakes with sweet jelly. Hats off to those who, after eating the latter, will be in a mood for anything different than a sweet nap. What we eat has an influence on the levels on neurotransmitters in our brains, either stimulating us to act or stealing our motivation. Even more important here is the long-term effect. It turns out that the lack of certain elements, such as vitamin D, magnesium, omega 3 acids makes it difficult for us to take on new challenges, causes a decrease in physical condition and increases the easiness of falling into doubt. All of the above can influence your attitude towards sport.
Summary
About fighters who don’t pay attention to what lands on their plates, one can say that they don’t live up to their potential – unless they have an impeccable intuition which allows them to perfectly nurture their bodies without putting a second thought to it, which, unfortunately, happens extremely rarely. Without a doubt, implementing the right guidelines to one’s diet will positively influence the development of physical and mental condition of fighters, which, very quickly, should translate into achievements.
