Guide For Fighters Part I.

PREPARING FOR THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN – BASICS

The followers and tillers of martial arts are most associated with their hard-core looks, while their dedicated and disciplined efforts are often overlooked. The respect they bear towards painful and exhausting training regimes is undeniable and envied by many. Martial arts are characterized by intense workouts which require combined abilities: strength, endurance, explosivity, swiftness, regeneration and endless performance.

When it comes to performing on such a wide and stressful scale, only a few sports are known to be as demanding as martial arts. For fighters however it’s not only about standing their own during training, constant progress bears an equal importance in their lives on the long run. Such versatile training pose a huge strain on the body to which it’s extremely hard to adapt internally. Because of this lengthy adaptation period, metabolic speeds and increased nutrient needs are maintained for longer.

This is why everyone needs a professionally and specifically composed nutritional plan with various factors in mind. The regular three meals a day diet is simply not sufficient for martial arts, even if it’s composed of healthy and mixed foods. The plan here is not to refill the exact amount of lost nutrients in our body, but to stack up a surplus, which is going to fuel those demanding trainings ahead.

Have more smaller meals every day. For majority of sportsmen, it is difficult to keep up with the daily required nutritional needs, let it be protein, carbohydrates or fat. At first, make sure that all your meals contain animal sourced proteins (meat, fish, eggs or cottage cheese) and carbohydrates with low glycaemic indexed carbs to pre workout periods. A low glycaemic index often relates to higher fiber and mineral content as well. It’s really important to choose high quality food! You can never know if you’ve consumed all necessary nutrients, especially if you’re an occasional junk food consumer. If you can’t measure the amount of nutrients that you’re taking, at least make sure you stay away from bad quality and budget foods, as they’re rather “free calories” and sugars without any valuable content.

Get rid of fizzy-drinks, snacks, muesli and croissants, and say goodbye to fast food restaurants, canned meats and cold cuts! When considering carbohydrates, don’t go further than rice, natural oatmeal and seeded rye bread. If you’re after some nutrient-rich meat, stay away from the usual marinated and additive-loaded cold cuts and go straight for quality grilled chickens, roasted – or other raw meats. Another sensitive spot to eating healthy is sweets. Choose from a wide variety of fruits and cool yourself off with a home-made ice-cold green tea flavored with honey and lemon. It’s far more beneficial than a brown fizzy drink full of phosphoric and aromas. Eating healthy is not a goal, only a simple baseline as from here you’ll have to go deeper in altering your entire lifestyle.

Did you get the feel from this article on what level of discipline it takes to be a fighter?

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Coming Up:

  • optimal carbohydrate replenishment
  • maintaining and improving explosivity, strength and endurance
  • fighting exhaustion and acidification
  • fast recovery from injuries
  • composing intensive effective workouts