What to eat on Competition day.
Next time you are at a BJJ competition take
a look around.
You will see people eating all sorts of
crazy and wonderful foods that they think will help give them the edge on the
mat. People are looking to get the smallest of advantages on their opponents
and walk away with some precious metal around their neck.
But are they wasting their time or even
worse, hindering their performance?
The object of this blog post is to try to
give you a bit of a better idea on what to eat come competition day.
Before I start going into details of food
types etc I am going to have say the classic line of “Speak to your coach and
Doctor before you undertake any major changes in diet”. Your coach will know
your past history with making weight and your performance, and therefore will
know you a lot better than me! Please use this as a rough guide and speak to
your coach first.
Making weight for a competition is a highly
individual topic well beyond the scope of this blog post. If you are having
trouble making weight or are thinking about moving a weight class then speak to
your coach or a professional.
OK, so lets talk competition day!
I’m going to assume that most of the people
that are reading this post have cut a little weight but nothing to drastic (no
silly water cuts etc), you probably wake up on comp day, check your weight then
either panic like mad and go running or find you are right on the line and are
ready to fight.
This will be about 90% of people.
Most people walk around a few kilos over
their weight category and cut a little weight before the competition. They wake
up right on the limit that they can be, then head to weigh in. This all goes
fine but it is what happens after the weigh in that makes most people feel
crap. They eat the wrong foods and either under hydrate or over hydrate to
quickly.
So let’s take a look at an idea situation.
Wake up.
Check weight and make sure you are either
right on the line or have a little wiggle room. Having a few KG to spare is
best for most people as more and more competitions are following the IBJJF lead
and having competitors weigh in really close to fight time (let’s assume for
this article it’s 45 mins before the first fight).
So if you do indeed have a few KG to spare
I recommend having a breakfast of some low GI carbs and a little fat. If you
handle gluten well, then oats are a good bet with a spoon full of natural
peanut butter.
If you are right on the line then just have
a few sips of water and head to the event.
After
weigh in.
Now you have 30-45 mins to hydrate and fuel
up for the first fight. This is why doing massive water cuts and starving
yourself is a bad idea. You’re not going to be able to fuel yourself and
hydrate for optimum performance. You also run a high risk of cramp when you are
in the fight.
After you have weighed in you want to do
the following things,
·
Hydrate.
·
Top off glycogen stores by
having some fast acting, easily digestible carbohydrates (being bloated and
stuffed when about to fight is a terrible idea).
·
Start warming up.
Now because this is happening in a short
time window I recommend having a liquid carb drink that has a low osmolity
(clears the stomach quickly and digests easily). Carb sources such as waxy
maize, vitargo and highly branched cyclic dextrin are great here. You want to have
between 60-100g of carbs depending on your size in about 1500ml of water.
This will allow you to sip this while
warming up and be ready to fight in 45 mins. I personally like to have 50g in
600ml water as soon as I have weighed in and another 50g while I am warming up
in 1000ml of water (remember I have a few KG to spare and I am not very
dehydrated).
Some people like to eat after weighing in.
This is fine but you should choose a carb source that is easily digestible and
doesn’t give you any issues. This is completely personal and you should know
what works best for you due to what you normally eat. White rice or bananas is
a safe bet for most people.
What you DON’T want to do is to be eating
this like pasta, sandwiches and cheap protein bars. These are often high in
sugars and gluten which can effect your already nervous digestive system.
Between
Fights
Now at this point you’re not going to have
much time between each match.
You want to keep your energy topped up and
available for the next fight but not feel full and sluggish.
Most of my clients sip on a carb drink of
about 50g of carbs between fights in 2 litres of water. For most people it’s a
bad idea for them to try and eat anything as it just makes them feel heavy and
bloated.
Obviously if you are fighting in the
absolute division or are doing NoGi on the same day then you will want to have
something between the two categories. Since there is often a few hours between
them this is a good opportunity to have some solid food.
Again you want to stick with easily
digestible foods and preferably foods that you are used to. Chicken and white
rice with a little bit of olive oil is a very good option for most. This will
give you energy but won’t hamper digestion.
Make sure that you are sipping water all
the way through the day. Most people pee a lot more on competition days due to
nerves and the fight or flight response we all get to people wanting to choke
us and pull our limbs off. Ideally you want your wee to be clear every time you
go to the toilet.
Having a well though out and organised plan
for competition day is a must for every athlete intent on taking home a medal.
It gives you one less thing to worry about so that you know that you are
fuelled up and ready to fight.
Plan your nutrition just as serious as your
training and I guarantee that you will see a difference.
Stay Healthy,
Mike
