What to Eat on Competition Day

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

What to eat before Training

What to eat for training.

This is always going to be one of the most asked questions on any forum, Facebook page or in the gym.

What should I eat before training?

To answer this question you need to look at a few others like,

·      What are my exact goals?

·      Have I got a competition coming up?

·      What does my recovery look like?

·      Am I cutting weight?

·      Did I train already today?

·      Did I train yesterday?

·      Will I train again or tomorrow?

To be honest the list could go on quite a bit!

While most people are very serious about their training, they aren’t trying to win Gold medals 100% of the time. For the purpose of this post I’m going to assume that you are the same as 90% of people and you,

·      Work 9-5

·      Train in the evenings

·      Aren’t in competition training

·      Just want to have productive sessions and recover well.

I am not going to look at a full days nutrition as that is a very long post in itself! Here I am going to look at specifically what to eat pre, during and post training to make sure that you get the most out of your training and recover optimally.

The following recommendations are based on a person that is eating a well thought out nutrition plan and isn’t doing anything like Intermittent Fasting, Carb Backloading, IIFYM or any other fashional nutritional method.

It is also based on a normal class (lasting about 1.5-2 hours with a warm up, drilling and sparring), that starts at about 7pm. Feel free to adjust the timings to make them for your own schedule.

At this point I have to (as always) state that nutrition is a very individual topic and one that requires constant adjustments to get the optimal results. Please speak to your Doctor and Coach before you make any major changes to your dietary habits.

Ok, so for most people the plan will look like this,

530pm (or when you finish work).

Drink 500ml of water.

6pm

Have 25g 100% oats with 1 scoop whey protein and 1 tablespoon 100% natural Peanut butter (chocolate whey tastes best with this).

During Training

Depending on the intensity of a session I like clients to sip on a fast acting protein such as Biotests MAG 10 or Myproteins Peptopro (although any hydrolysed why is fine) in 1.5 – 2 litres of water.

60 mins after training

Have a solid meal of lean, easily digested protein and simple carbs. White fish or chicken with some white rice is perfect.

Before bed

Have another meal of protein and fats (no carbs).

The purpose of this is to first hydrate your body (you’re probably not drinking enough water), then to get some slow release carbs into your system that will help fuel your workouts and start the process of your body shuttling nutrients to your muscles.

We then want to give your body an easily digestible protein source that is absorbed extremely quickly without causing any bloating or discomfort (ever tried rolling after a big meal?).

Finally we give your body more nutrients to help the recovery process by refuelling energy (glycogen) stores and promoting optimal hormone response for great sleep and further recovery.

The science of getting pre, intra and post workout nutrition is a complex subject that many are over looking in BJJ. I’m not kidding when I say that it can make a MASSIVE difference to your performance, especially your recovery. Take the time to work out the best fuel for your training and I guarantee that you will see a difference.

For more information on workout nutrition, take a look HERE,

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Reducing Soreness Part 2

Reducing Soreness – Supplements.

Hey Guys,

This is the second instalment of the Reducing Soreness series for BJJ.

Last month we had a look at recovery techniques and how to add them into your schedule to get the most out of your recovery.

This month we will look at specific supplements and when to use then to reduce soreness and help you perform better on the mats!

Before I go any further, this is the part of the article where I tell you that good nutrition beats everything. If your nutrition sucks then your recovery and training will suck. Nothing that I mention in this article will make up for poor nutrition. Having a well thought out nutrition plan will sort 90% of recovery issues. If you’re not sure on how to set up a good nutrition plan then please speak to your coach or a professional.

Also a supplement is just that, a supplement. They are there to supplement your diet with minor things that you may be missing to help give you the edge. Supplements can make a big difference to your training as long as you have your other recovery bases covered (diet, rest, recover etc). Also if you are on a budget then I should grab the following supplements first then work from there. The following will do more good when used regularly than most others.

·      A good quality protein powder.

·      Fish oil (at least 1000mg of fish oil per capsule high in EPA and DHA)

·      A multi vitamin.

Ok, with that in mind, let’s look at how we can maximize recovery and reduce soreness.

When it comes to supplements for recovery I have found that the best ones fall into two categories of during training and in normal diet. I have talked in previous articles about my opinion on intra workout nutrition and how it really is the next step in combat nutrition, so I won’t go into that here. Although I do recommend that you take a good look at it!

Ok so here is the first set of supplements to be used during training.

1.     The first supplement is a good fast acting, easily digestible carb powder to be taken just before and during training. This will give you the energy to get the most out of your training and the right nutrients to start the healing process almost immediately! How this works is that specific types of carbs (highly branch cyclic dextrin, isomulatose, vitargo etc) are digested and by the body pretty much as soon as they hit the stomach and get right into your blood stream available for your muscles to use. The two products that I use for most of my athletes is Biotests Plazma and Myproteins Pre:Pare.

2.     The second type of supplement that I highly recommend is a very fast acting protein to be taken during and after training. This is for the same reason as the previous supplement. As soon as you take it you are proving the body with what it needs to recover instantly. In my opinion the best types of protein for this are Peptopro, hydrolysed casein and whey isolate. As for brands I recommend Biotest MAG-10 and MyProtein Peptopro.

The other type of supplements that help dramatically reduce soreness can be taken anytime of the day but generally work best when taken with meals. For dosage I recommend following directions on the packet.

1.     Fish oil. Do I really need to cover this? If you don’t know all the massive benefits of fish oil then please Google it right now! No seriously, RIGHT NOW! I have never seen anything improve recovery in grapplers than the proper use of fish oil. Look for high values of EPA and DHA when buying.

2.     Curcumin. This is a great, little known supplement that helps reduce inflammation in joints which is great for grapplers! This will help your grip, flexibility, power and a whole host of other factors! Take a look in health shops or Myprotein MP MAX Joint Plus.

3.     This leads nicely into glucosamine. This to reduces inflammation in joints and can lead to reducing soreness in muscles. This can be found fairly cheaply in most health and supplement stores.

As you can see most of these supplements are not wonder tablets that will turn you into the next IBJJF world champion over night. They will however help you to recover from hard training and enable you get back on the mats as often as possible which can only lead to improvements in your game!

Get your diet and recovery in order and you will notice a massive difference in your performance and your recovery!

Stay healthy,

Mike