5 Foods for BJJ Health

5 Foods for BJJ Health.

5 foods for health in BJJ, sounds boring right?

Who cares about talking in certain foods to make you healthier? People want foods that are going to make them super massive killing machines with a Hulk like grip and the athletsism of Spiderman (I’m a comic book geek ok)!

Well, you should really.

 Especially if you’re over that magical 30 year mark. Even if you’re not, making sure that you stay healthy and injury free is the key to having a long and fruitful career on the mat. Every old and battered brother of the mat will tell you “I wished I spent more time on staying healthy when I was your age”. Think of it like a pension for your body, the more work you put in now, the better you’re going to be when you’re a older black belt choking out cheeky whippersnappers just like you.

So what kind of things can you do to make sure that you stay in good health? Well doing all that stuff that you read about is a good idea (things like foam rolling, stretching, getting enough quality sleep etc). However the one thing that will help more than anything is a good nutrition plan. Think about it, you wouldn’t try to run a Ferrari on vegetable oil instead of high grade petrol would you?

Having a smart, well thought out nutrition plan that has foods in it to help not only your goals, but also your health is a must (see your coach or a professional for help). On top of this, you can add in certain supplements that will help plug any nutritional holes or can be taken for your convenience.

Here are my top 5 health supplements that will help your BJJ.

Fish Oil.

Everyone has heard of fish oil (you have right?), but few are taking it. This still baffles me! The evidence of the health benefits of fish oil is over whelming.

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation throughout the body and have other health benefits. These include but are not limited to,

·      Reducing inflammation in the body.

·      Reducing the chances of Cancer

·      Reducing the chances of Cardiovascular disease

·      Reducing the chances of Hypertension

·      Reducing the chances of Mental health issues

·      Reducing the chances of Alzheimer's disease

·      Reducing the chances of Lupus

·      Reducing the chances of Parkinson's disease

·      Reducing the chances of Depression

·      Reducing the chances of Psoriasis

·      Aids in health during Pregnancy

The main one that grapplers are interested in is its ability to reduce inflammation in joints. Think of all the times that your hands and fingers ache after a session of stripping grips, or your joints ache from a sparring session.

With all of this, why aren’t you adding this to your diet? I recommend most start with 6g per day then adjust from there (a bit more if you weigh more than 75kg or train very hard and often).

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a vitamin that mammals can source from sunlight. However since most of the people reading this reside in the UK there is a massive chance that you are deficient in it. Well, ‘So what?’ I hear you cry! Well take a look at all of the goodies that getting an adequate amount will get you,

·      Improves Bone health

·      Helps prevent certain types of Cancer

·      Phelps fight Cardiovascular disease

·      Improves the Immune system

·      Helps prevent Multiple sclerosis

·      Aids health during Pregnancy

There been evidence to suggest that Vitamin D also helps you produce more type II muscle fibres (think being faster and stronger).

Obviously all of this is an interest to grapplers but the 2 things that stick out at me are Bone health and the Immune system. Who wouldn’t want strong bones and never get sick (Jesus, I’m Wolverine!!)?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin which means you need to take it with a food that contain a bit of fat. With your morning eggs is great time to have it.

I will say that you can take to much Vitamin D and more isn’t necessarily better. I would recommend getting your levels tested and then supplementing according to that (your Doctor will advise you). Most people fall between 3,000 – 5,000 IUs per day.

Multi Vitamin.

This one is quite simple really. This will cover any gaps that are in your daily nutrition in case you aren’t getting a variety of foods and nutrients (not an alternative for having a good nutritional plan in place).

Depending on how hard and often that you train, the quality of the multi vitamin and a few other factors, I would recommend taking 1-2 with food per day (if taking 2, split them up into AM/PM).

Glutamine

The trend that you’re probably seeing in this article is joint care and health. Well, that’s because BJJ gives out one hell of a beating when it comes to them!

The more that you care for your joints, the better you’re going to feel, the better you’re going to perform.

The last supplement joint health that I want to talk about is Glutamine.

Glutamine is one of the 20 amino acids encoded by the standard genetic code. It is not recognized as an essential amino acid, but may become conditionally essential in certain situations, including BJJ.

Glutamine can help the healing of joints and the connective tissues that link all your muscles, bones and tendons together. Keeping these healthy will help you recover quicker, leading to being able to train harder, more often.

Probiotics

I’ve talked about probiotics in past articles a bit. They help in the digestion of your food (and therefore nutrients) by making sure that the healthy bacteria in your gut is kept to an acceptable level.

Improving digestion and digestive health is something that everyone should take a good look at. What’s the point of taking the time to have a well thought out nutrition plan, when you cant even absorb the nutrients that you take in?

Signs that you have digestive issues,

·      Bloating

·      Irregular bowel movements

·      Infrequent bowel movements

·      Lots of bowel movements

·      Loose bowel movements

·      High amount of gas.

If you have any of these, I recommend you star taking a probiotic in the morning with your first meal. I like either the pill form or Yakult.

So there you have it, my top 5 supplements that can help improve your health in BJJ. For more ideas and tips on how to improve your health and digestion, check out the next issue of Jiu jitsu Style!

 Got some more that may benefit people? Let us know about it!

Stay healthy,

Mike

Health and MMA. Are you focused on it?

Hey Guys,

Today I want to share with you an old article I wrote onOff Season Planning for Fighters.

Enjoy

Health.

We all have it.

However many of us have bad health despite training hard and eating ‘clean’.

How is that possible? We suspect that if we are exercising and eating a ‘clean’ diet then we must, by default, be healthy. It’s what all the magazines, papers and our own Doctors tell us, how can they be wrong?

The simple fact is, is that health is not a priority for fighters. They want to be at a certain weight, improve their strength, speed, power and technique, but health? That’s way, WAY down the list. Chances are if you are a fighter and you are reading this you haven’t gave a second thought to your long term health.

This absolutely needs to change. Fighters cannot keep living on diets of chicken, rice and broccoli and expecting to be living to a ripe old age and playing with their grandkids. The sport of MMA is an abusive one on the body. It is a high impact sport that wears down tendons, effects your immune system, damages muscles and in some extreme cases can effect vital organs (ever wonder what bad weight cuts do to a liver and kidneys? Go have a look). I’m going to be real with you. There are aspects of this sport that will kill you if you do not do them properly. There are factors that if not addressed, will give you serve long term negative effects. Not only on your performance, but the ability to be a husband, father and friend.

By now it should be blatantly obvious that your health needs to be your number one priority.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Thankfully the MMA industry is slowly turning a corner and putting fighters health first. With things like Safe MMA testing fighters and more and more coaches preaching about over all health, things can only get better for fighters.

So what should you do to ensure you are maximising your health? What techniques can you employ easily that will have a dramatic effect on not only your health, but also your performance on the cage and on the mat?

Well luckily for you, Mike is here to give you the top things you can start doing right now that will make a big difference!

Speak to someone who knows about health and nutrition.

This can be anyone from a professional to a coach. As long as they have a back ground in producing great results with a variety of different people, go talk to them. Tell them what you are currently doing, any issues you currently have (lack of sleep, head aches, not being able to go to the toilet, lack of sex drive etc.), and ask how they can help. Ask them what tips they can give and what you should be adding into your over all plan. If you have a physical problem, speak to a Doctor. The quicker you can get things looked at, the quicker you can get it fixed. There is a massive trend in combat sports to let little niggles fester and find ways to train around injuries. While this keeps you training in the short term, it’s really going to mess you up in the long term. Especially if you get a couple of these ‘niggles’. Things mount up. Get things checked and more importantly, do what the Doc tells you to do to fix it!

Eat your damn Veggies

I know I go on about this a lot (and will continue to), but it is really, really important. Find a range of veggies that you like and work them into your current meals. Use a slow cooker and different recipes to give them flavour, add herbs and spices to liven them up. Hell, you can even blend them together to make a sauce (tomato based is the most versatile). Just eat the damn things. I know that a lot of you have horrible flash back of eating badly cooked sprouts as a kid, but trust me, well cooked veggies are the bomb. Find a way to add them to your diet and your health will improve ten fold.

Water. Drink more of it.

I will put money on the fact that most of you are not drinking enough water. 2 litres a day? Not even close. Think 3-4 on a training day will more the bigger you are. Water plays a role in pretty much every function the body performs and when it is deprived of water even slightly it struggles. Do yourself a massive favour and drink more. Your sleep, joints, fat loss and recovery will all improve!

Improve your digestion

A healthy varied diet with lots of veggies and a bit of fruit will help your digestion no end. However if you want to improve it a bit then you can take the following actions,

• ·      Stop eating foods that give you an upset stomach. I know that seems simple but the amount of people eating foods that don’t agree with them is staggering. For most this is junk food…
• ·      Drink more water. See above.
• ·      Take a probiotic everyday. I like clients to use either Yakult or 0% Fat Actimel.
• ·      Eat fermented foods like sauerkraut as they are teeming with good bacteria that can help your digestion.
• ·      Never stuff yourself. Only ever eat to the point of being satisfied.

That’s it for now. While these tips seem very basic, they are the ones that work 100% of the time as long as you are consistent. Remember, consistency beats everything!

Take care of your health and your body will provide you with the results you need. Not just for a fight camp, but for life!

Stay healthy,

Mike

PS for more details on Nutrition Plans, articles, interviews and product reviews please CLICK HERE

Water is important shit!

Water is one of the most important things that you can get right in your diet and nutrition.

One of the biggest trends I see amongst people that come to me is that they do not drink enough water.

Water is responsible for nearly all of the processes in the human body. When you are dehydrated, your body struggles to recover, burn fat, think and act optimally. Most people guess their water intake. they think that they are getting enough and they don't focus on it. This is a massive mistake.

One of the first things that I do with all clients is to increase their water intake. Most experts say that we should be drinking at least 2 litres of water a day. I find that the magic happen between 3-4 litres every day. Now the most important thing with this is to hit this number every single day. Fill up 2, 2 litre bottles at the start of every day and make sure they are gone by the end of every day and I guarantee that you will notice a big difference in your results.

Here are a few tips to help you get more water in,

• Use sugar free dilute. It doesn't add many calories and if it helps compliance then it is worth doing.
• Use empty 4 pint milk cartons. they hold exactly 2 litres, are free and even have a handle.
• Drink 2 litres during your workout.
• As soon as you wake up have 500ml of room temperature water. it will wake you up, help digestion and give you more energy.
• Drink 500ml at every meal.
• Add more water to your protein shakes (fill the shaker).
• Be a grown up and take care of your health.

Stay healthy,

Mike

Product Review - Scramble RAD Products

Hey Guys,

Recently I got the please of trying out the new RAD productsstocked by Scramble. 

The two products that I tried were the RAD Rod (£26.99)and the RAD Helix (£33.99). The RAD Road is designed to help flush lactic acid and other nasty’s out of the muscle where as the RAD Helix is a Foam Roller with more design and purpose.

Firstly lets talk about the RAD Rod.

 I seriously don’t know how I got by without this thing in my life. While it is fantastic for sore muscles, where it comes into its own is tendons and connective tissue. Doing BJJ is pretty hard on the body and most people will find out that it’s their tendons that end up sore before the muscles. This is an amazing tool to help relive that and is brilliant for warming up and cooling down around sessions!

The RAD Helix is a foam roller but with more of a purpose.

 It’s smaller and innovative design means that it is brilliant at getting all those small and tiny knots out of your muscles that other rollers seem to struggle with. The design of the roller makes it perfect for stubborn trap and back muscles while fitting easily into a backpack or kit bag.

Like the RAD Rod, the first thing you notice is the build quality on these items. These aren’t something that have been knocked up in two minutes in a sweat shop. There has been real thought and care put into the design and the build quality.

If you want to take your recovery and health to the next level, these are items that I highly recommend! Both items are available from the Scramble website HERE

Stay healthy,

Mike

Great article on the risk of Steroids

Hey Guys,

Today I thought that I would share this article with you on the topic of steroids.

I know that the field of steroids isn't exactly my field but I found this very interesting. Anything to do with health and longevity always grabs my attention as I believe it should always be your number one priority in any field.

You can find the article HERE

Stay healthy,

Mike