Competition Health Tips

Our school went to competition this past weekend. There were several injuries incurred by some of our students ... mostly soreness, bruises, and one dislocated shoulder.... this competion lasted all day!

 

How do you plan to be a peak performance throughout the day?

 

1. You can eat small snacks throughout the day to help keep your energy up. Secondly, any drink (or food) which contains caffeine, such as soda, coffee, tea and chocolate, draws water out of the muscles and dumps it into your stomach.... plus you'll be visiting the bathroom way too much !(this is due to the caffeine)

 

2. The most important thing to have is lot of plain water, even if you do not feel thirsty. By the time you feel thirsty, your body is already dehydrated. cold water is usually easier to drink and digest than tap water. Fill your water bottles up, and keep drinking a lot of cold, plain water all day. The better your body is hydrated, the better you and your muscles feel and the less likely you are to injure your muscles. Remember, drink so much water that your urine is clear.

 

3.Injuries, including bruises, should be iced immediately after a match for 20 minutes (NEVER ANY MORE THAN 20 MINUTES!), The ice won't make you stiff. What makes you stiff is the swelling which occurs from a bruise or injury. You should also tape or wrap your injuries after icing, to keep swelling down and to support your injury. Do not use any heat rub or spray on a new injury - it will only make it swell more! Heat rubs and sprays are only to be used for stiff muscles, NOT NEW INJURIES. All injuries should be iced for 20 minutes, 3 or 4 times per day, for at least 72 hours following an injury. Make sure to only ice an injury once every 60 minutes, in order to give the muscle a chance to return to normal room temperature. Never ice an injury over 30 minutes, because the ice will then have the opposite effect and cause blood to rush into the area to warm it.

 

4. You may find that your legs are tired or noodle-like after a match. If your legs feel this way, and you have more fights to go, simply put your legs up a wall and "hang them". This help keep the blood from flooding them, preventing that heavy feeling. While you are laying there with your legs up on the wall, drink plenty of water and sports drinks.

 

 

 

5. If you get a headache from dehydration (you didn't drink your water shame shame!), take acetaminophen (Tylenol) instead of an anti-inflammatory (such as Advil, Nuprin, Aspirin or Aleve). If you get a headache from a kick to the head ONLY TAKE ACETAMINOPHEN (Tylenol). DO NOT EVER TAKE AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY (Advil, Nuprin, Aspirin or Aleve), as these products can increase the effects and the possibility of internal bleeding in the skull. If pain continues for more than 24 hours, you need to be seen by a doctor!.Anti-inflammatory medications are to be used for injuries in which there is possible pain and swelling, except of the head.

 

6. Spend at least 10-15 minutes stretching out all your muscles ... do not neglect anything! Stretching should be done prior to each match and following the completion of each match. If you do this, your muscles are less likely to become sore or injured throughout the day.

 

Remember to that you need to be mentally prepared for the day also!

 

_________________

 

KarateForums Sensei

 

1st dan BlackBelt TKD(ITF)

 

CardioKickboxing/Fitness Inst.

 

[ This Message was edited by: KickChick on 2002-03-27 12:39 ]

before i got a fight i drink about 30 glasses of water a day............and if you can afford it get a massage once a week to loosen up your back and so on...

30 glasses of water? That's enough to cause dehydration.

 

Your body will get rid of the excess water intake through your urine.

I'm sure he spreads it out throught the course of the day Che Guevara ... thus replenishing his hydration once "lost".

 

 

How about juices such as orange or apple juice..are they any good..or do u just have to drink cold water.Or what about milk..coz i like milk,and also what kinda snacks are u talking about?..coz i usually have a chocolate bar.1 chocolate bar can give you enough energy for the whole day,and i also heard that you should eat lots of bananas..lolz..i learn alot from my chemistry teacher. THX MR.WADE!!

Chocolate contains caffiene. The juices you described are nearly pure sugar and should be sipped, rather than chugged. Eating simple sugars can cause wide swings in the blood sugar level as the body releases insulin to promote cell uptake and metabolism. These swings may:

 

1.promote the development of body fat stores. 2.stimulate appetite and increase food cravings.

 

3.cause a dip in blood sugar and a psychological and physiological "crash" during your performance.

Bannana's are great to eat van_damme, they've got lots of carbohydrate in them for energy Sempai always tells us to scoff them before gradings etc.

 

KickChick, you obviously know a lot on this topic. What are the best things to eat in the run up to a tournament, etc? I have one a week tomorrow and I don't feel anywhere near in shape enough, mostly due to what I eat I think. I drink plenty of water at least!

Yes Bananas are great, I eat a bowl of oatmeal with grape nuts as well for the protein I usually try and go to all the FAME, NASKA and BBB sanctioned events here in Florida as well as the Diamonds in Minnesota and the Battle of Atlanta, for me, I won't practice my kata or spar for one day before the event, it seems to reinforce my performance and let the techniques set in, kinda of like studying right before a test, for me it works out OK...keep it up and thanks for sharing KickChick

 

_________________

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/jakmak521

 

[ This Message was edited by: jakmak52 on 2002-05-10 20:35 ]

I've noticed alot of competitions coming up in the next couple of months.

 

Anyone else here that can offer some more tips that have helped them out in the past?? http://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/geno/ying.gif