eating for top performance

[Hwa Rang Warrior]

I was just wandering what kind of diet everyone kept when training extra hard for an event such as a tournament to get their best performance

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

funny you should mention this, i was just at a fight on saturday night supporting a school member. well, it was a four round kickboxing match for a title which our guy held, and because he lost like 10-15 pounds by going low carb high protein, he owned the first round and then ran out of gas. my instructor actually threw the towel in for the fourth round. he would have absolutely romped the guy it he didnt burn out from going on an uncessary diet. he didnt even need to lose weight to qualify or anything. stupid stupid.

but anyway i usually go high protein and a 'medium' amount of carbs i guess you could call it. it gives you all you need(mostly depending upon what it is exactly that you eat). this is usually satisfied by wraps or breaded chicked for me.

[The BB of C]

The way I see it - we can give you advice. But be sure to know that only you know how your body works. After that it can be a matter of trial and error until you find a diet that works for you. Or maybe you don't really need to do anything different at all.

[DWx]

I've not been too strict on my diet (although I'm trying to cut a bit of weight now), just generally tend to eat right. I try to get loads of fruit and veg in. I eat fruit during the day at school if I need to snack and have my lunch all sorted so I'm not tempted if I walk with my mates down to the local shop. Try to get a fair amount of protein and carbs in and drink loads of water. If a tourny is within the next few days I start eating more slow release carbs and ensure that I take enough water in. Personally I try to avoid quick sugar fixes from energy sweets and the like but lately I've been taking Lucozade to training...

Anyway, like BB of C said, you gotta play with your own diet until you work out whats best for you. Wouldn't start messing with it just before a tournament though, as you may mess yourself up. Good luck if you are competing.

[Fast-K]

Careful not to diet. Not only do you end up with no energy, you ALWAYS put the weight back on.

Eat well and hit the weights. Muscle burns the fat so the more you have, the more you burn.

In short, nutrition works, diets don't.

[tsdprime93]

Careful not to diet. Not only do you end up with no energy, you ALWAYS put the weight back on.

Eat well and hit the weights. Muscle burns the fat so the more you have, the more you burn.

In short, nutrition works, diets don't.

Agreed, do not go on high carb diets before a tournament if you are fighting, you will burn out and you will not perform at you peak. Like everyone had been saying, just eat right and eat smart.

Remember when choosing a meal, common sense is the best diet.

[Throwdown0850]

Careful not to diet. Not only do you end up with no energy, you ALWAYS put the weight back on.

Eat well and hit the weights. Muscle burns the fat so the more you have, the more you burn.

In short, nutrition works, diets don't.

Agreed, do not go on high carb diets before a tournament if you are fighting, you will burn out and you will not perform at you peak. Like everyone had been saying, just eat right and eat smart.

Remember when choosing a meal, common sense is the best diet.

I disagree, carbohydrates are the most abundant of the four major classes of biomolecules, which also include proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. They fill numerous roles in living things, such as the storage and transport of energy.. carbs is what will keep you form losing the "gas" so quickly?

[tallgeese]

I agree with throwdown on this one, you need carbs pre-fight. However, like anything else, you need the right carbs. Primarily, I tried to focus on carbs that would be longer burning (complex) rather than short bursts (simple, sugars and such). Lot's of people over do it here. There are very few athlete who truely need to "carbo-load".

Balanced nutrition is the key for maintaining a perfomance diet through a full set of training cycles, however. There are tons of different thoughts on this. Bottom line, find a diet that works for your body and is getting done what you want done. Try to minimize foods that are bad, live off stuff that's good, train regularly.

As to cutting weight, try to make certain that you are weighing in the night before the fight. This will allow you to rehydrate overnight, where you will actually gain benifit. If the weigh-ins are the day of the competition, consider not cutting as much. If you are cutting, consider depeltion training occassionally to teach your body (and maybe more importantly, your mind) to perform on minimal calories (Mark Twight is a proponant of this).

[Tiger1962]

Protein keeps you full longer --- carbs are for quick energy. Chicken, fish, protein shakes, nuts, avocado's (healthy fats). Fruits and veggies. I keep hearing A LOT about how healthy nuts are. I was always under the impression they were just another fattening fast food like potato chips but I was wrong.

Don't overdo it on steaks and eggs - a lot of people think that is the best thing to eat when training for an intense event but an Atkins-ish type of menu plan is loaded with cholesterol & bad for your heart.

Edited September 2, 2008 by Tiger1962

[crazyferret]

I was just wandering what kind of diet everyone kept when training extra hard for an event such as a tournament to get their best performance

Lots of protein.

Lots of fruit and vegetables.

Lots of coconut milk (if maintaining or gaining weight)

Lots of healthy oils, olive, peanut, etc.

Lots of water.