You might have heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” and it’s true because if you consume a healthy diet, it not only makes your bones and muscles stronger but also makes your skin and hair healthier too. So, if you are an athlete, you don’t only need vigorous practice but also you need to have proper nutrition as well because, for the sake of giving your best, you need to have a healthy diet. Some high-class athletes ignore or don’t pay much concentration to their diet, but trust me, your small little mistake in nutrition can affect your competition in a real way.
Besides consuming a balanced and healthy diet, you also need to have safe, secure, and sweat-wicking gym outfits because comfortable outfits also enhance your performance. Elite sports gym attire is durable, stretchable, and is also available at an economical price.
So let’s get back to the discussion; as I have described above that proper nutrition plays an important role in your performance, so in today’s blog, I will describe several ways how you can plan your diet before and after your training and competition sessions.
Must consult the professional first
Everyone is different from each other anatomically, so you can’t follow someone else’s diet plan being the jiu-jitsu fighter. The intake of protein, carbohydrates, and fats mainly depends upon the weight of the person. So being an athlete, I would honestly suggest that whatever diet plan you make, you must consult your nutritionist too. They would be figuring out your body type; along with that, they will also determine how much quantity of carbs, fats, and protein you would be requiring and what food you should be eating.
Diet plan for jiu-jitsu athlete
The diet plan is classified into two groups; in one group, you should be focussing on what you should eat? And in another group, your focus should be how you should eat? Being a jiu-jitsu athlete, your proper diet program will help you to train longer on the mat and will help you to have longer endurance as well; along with that, your recovery time period will be quicker.
It’s important to have a vegan diet(a diet in which you consume food that is made up of plants such as nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, coconut milk, almond milk, and vegetable oils), so the vegan diet will be offering you many health benefits such as maintaining your cholesterol and reducing your weight too. There are various essential vitamins that you can get from a vegan diet, such as vitamin D, vitamin B12, fatty acids, and proteins.
Other than that being a BJJ athlete, you need to have comfortable gym attire first. Elite sports gym workout clothes are breathable and moisture-wicking also.
Intake of proteins
It’s true that if you are a BJJ athlete, your body will demand more proteins as compared to the normal person because your body utilizes the glycogen, but the proteins that are there in your muscles get deteriorated and are damaged too when you are training. So the wise approach should be to consume proteins two hours before training because you should be confident enough that you have sufficient energy on the mat. Because in jiu-jitsu, we hold our opponent, pull, push and lift them and at various levels of training, proteins are broken down in our body. So being a grappler, it is important to fuel yourself with proteins before and after your training and competition sessions because some proteins are broken down in an hour, and others are broken within half an hour. So proteins are also important to build up the lean muscles as well that have been broken down during your fighting sessions.
So if your weight is around 150 pounds as a grappler, you would require 80 to 35 grams of protein. In other words, you can say you require 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of our body weight.
Intake of carbohydrates
So when we consume carbohydrates, they are broken down into smaller molecules named glucose, and when we are physically exerting, these molecules provide us energy as they are stored in our liver and muscles too. So you can see the importance of carbs. Being a grappler, you need carbs to give a better outcome of your performance. When you are about to hit the mat, you must consume the carbohydrates, which can get digested and broken down quickly in your body.
Carbohydrates to consume in the morning before the fight
The foods rich in carbohydrates are peanut butter with some fruits(apple or banana), chicken with whole-grain bread, cheese with some fruits, pita bread with hummus, or nuts with greek yogurt.
Carbohydrates to consume after your fighting session
Keep in your mind that there is a critical depletion of glycogen from your body after your intense hard training. But it doesn’t mean that you need to get a huge amount of carbohydrates. Instead, they should be sufficient enough so that you may not feel lazy or sluggish for the rest of your whole day or night. So you can take brown rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, fruit, and oat after your fighting or training sessions.
Stay hydrated
You may have noticed that most of the athletes drink a very little amount of water than they actually need the body. According to the research, it has been revealed that proper hydration helps your body to recover faster, your focus also gets improved, and your body temperature also gets regulated. So being a grappler staying hydrated is important too.