The Fighter's Body. Loren W. Christensen
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carbs have become associated with obesity, an underserved reputation based on their easy availability. Well, ignore the rep. Carbs don’t make you fat; taking in too many carbs does, because that means you are getting more calories than you need, which is the real villain that gives you a jelly belly. Follow what the old, white-bearded sage always says (the ancient master who sits naked at the entrance of high-mountain cave and says profound things all day): “Everything in moderation.”
The key is to consume only the carbs you need based on your activity level. Always remember that your body doesn’t waste much and unfortunately it doesn’t discard unused calories like a dog shaking water from its coat. If you need 2,000 calories a day to do all your activities but you over indulge in carbs to the tune of 2,500, your body stores the extra 500 as fat. It doesn’t care if the calories came from carbs or that lint that collects under your bed.
Once again we have to speak in generalities. Though this is still a point of debate among experts, many recommend that 40 percent of your daily calories consist of carbs. Competitive bicyclists pedaling 300 miles a week require a diet of 60 percent carbs to satisfy their tremendous outpouring of energy. For the average martial artist, it’s been our experience that 40 percent is a good starting point. Now, if your job is an extremely physical one, such as a construction worker, bricklayer or high-rise window washer, and you also train hard in the martial arts every evening, you may want to nudge your carb percentage up to 45, 50, 55, or 60 percent. The same is true if you are a student dashing from class to class, including a tough physical education class, then off to an after-school job stacking crates in a warehouse, and then to martial arts training four evenings a week.
If you find yourself exhausted at the end of the day and still feeling tired after a night of sleep, 40 percent carbs might be insufficient, so you need to adjust. Do it slowly, though, adding, say, five percent every week so you can monitor the changes in your energy, progress, strength, motivation and weight loss or gain. More on this in “Protein, carbs and fat: How much?” later in this chapter
A rule of thumb is to consume roughly 2-4 grams of carbohydrate daily for each pound of body weight. If you weigh 150-pounds, you should consume between 300 and 450 grams. Pick up a book that lists carb grams (some super markets sell them in booklet form on racks by the checkout stand). If you make a habit of referring to the list every time you eat something, you will quickly memorize the gram count of those foods you eat the most often. Remember, eat mostly low scoring complex carbs on the GI chart so your energy holds constant throughout your activities.
Protein is necessary to build and repair your muscles after a hard workout and to continuously feed your tissues, hair, red blood cells, fingernails, organs and other precious parts. Once you ingest that tuna, beef, milk or nutrition bar, the protein is broken down into amino acids, of which there are 20, eight referred to as essential since your body can’t manufacture them. If you lack any of the essential amino acids (a common problem with vegetarians who don’t properly combine their foods to get a complete protein), your body’s repairing processes suffers.
We know that you need a steady supply of protein to function at your best in your daily activities and in your martial arts training, but steady supply are two vague terms that for years have caused misunderstanding and debate among nutritionists, bodybuilders and martial artists. How often is steady? How much is supply?
Much of the confusion is based on a truth that says protein is vital for building and repairing muscle. Armed with just that tidbit of information, many athletes, mostly those in the more-is-better camp, think, “Hmmm. I’ll eat pounds of the stuff and get really big and strong (and their super secret thought: ‘and I’ll be admired by both sexes and have more friends and get invited to more parties’).”
3 Case Studies
Co-author Christensen used to lift weights with an NBA player and two hardcore bodybuilders. The basketball player, all six feet 11 inches of him, was a vegetarian who had been plagued with injuries for several years that would sideline him from the game days at a time, sometimes weeks. One day, the gym owner and the player sat down and discussed the player’s diet, which the gym owner quickly determined was drastically low in protein. The basketball player had been making the common mistake of not properly combining his vegetables and beans, and therefore not getting all eight essential amino acids. The gym owner formulated a better vegetarian diet for him, one consisting of complete protein and an overall greater volume of it. The next year, the NBA man played injury free for the first time in years, and his team went on to play and win the NBA championships, in which he was the high scoring star.
One of the two bodybuilders worked as a police officer, 220 pounds of traffic-stopping muscle as he walked his beat with every bulge rippling through his uniform. To pack on a few more pounds of muscle in preparation for the Mr. America contest, he increased his already-high protein intake to two and a half grams for each pound of his bodyweight, an amount suggested by the makers of the protein supplement. Within months, he was hospitalized with critical kidney damage. The cause, the doctor said, was his body’s inability to handle the excessive volume of protein.
The other bodybuilder was 190 pounds of hard, ripped muscle. Not believing the one or two grams of protein per pound of bodyweight theory, he decided to see how low he could go and still progress. Over the course of 18 months, he slowly and progressively dropped his intake to 30 grams a day (about one gram per six pounds of bodyweight) - all the while continuing to pack on muscle.
The how much dilemma So how do you know what to believe? For sure there is a lot of confusing information out there. Go to a local health food store and the clerk says you should drink a protein shake with each meal. Read the label on the protein powder canister and it instructs you to mix two scoops in water or milk and drink three servings a day (hmm, think that just might be a ploy to get you to use up a can of the stuff every three days). The “experts” at the gym advise you to drink protein shakes and chow down on as much chicken, cottage cheese, beef and milk as your bloating stomach can handle. The folks with diplomas on their walls, the sports medicine people, dietitians, and such, tell you to eat only a moderate amount of protein. It’s enough to make you go to a diner and order a big piece of pie with two scoops of ice cream.
You might be getting enough right now. Most athletes, with the exception of some vegetarians, are already eating enough protein without having to sit down and do the math. Every day, they consciously or unconsciously eat a little extra chicken, tuna and drink a glass or two of skim milk. In fact, most people consume protein-heavy diets, which is true even for those who haunt the greasy burger joints on a regular basis (no, we are not recommending greasy burger joints).
4 Ways to Calculate Your Needs
As a thinking martial artist who recognizes that good eating habits account for much of your progress, you need an easy way to calculate your protein intake. Well, you came to the right place; in fact, here are four easy ways to determine your daily requirement.
Method one: This method is based on a general guideline that puts your daily protein need between .03 and .09grams of per pound of bodyweight. Here is how it looks for a 150-pound fighter and a 200-pound fighter.
150-pound fighter
.03 x 150 = 45 grams of protein per day
.09 x 150 = 135 grams of protein
200-pound fighter
.03 x 200 = 60 grams of protein
.09 x 200 = 180 grams of protein
Yes, .03 to .09 is a large margin, but every person is different so you have to experiment to see what works best for you.
Method