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ОглавлениеCHAPTER THREE All About Calories
Calories: We count them and curse them; we ignore them and try to “burn them off;” and then in our depression, we binge on them. What the heck are these little demons, anyway?
Some scientists define a single calorie as the amount of energy it takes to raise one gram of water (about a thimble full) one degrees Celsius. That is good to know the next time you want to heat up a thimble of water, but for our purposes here, let’s define a calorie as one unit of energy. You need lots of units to kick, punch, grapple, spar, perform kata, and thump on the bags. You need calories to train and you need them to lie on your couch and read this text. How many you need depends on the intensity you bring to these activities: easy days require fewer units than those days when you have killer workouts. The trick is to know how many to take in.
Since we all have different bodies and we all work, study, rest, and play at different intensities, each of us has different calorie needs. If you live, train and love hard (you animal!), you need more calories. But if you are a laid back kind of person, favoring the couch over painting the garage, and tai chi over Brazilian jujitsu, you don’t need as many because you don’t burn as many. It’s a simplification, but think of calories as gasoline you put into your car. When you accelerate hard and brake hard at stoplights, you need to refuel more often since you burn lots of gas. But when you accelerate slowly and brake gradually, you don’t need to refuel as often because easy driving uses less fuel. Before we burn any additional gas or calories here, let’s take a quick look at the components of nutrition.
We begin with the macronutrients: carbs, fat and protein. Knowledge of each one is important when calculating the caloric needs for your training, for your all-important recuperation and growth process after your workout and for your health needs in general.
Carbohydrates, or carbs, are found almost exclusively in plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, peas and beans. Milk and milk products are the only foods derived from animals that contain a significant amount of carbs. After you chew and swallow them, your body breaks them down further, converting them into blood glucose (blood sugar) to fuel your muscles, organs and brain for your daily activities, including your training sessions. An insufficient intake of carbs results in sluggish thinking and physical fatigue, attributes clearly not wanted by a hard fighting warrior.
In one study where participants were asked to exercise to exhaustion, those who ate a high-carbohydrate diet could continue exercising almost three times longer than those who ate mostly fat.4 Even when trying to lose weight, it’s vitally important that you take in enough carbs to fuel your body for all that you do in a day.
Carbs are categorized as simple or complex, which refer to their molecular structure and how the body uses them. Simple carbs have either one sugar molecule, called monosaccharides, or two molecules, called disaccharides, while complex carbs have three or more. Simple carbohydrates are usually low in nutritional quality, while complex carbohydrates are more nutritious, containing dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. In general, complex carbs are of greater value to your martial arts because they yield more energy for a greater period. Here is a list of the most common in each category:
Complex Carbs
CerealsBananasPearsWhole-grain breadsLegumesNutsPotatoes
Simple Carbs
Candy barsCookiesHoneySyrupWhite breadsCakes, pastry
There is nothing in the “Simple Carbs” list that you want in the finely-tuned fighting machine that is your body. We aren’t saying that you need to eat like a monk and never enjoy pancakes or a chocolate bar (don’t even get co-author Demeere started about the superiority of Belgian chocolate). We just encourage you to tread softly around these goodies. Maybe consider them a treat to enjoy on your Dirt Day (see Chapter 7) or, if you can justify the calories, on those days when you don’t train. But they should be avoided before training and on competition day for reasons explained in the next section.
Basic Wellness is Important, Too
In your study of health and nutrition, never skip over anything that relates to your basic wellness, your basic health. We mention this because so many students don’t care about their general health but are more interested in what it takes to get energy to train, recuperate, kick faster, punch harder, get stronger, and so on. They don’t consider that if they aren’t healthy they can’t put their all into their training. Always strive for optimum health first, before you go for the extras. Your mother was right: Eat your vegetables!
The Glycemic Index (GI) is a system that rates carbs as to how fast they are broken down and sent into your bloodstream to be used as energy for your workouts. The higher a specific carb scores on this chart the faster it enters your system. Think of the listed foods in the table as a comparison against pure glucose, which is 100 percent. If a food is absorbed faster than glucose, it scores over 100 percent. While having a quick backfist is a good thing, eating carbs that quickly enter your bloodstream isn’t.
After your body burns high scorers, your energy drops fast, commonly referred to as an “energy crash.” This is one of many reasons why you shouldn’t eat candy bars, doughnuts or other simple sugars before training or competing. They might give you a fast boost of energy, but too soon you are running on empty, with an hour left of class or an entire afternoon at a tournament. Low-scoring carbs, however, yield energy to your punches and kicks over a prolonged period, keeping your blood glucose steadier and preventing those sudden, bone weary crashes.
In his excellent book The Science of Martial Arts Training, Charles I. Staley, MSS writes: “High GI foods cause the pancreas to release insulin in response to the influx of blood glucose. Insulin acts to store ingested calories as body fat. This is why the GI of some foods can be surprising. For example, ice cream has a relatively low GI, because of the fat content. This means that should you get low- or non-fat ice cream, it may have a higher GI [because of the sugar added to hide the lack of flavor lost when the fat was removed, which may also supply more calories than you want] and is probably a poorer choice than the higher fat version for weight-loss purposes (although, total calorie content must also be considered.)”5
Carbohydrates are rarely eaten alone; most often, you eat them in combination with other nutrients, which is good. When fat, protein and fiber are eaten with carbs, the carb’s GI rating drops, so that you benefit from a slower release of energy. A carb food with a moderately high GI rating, such as white spaghetti, gets a lower score when eaten with a sauce containing some fat and protein.
Note: A food’s GI rating is just an analytical tool to help you choose quality foods that provide energy that lasts throughout your school or workday and into the evening for your martial arts class. Think of the GI as a pretty darn good rule of thumb rather than as a strict guideline.
Glycemic Index table
Carbohydrates that are absorbed rapidly by the digestive system
Puffed Rice
133
Rice Cakes
133
Maltose
110
Breakfast Cereal
100+
100%
Glucose
100
White Bread
100
Whole Wheat Bread
100
90% to 100%
Grape Nuts
98
Potato (russet)
98
Parsnips
97
Carrots
92
80% to 89%
Roll Oats (quick)
80-90
Oat Bran
80-90
Instant Mashed Potatoes
80
Honey
87
White Rice
82
Brown Rice
82
Banana
82
Potato (white)
81
Corn
82
70% to 79%
All-Bran
74
Kidney Beans
71
Carbohydrates that are absorbed at a moderate pace by the digestive system
60 to 69%
Mars Bars
68
Raisins
64
Beets
64
Garbanzo Beans
61
Pinto Beans
60
Spaghetti (whole wheat)
60
Spaghetti (white)
60
50 to 59%
Sucrose
59
Peas (frozen)
51
Yams
51
Potato Chips
51
40% to 49%
Peas (dried)
49
Oatmeal (longer cooking)
49
Sweet Potato
48
Sponge Cake
46
Orange Juice
46
Grapes
45
Pears
43
Whole Grain Rye Bread
42
Orange
40
Navy Beans
40
Carbohydrates that are absorbed slowly by the digestive system
30 to 39%
Apple
39
Non-Fat Apple Yogurt
39
Fish Sticks (Breaded)
38
Tomato Soup
38
Ice Cream
36
Chickpeas
36
Milk (whole)
34
Black-eyed Peas
33
Milk (skim)
32
Non-Fat Yogurt
32
20 to 29%
Lentils
29
Peaches
29
Grapefruit
26
Plums
25
Cherries
23
Fructose
20
10% to 19%
Soybeans
15
Peanuts
13
Fruit juices
High
Banana
Moderate
Pear
Orange
Apple
Grape
Low
Peaches
Plums
Cherries
Grapefruit
Note: Since the glycemic index of each of these fruits can differ drastically, categories denoting high, moderate and low are used instead of percentages.
Unfortunately, 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 two: With this, you multiply your bodyweight times .36 grams to determine your daily intake. This is the formula used to calculate the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) found on food labels. For most martial artists who train regularly, this supplies an adequate daily intake; but it should be considered the absolute minimum. Let’s use our 150- and 200-pound friends again.
150-pound fighter
.36 x 150 pounds = 55 grams of protein
200-pound fighter
.36 x 200 = 72 grams of protein
Method three: This method for determining your daily protein need is called the “Hatfield Estimate,” a unique formula that takes into account your lean body mass (LBW) and your activity level, referred to as your Need Factor (NF).
LBW: Your lean body weight is your weight minus your body fat. Since fat doesn’t require protein, there is no need to calculate your total body weight. To get an estimate of your LBW, you need first to determine the percentage of body fat you carry around. This is done using ultrasound or electrical impedance, methods used by many commercial gyms and by sports medicine doctors and dietitians Call one of these places and ask to have your body fat measured and calculated in pounds. You can also purchase skin fold calipers, though they are less accurate. That said, Christensen once had the task of using skin fold calipers to measure the body fat of over 1000 police officers. His calculations were within one to two percent of those officers who had had their body fat measured by more high-tech means. That is good enough for our purposes.
Once the short procedure is completed, subtract the fat poundage from your total body weight and the answer — tu-duh — is your LBW. Here is an example using a 150-pound person with 30 percent body fat.
.30 X 150 = 45 pounds of body fat.
150 - 45 = 105 pounds of lean body mass
Need Factor: The NF is your best guesstimate of your activity level; use the below scale to give it a number. Be honest about your activity level so you know exactly how much protein to take in every day. Should you rate yourself too high you will end up taking in more protein and calories than you need.
.5 - Sedentary, no sports or training
.6 - Jogging or light fitness training
.7 - Sports participation or moderate martial arts training three times a week
.8 - Moderate weight training, aerobic or martial arts training daily
.9 - Heavy weight training daily
1.0 - Heavy weight training daily and martial arts training daily
Take your NF number and multiply your LBW to determine your daily protein requirement in grams. The math looks like this: LBW x N F = daily grams. If you are as bad at math as we are, toss your calculator out the window and use this chart that does it for you.
Weight
Need factor and corresponding protein requirements
LBW (lbs)
.5
.6
.7
.8
.9
1.0
90
45
54
63
72
81
90
100
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
55
66
77
88
99
110
120
60
72
84
96
108
120
130
65
78
91
104
117
130
140
70
84
98
112
126
140
150
75
90
105
120
135
150
160
80
96
112
128
144
160
170
85
102
119
136
153
170
180
90
108
126
144
162
180
190
95
114
133
152
171
190
200
100
120
140
160
180
200
210
105
126
147
168
189
210
220
110
132
154
176
198
220
230
115
138
161
184
207
230
240
120
144
168
192
216
240
Examples If your LBW is 90 and you have determined that you have a need factor of .9, you need to consume around 80 grams of protein a day. If your LBW is 240 and your NF is .5, you need to get 120 grams of protein a day.
Method four: Since this approach requires that you experiment to find what works and what doesn’t, you must be in tune with your body as to how it feels before, during and after your training sessions. It’s helpful to maintain a log to note other data, such as how you feel the day following a hard workout, or whether you lost, maintained, or gained energy, strength, and endurance. Your log should include the amount of protein you consume daily and how you felt upon making changes, say when you added 20 grams or eliminated 20 grams.
Note As you experiment carefully as to the best dosage for your body relative to the demands on it, it’s important to keep in mind that all four of these methods are only close estimations of your daily protein needs. Also, the benefits of using a log are not restricted to Method Four. Many fighters find it helpful to keep records of their intake so that they have a visual record to help them compare how they feel before, during and after training.
While you should include protein in your meals throughout the day, research shows that it’s vital to consume some immediately after training, specifically, within 30 minutes of your workout. Your second best option is to eat it within the hour, and your last choice is to eat it within two hours after you train. We encourage you to arrange your schedule so you can get protein in your system within 30 minutes, since your body so desperately needs it to repair all the “tearing” down you did. It’s never an option not to eat protein after your training. When you don’t refuel your body properly, the repairing phase might be incomplete or delayed, both of which puts you at risk of overtraining or getting injured when you use muscles in your next workout that have not yet recuperated.
Your Post Workout Needs
There are nutritionists who recommend you eat carbohydrates — such as a banana, apple, or a slice of nutrition-rich bread — after training to replenish your energy stores. We agree with this, but with an explanation. Yes, you do need to jump start your energy with carbs, but you also need protein to repair tissue damage done in your training. If your workout was mostly aerobic, such as high-repetition drills and lots of wind-sucking sparring, you should eat mostly carbs and just a little protein afterwards. If your workout consisted of weight training only, or your sadistic instructor made you do sets and reps of horse stance squats and lots of pushups, you need more protein and less carbs. Whatever the combination, the blend of carbs and protein compliment each other for faster absorption, which is why most protein shakes contain a small amount of carbs.
The best post-workout protein are those that are easily digested, such as eggs, lean fish, lean chicken, and whey protein shakes. Steak, on the other hand, while high in protein (and lots of bad fat) is hard to digest, especially when your body is already working overtime to recuperate from your workout.
Everyday Foods High in Protein
Here are some typical protein foods you want to include in your daily diet.
Meat, poultry and fish — 7 grams per ounce Beans, dried peas, lentils — 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked One large egg — 7 grams Milk — 8 grams per cup Bread — 4 grams per slice Cereal — 4 grams per 1/2 cupVegetables — 2 grams per 1/2 cup
Many nutritionists argue that there is no real advantage to taking protein supplements, advice which few hard-training athletes adhere to. Dr. Susan M. Kleiner, R.D., Ph.D., a nutritionist and the co-author of Power Eating, says, “There’s no advantage to taking protein as a supplement. It’s not absorbed better. It’s not utilized better.”7 In fact, as co-author Christensen’s bodybuilding friend discovered the hard way, extra protein may over time put stress on your kidneys (one sure sign you are eating too much protein is when your kidney blows out your lower back and rolls down the street like a dislodged hubcap).
How we do it Here is how we use protein supplements: Demeere, who is on the run all the time visiting clients, likes protein milkshake replacement meals combined with a little fruit. He drinks them in the car while en route to a client, or at the end of a hard day when he needs some extra repair fuel. Christensen always has a scoop in a glass of water after a workout. On those days when he doesn’t eat meat, he sprinkles a tablespoon on his cereal or in his yogurt to get an extra 15 to 20 grams. We especially like that many protein supplements are fortified with vitamins and minerals, a nice plus when using them as a meal replacement or to punch up a container of yogurt.
Regardless of what the gym rat advises (the guy with veins in his forehead who goes “Huh?” a lot), if your calculations show you are getting enough protein from your food, you don’t need to take a supplement. However, it’s still a good idea to keep a container of supplemental protein in your cupboard for those days when your hectic lifestyle prevents you from getting the grams you need.
Fat Isn’t a Bad Guy
Besides its use as an energy source, you need fat to maintain healthy skin, carry fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) into your body, support your immune system, insulate you against the cold, cushion your internal organs, and make food taste better, which all adds up to mean that fat is not the bad guy some experts want you to believe.
Although fat has a bad reputation, it’s actually a secondary fuel source. When your body runs out of carbohydrates to use as energy, it draws energy from fat, which yields about nine calories per gram, compared to four calories per gram of protein and carbs. The average person has enough carb energy in his body to walk about 20 miles, but he has enough fat energy to walk from Boston to San Francisco three times (go ahead and do it; we’ll be here when you get back).
While your body likes to store fat as an extra “fuel tank,” far too many people, including too many martial artists, carry around fuel tanks that are much too large. This would be acceptable if you were running about on the plains tackling and killing bison for the village all day, but that is not the kind of life you lead (except perhaps for our Wyoming readers).
In an effort to keep things simple, let’s classify fat as either saturated or unsaturated.
Saturated fat is generally solid at room temperature and found in animal sources, such as dairy products, meats, fish, lard, butter, hard margarine, cheese, whole milk and anything in which these ingredients are used, such as cakes, chocolate, biscuits, pies and pastries. It’s also the white fat you can see on red meat and that stuff lurking underneath poultry skin. Consume an excessive amount of saturated fat, and you get an increase in “bad” cholesterol (LDL), which can lead to heart disease and cancer.
The so-called “good fat,” is usually liquid at room temperature and generally comes from vegetable sources. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat are both included in this group. Unsaturated fat is a healthier alternative to saturated fat and can be found in vegetable oils, such as sesame, sunflower, soya and olive oil. It’s also found in oily fish, such as mackerel, sardines, pilchards and salmon. Peanut butter contains the good oil, too, as do most nuts. When choosing a peanut butter, get the kind that contains only ground nuts, and avoid the kind that includes several unpronounceable chemicals. Although all of these foods contain the good fat your body needs to stay in optimum health, you still need to eat them in moderation since they are so very calorie dense: nine per gram.
Free tip 1: Plan to gorge on a high-fat meal tonight? Think about this first. Studies show that several hours after you eat a meal containing 50 to 80 grams of fat, your blood vessels become less elastic and there is a dramatic rise in factors that lead to blood clotting. “The immediate cause of most heart attacks is the last fatty meal,” says William Castelli, M.D., director of the Farmington Cardiovascular Institute in Massachusetts.8 It’s much healthier for you to spread your fat intake over the entire day.
Psst, for males only: Studies show that a high-fat meal isn’t good for your love life either as it may lower your testosterone level. We aren’t going to get in to that here, but just know that if you want to be a fighter and a lover, a big fatty meal could be your downfall.
Always keep in mind, and yes we harp on this a lot, your body stores all excess calories as fat, whether they come from protein, carbs or fat. If the calories don’t get used, they make you feel like a cow when performing your kata.
On that note, let’s talk about how to slice a pie, a big chocolate cream pie with tons of whipping cream and chocolate shavings on top. Yeah, right. You wish.
You just learned why protein, carbs and fat are essential to your training and progress. Here is a simple pie chart that helps you split your nutritional needs as your training dictates.
Many athletes base their daily nutritional plan around portions that are 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein and 30 percent fat. This means that if a fighter were following an eating plan of 2000 calories a day, his slices would look like this:
40 percent carbs:
800 calories
30 percent protein:
600 calories
30 percent fat:
600 calories
Total:
2000 calories
But as is the case with everything in the diet and training field, the sizes of these slices has been a debate in nutritional circles for a long time and probably will remain so in the future. Over the years, your authors have tried many different sizes, which have led us to this conclusion as to how large each one should be: It depends. (This won’t be the last time we give a wish-washy answer.)
Several years ago, co-author Demeere had what he describes as a painful pie-slicing experience. After he quit competing internationally and had reduced his training to about one third of his competitive schedule, he made the common error of continuing to eat as if he still trained four to six hours a day, burning 3,000 to 3,500 calories. He also ate foods that had been forbidden in his hard training diet: sugar-dense chocolate, soft drinks and many meals of fat-laden steak smothered in cream sauce with a truckload of french fries. In short, his fat and carb slices were much larger than his protein slices.
Two things occurred to him one day: Over a five-year period, his poor eating had added around 30 pounds, and in a few months there would be photos taken at his wedding. Not wanting a memory album picturing a chubby groom, he knew he had to drop the bulk that he had had so much fun accumulating.
He went to a highly recommended doctor who promptly put him on a low-carb diet consisting of 1,500 calories a day and supplied him with herbal supplements, assuring him that they would give him energy for his two-hour-a-day workouts. Skeptical, he asked numerous questions, which she patiently answered with quotes from so-called “scientific studies.”
Since the balance of carbs, protein, fat and calories were so poorly prescribed (the carb slice was virtually nonexistent) his once easy daily training regimen of 30 minutes aerobics and 30 to 40 minutes of weight training, in addition to six-days-a-week, two-hour martial arts sessions, became grueling. He burned 1500 calories quickly in his training, which left him without energy for the rest of his day. He felt weak, saw black spots dancing in front of his eyes, and his carb-depleted brain throbbed with a continuous and horrendous headache.
Clearly, you shouldn’t experience these symptoms when dieting. If you do, consider it nature’s way of telling you that your diet advice was lousy, if not dangerous. Yes, Demeere lost the extra pounds he had been packing around (and the pictures turned out great), but he was only successful because he stopped following the doctor’s ill-advised diet after four weeks, and used one of his own.
Everyone Has an Opinion
If you research five nutritional sources you will find five different ways to slice the pie, but don’t let that frustrate you. Understand that none of this is set in stone, meaning that what works for the star black belt in your school or the guy on the magazine cover, might not work for you. So what will? Well, to avoid being the sixth nutritional source, we are simply going to give you the information you need to figure it out for yourself.
First, determine your calorie needs and then slice your pie 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein and 30 percent fat. Stay with it for a month to see how you feel. Take note of your energy level, how quickly you recover from your training, your mental sharpness, how motivated you are for your next training session, and whether you are progressing in power, speed and endurance. If you are dragging in all these areas, you need to change your slices a little.
Here are a few considerations to help you establish the right cuts:
Don’t listen to what others are doing. Think only about your needs. As we discussed earlier, emulating others is a common error in the fitness world. Don’t do it.Think of carbs as your main source of energy, but remember, adding protein and fat to your meals lowers the glycemic value of the meal and provides for longer lasting energy. Try to include all three macronutrients whenever you eat.The percentages change depending on all the factors in your training. Sometimes you might have special carb needs. For example, if you attend a weeklong, martial arts seminar where you train eight hours a day, you might want to increase your carbs for your extra energy needs. Refer to the chart that lists calories per hour per martial art to determine a ballpark number as to how many extra calories you need for the long training days. Say, you determine that you need an extra 1000 calories. This means you must increase your carbohydrate cut of the pie from 40 percent to 60 or maybe even 70 percent. Of course, when the carb slice increases in size, the protein and fat slice has to get smaller. So if you increase to 60 percent carbs, divide the protein and fat evenly at 20 percent each. It’s a good idea to increase your carbs to 60 or 70 percent at least once before the date of the training camp so you know in advance if your body can even assimilate that many carbs without problems. Making emergency runs to the restroom on your first day isn’t a good way to make an impression.If you want to hit the weights extra hard for three months to put on additional muscle size and increase your strength, you need larger slices of protein. To determine how much more, monitor your gain in lean muscle weight by measuring your fat percentage (as discussed earlier) to get an idea of your progress throughout the three months. Then use the previously mentioned Hatfield chart to calculate how much protein you need on a daily basis (see Chapter 11 for more details on increasing muscle size). When taking a larger protein slice, rob the extra calories from the fat piece.Know that your body doesn’t like radical changes and it will protest. Say you have been taking in 60 percent carbs because you have been training for a running marathon in addition to your regular martial arts workouts. The marathon is over, and now you want to decrease your carbs back to your starting point of 40 percent or wherever you were before increasing your training. Do this slowly, changing a little each week. From your starting place of 60 percent carbs, drop to 55 percent the first week, 50 percent the next week, 45 the next, and to 40 percent the week after that. Avoid bigger increments.Make your nutritional plan for tomorrow, tonight. Here are some considerations:
o If tomorrow is a day off from training, plan to eat fewer carbs and calories.
o If tomorrow is your regular martial arts class and your regular daily activities, use the calculations you figured earlier.
o If you have a regular day tomorrow at school or work, but you have a three-hour test for brown belt tomorrow night, plan on taking a little larger slice of carbs.
It’s easier to stay on your plan when you work this out a day in advance.
Allow for unforeseen situations. Since life has a tendency to interfere with your schedule — you can’t eat at the times you want, or the grocery store is out of your favorite protein — plan for such obstacles in advance.People who make the greatest progress almost always keep a meticulous training log. At first, you might think that it’s time consuming and not much fun, but after a couple of weeks, you will probably discover as others have that it’s invaluable for staying on course. It provides you with all the necessary tools to determine your maintenance needs and provides a clear picture of which direction you need to change, if at all. Use the sample logs in the back of this book or use the format to develop one of your own.Check regularly to see if your ratios still hold true today as they did two months ago. You might have gained some extra muscle mass over an eight-week period, so you need to factor in a little more protein, say 40 percent of the pie. Maybe you have been pushing yourself harder during sparring sessions and therefore you need more carbs, say a 50-percent slice. Count on your dietary needs changing occasionally.Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals create healthy blood cells, maintain healthy skin, regulate your metabolism, ensure that your brain works, strengthen your teeth and bones, and many other valuable functions. Since they don’t make up an important part of your caloric intake, we won’t elaborate on them here but we will go into greater detail in Chapter 5 as to how much you need of each and their importance for martial artists. For now, know that they are critical for staying healthy as you work to lose, maintain or purposefully gain weight.
Determining the Calories Needed to Gain, Lose or Maintain
Here is a simple and effective method for calculating your daily caloric needs, one recommended by health and fitness writer, Dave Paicard, which he discusses in an article titled “Basic Strategies for Getting Lean” in Muscle & Fitness Online.9 It’s not absolutely precise (no system is) but considering all the variables, it’s pretty darn close and serves our purpose. We have tweaked it a little to make it applicable to martial artists. Check out these bullets and see where you are:
To lose fat, multiply your current bodyweight by 10 if you have a slow metabolism (meaning you gain weight easily), by 11 if you have a moderate metabolism and by 12 if you have a fast metabolism (meaning you can eat lots without putting on weight).If you incorporate weight training in your exercise program and you want to add muscle without body fat, or if you lift weights and want to lose some body fat, you need to multiply your body weight by 13 if you have a slow metabolism, by 14 if you have a moderate metabolism, or 15 if you have a fast one.If you are trying to add a few pounds, multiply your weight by 16 if you have a slow metabolism, by 17 for a moderate metabolism, or 18 for a fast metabolism.
Confused? Here it is at quick glance:
Fat loss formula: bodyweight (pounds) x M (metabolism) = total daily calories
Metabolism rate: 10 for slow, 11 for moderate, 12 for fast
Muscle gain without fat formula: bodyweight x M = total daily calories
Metabolism rate: 13 for slow, 14 for moderate, 15 for fast
Weight gain: bodyweight x M = total daily calories
Metabolism rate: 16 for slow, 17 for moderate, 18 for fast
Here is how it looks for a 130-pound female with a moderate metabolism. She is pumping iron to add muscle for greater kicking power and wants to lower her body fat at the same time.
130 x 14 = 1,820 calories per day
Here is how it looks for a 200-pound male with a fast metabolism wanting to add muscle without fat to increase his punching power.
200 x 15 = 3,000 calories per day
Note: To make this work accurately, you need to be honest about whether you have a slow, moderate, or fast metabolism. If you are like some people, you might think you have a slow metabolism because you think you gain weight easily, but you actually eat a lot of hidden calories that you aren’t taking into account. You do this by:
adding a little extra butter on your toasteating that last cookie so it doesn’t go to wastedrinking milk instead of water when you are thirstyeating what is left in the skillet instead of putting it into a refrigerator containereating just a little bowl of ice creamdrinking a second beer
In time, these not so innocent extras add up, and while you might not be aware you are eating them, they are definitely there, encircling your waistline and adding droop to your “buttline.” In the end (pun intended) you don’t have a slow metabolism at all.
We suggest that you do two things. First, get an opinion from your doctor as to what type of metabolism you have. Second, keep an accurate record of everything — everything — you eat in a week. That t-spoon of jam you snuck: write it down. You finished your kid’s fries: write it down. You ate a cookie you found on the street: write it down.
If your record keeping and your doctor indicate that you do indeed have a slow metabolism, then you need to calculate your calorie needs as such. However, if you determine that you have been taking in a lot of extra sneaky ones, you need to calculate using the moderate formula. You have to be honest here. It’s like Mrs. Beasley said in third grade: “If you cheat, you only cheat yourself.”
One Other Way Men and Women Are Different
Do men and women burn calories differently? Many women believe so, especially when they look at men who are the same age and body type as they are but the men seem to shed unwanted pounds faster and easier. Many female martial artists complain that it seems that all they have to do to put on unwanted weight is to slack off on their training a little, but the same doesn’t hold true for most men.
What is going on? The answer is simple: Men and women have different bodies. (Now, aren’t you glad you bought this book?)
The biggest difference, for our purposes here, has to do with muscles. In general, men have more muscle mass than women, and the person with more muscle mass burns more calories. Even when sitting still. This is because it takes calories to maintain the muscle.
When a man and woman of the same body type, age, weight and activity level eat too much at a fast food joint, the man usually stores less excess calories as fat than does the woman. And his larger muscle mass will burn off his excess calories faster.
Women think this is unfair and men think it’s just fine. But there is a silver lining for women. Generally speaking, their higher body fat percentage is considered, in most cultures, to be more attractive on them than the same percentage is on most men.10
Calculating Your Caloric Needs for Training
Use the following list to calculate the calories needed per hour for your particular martial arts style, and if you jog and lift weights, you can calculate those in, too. Don’t engrave the data presented in this chart on a stone tablet. It’s difficult at best to determine calorie expenditure because there are so many variables (no, those gauges on treadmills aren’t absolutely accurate, either). The numbers in the below chart have been calculated with a formula for the average male and female fighter, not for a top martial athlete or a rank beginner.
This chart, and others like it, has been calculated using bodyweight and duration of activity as the primary, determining factors. However, there are many more factors that are beyond the scope of a simple chart: intensity (an elite kickboxer usually trains harder than a novice), the fighter’s lean muscle tissue, bodyfat percentage, height, age, sex, food consumed that day, quality of the previous night’s sleep, and many others. Adding factors makes for an extremely complex chart, one that is not only difficult to read but one that is more complicated than most fighters need for reference. While ours is a compromise between accuracy and simplicity, the absence of more variables makes it a tad less precise. Still, it provides you with a general idea, a so-called ballpark figure that serves as a starting point for you.
Calories Burnt Per Hour Per Activity
Martial Arts Chart
Activity
110-pound
125-pound
150-pound
175-pound
200-pound
Boxing: sparring
493
552
610
669
727
Boxing: bag work
330
365
407
446
485
Kickboxing
548
613
678
743
808
Karate
467
532
620
742
850
Taekwondo
430
520
610
715
800
Tai Chi
201
233
262
297
323
Judo
509
579
678
743
808
Jujitsu
509
579
678
743
808
Weightlifting
305
348
407
504
576
Running: 6 mph
509
579
678
840
960
Should you notice that you aren’t losing body fat or you are having trouble gaining lean muscle, re-calculate how many calories you need and increase or decrease the numbers on this chart, but only a little. For example, the first time increase or decrease only 100 calories, and if that doesn’t help in two or three weeks, increase or decrease 200.
Use the training logs at the back of the book. They provide a great visual to see where you need to make adjustments in your training intensity and your calorie intake (most often it shows that you simply have to train a little harder and take in a few less calories).
The information on this chart has worked for martial artists for many years. However, if you think the data is too general for you because you have a need to know exactly how many calories you burn, go to a professional sports testing facility or see if your local university has the proper equipment. At those places, you will find equipment and trained professionals who can give you accurate data. However, be prepared to spend a chunk of money as these tests tend to be expensive.
A Simple Primer to Losing Weight
You are going to get lots of easy-to-follow eating plans later to lose weight without hunger. Here is one you can start right now.
Eat a little less Simply cut back 200 or 300 calories each day. For example, if you normally eat three slices of bread per day, cut back to one slice and don’t put butter on it. Drink diet soda, or better yet drink water. You don’t want or need to eliminate massive amounts of calories and you certainly don’t have to go hungry. By cutting calories sensibly and conservatively, you barely notice you are eating less than normal.
Train a little more Next, do 15 extra minutes of training—kickboxing, running, kata practice, bag thumping —to burn another 100 to 150 calories.
That is all you have to do: 15 minutes of extra training and trim a couple hundred calories from your daily chow, and you go to bed at night with 300 to 450 fewer calories. Do this for a week and a half and there will be one less pound showing on the bathroom scale. Oh yes, the extra 15 minutes of training makes you just that much better in your fighting art. It’s a pretty good deal. More on this in subsequent chapters.
