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Most bodybuilders agree that proper nutrition is 60 percent of their effort in building the healthiest, strongest and most visually appealing physique possible. Pick up any magazine on running and at least a third if not half of the articles discuss how carbohydrates, fats, proteins, calories, water, vitamins and minerals all play a vital role in helping the runner progress in speed, explosiveness, endurance, and to recuperate quickly to run again the next day. Top swimmers certainly understand the importance of super nutrition, as do skaters, skiers, gymnasts, track and field athletes, power lifters and wrestlers.

More and more martial artists are now learning what top athletes in other sport activities have known for a long while: You don’t put cheap, low-grade fuel in a high-performance car. If off track you want to run as smoothly as a BMW and on track you want to roar like an 800-horsepower Nascar at over 200 MPH, you must put high-performance fuel in your tank.

Too many martial artists — whether they train in kung fu, karate, judo, tai chi, jujitsu, taekwondo, aikido, or the myriad of other great martial arts systems — rarely give a second thought as to how they fuel their bodies before or after their training or competition, nor do they consider how a healthy lifestyle fits into their fighting performance and progress. But those who are discovering the vital importance of eating well, getting sufficient sleep and training to build rather than tear down are discovering happily and enthusiastically that they feel better, look better and are improving in their fighting art faster than at any other time.

As a martial artist, you are cut from a different mold. You train in a unique activity in which you do battle with others and do battle with yourself. You sweat and strain, kick and punch, grapple and fall, dab blood from your lip and rub hurt muscles — and you pay dues to do these things! Is there something wrong with you? No. In fact, there is something wonderfully right about you. You are a unique individual. You are a warrior. While others flee the battle, you train for it in an environment that encourages you to get better and better at it.

While the fighting arts have been in existence since the first caveman whacked another caveman with the jawbone of a dinosaur, it has only been in recent years that modern fighters have discovered the power of nutrition and other healthy lifestyle choices to enhance their development. In some cases, “enhance” is an insufficient word as some fighters report that their progress has skyrocketed, while their injury and illness rate has been halved.

That is the good news. Now here is the really good news: It’s not hard to do. It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg. All it takes is discipline, that same tough discipline that gets you to the training hall every workout day.

The Fighter’s Body: An Owner’s Manual is much more than a book about how you can get a flat, hard stomach. While there is something to be said for pleasing physical aesthetics, the real purpose of your authors’ effort is show you how to use food, supplements, vitamins, minerals, and fluids to have better workouts, compete at your best, lose, maintain or increase your weight, and to ultimately walk down the mean streets with confidence knowing that you are fit and raring to go should some hapless mugger make the grave mistake of picking on you. This book isn’t about how to backfist faster or sidekick higher, but by learning how to fuel your body as if it were a high-performance race car, and by learning how to employ result-producing training regimens and rest and relaxation, all aspects of your martial arts will dramatically improve, and do so seemingly overnight.

Your authors have been there and done that. Wim Demeere began training in the martial arts as a teenager and over the years has studied a variety of fighting systems that have helped him come out on top in the mean streets and bring home the gold in grueling full-contact fighting events in his native country of Belgium and throughout the world. As a personal trainer, he teaches, trains and advises clients on health, exercise and the fighting arts.

Loren W. Christensen began training in karate and jujitsu in 1965 at the age of 19. Over the years he has used his skills to win over 50 tournaments and to survive deadly confrontations as a military policeman in Saigon, Vietnam and as a police officer for 25 years in Portland, Oregon. He has written and taught extensively on health, bodybuilding and the martial arts.

More important than our physical achievements is our on-going scholarly study of nutrition, supplementation, aerobic training, and the mental discipline needed to bring out the very best of which one is capable.

We don’t believe in quick fixes because they don’t work in the long run. Most are unhealthy, some are even detrimental and almost all are impossible to maintain. And we provide several examples and anecdotes to prove this. Instead, we believe in long-term, lifestyle fixes, and we believe in them for one simple reason: they work.

You will happily find that we aren’t rigid drill sergeants. For instance, once we get the concept of a healthy life plan ingrained into your mind, we show you how to cheat a little and get away with it. How cool is that? (We so desperately want you to like us.)

Here are just some of the topics covered in these pages:

 Need to drop a few pounds? Follow these proven ways to trim it off and keep it off so you get more out of your training, improve your appearance and enjoy greater health.

 Are you already in shape? Learn how to stay that way as you get older.

 Are you underweight? Learn proven ways to combine eating, supplementation and exercise to put on muscle that adds awesome power to your punches, kicks and grappling.

 Want to lose five or 10 pounds quickly? Learn the best way to do it safely.

 Want to stay in your weight division or move up or down one? It’s easy with these proven methods.

 Confused about carbohydrates and protein grams? Use these easy-to-follow formulas for determining how many you need for maximum energy and optimum muscle repair.

 Are you drinking enough liquids? Learn how water, sports drinks and even coffee can make you faster, stronger, and more energetic.

 Want a hamburger? Learn how to eat healthily at fast food joints.

 Want a beer? Find out how you can work a frosty one into your healthy lifestyle.

 Want ice cream, cake and pizza? Find out how to eat those goodies and still kick and punch like a real warrior.

 Not sure if you can do it? Oh, yes you can, and you will learn how to develop the right mind-set. The warrior mind.

We aren’t going to lie to you like they do in some of those ads that claim you can drop 10 pounds in a week and develop a six-pack of stomach muscles in only three minutes a day. We do tell you how to achieve those goals, but know that it takes effort, discipline and more time than what the ads want you to believe. We don’t baby you and tell you everything a lazy person wants to hear. But you can count on us for the truth and for information that is healthy and productive.

While nutrition is a complex field, we have made every effort to make it easy to understand. Once your mind is ready, we think you will find it a pleasant journey, one that has two destinations: a place where you enjoy greater health and a place where you achieve the best that you can be in your fighting art.

As students of health, diet, nutrition, exercise, psychology, personal motivation, and the martial arts, we know first hand that this information works because we have been proving it for over 55 combined years of training, teaching, coaching, advising and personal consultation. You won’t find in these pages any of those whiz-bang, new supplements and diets that come out virtually every week. We present only that information that has proven itself over the years to have lasting results.

While this book could have been over a thousand pages of complex, boring data, we have worked hard to make the information succinct, usable and even fun. We have personally used every workout and eating plan presented here and, to make your path a smooth one, we have moved aside most of the obstacles and point out where others are hiding and waiting to spring like evil ninjas.

So, stir yourself up a protein shake and let’s get started.