Issue 079
September 2011
Simon Jurkiw is training and education manager for the UK’s number-one sports nutrition supplier
One area, within sports nutrition, that is becoming increasingly popular is pre-workout drinks. Many athletes, including fighters, across a number of different sports are consuming various pre-workout drinks to enhance their training sessions. Below are some of the more common ingredients and an overview on whether they will help a fighter during fight camp.
Carbohydrate
The majority of pre-workout drinks contain carbohydrate – normally in the form of sugar (typically labeled as dextrose). This provides the body with an immediate source of energy. However, it is wise to consider the intensity and duration of your training sessions before knocking back 50g of sugar. If you’ve eaten well during the day and your session is under 45 minutes, carbohydrate availability shouldn’t affect the intensity of the training session. However, for longer sessions or instances where you’ve not fueled your body appropriately beforehand, a carbohydrate-based drink can be advantageous in providing more fuel for the muscles.
One aspect to be aware of is that sugary drinks can cause a rebound effect, where your blood-sugar levels drop to quite low levels. This detrimentally impacts concentration, and potentially technique. For this reason, avoid ‘downing’ these drinks immediately before training.
Creatine
The main reason creatine is used is to top up high-intensity energy stores. A creatine drink pre-training is probably going to have negligible effect here, as it’s a case of ‘too little, too late.’ Consistent use of creatine, will provide a source of increased high-intensity energy. There may still be benefits of creatine pre-workout as recent research shows that creatine can help the brain; users can experience increases in concentration. For a fighter, concentration can be the difference between winning and losing. Around 3–5g of creatine monohydrate is a sensible quantity.
Branched chain amino acids
Initially very popular with bodybuilders, BCAA are now being utilized throughout many sports. For a fighter, the main benefit is a decrease in muscle damage. A fighter’s training is frequent and intense. Fast recovery from training sessions is crucial, so that maximum effort can be put into the next session. Approximately 3–6g of BCAA (half of which should be leucine), has been shown to reduce muscle damage in different populations.
Caffeine
Many of us love coffee in the morning, to provide a boost for the day ahead. Caffeine has become popular pre-training for the same reason. Aside from the obvious increases in alertness and improvements in concentration, caffeine has also been shown to reduce perceived exertion – or how hard you think you’re training. If you think you’re working at a slightly lower intensity, it means you can push yourself a little further in training sessions, creating additional stimulus for improvement. The cognitive benefits of caffeine can be achieved with around 1–3mg per kilogram of bodyweight; so for a 70kg fighter, 70–210mg. Your average cup of coffee contains circa 60mg (depending on the type of coffee) and, interestingly, performance benefits are often seen with caffeine as opposed to coffee.
Beta alanine
This is a naturally occurring amino acid and has been shown to increase resistance to fatigue. The aim is to increase the amount of ‘work’ performed in a training session. Beta alanine increases carnosine concentrations which acts as a buffer in the muscle. Typical doses would be 3–4g per day. Needs to be taken for a prolonged period as there would be no real performance gain from one dose.
The above gives an array of nutrients that may contribute to increasing the productivity of your fight training. For intense sessions, or even a competitive fight, a drink with some carbohydrate, creatine, BCAA, caffeine and beta alanine would be a pretty effective formula.
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