Issue 038
June 2008
1. Plan what you are going to eat
In order to stick to a diet, first decide what you are going to eat. Think about what types of foods are going to be most beneficial to you for your specific goals, think of some meals that can be made with those ingredients and stick to it! You may have to go as far as writing a template of what meal you are going to eat at what specific time to start off with, this will help focus you. Once you know what you are going to eat, go shopping and buy it! This will ensure that you have all the ingredients necessary for every meal.
2. Cook food in advance
If you know what you are planning on eating, cooking in advance will save a lot of time. Dishes that are good to cook in large quantities and save for later include chili, stir frys, stews etc. These can then simply be warmed up to give you another easy meal. Also consider chopping things like onions and peppers, grating cheese and the like and putting them in containers ready to use. Learn from every commercial kitchen in the world – preparing in advance makes life easier when you need to save time later.
3. Keep the end result in mind
If you are not focused on the end result it will be all too easy to deviate from the plan. If you are trying to lose weight and someone brings a cake in to work, will you eat it or not? If you keep in mind your goal and the effect all your choices make you will get there much faster.
4. Avoid trigger foods
If there is a food you know you can’t eat ‘one’ of, make sure you don’t have one! For instance, if you find that ‘once you pop, you can’t stop’, avoid that particular food at all costs. I normally suggest throwing away all the junk in the house, but if you live with other people that have junk food, make sure you don’t fall into the trap of having ‘a little bit’ of it.
5. Find healthy alternatives
If you have a sweet tooth, you won’t last long on chicken and broccoli! But you don’t want to gorge yourself on cake or sweets either, so you need to come up with something that is the best of both worlds. A good example of this is sugar free jelly. This has virtually no calories but tastes quite good.
Ask Alex
I've seen a lot about Crossfit on the Internet and was wondering what you thought of it? It seems to be pretty hardcore but a few fighters have said it works and it definitely looks like a good way of getting fit.
Shaun, West Yorkshire.
Based on what I have seen, it looks like an effective program – for certain people, at certain periods in time. If your fitness is not high or your posture is not perfect it is probably best to start on a preparatory workout to ensure you are ready for the intensity of the workouts.
I want to buy a kettlebell to use at home and the local park. I'm 80kgs and pretty fit and do MMA about three times a week. What weight should I start with, and should I buy more than one? I've seen workouts on YouTube that require two bells.
Paul, London.
Depending on your strength, a 16kg or 20kg bell would be a challenging starting point. I would get different weights before getting pairs, as you will then have more options of exercises and loading.
Do you think Fish Oil would be worth including in my supplement plan?
Neil, Mansfield.
Definitely, although in fact I almost classify it as food rather than supplements. I would recommend getting some gel caps (unless you like the taste of fish!) and taking one or two capsules with each meal.
I always struggle with lactic acid build up when going hard on the bag / pads. It gets to the point where it's almost unbearable to keep my hands up, let alone throw a solid fast punch. What’s the best thing in your opinion to combat this? Just do it more often to increase the tolerance along with punch out drills or maybe add a bit more endurance work for the delts somewhere along the line?
Jamie, Middlesborough.
You need to train the systems that process lactic acid, as well as local adaptation in the muscles that are most affected. Also, using better technique and being more relaxed can help a lot. Basically, you have to train the aerobic and anaerobic systems to be more efficient and work on your strength-endurance in the muscles.
Is it possible to strengthen or bulk up your wrists? My performance in competition and training has increased massively, but my wrists seem to be a weak link in the chain. Any suggestions?
Chris, Devon.
Some ideas for this are sandbag work, towel pull-ups, thick bar work, static bar holds, kettlebell work, sledgehammer work / levering, wrist curls, plate pinching etc. There are some ideas in the new Training For Warriors book by Martin Rooney, and there have also been many ideas in Fighters Only over the last few months. In fact Zach Even-Esh wrote a great article just a few months ago!
