We all want to perform our best when it comes to time on the mat. What we eat and when we eat plays a role in our performance. No matter what type of exercise routine we are doing, it’s important to fuel our bodies properly. Eating the wrong foods before training can leave you feeling sluggish and unable to give it your all.
10 Worst foods to eat before training BJJ?
1. Fast food: High in fat and low in nutrients, fast food gives you empty calories that won’t help with your training. Lets be honest, eating fast food is probably a bad idea in general.
2. Sugary snacks: Too much sugar can make you energetic at first but than make you sluggish and lethargic during a workout, so stay away from candy bars, cookies and other sugary treats before heading to the gym.
3. Highly processed meats: Hotdogs, sausages and other processed meats have high levels of sodium and saturated fat that can slow you down during a training session. These are not great to fuel your body no matter how many grams of protein it says it has.
4. Caffeinated beverages: Drinking an energy drink or coffee before training may provide short-term benefits, but the caffeine crash afterwards is not worth it. If you are going to drink an energy drink it may be better to consume one with ZERO sugar. This may help mitigate the crash after consuming it.
5. Fried foods: Greasy French fries, chicken wings and other fried foods are not a good pre-training snack because they can leave you feeling bloated and sluggish when working out. It also may be harder for your body to process these foods.
6. Alcohol: Avoid drinking alcohol before training. It can slow down your reaction time and leave you dehydrated.
7. Whole milk and dairy products: Dairy has been shown to slow digestion, so try to avoid drinking whole milk or eating cheese before hitting the mats. Its probably better to hydrate and drink water.
8. Sugary cereals: With their high sugar content and low fiber levels, sugary cereals are not a good pre-training fuel source. If your going to eat cereal try something with low or no sugar and that is high in protein.
9. White breads and pastas: Refined white flour products like white bread, pasta and pizza are low in fiber and can cause a spike in blood sugar that isn’t ideal for training. What goes up must come down and in this case you may experience a crash.
10. High-fat nuts: Almonds, cashews and other high-fat nuts give you energy but can make you feel sluggish during a workout. Maybe reconsider trail mix before training.
11. Acai: Totally kidding! Acai is great and will give you Brazilian Jiu Jitsu superpowers. Street Nicknames are as follows, "OSS-Eye-E" AKA "The Purple Secret" AKA "Eye of the Purple Tiger" AKA "Brazilian Sizzurup" AKA "Fruity Steroids"
It’s important to fuel your body properly before a training session, so stick with healthy snacks like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins for optimal performance on the mats. Eating too much of the wrong foods before training could leave you feeling lethargic and unable to give it your all. So take the time to plan out your pre-training meal or snack and make sure you’re getting the right balance of nutrients.
Stick with healthy snacks like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins for optimal performance on the mats.
Matthew Tropp | BJJ Report
Info@bjjreport.com