The Fighter's Body: The Martial Artist's Solution to Diet, Strength, and Health

by Loren W Christensen, Wim Demeere

Overview

You have an owner’s manual for your car, your stereo, and even your blender, so why not your body? The Fighter’s Body is exactly that—an owner’s manual for your most complex piece of equipment.

As a martial artist, you make special demands of your body. Have you ever wondered how that latest fad diet might affect your performance on the mat? Ever wanted to take off a few extra pounds? How about putting on muscle without slowing down? Making weight for a tournament? Losing five pounds fast? Eating better? Changing weight classes? Are you confused about supplements, vitamins, and protein shakes? Don’t know where to start? Start here.
This book will answer your questions about important topics including

·Why some diets are harmful for martial artists
· How to calculate your protein needs for training
·When and how to use supplements
·How to eat at fast food places and not ruin your diet
·Why it’s OK to splurge on “dirt day”
·How to safely make weight for a tournament
·Why HIIT training is essential to weight loss
·What to eat on competition days
·How to create a plan that works and stick to it

Loren W. Christensen and personal trainer Wim Demeere combine their knowledge of martial arts, weight training, nutrition, diet, and exercise to answer your questions and put you on the road to becoming the best martial arts athlete you can be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594394980
Publisher:	Ymaa Publication Center
Publication date:	10/15/2016
Edition description:	2nd Edition
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	112,857
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Loren W. Christensen has been involved with martial arts since 1965. He has earned an 8th dan in American Free Style Karate, 2nd dan in Jujitsu, and 1st dan in Modern Arnis. Loren has authored over 50 books (a couple non-fiction), and has written popular articles for numerous martial arts magazines during the past 30 years. Loren was inducted into the 2001 Masters Hall of Fame for a Golden Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a retired Army MP and Portland Police Officer. Loren Christensen resides in Portland Oregon.

Wim Demeere began training at the age of 14, studying the grappling ats of judo and jujitsu for several years before turning to the kick/punch arts of traditional kung fu and full contact fighting. He won four national titles and a bronze medal at the 1995 Word Wushu Championships. In 2001, he became the national coach of the Belgian Wushu fighting team. Wim instructs both business executives and athletes in nutrition, strength, endurance, and martial arts. Wim Demeere lives in Belgium.

Table of Contents

Fueling the Machine 13

1 Myths and Lies 13

10 Diet Gimmicks to Ignore 30

Infomercials 31

2 It's All About You 35

Somotypes 36

George Burns Syndrome 38

A Better Way 41

3 All About Calories 43

Carbs 44

Simple and Complex 44

Glycemic Index 45

Ignore Carb's Bad Reputation 48

How Many Carbs Per Day? 48

Protein 49

How Much to Consume 49

4 Ways to Calculate Your Needs 51

When Should You Eat Protein? 54

Everyday Foods High in Protein 55

Protein Supplements 55

Fat 56

Saturated Fat 56

Unsaturated Fat 57

Slicing the Calorie Pie 58

Vitamins and Minerals 61

Determining the Calories Needed to Gain, Lose or Maintain 61

One Other Way Men and Women Are Different 63

Calculating Your Caloric Needs for Training 64

4 Bad Diets 67

Low-carb Diets 68

Carbohydrate Diets Are All About Calories 68

Let Your Activity Determine Your Intake 70

Does Anyone Carbo-load Anymore? 71

Fat 74

More on the Two Fats 75

Fat Diets Are All About Calories 76

When You Have to Reduce Your Fat Slice 77

The Bad News About Protein Diets 77

Calcium Loss and Brittle Bones 78

Affects the Brain 78

All Fad Diets Are about Calories 79

Types of Fad Diets 79

How to Spot a Fad Diet 80

Yo-yo Effect; Dangerous Weight Fluctuations 81

Goodbye Precious Muscle 82

Dangerous to Your Health 82

5 Vitamins 85

What are Vitamins? 86

Water Soluble Vitamins 87

Fat Soluble Vitamins 87

Do Fighters Need Additional Vitamins? 88

Food or Supplements: Which are Better? 89

Fortified Foods 89

Can You Overdose? 90

How Christensen Discovered Vitamins C and E & Stopped Sneezing 90

More Facts about Vitamins to Save You Money 91

How Should Vitamins be Stored? 92

When to Take Your Vitamins 92

Minerals 92

Magnesium 93

Chromium 94

Zinc 94

Macro and Trace Minerals 95

Iron: Women and Men 96

6 Liquids 99

Dehydration 100

Symptoms 100

Sweating 101

How Much Water and How Often 102

Are Sports Drinks Good for Fighters? 103

Water Intoxication 106

How it Happens 106

How Much is Enough? 106

Carbonated Drinks 107

Alcohol: Yes or No? 107

Is Alcohol Healthy? 109

Coffee 109

Mental Benefits 110

Training Benefits 111

How Much? 112

How to Use It 113

Green Tea 113

What to Look for at the Store 114

How Much? 114

Milk 115

Whole Milk: The Bad 115

One and Two Percent Milk 116

Skim Milk: The Good 116

Seven: Your Daily Eating Plan 118

Foundation-eating plan 120

For Bachelors and Bachelorettes 123

You Can Eat Healthily at Fast Food Joints 125

Calories, Lots of Them 126

It Takes Discipline and Knowledge to Eat Right at the Drive-up 128

At the Movies 129

Dirt Day 131

Savor the Moment 132

Not for Everyone 132

Dirt Day Variations 132

Dirt Day as a Motivator 133

Eight: Losing Weight 137

Negative Caloric Balance 138

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) 139

Shadowsparring 141

HIIT on the Heavy Bag 143

Running 144

Cardio Split 146

Hard Workouts, Easy Workouts 148

Work out Before Breakfast 149

For People Severely Overweight 149

Develop powerful abs with crunches and kicks 151

Tips to Optimize Your Ab Exercises 152

Nine: Making Weight 157

Diet Down the Right Way 159

What is Your Body Type? 160

Critique Your Diet 160

Do You Gravitate Toward One Weight? 160

A Diet and Training Plan That Works for You 161

Start Early to Make Weight 161

The Zigzag Diet 163

Important Tips for Losing or Gaining 165

Last Minute Tricks 167

Ten: Dropping Weight Fast 169

Warning 169

How to Drop 5 Pounds in 10 Days 170

Prepare for It 170

Eat Frequent Meals 171

Plan Your Meals 171

Cut Calories 172

Increase Training 172

How to Drop 10 Pounds in 21 Days 174

Preparation 174

The Right Mindset 175

Let's Get Physical 175

Machine Gun Kicks 178

Kicking Sets 178

Jump Kicks 178

Kneeling Kicking Drill 179

Mitt Kicking Drill 180

Sparring Sessions 181

Cycle Your Training to Avoid Overtraining 183

Determining Your Maximum Heart Rate 184

A Pep Talk 185

What if Things Don't Go As Planned? 186

What Happens the Next Day? 187

Eleven: More Muscle, More Power 191

3 Ingredients to a Quality Weight Gain 192

Muscle Fibers 192

Resistance Exercises 192

Free-hand Exercises 193

Kick-punch Arts 194

Grappling Arts 195

Dynamic Tension 195

3 Exercises that Increase Power and Body Weight 201

Eat to Gain Weight Without Feeling Sluggish 205

Calories and Protein 205

Supplement Means Supplement 206

Monitoring Your Weight Gain Progress 208

When There are Problems 209

Creatine 210

What Is It? 211

Creatine as a Performance Enhancer 212

Can Creatine Hurt Your Performance? 213

Reduce Your Aerobic Activity to Gain Weight 214

12 Fueling the Machine 217

What to Eat Before 219

When to Eat 220

Allergies 222

Food intolerance 222

Eating for Aerobic and Anaerobic Training 223

Eating on Competition Day and at Seminars 225

13 Your Long-term Plan 229

Factors Beyond Nutrition That Affect Your Health 230

Minimizing Injury 231

Overtraining 231

Diversify Your Training 232

Periodization 232

Macro, Meso and Micro Training 233

How to Make It Work for You 233

Versatile and Safe 238

Rest 244

A Final Word on Machismo 246

14 The Mental Game 249

Plan for Problem Periods 252

Dealing with Binges 254

Self-talk 257

The Right Mindset for You 259

When You Crash and Burn 261

Conclusion 264

References 265