Questions For Coach John

QUESTION:


Dear Coach John,
What should Boxers eat?
KB



ANSWER:
KB, that’s a great question and my immediate answer would be food…but let’s dig a little deeper shall we? I think the best answer would be “FUEL”. As an athlete, more specifically a fighter (Boxer, Kickboxer, MMA or Wrestler) you will need fuel for your training and competitions as well. By using the term “FUEL”, it literally gets you in the mindset that what you put into your body makes a HUGE difference in your performance and skill development. Image eating ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner and then try to train in my classes! Also imagine eating nothing but salad and then trying to train! It would still be catastrophic because there is simply not enough FUEL (nutritional value) in salads for what a fighter needs!


Now, my question would be: do you need to lose weight, gain weight or maintain your body weight for your next fight? Knowing the answer to that question will also help you decide what fuel/food you should be consuming and what amount as well. If you need to lose weight then you need to figure out how many calories you’ll need to drop out of your daily FUEL intake and at what times? (Don’t skip meals, just eat smaller amounts.) If you need to gain then be sure it is in the form of muscle and not fat, so at that point you’ll have to figure out how many more grams of protein you’ll need to consume on a daily basis -as well as what exercises will help you build strong functional muscle. If you need to simply maintain, then get your daily FUEL intake down to a science NOW so that in the future, should you need to drop or gain weight, you’ll know exactly where to add or subtract extra calories.


Keep this in mind: if you train as a fighter does, then you’ll burn anywhere from 800 to 1200 calories in a session. Knowing that will help you figure out much more quickly what your FUEL intake needs are on a daily and weekly basis. Another thing- your off-training days should not have as much calories as your training days. One more: the 2 most important meals of the day are your breakfast and your after workout meals, NEVER skip those.

Here's an example of what I ate yesterday:
meal 1: 1 cup cheerioes with fat free milk, 46 gram protein shake with water
Meal 2: 1/2 pound lean ground beef, slice of 12 grain bread, slice of cheese
Meal 3: 1/2 pound of roast beef, two slices cheese
Meal 4: 48 grams protein (Chobani Yogurt)
Meal 5: 70 gram protein shake with water
Meal 6: 1 packet uncle bens rice, one can tuna, teaspoon soy sauce

Here are good sources of Protein: Chicken, fish, lean beef, canned tuna, tofu, eggs, protein shakes

Here are good sources of carbs: Potatoes (sweet and regular), rice (brown and white), whole grain bread, pasta, oatmeal





WARNING!!!: Across the nation I see fat coaches who attempt to give nutritional advice to fighters about how to get into shape. Never ask a fat man how to get into shape.