Nutrition for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu w/ Alex Maclin

When it comes to your training and your fueling, you need to think about the bigger picture. For sports such as Brazillian jiu-jitsu, which has a wide range of intensity demands, you need to switch your mindset and fuel your body for your practice. While being strong is a sort of ‘cheat code’ in Brazillian jiu-jitsu, it is nothing without the right fuel to back it up.

Key Takeaways

If You Have Questions About Your Nutrition, You Should:

1. Remember that what you eat today is your fuel for tomorrow

2. Don't believe the hype around trends like fasting and no-carb

3. Work with a coach who understands your goals and can help you achieve them in a sustainable way

Nutritional Lessons with Alex Maclin

Alex Maclin is a fellow performance nutrition coach, strength training enthusiast, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu player. He is passionate about helping athletically minded folks fuel themselves with the proper nutrition so that they can get more out of their performance. Throughout his health journey, he has coached hundreds of athletes through online training programs for weightlifting, strength, and conditioning, and is here today to share his knowledge with you.

Your Training Goes Beyond the Gym

When it comes to your training, it does not just exist when you are on the mat or in the gym. What you do around your training, how you eat, recover, hydrate, and think about your training, can also have a huge impact on your ability to accomplish your goals. 

Even if you are not competing, if you want to train consistently and give it your all, you have to put some thought, strategy, and planning into what you are doing outside of the gym. This means thinking proactively about what you eat and remembering that what you eat today is fuel for tomorrow.  

Optimal Fueling = Optimal Results

Training, recovery, and nutrition practices work together as a system to help you achieve your best results. This can get tricky when we see the amount of misinformation and conditioning that we have been exposed to, especially as female athletes. 

Even if you are not into Brazillian jiu-jitsu, the fueling practices talked about in this episode will help guide your performance, nutrition, and your own athletic endeavors. When you can understand how to fuel yourself optimally, you can see your optimal performance a lot clearer.

What has your experience been with fueling for sports such as Brazillian jiu-jitsu? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• What makes Brazilian jiu-jitsu such a natural transition for many athletes (7:30)
• The biggest nutrition mistakes that every day people fall into in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world and beyond (19:58)
• Understanding the role of carbohydrates and protein in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, recovery, and strength training (31:47)
• Why fasting is challenging for athletic folks and how the timing of fueling can impact your performance (45:52)
• The importance of hydration in sports such as Brazillian jiu-jitsu, where sweat is flowing (1:05:07)

Quotes

“[This isn't] just for competitive jiu-jitsu athletes. This is for the average everyday people like me who just want to train, and they love it, and they want to feel good on the mat.” (6:38)

“These foods that you are eating are foods that are going to help you feel better, help you perform better, and give you more energy. That is a really big mindset shift. Not looking at things as just having calories… but actually how this food is going to help you kick some more ass and recover.” (25:24)

“You can eat at levels that you need to eat without fasting; you just need to make sure that you are getting the proper amount of calories per day.” (48:56)

“What we eat today is for the next day.” (50:50)

“Learn concepts of jiu-jitsu rather than just learning all these moves. I think that was the most overwhelming part.” (1:15:57)

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Full show notes

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