Serious practitioners of martial arts need to get the right nutrition for their body. To reach your highest potential, all of your body systems must be perfectly tuned. Having a balanced diet and drinking enough water is necessary for martial artists so their body can make energy efficiently and fuel top performance. You can make the most of your martial art talents and gain more strength, power and endurance when you train. Base your diet on a variety of factors including your age, size and physical condition; and the type of martial art you are practicing.
A balanced diet must have carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, mineral salts and fibre in the right proportions. Our body also needs plenty of water. Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy. Your body converts sugars and starches in carbohydrates to glucose or stores it in the liver and muscle tissues, giving you endurance and power for high-intensity, short-duration activities. If your body runs out of carbohydrate fuel during exercise, it will burn fat and protein for energy, causing your performance level to drop. Proteins are required for growth and repair. There are over 20 different amino-acids. Our bodies can turn the amino-acids back into protein. Proteins give your body power to build new tissues and fluids, among other functions. Your body cannot store extra protein, so it burns it for energy or converts it to fat. The amount of protein a martial artist needs depends in part upon level of fitness, exercise type, intensity and duration, total calories; and carbohydrate intake. Fats are used as a source of energy: they are also stored beneath the skin. Your body needs small amounts of fat for certain critical functions and as an alternative energy source to glucose. How your body uses fat for energy depends upon the intensity and duration of exercise. Vitamins are only required in very small quantities. Minerals are also needed in small quantities, but in more quantities than we need vitamins.
Practicing martial arts also require a basic level of fitness level of the body of the practitioner. Starting an exercise program can be hard, particularly if your body is not accustomed to exercise. You should take part in cardiovascular activities that put little strain on joints and use the large muscle groups. One good activity for endurance building is walking. You may benefit more from cycling or in-line skating at a moderate pace to help build endurance. Playing any sport is also a great exercise for your body. A weight program can also be very good at building muscles and bone strength, but it's better for teenagers to use smaller weights with many repetitions than big heavy weights. Strength training for example, must consist of more than just lifting heavy weights if you're a martial artist. Then there's speed training, power training, endurance training and flexibility.
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