Martial Artists aim to build themselves as high as they can. That’s why we spend so much time building a strong foundation. Strong Mind. Strong Spirit. Strong Body.
We seek to be strong; to be supple, resilient and powerful. We want to have stamina, endurance and explosive energy. We value our health, vitality and the ability to train at our fullest potential. And so we must look after our body, so that our mind is clear, our spirit is enriched, and our punch is solid. A healthy life supports our warrior path and upgrades our training. Supplementing our Martial training with healthy diet and exercise elevates our physical ability and improves the foundations our our lives.
Every journey starts with a first step and every Master needed guidance along the way. The choices we make along the way ultimately determine where we end up. Here’s my advice, from 22 years of building a strong foundation.
How to use this guide - The pyramid chart demonstrates the building blocks of healthy physical training outside the Dojang. The base of the pyramid is most important, with each step up only being built when the level below is completed. Weak foundations crumble the work above it so get each level right before moving up the pyramid. Be honest about which training class you’re working at before getting started; beginner, casual or athlete. If is doubt, start at the beginner level and steadily work through the pyramid tiers. Only move onto the next tier if you are confident in, and fulfilling your commitments to, the tier below it. Once you’ve consistently fulfilling the top tier, you might just be ready to move up a level to casual or athlete class.
BEGINNER CLASS
Level 1, educate yourself and build a strong foundation.
- Macronutrients (Carbs/Protein/Fats)
Get your balance right, forget low carb diets, forget no fat diets, in fact, forget diets altogether. I’ve done nearly all of them because I like to try things for myself and I can say that specialist diets do have their place, but only once you’ve mastered the basics, understand your body and are looking to achieve directed goals, they DO NOT WORK in the long term for maintaining health and fitness.
There are more risks in getting this element wrong than all the others. Carbs aren’t bad, fats don’t make you fat, don’t get taken in by social media fads and catchy nonsense like ‘superfoods’ and ‘cleansing’. Start with a relaxed 50/30/20 division of carbs/fats/protein for now.
- Calorie Intake
More important than exercise? Damn right! Because diet has a vastly bigger impact upon your weight than exercise. And while we’re on it, forget BMI, it’s hogwash! Go by body fat content instead, for which home scales are readily available and accurate enough for most.
Monitor your calorie intake daily and make the necessary adjustments as you go, bearing in mind your macros of course! Awareness at this stage will move you into new patterns of conscious eating. This app will track your calories (and macros) just from the barcode....!
- 80/20 rule
Take a break, don’t over train, treat yourself. Observe your programme 80% of the time, reservedly entertain your urges the other 20% but be honest with yourself so you don’t lose focus. If you allow a break in your programme, you won’t shame spiral!
- Exercise
Here’s where you can start tailoring your programme dependant upon your goals. Starting out, focus on calisthenics (body weight exercises), plyometrics (jumping exercises) and then weight bearing exercises. This will balance your cardio vs. resistance time.
Don’t over do it, quality over quantity. Balance your exercises, so many (dudes) focus on just upper body or even just chest and become hugely dysfunctional. Your core is the only body segment you can push every day, everything else should get equal attention.
- Meal Timing
As a rule, consumption should cease at least 4 hours before bed and you should have a meal following a workout.
- Supplements
Forget supplements: at this stage, they are a complete waste of money. The exception to this may be protein supplements for vegetarians who have an actual dietary deficiency. Otherwise, dietary needs can be achieved through a normal balanced diet.
CASUAL CLASS
Leave old habits behind, develop a new and sustainable you.
- Macronutrients (Carbs/Protein/Fats)
It’s at this stage you need to start thinking more seriously about what you’re eating.
Work out your body type (Ecto/Endo/Meso) then focus on making sure you get enough of each food group to get your body working at optimum efficiency for your body type. This website will guide you on how much of each....
Make water your best friend, it may not be a macro but it’s just as important, hydrate well and often to up your energy levels.
- Calorie Intake
Calculate your resting metabolic rate below (how much energy you use in a day when inactive). Then adjust for your goals (lose weight/gain muscle) and remember to adjust the basic rate with any calories you burn with exercise (up to a 200cal limit)
- 80/20 rule
Take a full week off exercise every couple of months, your body will thank you and you’ll probably find you have a surge towards your goals during this time.
- Exercise
Make a commitment to a detailed schedule, work out what exercises you like and concentrate on building a complete programme that includes active stretching. Your training needs to be consistent at this stage, progress comes from a slow-increase in either duration, intensity or frequency. Start shaking things up by introducing new exercises and varied training methods. Time to start getting some low-level home gym equipment; adjustable dumbbells, bench, padded mat, kick-bag, etc. (Or join a gym if you’re actually going to use it?!). I’m a big fan of the home workout DVD’s (insanity/UFC fit, etc) which can provide great direction and motivation to the casual user.
- Meal Timing
As per beginner level but now you need to be thinking about tying in your macronutrient knowledge into when you need each type of food and timing protein hits for post-workout and pre-bedtime. Traditionally carbs should be consumed earlier in the day, however there are conflicting studies significant enough for me to say, ‘play with it and see what works for you as an individual’.
- Supplements
Dietary Protein, with or without supplements. That’s about it still. Save your money.
ATHLETE CLASS
Turn it up to 11, get high off your own lifestyle! Your old workout is your new warmup!
- Macronutrients (Carbs/Protein/Fats)
Forget what you thought you knew, since you’re at a level where you have serious control over your diet, you can start playing with macronutrient variation, dropping carbs or cutting dairy, etc. for fine-tuning.
- Calorie Intake
Take what you have already learnt but ensure that you’re constantly reevaluating your body’s needs. Athlete class is about conscious and constant work. Consider calorie excess and deficit plans for specific goals. Consciously alternating between the two will keep your metabolism firing. That being said, calorie counting is no longer a primary concern at this stage since you should have a more advanced understanding of how to fuel your body without relying on the largest denominator.
- 80/20 rule
Dirt days aren’t quite so dirty and you’re looking for closer to a 90/10 rule.
- Exercise
Advice for athlete level exercise depends upon the athletic focus. By this stage, you probably know what you need to know, however, I have some general recommendations;
- educate yourself on fast and slow-twitch muscle fibres, incorporate exercises that train both into your routine
- get into supersets if you’re weightlifting
- what ever you’re doing; don’t neglect stretching, before, during and after training, incorporate dynamic and static stretching
- avoid ‘overtraining’, it’s as simple as listening to your body and knowing when to push and when to actively rest
- Meal Timing
Now we’re getting into the speciality stuff. Fasting. It comes in many different forms, find and tailor what works for you. Fasting is not about starvation, it can be used daily as part of your regime for fine tuning your body. You’ll live longer, feel better and will have a healthier metabolism.
Examples....
16 hour fasting - eat all your meals within an 8 hour period, fast for the remaining 16.
Alternate fasting - eat like normal one day then reduce your intake the next day to a half or a third of normal
One meal a day - eat all your calories in one go, fast the rest of the 24 hours
- Supplements
What works here is a matter of opinion, your guess is as good as mine. My personal opinion is that most of it is gimmicky (and expensive) nonsense. My best advice? Stick with the basics, protein and a pre-workout. Leave the rest to your diet!
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