Foods on the tournament day.

[Fire!]

What food do you recommend on having in the morning on the tournament day? Any particular food? I saw a sempai having McDonald after weighing in he threw up after his fight.

[Fire!]

I also would like to hear opinions on what foods are the best fo the week before tournament. osu

[Bloke]

Bananas - full of potassium and help you stop cramping up.

I struggled to make the weight so I used not eat until after the weigh in and then I would have rice or pasta.

[kakatootoshi]

Dear Fire,
Have a breakfast with emphasis on carbs.
Stop eating at least 3 hours before you fight.
1 hour before you fight take one banana.
5 minutes before you fight take 3~5 grams of glucose (those tablets with vitamin B1 added are good)
Right after the tournament take orange juice (citric acid) and also energy jelly.

OSU!

[ibuki]

Originally Posted by kakatootoshi

Dear Fire,
Have a breakfast with emphasis on carbs.
Stop eating at least 3 hours before you fight.
1 hour before you fight take one banana.
5 minutes before you fight take 3~5 grams of glucose (those tablets with vitamin B1 added are good)
Right after the tournament take orange juice (citric acid) and also energy jelly.

OSU!

OSU!
Kaka-san
what is the reason for stopping eating 3 hours before fight...I usually eat small portions(milk,bananas) all the time and start warming up 6-7 minutes before a fight...I do this because I don't have much energy and if I start warming up sooner or stop eating I may lose the fight
Please Kakatootoshi explain more detailed the reasons of your advice because up to now you have always been very helpful and I am sure that this time it's the same but maybe I make a mistake
OSU!

[kakatootoshi]

Dear ibuki,
Actually this infromation was from an issue of the IKO-Matsui magazine sometime before the last world tournament. The professor who was interviewed in the article said that time was needed for food digestion. And according to him the main point in doing this was to "maintain a good balance of blood glucose and insulin". But personally I think as long as it makes you feel good you can simply follow your own tournament diet. I said this because I know many fighters in japan drinks only natural mineral water after the fights (but perhaps they have some secrets that we are not shown?) .

OSU!

[buckette]

I was told by one of my sensei's that snacking on macadamia nuts on a tournament day is good because they are a good source of energy and i'm sure there are other reasons too, but i can't remember...

[Fire!]

Originally Posted by buckette

I was told by one of my sensei's that snacking on macadamia nuts on a tournament day is good because they are a good source of energy and i'm sure there are other reasons too, but i can't remember...

isnt macadamia nuts high in bad fats? or cholesterol?

[buckette]

i know macadamia nuts are high in fats...whether it's good or bad fats, i don't know. And i'm sure a bit of cholesterol is not going to affect you too badly on a tournament day. I don't really know the basis of why macadamia nuts are good to snack on on a tournament day, i was just told this by one of our more experienced fighters. Possibly for convenience?? ie. easy to carry around, easily digested, high energy...??

[Fire!]

Thank you guys for all the replies I think I will do what Kakatootoshi said at the next tournament.

[haryodwi]

Im sure i only have to eat enough food. I did my breakfast till it filled up my stomach on 7 am and then fighting at 10 am. Well it gave me a huge energy

[haryodwi]

I had a lot of protein

[haryodwi]

And in my habit, i also have an egg, ginger, milk and honey stired up in a hot water. Huge energy you know!

[bushido spirit]

i go with bnanas too ssome choco bar too but mainly carbs for energy........

[seienchin]

Some suggestions:
1. Never, ever experiment the day of a tournament or grading. Rehearse your nutrition program several times before hand, to be sure you don't join the "throwing up" brigade. Just becaause Matsui ate it doesn't mean it will stay down in your stomach.
2. Carbohydrate loading is less important in small, single day tournaments, when you might only have to do a total of about 12 minutes of fighting. None of us wuold consider carbo loading for a 12 minute run. Altho tournament fighting is intense, it is not sufficient to deplete muscle glycogen significantly. A big multi-day tournament or a long grading is a different matter.
3. Hydration is critical. If you have to dehydrate to make the weigh-in (which I think is dumb, but there's no accounting for some people...), then rehydrate with an isotonic fluid replacement (NB Gatorade is not isotonic, as far as I am aware. Most isotonics are less sweet than gatorade). - this will ensure that things like potassium, magnesium, sodium are in the right proportions. Alternatively, use somethign like Gastrolyte (which is what we use to hydrate kiddies with diarrhoea and vomiting in Australia).
4. Macadamia nuts are high in fat - about 60% fat, but there is absolutely no cholesterol in them (there is no cholesterol in any plant food - cholesterol is an exclusively animal-based fat). Macadamias contain fats that help to lower cholesterol, so they are very good for you. I'm not sure if they are a good pre-fight meal -fats tend to take a lot longer to release their energy, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any other info.
5. My favourite pre-grading food - wholemeal banana and honey sandwiches...3 stages of carbohydrate release in one yummy snack. The honey comes out first, then the banana, followed by the slow burn of the wholegrain bread..

[Shokei Marcsui]

Originally Posted by seienchin

Some suggestions:
1. Never, ever experiment the day of a tournament or grading. Rehearse your nutrition program several times before hand, to be sure you don't join the "throwing up" brigade. Just becaause Matsui ate it doesn't mean it will stay down in your stomach.
2. Carbohydrate loading is less important in small, single day tournaments, when you might only have to do a total of about 12 minutes of fighting. None of us wuold consider carbo loading for a 12 minute run. Altho tournament fighting is intense, it is not sufficient to deplete muscle glycogen significantly. A big multi-day tournament or a long grading is a different matter.
3. Hydration is critical. If you have to dehydrate to make the weigh-in (which I think is dumb, but there's no accounting for some people...), then rehydrate with an isotonic fluid replacement (NB Gatorade is not isotonic, as far as I am aware. Most isotonics are less sweet than gatorade). - this will ensure that things like potassium, magnesium, sodium are in the right proportions. Alternatively, use somethign like Gastrolyte (which is what we use to hydrate kiddies with diarrhoea and vomiting in Australia).
4. Macadamia nuts are high in fat - about 60% fat, but there is absolutely no cholesterol in them (there is no cholesterol in any plant food - cholesterol is an exclusively animal-based fat). Macadamias contain fats that help to lower cholesterol, so they are very good for you. I'm not sure if they are a good pre-fight meal -fats tend to take a lot longer to release their energy, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any other info.
5. My favourite pre-grading food - wholemeal banana and honey sandwiches...3 stages of carbohydrate release in one yummy snack. The honey comes out first, then the banana, followed by the slow burn of the wholegrain bread..

WOW yet again great information. Thank you for sharing. I will try your Honey banana concoction for august testing.

[seienchin]

You are very welcome...but please, try it before the grading day!!!! Wouldn't want banana all over the dojo floor!

[Spirit]

What I did in the day...
during the week before (usually the same no matter tourney or not I would eat 5 times a day. I had about 7% body fat eating like this), pasta 1bls per meal dry no suase, meats rare or med rare, Milk , milk and more milk, veggies and chicken. 2-3 subs for lunch and B-fast was either big bowl of cereal or 3-4 eggs
Day of tourney, eggs and toast O/J honey or jam...
If able to eat lunch (if not judging ect) anything filling ( i once ate a whole chicken before fighting about 20 fights latter I was hungry again)
If unable to grab a meal, then bannana to fill up, apples for energy as well oranges for energy and the juice for my hands helps the sweat and gives you sticky fingers.

[blackshield]

morning before I would eat wheatabix (about 4) with honey banana and milk. similar combo to seienchin. Then keep hydrating with isotonics and water (more water than iso) all through the day...then about 2 hours before i would have some noodles, maybe with some chicken (all very light stuff) and maybe 20 mins before a banana or energy food - peanuts are very good to.

[koji112091]

I think beer and pizza will always help you when the fight.