Semi OT: Best meal to eat (for recovery) after fighting?

[helene]

Masaru Ohtani and colleagues from the University of Tokyo studied the impact of the amino acid mixture of branched chain amino acids, arginine and glutamine on participants performing high intensity resistance exercise for 90 days. They found that subjects taking the amino acid mixture were able to recover quicker and experienced less muscle damage at the end of the study compared to baseline values, according to research published in the February 2006 issue of the "Journal of Nutrition."

This study appears to support my first hand experience. It may also be because I take them regularly see this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300014.

Cool, I learned something new today. NIH has a large number of studies about amino acid supplements and mean recovery time for athletes. I have some reading to do!

My current workout recovery meal is based on the "chocolate milk theory" : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term ... 20recovery . I read some literature on why chocolate milk was recomended and what it optimized, and then went out to engineer an even better option since I love to lower the glycemic index and raise the nutrition of my recipes. The resulting meal is gingerbread yogurt and a banana. By using blackstrap molasses (which is a nutritional powerhouse), yogurt, and whey it makes for a good mix of carbs, protein, electrolytes, and minerals. One of the most common nutritional issues in a western diet is not enough minerals - all that calcium, magnesium, and potassium really help improve your recovery and prevent muscle cramps (especially if your diet is generally deficient). Your diet may already have enough protein, in which case you can skip the whey. I like it because it makes it kind of frothy. You could also add a little milk and make it a smoothie if that's how you roll. The surprising thing to me is that this is actually a lot of food and I don't always finish it.

Gingerbread yogurt (not for the faint of pallette):

• * 1 cup 2% greek yogurt (http://www.fageusa.com/products/fage-total-2-percent/)
  * 2 Tbsp blackstrap molasses ( http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid ... nalprofile & http://www.shopwell.com/brer-rabbit-mol ... _1jjrv4jnw)
  * 1 tsp cinnamin
  * 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  * 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  * 2 Tbsp whey protein powder

(Caveat - I am just a giant nerd who reads pub med. This is not medical advice.)

- Helene von Braunschweyg

[Steven H]

This study appears to support my first hand experience. It may also be because I take them regularly see this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300014.

This study was ridiculously small and did not study the characteristics you describe. It studied hormone levels. While those can indicate certain effects, the role of every hormone is so complex that it is incorrect to extrapolate from hormone levels to performance results. Further study that actually tests performance results would be needed.

I work out strenously every day. My cardio & strenght training are not specifically geared toward SCA fighting. I can say that I do get sore after a long day of fighting, but, Alas, I am also getting older.

Not to be argumentative, but if your S&C was actually geared towards your fighting you would be less likely to be sore after fighting. That's one of the essential results of a proper S&C program.

Cheers,
Steven

[Eirik]

Thanks for not taking my reply too seriously and busting my chops!

I find that, mostly, I need fluids and electrolytes to recover.

I do try to eat a little extra protein over the next couple of days, as I was always told during football workouts that your muscles would require it to build more muscle. Are you saying this is not true, or just that there is no imediate need for protein?

The conversation, up to now, has been about event recovery. Protein consumption, and the form it takes, will not meaningfully change this.

People engaging in vigorous strength training need more protein than those who don't, though. However, the typical American diet has enough protein in it that no extra is required for strength training. In other words, most of us don't need to eat more meat 'cause of fighting or training. To emphasize, I'm comparing minimum requirements and typical consumption pattern.

So if you eat a typical Western diet, than you don't have a specific need to increase protein because of your fighting.

Again, if you're getting everything you need, then eat what you like. It's more fun.

Cheers,
Steven

Thanks man!

[bigfredb]

This study appears to support my first hand experience. It may also be because I take them regularly see this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300014.

This study was ridiculously small and did not study the characteristics you describe. It studied hormone levels. While those can indicate certain effects, the role of every hormone is so complex that it is incorrect to extrapolate from hormone levels to performance results. Further study that actually tests performance results would be needed.

I work out strenously every day. My cardio & strenght training are not specifically geared toward SCA fighting. I can say that I do get sore after a long day of fighting, but, Alas, I am also getting older.

Not to be argumentative, but if your S&C was actually geared towards your fighting you would be less likely to be sore after fighting. That's one of the essential results of a proper S&C program.

Hopefully, we can agree that there are different schools of thought when it comes to this topic (as with anything).

I agree that if my S&C was geared specifically toward my fighting, I would not be sore. However, I do other things than just fight in terms of exercise.

[bigfredb]

This study appears to support my first hand experience. It may also be because I take them regularly see this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300014.

This study was ridiculously small and did not study the characteristics you describe. It studied hormone levels. While those can indicate certain effects, the role of every hormone is so complex that it is incorrect to extrapolate from hormone levels to performance results. Further study that actually tests performance results would be needed.

I work out strenously every day. My cardio & strenght training are not specifically geared toward SCA fighting. I can say that I do get sore after a long day of fighting, but, Alas, I am also getting older.

Not to be argumentative, but if your S&C was actually geared towards your fighting you would be less likely to be sore after fighting. That's one of the essential results of a proper S&C program.

Hopefully, we can agree that there are different schools of thought when it comes to this topic (as with anything). Just for clarification, the Study I referred to from Masaru Ohtani was different that the link I had posted which referred to muscle recovery from BCAA on a regular basis.

I agree that if my S&C was geared specifically toward my fighting, I would not be sore. However, I do other things than just fight in terms of exercise.