Universal Taekwondo Federation

'Nutrition' by Tom Miklausic

The term nutrition refers to the dietary requirements of an individual. This essay focuses on the dietary requirements of a tae-kwon-doe fighter. Everybody is different; different shapes, sizes and metabolisms. These variations naturally suit people to different sports. As a result dietary requirements vary from sport to sport, and athlete to athlete. They will also change surrounding training and most importantly competition. Where dietary techniques are incorporated to bring the body to optimum condition for performance.

A fighter's regime includes a range of training. As fights are arranged by weight it is important to recognize that the fighter must keep to his optimum weight. This means a lean body. The type of weight training that a fighter does is the major factor for weight, but diet is coupled with weights. There are general eating rules that all athletes should keep to: The body should be supplied with the energy it requires, as it needs it. This means that you should eat in regular meals (five to six per day) of smaller portions. Large portions less regularly leads to the body storing excess as fat. A fighter needs to be lean; i.e. have a low body fat percentage (keeping weight down). The amount of carbohydrate and protein incorporated into these meals will vary depending on the size of the fighter and the amount of training that they are doing. There should be a spread of the different food groups in each meal; including a variety of fruit and vegetables, and cutting down on fat and red meats. Fluid is also important. You should consume two litres of water per day; with an additional one litre for every hour of exercise.

Leading up to a fight the diet will be modified. Amateur fights consist of only three rounds. But if it is a tournament you maybe required to fight more than once in a day. When fighting the fighter needs to be full of energy and feeling comfortable. This state will be achieved by the eating pattern leading up to the fight. Once you start to exercise your stomach constricts and stops digesting. This means that any food in your stomach that can not be absorbed through the gut wall will stop being digested when exercise commences. This will cause discomfort thus must be avoided. All athletes should eat their last meal no later than three hours before the physical activity commences. To prepare for the fight, dietary preparation starts the day before. There are four major food energy sources: Fat, alcohol, protein and carbohydrate. Alcohol contains the highest level of energy but is the hardest to breakdown; it also has other undesirable effects for sport. Protein is normally used for growth and repair thus is not easily broken down into energy hence is not ideal for sporting purpose. Fat is a good source of energy it contains a higher amount of energy than carbohydrates. However it takes twice as much oxygen to breakdown. This means it is good for slow endurance work but not short high intensity work such as tae-kwon-do. The body finds carbohydrate the easiest to breakdown, using oxygen at a rate that can be matched by breathing and circulation flow rate. Therefore, carbohydrate is the main source of energy. To prepare the body for the fight the muscles and liver must be fully replenished with glycogen (a form of carbohydrate); and totally hydrated. From the day before leading up to the event you should increase the quantity of water and complex carbohydrates taken on, cutting right down on protein food. More water should also be consumed as when "carbo-loading" you need water to bond with the carbohydrate. If it were only a one-fight event then carbo-loading would not be necessary as there would not be time to use the stored energy. In a tournament situation however it is important; energy is required over a long period of time. In the immediate lead up to a fight simple sugar carbohydrates such as honey should be avoided. The body will absorb these to quickly causing the blood sugar level to rise suddenly. This sudden rise stimulates insulin to be released which lowers blood sugar level. The effect is a brief rise in energy levels followed by a steep drop. The final symptom is lower energy levels than before the simple sugar consumption. Complex carbohydrates contained in foods such as pasta eaten at the last meal will gradually raise the blood glucose level avoiding the release of insulin. Once the activity has started simple sugars can be consumed to sustain energy levels or even after exercise to aid recovery. This is especially important in tournaments when the fights are relatively close together. Simple sugars are most easily consumed in drink form. Making a simple sugar/ water solution is an effective method. However the correct ratio must be used: Anything over an eight-percent ratio of simple sugar to water will mean a slow absorption process.

It is important to understand the nutritional impact on sport. Nutrition is as important to a performer as is training. Using this information in a practical manner will result in a better-prepared performer. In turn this will give the nutritionally aware performer an edge over his less prepared competitors. In short incorporating sound nutritional methods can be the difference between winning and losing!

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