how important is a healthy lifestyle for martial arts?
Original Poster: Sparky-bjj
Forum: Others
Posted On: 14-04-2006, 14:40
Orginal Post: Sparky-bjj: How important do you think it is? The gracies for example higly value nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. They only eat good food, the don't eat refined sugar, they don't smoke, they don't drink, etc. But royce, royler renzo and ryan gracie got beat by sakuraba who smokes and drinks. Personally I don't smoke because I believe it's bad for your conditioning, but I do drink and I don't follow a certain diet (although I do eat a lot of fruit and vegetables). There's this guy at my gym who smokes a lot of pot, and his condition just sucks, but there are other guys at my gym who smoke and they don't seem to have a bad condition at all. Just like sakuraba doesn't seem to have a problem with his condition seeing that he fought royce for 90 minutes. How much does smoking and/or drinking affect your overall performance during combat according to you guys? Is a healthy lifestyle needed to be a professional fighter? Who smokes and/or drinks on the forum? I drink and I believe that it doesn't affect my condition at all.
Post: Gangsta_Nerd:
IMO, a healthy life style adds to your over all outcome; however, moderation is the key!
I train with a lot of catz who smoke & drink, but, they do it moderately! Now if a fighter is fuccin' addicted to nicotine or he/she is a drunkard, then they would most likely have a more difficult time gettin' conditioned.
I look at this situation the way I look at my diet/exercise routine; i.e. eating nothin' but healthy food & doing intense exercising routines, gets fuccin' OLD!
Sometimes you got ah mix it up! I can do a strict diet & work out several times a week for a whole month; but after that, I'm eating whateva the hell I want to for about a week! During this time I'll usually get in about 3 exercising sessions.
On the same token, others may train hard & cut down on the cancer sticks & "purple stuff;" but once they've done it for awhile, they might take a break & casually smoke/drink more often.
Again, it's all about moderation in my book. :wink: >
Post: Gazelle:
I agree with Gangsta_Nerd. A little bit of chocolate/cake or whatever it is you like to eat every now and then doesn't hurt you, and if it is something you really, really like it can actually help you.
I would like to add something to your post though Gangsta_Nerd. It depends greatl on the person. My Grandmothers friend has been smoking all her life, and i mean a lot, and yet she can get some pressure behind her breath (measured on one of those speacial things for it), better than some who have never smoked can (of course that is exceptionally unusual). My Grandmother, however has never smoked (though has worked in smokey places), and her breathe pressure is like someones who has been smoking really bad all their life. Everybody is different.>
Post: zefff:
I was going to go on about how I see a difference between martial practice and martial application and how they are effected but I cant really be bothered now. I will say that I believe martial practice supports martial performance but willpower is the basis that supports everything.
Another point though is the measure of effect that bad lifestyle habits have on us. It is easy to measure your performance against someone else at a single point in time but its harder to measure your own performance over different instances in a martial art which does not have specific, attainable goals and measures etc. (like running 100 metres).
What Im trying to say is each day in practice your condtion and performance will rise and fall but so will your training partners, so to base your 'measure' against theirs is not a good base for getting the best out of yourself in the long run IMO.
The people you train with who abuse their body might look okay to you but nobody knows what percentage of their potential they are performing to.
Oh yeah, you dont know Sakuraba personally so I dont think you can say he definetly does smoke and if he did I bet it would be a celebratory cigar here and there rather than 40 a day or whatever. :)
peace>
Post: Sparky-bjj:
Quote: Oh yeah, you dont know Sakuraba personally so I dont think you can say he definetly does smoke and if he did I bet it would be a celebratory cigar here and there rather than 40 a day or whatever.
Offcourse I don't know him personally. But I've read several interviews with sakuraba in wich he says that he drinks and smokes. Offcourse these interviews could be false or he could say that as a joke.>
Post: dscott:
[quote=Sparky-bjj
Quote: Oh yeah, you dont know Sakuraba personally so I dont think you can say he definetly does smoke and if he did I bet it would be a celebratory cigar here and there rather than 40 a day or whatever.
Offcourse I don't know him personally. But I've read several interviews with sakuraba in wich he says that he drinks and smokes. Offcourse these interviews could be false or he could say that as a joke.[/quote
I've actually read several interviews as well. He's admitted to drinking heavily while in training, I know that. I'm not sure about smoking though.>
Post: zefff:
Anyway my point was (yes, I do drink and) I can go on the lash then be training next day and people might compliment my conditioning but if I were to listen to them that would do myself a diservice as unbeknownst to them, I could actually perform better if not suffering from a hangover.
Alcohol ill-affects every part of your body even after the obvious effects have worn off. Its a poison that has effect on your nervous and respiratory systems, your internal organs and your mental dexterity. Not to mention the effects on emotional stability.
Smoking on the other hand is just plain straight crap.>
Post: Gazelle:
And people wander why i steer clear of both.>
Post: dscott:
[quote=zefff
Alcohol ill-affects every part of your body even after the obvious effects have worn off. Its a poison that has effect on your nervous and respiratory systems, your internal organs and your mental dexterity. Not to mention the effects on emotional stability.
[/quote
But like everyone's saying "within moderation". If you don't over do it, you're fine. A glass of wine every once in a while is actually good for you.>
Post: Gazelle:
Especially red, because of the antioxidents>
Post: bamboo:
Your body is a machine, feed it moderate fuel and you will perform moderately, feed it crap and you get crap.
Get my point?
-bamboo>
Post: Gazelle:
I don't think you could be anymore clear!>
Post: nbotary:
[quote=Gazelle And people wander why i steer clear of both.[/quote So, are you saying that if you come down here, that Bloodybirds, Punch Drunk, Wushu, Stazzy and myself can't take you out for some fine Mexican food and see what you're like when you've had one to many margaritas??? :(>
Post: dscott:
[quote=nbotary Bloodybirds, Punch Drunk, Wushu, Stazzy and myself [/quote
Geesh....how many of you guys are on here? Is that it? You were the first and then you recruited the rest, huh? Good work.>
Post: BLACK PANTA:
b4 this site was flooded with MMAs now it's just a bunch of KF guys...>
Post: nbotary:
Dscott - Yeah, I think there are 5 of us total - all recruited by me!!! :D
Panta - and the problem with that is what?!?!?! :lol:>
Post: BLACK PANTA:
[quote=nbotary
Panta - and the problem with that is what?!?!?! :lol:[/quote
the air quality :lol:>
Post: bamboo:
I think thats exactly the reason why she may not indulge nbotary.
-bamboo>
Post: nbotary:
HA-HA-HA!!! Both you funny guy!!! Make me laugh long time!!! HA-HA-HA!!! No more buffet for you!!! HA-HA-HA!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:>
Post: bamboo:
clap...clap...clap
:lol:>
Post: zefff:
:lol: whassup Dscott, tough day at work? :lol:
BTW I said I do drink. Infact I get slaughtered as often as I can but I dont go ahead and do it then try to fool myself its okay because I am still hanging in there with the top guys in my school.
If I am training for martial application, say self defence - then I would put mindset, strategy and tactical use of advantages before developing good condition but if I am training for performance (competition) then condition is higher up my agenda because my opponents are familiar with my methods. All Im saying is understand why you train and what your goals are. The people you train with all have different reasons for training.
Rather than competing with my classmates I would rather compete with my capacity to absorb knowledge and churn it into skill.
peace[/i >
Post: Hengest:
[quote=dscott I've actually read several interviews as well. He's admitted to drinking heavily while in training, I know that. I'm not sure about smoking though.[/quote
He's Japanese. Trust me, he smokes and drinks.
But to the question, I really think it depends on your goals. If your training for MMA or some other sport, I would say that there's few individuals that can get away with smoking and drinking and still perform at top level. I'd say it's best to stay clean.
However, if it's self defence you're training for, I really don't think it makes a difference. Most fights don't last long enough for cardio to become an issue.
Which reminds me, it's exactly a week today since I gave up smoking! Yay for me! 8)>
Post: Sparky-bjj:
Quote: However, if it's self defence you're training for, I really don't think it makes a difference. Most fights don't last long enough for cardio to become an issue.
I've talked to the ving stun instructor at my academy and he said the same thing. He smokes and drinks and he explained to me that he doesn't train on condition because he believes that a fight on the streets lasts about 3 seconds. He's a nice guy and I have lots of respect for him but I'm not sure that is the right mentality however. What if the fight doesn't last only 3 seconds, what if his techniques aren't adequate enought to finish the fight in 3 seconds...?
Furthermore, to come back on sakuraba, if you look on the internet you'll find at least one interview in wich he says that he drinks and smokes, supposedly to relieve stress and that he doesn't care much about his diet. Offcourse that doesn't mean he smokes a pack a day...Anyway to me this only makes sakuraba lots cooler . He beat lots of gracies, who firmly believe in things like the 'gracie diet', not drinking coffee, no alcohol, no nothing...well it didn't help them against saku :D .>
Post: bamboo:
Regarding the drinking and smoking culture.
Aikido is like a big freaking party after classes, seminars, weapons camps, etc. I think thats one of the reasons so many aikido people are so overweight and have no cardio. In my experience, a weekend seminar would have around 8 hours of class on a saturday followed by 8 hours of heavy partying.
You were expected to be on the mat the next morning though.
-bamboo>
Post: Gazelle:
[quote=nbotary [quote=Gazelle And people wander why i steer clear of both.[/quote So, are you saying that if you come down here, that Bloodybirds, Punch Drunk, Wushu, Stazzy and myself can't take you out for some fine Mexican food and see what you're like when you've had one to many margaritas??? :([/quote
Sorry mate, but i'm sure i'd have some fun seeing what you guys are like when you've had a few!
Black Panta - now what is wrong with that?>
Post: nbotary:
I'm sure that Bloodybirds would be happy to indulge you on how I am when I'm lit up!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:>
Post: Gazelle:
Oh my, do i detect some history/stories there?
You see, i have no need to drink, i'm wacky enough already, all be it in a somewhat peculiar way! And i quite like the fact that i am so, and yet still have my senses in tact.>
Post: nbotary:
Yes, we do indeed have some stories... :twisted: Although some stories will never be repeated or relived as we have both sworn those particular ones will be taken to the grave!!! :lol:
Other than that, I really don't drink much when I'm out due to the fact that 1.) it costs too much money, 2.) I don't feel like going to jail and having to prove that "I ain't nobody's bitch!" becuase I drank too much and tried to drive home 3.) I don't want to be "that guy" for having done so and killed someone. But, the most important reasons are my wife and my son. I don't like the thought of my son growing up without his daddy or my wife struggling to make ends meet becuase I did something stupid. :(
However, that being said, I will tear it up if someone else is doing the driving that night, I'm at my own house or I'm staying where I'm at when I do decide to indulge.>
Post: Gazelle:
That is very honourable and sensible, NB.>
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