May I ask what is the length of your workouts? I know *a little bit* (and when I say little, I am not exaggerating) about the movements you mention and use a few in my own workouts. I know that there is a cardio-vascular component to boxing - realy intense stuff. I am assuming that grappling is similarly intense?
Post up your diet and let the games begin!
Hey thanks for the warm welcome!
The length of my workouts typically varies from 1 - 2 hours. Whenever I get the opportunity, I will train twice in a day--this usually happens a few times a month--and so in those cases, I may train 3 - 4 hours in one day. Since I have a regular job and everything, I basically train whenever I get a chance, which probably averages out to about 6-9 hours a week. I truly love training and fighting.
The focus of my training sessions also varies, since mixed martial arts requires a pretty broad skill set. I probably spend equal amounts of time working on my stand up game (boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing) and my grappling ground game (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, submission wrestling). Most sessions start out with a 20 minute warm up involving jogging, shadowboxing, drilling techniques, crunches, pushups, etc. I think it would qualify as moderate aerobic exercise because the movement is pretty constant, I work up a good sweat, and I may get a little bit winded but it's not exhausting.
Boxing is aerobic as well, I think, but it's a bit different because it is high intensity for shorter durations--typically a series of 3 or 4 rounds lasting 3-6 minutes each during which I will be hitting focus mitts, hitting the heavy bag, or sparring with breaks of a minute or two in between. My training gloves weigh 16 oz. each which may not sound like much resistance to a body builder but they feel pretty heavy after you throw them around for a while!
The best way I know to describe the intensity of grappling is to compare it to its most commonly-known variation: wrestling. If you have ever watched a high school or college wrestling match, then you have a pretty good idea of the type of workout I get when I'm working on my ground game. The resistance you're working against is the body weight of another person, and because there aren't very many women who train where I train, I'm often grappling with men who are significantly larger than I am.
As far as diet goes, I used to be really anal-retentive about what I ate--I calculated protein, carb, and fat ratios and planned my meals in advance. I basically followed Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle plan and it worked well for me. Now that I've lost most of my weight and I train a lot, I am not quite as obsessive about my diet and I eat more carbohydrates than I used to. I eat a lot of chicken breasts and I eat fish at least 3 times a week. I eat red meat once a week at most. I don't plan my meals in advance and I don't calculate my protein, carb, and fat ratios anymore but I try to eat as much protein as possible and I try to make sure that most of my carbs come from quality sources (whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, etc.). I keep my calories around 1500 - 2000 a day. Here's what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast:
Detour protein bar
Rockstar Zero Carb beverage
Lunch:
Blackened Salmon
Spicy tomato lentil soup
Coffee:
Iced mocha with skim milk
Dinner:
Chicken kabobs
Brown rice with almond slivers
Hummus and pita bread
Lately I've been frequenting the taco stand down the street because they have the most fantastic grilled tilapia soft tacos with cabbage. They don't have any sauce on them and they come wrapped in corn tortillas. Sometimes I go for the pulled pork tacos as well. I always get corn tortillas.
I used to supplement with Nutriex sport multivitamins, fish oil, and CLA but I've been low on cash lately and have stopped that. As soon as my money picks up again (which should happen in a month or so) I plan on resuming that practice. When I'm not cutting weight, I really like supplementing with creatine on a daily basis. Just plain old Creapure creatine--nothing special. I tried Gaspari's SizeOn a few months ago and it put 10 lbs of water weight on me in one month--I panicked and stopped taking it because I couldn't convince myself it was just water weight. I looked puffy and terrible and it totally freaked me out.
I figure you guys will nail me on my diet, but go ahead--I can take it. I am ready for constructive criticism and any suggestions you might have. Sorry to write so much but I wanted you to have a good idea of what I do! Thanks in advance for your input.
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