Carbs for BJJ Training and Competition

Finally the macro Nutrient that everyone has been talking about. Carbs!

When it comes to macros, carbs are always the first one that people want to talk about. Carbs have received so much press coverage over the last few years with people talking about such diets as Atkins, Carb Back loading, Carbnite, Carb Cycling, IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) plus loads of others. Just like in any situation where you have an information over load, it makes it increasingly hard to make an educated decision to which is right for you at the right time, especially when it comes to BJJ.

So are any of these diets a good idea when it comes to BJJ?

Well the answer (as always) is that it depends on the person. As I mentioned back in my first Macro article, when you understand principles you can pick your own methods. Before you run off looking for the latest super diet, it is better to gain a solid understanding about what a carb is, what it does and how you can use them to get the best out of your BJJ training.

Before we go into more detail on carbs it always has to be mentioned that every individual is different and that everyone should talk to their Doctor, Coach or consult a professional before you under take any major changes to your lifestyle (especially if you are a little new to all of this).

So what is a carb?

The NHS says,

“Carbohydrates are a source of energy. When eaten, the body converts most carbohydrates into glucose (sugar), which is used to fuel cells such as those of the brain and muscles”

So what does that mean to the BJJ athlete?

Well firstly we have to look a little bit more into what happens when you eat carbs to get a better understanding of how we should add them into a nutrition plan. When we eat carbs the body converts them into glucose. Thanks to hormones such as insulin the carbs are then shuttled to muscles to help fuel exercise and activity. Now if we don’t use all of the glucose our body then converts the glucose into something called glycogen. This is then stored in the muscles and liver for later use. Now what happens if we eat to many carbs and our glycogen levels are full? Well the body then stores it as fat (which is the same as over consuming any macro nutrient. This is why carbs get such a bad wrap. No carbs, no glycogen, no stored fat in (or what some people will tell you).

However don’t be scared by carbs! They are vital to help athletes performing and recovering correctly. All we need to do is look at a few factors so that you can make carbs work for you, instead of against you. In this article we will look at,

·      Types of carbs.

·      When to have carbs.

·      What carbs are best at what times.

·      How to workout your individual carb tolerance.

Now there are some of you that are reading this thinking “I can eat as many carbs as I want and never get fat, carbs are great!” Well no one is talking to you and I would keep quiet about it unless you want a few carb deprived people choking you a little too long in training. Seriously though, many people tolerate carbs extremely well with no fat storage despite taking in a ridiculous amount.  However the principles in this article still apply to help you get the most out of your carb intake.

Ok so let’s look at what types of carbs are best. I’m going to split them into two groups, fast acting and slow acting (more on that in a minute). Before we look at the food types, we must also realise that the digestion and absorption rates of these carbs will differ when combined with other food types. For example, white rice is fast digesting. However if you eat it with a large fatty steak then the digestion rate goes way down (due to fat slowing digestion). With that in mind, make sure that you eat the right combination of foods at the right times (more on this another time).

So lets have a look at the different types of carbs,

Fast acting

·      White Rice

·      White potatoes

·      Honey

·      Kids cereals

·      Dextrose

·      Waxy maize

·      Vitargo

·      Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin

·      Glucose

·      Foods high in sugar but low in fat

·      Fruits

Slow acting

·      Sweet potatoes

·      Brown Rice

·      Oats

·      Quinoa

·      Beans and pulses

·      Vegetables (most of the carbs in the form of fibre)

Now there will be people reading this that still think that carbs are the devil. These people just seem to blow up when they eat carbs. They get bloated, hold water and pile on the fat on a diet that includes carbs. We know that carbs are the way forward to improve performance and recovery but their past experience keeps them away from carbs. So what is the solution?

The first thing is to ascertain how many carbs that a person can tolerate. If you are doing this yourself you need to look at your activity levels and your past experience. If you have a very high activity job like brick laying, working construction or on your feet all day, plus training 4-6 times a week, there is a very high chance you will do better with higher carbs. Sit at a desk all day and train twice a week? Best keep carbs on the lower end. It is also a really good idea to keep carbs a bit higher on training day and lower on off days.

What I do with clients that have had a poor experience with carbs in the past is to start them on 1g of carbs per pound of body weight. I see how they handle that then we add carbs in or we reduce them depending on what we see.

When I first set up a diet for people I generally keep carbs around training times (before, during and after). This allows people to use the carbs directly for workouts and then recovery from those workouts.

Carbohydrates are best taken in around workouts with faster digesting sources being a good choice (think things like white rice and other foods that are high on the glycaemic index).

However if you tolerate carbs well, it is a good idea to have them in other meals that surround your training sessions. A good idea is to add them pre and post training then if you tolerate that well (none to minimal fat gain) then start to add them into other meals.

An example of this would be,

Meal 1 – Protein and Fat

Meal 2 – Protein and Fat

Meal 3 – Protein and Carbs

Training session

Meal 4 – Protein and Carbs

Meal 5 – Protein and Fat

Then if that works fine you could go to,

Meal 1 – Protein and Fat

Meal 2 – Protein and Fat

Meal 3 – Protein and Carbs

Training session

Meal 4 – Protein and Carbs

Meal 5 – Protein and Carbs

Then you would add them to other meals around training and then working your way out if you respond well.

Carbs like all other macro nutrients are not the devil. They have got a really bad wrap over the last few years leading to people being scared of them. Carbs need to be included in any correct nutrition programme, however they need to be tailored to your activity and the individuals response to them. Now that you have a better understanding of each macro nutrient we will look next issue on how to put them all together to maximise recovery and performance in BJJ.

Stay healthy,

Mike