I was given a review copy of this book and it took a considerable time to read and even longer to get round to writing this review. Mr. Christensen, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting, is an ex policeman from Portland Oregon with almost 40 years martial arts experience. Wim is a friend of mine, who works as a personal trainer and martial arts instructor from Belgium; he has competed successfully in Chinese full contact fighting and has coached the Belgian team since 2001.
The book’s main aim is how to use food, supplements, vitamins, minerals and fluids so it deals largely with diets, making, gaining and losing weight, training and eating for and at competitions, training sessions and gradings. Many of the issues raised are important to society in general but the book is precisely targeted at martial artists. The book presents both short and long term solutions to specific problems and the authors claim to have personally used every eating plan and training regimen presented.
Individual food types are discussed in considerable detail and this is vital because proteins help repair injuries, many vegetarian diets fail to have the right balance making the individual injury prone and more susceptible to nerve damage. The current fad for low carb diets is dealt with too. I once had an ectomorphic student staying with me for a few weeks. He was training for full contact at the time I was following just such a diet and he ate what I ate. The result was burn out so I got him to switch to eating rice, bread etc so he felt better, trained better and fought better.
The book doesn’t neglect the female fighter and points out that they particularly need to monitor their intake of calcium and magnesium and to make sure they get enough iron to make up for what they lose in menstruation.
The discussion of fluids is also very sound. A lot of people think drinking fruit juice is healthy, not realising the calories involved, the authors advise diluting it with water – a practice I have followed for many years. Energy drinks are discussed in detail; interestingly they advocate drinking 2-4 cups of coffee (plain black) about an hour before training to boost performance. Green tea is also encouraged though only skimmed milk is recommended.
Given the recent movie, 2 Super Size Me” and the current debate on obesity, the fast food facts are useful with detailed calorific contents being given for specific meals. The answer is to losing weight is to combine moderate negative calorific balance with extra training. Some methods for more radical weight loss are also discussed. While incorrect.
A lot of unexpected points and side issues are mentioned. For example, less sleep can cause an increase in hunger and affect the metabolism leading to weight gain. How do you identify and deal with allergies and food intolerance? Eating plans are tailored to specific training approaches. It is not enough to eat the right food, but also to prepare it properly – steaming and boiled are recommended.
Each chapter starts with “Fast Facts” which concisely present the key points. I’ll mention a few of these. “…to lose fat you must burn more calories than you consume.” “…the worst reaction to sudden, harsh calorie restriction is the loss of lean muscle.” “…sweating five per cent of your water can affect your performance up to 30 per cent.” Some of our more traditionally minded instructors would be horrified to learn that they actually advocate drinking water in class.
The authors cover a variety of training methods such as bag work, running, sparring, weights, aerobics etc. and how to use them to control your weight. The authors seem to both be big believers in consumption of nutrition bars and protein shakes as well as taking creatine for power and muscle mass.
The book ends with a chapter on the mental approach and training logs; there is also a bibliography. The only real criticism I have is that lifestyles and the time factors involved in following all the advice given would be a problem for many martial artists. That said, the advice given is excellent and I thoroughly recommend the book – particularly for instructors and serious competitors.