The supplements that actually benefit martial artists

Many serious martial artists go through a phase of taking tons of supplements in hopes of boosting their game, taking at least 50 pills and tablets each day, including thrice-daily multivitamins… Selenium… Reishi extract… Chromium picolinate…Turmeric extract… Branched chain amino acids… Phosphatidyl serine… Etc.  Etc.  Etc.  The list goes on however the only real effect of these supplements is to make your urine very expensive they will not improve strength, energy levels or recovery times.

Why do so many people take so many different kinds of supplements?  Here’s a few reasons:

1 – Wishful Thinking/laziness. It would be far easier if you could just pop a few pills every day instead of doing the hard work to maintain a healthy diet, putting in time training, lifting weights and doing cardio,

 2 – Advertising. Many Bodybuilding magazines and fitness websites exist in order to sell supplements as their money comes from selling advertising rather than subscriptions.

 3 – The Placebo Effect. Basically a placebo is a drug (or a supplement) that works just because you think it’s going to work, not because of anything about the drug itself.

Scientific American summed it up by saying “belief is powerful medicine, even if the treatment itself is a sham.”

And every study that has ever looked for a placebo effect has found one…

Every legitimate clinical trial of a drug or supplement must have a placebo group to show that the drug performs better than a placebo.

The placebo effect is huge when it comes to sports supplements.  For example, there’s nothing more convincing than a friend who swears that a certain new product is ‘great’ and urges you to try it!

4 – Faulty Research.  The wild claims made by the supplement companies are usually backed up by so-called ‘research.’  But when you look at it more closely, this research is usually a just a single study (or a cherry-picked selection of studies which all back up the claims being made).

But a single study proves nothing!  And what’s even worse is that these studies are often small, poorly designed and improperly controlled experiments that nobody else has ever managed to duplicate (proper scientific practice require the results of experiments to be able to be duplicated by others before the results are confirmed).

In many cases the people who did the study also own the company making the supplement…

That’s why in science nothing is ever proven until many different and unbiased researchers have found the same result.

So, are there any good supplements you should be taking?

In order of importance, the ‘supplements’ that have real science behind them are the following:

1. Colourful fruits and vegetables (e.g. dark berries, dark leafy greens, beets, red grapefruit, etc.), these will provide important vitamins and minerals. And just for the record, potatoes and rice don’t count as vegetables.

2. Protein from varied sources (baseline 0.75 g protein/lb body weight day for average people; 1 g/lb per day for athletes, that means if you’re an actively training 200 lb grappler then you should be consuming about 200 grams of protein every day). This is important for the body’s repair and recovery after hard training

3. Fish oil. (Recent research suggests as much as 5-15 g daily) this helps to reduce inflammation, increase bone density and also control metabolism/fat burning. Tuna and salmon are a great source of fish oils. Fish oil capsules can be used to increase your intake but choose high quality capsules to avoid mercury contamination

4. Vitamin D (2000-4000 IU daily in the winter). This helps with bone formation/density. Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to sunlight so your intake should depend on the climate. Those with light skin are more easily able to produce vitamin D in low light conditions so less supplementation is required. Be careful not to exceed the daily dose of vitamin D because it is possible to poison yourself.

5. Creatine for athletes doing strength/power work (2g/day for a month). Creatine is found naturally in beef but is supplemented in powder form (avoid the liquid creatine supplements as the active ingredient breaks down in the liquid form) Always cycle creatine supplementation taking it for 1 month then stopping for a time. Creatine is good for increasing muscle mass and strength when weightlifting because it increases available ATP in the muscles allowing for more intense exercise. Fighters looking to compete at a certain weight class should avoid creatine as it increases water retention.

6. Caffeine in SMALL doses (50-100 mg, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup coffee), 1 hour before training. Caffeine is a stimulant and can reduce fatigue and increase power. Keep in mind that constant use of caffeine reduces its effectiveness.

And the big one, that trumps pretty much all others: SLEEP. This is important for recovery and hormone balance, try to get 8 hours sleep every night.