UFC athletes are known for their fitness engaging in intense training and vigorous exercise to prepare their bodies for up to 25 minutes of combat inside the octagon. In addition to staying fighting fit and razor sharp they also have to cut and make weight for their bout.
Here we take a look into some famous UFC fighters and their daily nutrition intake when preparing for a fight.
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson
Stephen’s diet is built around intermittent fasting, meaning he’s on a time restricted eating schedule 8 & 16 (meaning eating for 8 hours and fasting for 16). Intermittent fasting has been gaining lots of popularity and media coverage due to celebrities such as Joe Rogan & GSP.
It's said to have many benefits including -
Creating positive changes in the function of cells, genes and hormones:
Insulin levels: Blood levels of insulin drop significantly, which facilitates fat burning.
Human growth hormone: The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits.
Cellular repair: The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells.
Gene expression: There are beneficial changes in several genes and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease.
His in-camp diet appears to be relatively simple, built around 2 main meals and two snacks. Most of which consists of whole foods such meat based protein, leafy greens, vegetables, eggs, and brown rice. These nutrient dense foods are especially important for professional fighters, such as Stephen who train multiple sessions a day in the gym and working towards achieving a certain weight goal. Your body simply can't perform at this high load for so long on highly processed foods.
Kron Gracie
Born in Rio de Janeiro into the legendary Gracie family lineage fighting came second nature to Kron. He followed in his father and grandfathers footsteps, advancing through the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu before his MMA debut in 2014. His diet however is anything but typical for a fighter. He’s has been on a pescatarian diet, only eating fish and cutting out all other animal products, while relying on light, natural snacks and lots of liquids to power himself through the vigorous training which included mini-triathlons and hours of mat time with his students for BJJ. In a recent interview Kron described his daily diet as consisting of -
"light meals every three hours to keep my energy and metabolism high, all organic and non-GMO. For breakfast I’ll have sprouted-grain toast with almond butter, honey, and coffee. Later, a turkey sandwich with vegetable juice and a ginger shot. Then I might have an Acai bowl and almonds. At night I consume as many calories as I can to sustain the next day’s training—pasta, brown rice, chicken—most people do it the other way around, but if I do that, I lose too much weight”
Conor McGregor
For McGregor balance is key, he recently told ESPN that -
"His diet consists of lean sources of protein: chicken, fish, salmon, beef, eggs. Good complex carbohydrates. Good micro elements, such as herbs, basil, oregano. All incorporated into the diet as a whole, creating a great balanced diet made from multiple protein sources, multiple carbohydrate sources of wholesome foods.”
Tristin Kennedy has played a huge part in getting Connor into current shape, working as the UFC star's nutritionist. Outlining the importance of making sure that all the food the fighter consumes is nutrient dense and giving an example of what McGregor's daily menu looks like, listing the following:
Breakfast: Oats with eggs and sautéed green leafy vegetables
Morning snack: Fruit and herb salad with organic honey
Lunch: Chicken breast with rice and asparagus
Midday snack: McGregor FAST vanilla whey protein shake with nut butter
Dinner: Irish lamb stew with potatoes
Evening snack: Homemade McGregor FAST chocolate whey protein balls and organic tea
He avoids takeaway food like most professional athletes but does confess to having a sweet tooth. At the end of the day, he’s all about a “clean” and balanced diet, which in his words means “good-quality meats, good-quality greens, good-quality carbohydrates like sweet potato and butternut squash.”
As seen above there are number of different approaches with nutrition according to what agrees with the individual fighters bodies and what they're ultimately trying to achieve.
However the key common denominators are:
High quality proteins (Organic meats)
High quality fats (Omega 3's etc)
High quality carbs (fruits & veggies)
Room for some guilty pleasures (desserts, a glass of wine etc. You gotta enjoy the process!)
At Wolves Den we have a number of athletes preparing for a fight during the year who will take on similar nutritional programs mentioned above. Even if you have zero interest in stepping into an octagon or taking it so seriously, there are many aspects from a fighters diet that can help supercharge your training to achieve your fitness goals.
A common saying in the fitness community is 20% of the work is done at the gym, the other 80% is done in the kitchen!
If you'd like to have a chat to someone about your nutrition please see your coach or come see us at the front desk!
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