Nutrition in Combat Sports

34 C.A. Horswill
Strategies of rapid verses slower weight loss. Fogelholm et al. [79] showed that rapid
weight reduction compared to a more sustained reduction promoted better status for
some of the vitamins. Possibly because athletes do refeed during periods when they are
not practicing rapid weight loss, they are able to acquire all the dietary nutrient needs.
In contrast, a sustained reduction in energy and nutrient intake may increase the likelihood
of deficiencies in the diet that accumulate for a significant effect on body status.
Smaller, more frequent meals may help nitrogen balance as indicated by
3-methylhistidine (3MH) excretion. Iwao et al. [80] reported that during a 2-week
study of weight loss, boxers who consumed six small meals a day compared to a
group who consumed only two large meals (either treatment providing 1,200 kcal/day)
had less loss of lean body mass and had less of an increase in 3MH excretion. The
latter effect would suggest less myofibril degradation. Bernardot’s lab [81] has
seen a similar effect in gymnasts and runners: greater meal frequency and fewer
energy deficits within the day are associated with greater leanness.
2.6.2 Recovery After the Weigh-In
Several studies have examined the effects of rehydration and specific nutritional
strategies for their effects of recovery of performance after the weigh-in. Ribisl and
Herbert showed that simply rehydrating, presumably with water, brought physical
work capacity as estimated from heart rate back to normal levels [27] . Allen et al.
[26] showed that restoring cardiac output was the mechanism for this effect. The
benefits of beverage formulation, particularly of varying electrolyte content, have
yet to be tested for benefits in recovery of weight-class athletes. The presence and
amount of sodium in the beverage and the total volume of beverage consumed are
expected to directly enhance the rehydration process [4, 82, 83] .
Walberg-Rankin et al. demonstrated that a high-carbohydrate feeding between
the weigh-in and performance helped to restore capacity for arm work [84] .
In contrast, isocaloric feedings of low-carbohydrate content resulted significantly
less arm work, similar to the amount measured at the time of the weigh-in before
the athletes recovered.
2.6.3 Off-Season Recovery of Lean Body Mass
To this point, no one has investigated training or dietary approaches to increasing
fat-free mass and minimizing fat gain after competition has ended for the season.
Typically, weight gain is very rapid and of substantial magnitude for wrestlers, as an
example [59, 65 ] . Much of the gain is likely to be water. Because the volume of
training drops off precipitously and energy intake may increase 2–5-fold, there is a
strong possibility that weight-class athletes would accumulate body fat. Roemmich
et al. [59] have reported this and also shown that dietary fat nearly doubles compared
to the intake during training.