Nutrition in Combat Sports

74 J. Gauthier
their art in an effort to test their skills under pressure. [8, 9] This led to the development
of new combat sports such as kickboxing and full-contact karate, as well as
to new sets of rules for combating and competing. Second, following the emergence
of full-contact versions of traditional martial arts, other forms of “full-contact”
competition were developed which, for example, allow practitioners of striking arts
such as karate, boxing, and kung fu to compete on equal terms with practitioners of
grappling arts such as judo and wrestling, and vice versa. [ 10] Generally known as
“mixed martial arts,” these combat sports take different names (e.g., No Holds
Barred – NHB, Vale Tudo – Portuguese for “anything goes,” Limited Rules), and
are promoted under the auspices of various commercial organizations (e.g.,
Ultimate Fighting Championship in the USA, Total Fight Forum in the UK). These
modern mixed competition formats have attracted considerable negative attention
in the mass media, [11] received a mixed reception in the world of martial arts,
[10, 12, 13] and have sometimes been banned altogether by local authorities because
they are seen merely as an excuse for violent behavior and a way to effectively
legitimate what amounts to little more than street fighting. [14]
Today, combat sports continue to flourish as they have always had. However,
they have become a source of intense and heated debates. Combat sports have
forceful opponents and proponents. Opponents see them not only as having no
value, but also as activities to be banned. Proponents of combat sports view them
as healthy forms of competition. This raises the questions of who is right and who
is wrong. To answer, one needs to examine what good and what bad, if any, can be
found in combat sports. Before engaging in the issue, however, a definition of combat
sports must first be made.
5.2 Definition of Combat Sports
Combat sports may be defined as sports wherein two individual combatants fight
each other using fighting techniques according to a set of prearranged rules. Thus,
combat sports differ from other sports as the objective of any contest is for one of
the participants to subdue his or her opponent.
There are many forms of combat sports, for example, boxing, sport wrestling,
fencing, and mixed martial arts. Different techniques (or variations of techniques)
are used in different combat sports to subdue the opponent. These techniques
include striking (e.g., boxing, karate, kenpo, Muay Thai, taekwon-do), grappling
(e.g., sumo, wrestling), kicking (e.g., kickboxing, Muay Thai, taekwon-do), throwing
(e.g., aikido, judo), and weapon use (e.g., fencing, kendo, kobudo).
More importantly, there is considerable variation in the degree of physical
contact and level of protective equipment permitted or required in combat sports.
No better can we see these variations than in the competition rules. For example,
there are some sports in which the use of techniques expected to inflict injury is
allowed because the goal of the competition is to cause the opponent to submit
by physical and potentially harmful means. This includes professional boxing,
full-contact karate, kickboxing, etc. There are other sports in which the use of such