NUTRITIONAL ADVICE

ERWCB events are an incredible opportunity to change your life & improve your health & fitness. You have an 8 weeks opportunity to get in the shape of your life. You want to look back on this experience and see the positive impact it has had on your life. On this page we have set out some basic nutrition principles to help you get the most out of the experience.

FUEL THE BODY

As you start training, nutrition is something that you should take in to consideration. You are about to put your body through a bootcamp training programme. Your body requires the proper nutrition to function well. You will need to be firing on all cylinders for your boxing bout, boxers need more nutrients to get the energy they need during training and to help their body build muscle and recover faster.

WHAT DIET SHOULD A BOXER FOLLOW?

Not eating before boxing classes or competition can result in loss of energy, limiting the boxer's performance and increasing his recovery time and the risk of injury.

As with all combat sports, boxing, when practiced regularly, requires a special diet. It is not a question of following just any diet to lose weight or gain muscles, it is rather a re-balancing of the foods you eat to achieve a healthy and balanced diet. Boxers need more nutrients to get the energy they need during training and to help their body build muscles and recover faster.

The ideal diet of a boxer must:

• Provide energy during training
• Provide enough nutrients to promote weight gain and muscle building
• Be low in fat, so you don't strain the body during digestion
• A boxer's eating habits must adapt to their training. They must eat more, without eating too much. It can be difficult to know how to balance each meal to avoid being hungry, but at the same time to not feel too heavy afterwards and suffer during training.

WHAT SHOULD A BOXER EAT?

Meat – Stick to white meat. It is easier for your body to digest, processes faster through your body, and doesn’t sit around in your stomach making you sluggish. Examples of white meat are chicken, turkey, and fish. white meat happens to be provided by lean animals that can fly or move quickly? Red meat is the stuff you try to avoid if you can – which is beef or pork. Maybe it’s because our cows and pigs are fed utter garbage that it makes their meat less healthy for the body. Then again you could say this about all food depending on where you buy this, so by locally or organically if you have the time and funds.

Proteins – Besides meat, eggs, tuna, peanut butter, and milk are an excellent source of pure protein. Remember, this is boxing and not weightlifting, so don’t try to be like a bodybuilder and eat one jar of peanut butter a day. It will do nothing for you but pile on the unwanted pounds.

Fruits, Berries and Vegetables – Everybody needs vitamins, this is a requirement to be a healthy person in general. Eat a wide variety of them. Remember the more colorful the better.

Liquids – Drink plenty of water! 4 - 8 pints a day is minimum for everybody in general. Again, this is a minimum, if you can drink more, do it. Stay away from the booze while training.

Fats – Stick to healthy fats. In regards to your body fat, this has more to do with your genetic makeup than anything. If you have a body that builds up fat easily, stay away from unhealthy fats for at least five days out of the week. It’s OK to enjoy your food once a week since boxing training is very tough and will burn off the fat quickly anyway. Stay a away from the sugar, put the sweet tooth away in box for 8 weeks while training.

Supplements – not really a fundamental part of the diet, but if your going to take them then take some multivitamins and cod liver oil capsules for the joints.