Recommended diet for a Taekwondo Student

[DrewTheTKDStudent1992]

Hey guys,

I know that there’s advice on Taekwondo workouts. As for the diet, I’m not too sure.

When it comes to the diet, what are things the TKD student should eat, the amount, and what to avoid.

I know that it may depend on the person, but as a general rule, what is best for the student? Especially for a student who wants to improve speed, flexibility, and agility.

 

[mrt2]

My teacher told me to drink water and green tea, stay away from beer, soda or pop, and never eat fast food. Whether this is a special TKD diet, or just his personal opinion IDK, but it seems pretty sensible.

 

[Deafdude#5]

Ditto...eat sensibly. Drink water & tea. Avoid sweets & sodas.

Truth be told, we’re all human so just be sure to moderate yourself rather than deprive yourself.

Do what works for you. Ask your doctor for help if you need it.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Eat a healthy diet, regardless of or if you're doing martial arts. There's no reason whatsoever to think you need a special diet.

 

[Headhunter]

Eat whatever the hell you want just don't eat to much of the crap stuff

 

[skribs]

I don't have a sense of smell so I make sure most food I eat is loaded with preservatives.

I'm probably not a good role model.

 

[TrueJim]

 

[_Simon_]

Hahaha ah that's awesome XD

Hey guys,

I know that there’s advice on Taekwondo workouts. As for the diet, I’m not too sure.

When it comes to the diet, what are things the TKD student should eat, the amount, and what to avoid.

I know that it may depend on the person, but as a general rule, what is best for the student? Especially for a student who wants to improve speed, flexibility, and agility.

G'day mate! I don't do TKD specifically, but it would be similar diet to alot of the other more physically demanding martial arts.

Definitely don't avoid carbohydrates, very important for fueling your training. Protein too for muscle growth/maintenance. To be honest all macronutrients are important, but those two specifically. Good quality fats (omega 3 moreso) are important too.

Eating healthier is obviously a great idea, and is going to allow your body to utilise nutrients more efficiently, and plenty of varied veggies.

Supplements are a good option if you afford it. A good multivitamin can help fill in any gaps. Magnesium tablets can also help with muscle contractions and cramps etc. I currently take a multivitamin, magnesium, and a probiotic. Used to have a greens drink too instead of the multivitamin but it got pricey.

Also creatine monohydrate is an incredibly good supplement to invest in, there are like thousands of studies showing its effectiveness in sports, weight training, and just about any physical activity hehe. It helps with ATP production/regeneration, basically increased energy output and longer lasting energy, as well as a whole host of other benefits. And you can find it fairly cheap too with little to no side effects (some people find that it upsets their stomach a bit. I'm taking a break from it just as I have stomach issues at the moment so I didn't wanna risk it).

And lastly water, water, water! Drink plenty, I believe one of the formulas was drink half of your bodyweight in pounds (that number in ounces).

So I weigh about 73kg. 73 x 2.2= 160.6lbs

160.6/2= 80.3 ounces

80.3 x 28= 2248ml = 2.25 litres

But that may be for nonathletes, so I might aim for 3 litres a day.

Edit: ah also forgot to add, what's most important actually haha, is to find what foods work well for YOUR body. Everyone has different tolerances and also different digestive systems (so to speak. They are all the same, yet have different 'preferences' for what is preferable to digest and utilise). So finding what works for you is crucial! If you constantly feel crappy after a certain food, just don't eat it, even if some 'papers' or professionals say its optimal.

There are plenty of foods out there that people swear by, but if it does nothing for you, then you're learning about intuiting what your body needs to function best (which is what's most important).

 

[Balrog]

I am SO stealing this. Absolutely hilarious!

 

[Balrog]

And I will add this: I agree with all the suggestions about eating a sensible diet. But if you are going to be a serious Taekwondo student, hie thee to a good Korean restaurant and start developing a taste for all varieties of kimchi.

Mmmm.....kimchi.....mmmmm.

 

[dvcochran]

Hahaha ah that's awesome XD



G'day mate! I don't do TKD specifically, but it would be similar diet to alot of the other more physically demanding martial arts.

Definitely don't avoid carbohydrates, very important for fueling your training. Protein too for muscle growth/maintenance. To be honest all macronutrients are important, but those two specifically. Good quality fats (omega 3 moreso) are important too.

Eating healthier is obviously a great idea, and is going to allow your body to utilise nutrients more efficiently, and plenty of varied veggies.

Supplements are a good option if you afford it. A good multivitamin can help fill in any gaps. Magnesium tablets can also help with muscle contractions and cramps etc. I currently take a multivitamin, magnesium, and a probiotic. Used to have a greens drink too instead of the multivitamin but it got pricey.

Also creatine monohydrate is an incredibly good supplement to invest in, there are like thousands of studies showing its effectiveness in sports, weight training, and just about any physical activity hehe. It helps with ATP production/regeneration, basically increased energy output and longer lasting energy, as well as a whole host of other benefits. And you can find it fairly cheap too with little to no side effects (some people find that it upsets their stomach a bit. I'm taking a break from it just as I have stomach issues at the moment so I didn't wanna risk it).

And lastly water, water, water! Drink plenty, I believe one of the formulas was drink half of your bodyweight in pounds (that number in ounces).

So I weigh about 73kg. 73 x 2.2= 160.6lbs

160.6/2= 80.3 ounces

80.3 x 28= 2248ml = 2.25 litres

But that may be for nonathletes, so I might aim for 3 litres a day.

Edit: ah also forgot to add, what's most important actually haha, is to find what foods work well for YOUR body. Everyone has different tolerances and also different digestive systems (so to speak. They are all the same, yet have different 'preferences' for what is preferable to digest and utilise). So finding what works for you is crucial! If you constantly feel crappy after a certain food, just don't eat it, even if some 'papers' or professionals say its optimal.

There are plenty of foods out there that people swear by, but if it does nothing for you, then you're learning about intuiting what your body needs to function best (which is what's most important).

Nailed it.

 

[Oily Dragon]

I don't think that there's a specific diet that you have to follow, but there are some things that you can do in order to maintain your physique. As someone has said before, you should cut sugar from your diet. You're going to see the effects of this in the long run and it's going to be worth it, trust me. If you really want to try out a diet, I would recommend you to check out in order to find something suitable for your needs. Each body is different, so therefore we function differently. Having a balance is key, but I'm sure that you'll manage to do this

It's easy to figure out what to cut like sugar, saturated fat, sodium. They put that stuff on the labels now. Alcohol is probably the worst dietary thing for a martial artist, but don't you know it, boxers love to drink.

What people usually forget is that whatever diet you try, you need to eat LOTS of vegetables daily, and many people just don't. I prepare and cook with fresh garlic and onions every single night. If nothing else, it makes whatever I'm cooking them with more healthy, and tasty.

Ever been to a Chinese buffet and notice how nobody goes to the salad bar, and everybody grabs the fried and gooey stuff loaded with fat and salt and shortening? I'm the guy who loads up at least one full plate of spinach.

And people look at me like I'm nuts. Unfried vegetables??? Those people are typically also the same buffet professionals who got the 2 hour maximum policy installed.

 

[J. Pickard]

If you want a diet specific for helping you dominate competition I would recommend talking to a dietician or nutritionist. The specialists that I have worked with in the past in my competition days helped me evaluate and breakdown my workouts to find out what the best way to recover quickly was. It usually broke down to an overall healthy and nutritionally dense set of meals every day. A little heavier on the carbs and protein after a super heavy workout to boost recover. Working with a specialist I was able to hit my goal weight for competition and maintain it without really trying while also having quick recovery from intense training. If you just want a general good diet for being a hobbyist Taekwondoin then any well rounded healthy diet is good (which you should have anyway).

 

[punisher73]

Lots of good advice. I guess I would ask a couple of questions...

1) Are you trying to lose weight or just eat healthy?
2) How much training are you doing? For example, recreational (couple of times a week) or competitive (2 hours everyday of some type of training)?
3) What other exercise/training are you doing outside of your TKD practice? For example: running, weight lifting etc.
4) Any dietary/medical restrictions? For example, diabetes

As others have said, eating healthy is simple. But, it is not always easy. Lots of vegetables and moderate lean meats. If you are training a lot, you will want good healthy complex carbs as well to fuel your anaerobic training along with healthy fats. There are also free "calorie trackers" available to make sure that you are getting your macro-nutrients and also the proper amount of calories. If you don't eat enough food and are training too much, this can lead to just as many problems as overeating too many calories.

There are lots of free resources available online if you look around.

If you are a "book" kind of person and like it all in one spot, here are a couple books.

Here is a book by Loren Christensen, who has a lot of good training books on the market. This book is kind of a general plan for fitness, training and diet.

Amazon.com

A cookbook with recipes geared towards fighters.

The Fighter's Kitchen: 100 Muscle-Building, Fat Burning Recipes, with Meal Plans to Sculpt Your Warrior: Algieri, Chris: 9781465483737: Amazon.com: Books

The Fighter's Kitchen: 100 Muscle-Building, Fat Burning Recipes, with Meal Plans to Sculpt Your Warrior [Algieri, Chris] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Fighter's Kitchen: 100 Muscle-Building, Fat Burning Recipes, with Meal Plans to Sculpt Your Warrior

www.amazon.com

 

[Buka]

Italian food, five times a day.