Your body will recover quicker and more efficiently from high-intensity mixed martial arts training if your diet includes enough of the vitamins and minerals that it needs. Whether you use one or two high-quality multivitamins or a variety of different individual vitamins and minerals, the ones you take should include sufficient levels of nutrients that are crucial for peak performance.
Vitamins A, E and C
Vitamins A, E and C are all essential for good health, particularly for individuals who are extremely active. They all contribute to keeping your immune system strong, among other things. This is particularly important for mixed martial artists, since the strain of constant training -- particularly toward the end of a fight camp -- can leave your immune system vulnerable and scrambling to catch up to the demands being placed upon it.
Calcium and Vitamin D
MMA is a particularly grueling sport on your skeleton, and especially on your shins. The Muay Thai training virtually every mixed martial artist includes in their regimen means that the shinbones take a regular beating. Your body will gradually build up these bones to be able to handle the impact, particularly the support columns that strengthen your shins from the inside. Including plenty of calcium and vitamin D in your diet will help ensure your body is capable of sufficiently strengthening these bones.
Potassium and Magnesium
If you have trained in MMA for any length of time, you are sure to have occasionally experienced painful muscle cramps during a workout. Grappling sessions are particularly likely to cause these cramps, especially in the legs and calves. Keeping yourself well hydrated will help minimize these cramps. However, water alone is insufficient to prevent them. Low levels of magnesium and potassium also contribute to causing these cramps; maintaining sufficient daily intake of both can help prevent the inconvenience and sometimes even serious injury these cramps cause.
Other Nutrients
Protein alone is insufficient to actually heal and strengthen your muscles. For example, an amino acid known as glutamine provides your body with energy and repairs damaged muscle tissue. Creatine provides ATP, an energy source that allows your muscles to meet very intense demands. Branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs, help your body heal and recover after training, and they cannot be generated or created by your system -- you must get them from the food or supplements in your diet.
References
- Bodybuilding.com: MMA Fighting Supplement Guide
- Extreme Pro Sports; What Are the Best Supplements for MMA?; Robert Rousseau
- MayoClinic.com: Creatine
- "The Journal of Nutrition"; Exercise Promotes BCAA Catabolism: Effects of BCAA Supplementation on Skeletal Muscle During Exercise; Yoshiharu Shimomura et al.; June 2004
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Glutamine
- Bodybuilding.com; Four Incredible Supplements for MMA Training and Recovery; Larry Pepe
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