Nutrition for BJJ'ers 101: Joint Health Supplements: Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

It should be noted that I am neither a doctor nor a nutritional expert. For professional advice one must go to the above. I am, however, a BJJ and combat sports practitioner with an interest in nutrition and anything else related that can help boost performance and recovery from injury and/or training so as to keep me on the mat well into my old age. I also try to take a conservative and skeptical view and do not believe in wasting one’s money on unnecessary products. I highly encourage and hope that others in the BJJ or combat sports community with similar training regimes may also contribute their knowledge and experience via comments or additional blog-posts.

Anyone who's done even a week of BJJ certainly knows the hell we can put our joints through in training. When the object of the game is 'submission', and the majority of these come through the near hyper-extension of the major joints of the body, joint health takes on a whole new meaning.

Some drug stores and nutritional centers contain near sections entirely devoted to joint-care products. Within these one can find bottles with everything ranging from the overly simplistic "Joint Health Formula", whatever that means, to the more specific, but often cryptic, scientific names that can make your head spin just trying to pronounce them. The two most commonly used, clinically tested, and promising substances are Glucosamine and Chondroiton, which are usually combined together with additional sulfur-type substance, such as MSM.

Glucosamine and chondroiton occur naturally in the body, that means your body can make them on their own. They play a major role in cartilage health, and are widely available in just about every shop selling vitamins and or other homeopathic health supplements.

Although they both occur naturally in the body, there are no dietary food sources for them, so the only way to theoretically increase their levels in your system is through taking supplements. The supplements are mostly made from the hard shells of shellfish, although those made from plant sources are also available but not nearly as common.

Glucosamine, and to a lesser extent Chondroiton, got attention as an alternative treatment for osteoarthritis. This is the type of arthritis that results from long term wear and tear on joints, usually the 'weight bearing' joints of the knee and hip. Tons of clinical trials were done but success wasn't 100%. So, in other words, taking the supplements helped take away the pain of arthritis in some, but not in others. The best results happened to people with the most severe symptoms, i.e. really, really bad joints, and those that were taking the supplements Glucosamine and Chondoiton together, as opposed to taking any of these in isolation. But, remember, it helped some but not all.

Now, unless you're like Kimbo Slice (those who watched the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show will know that he was diagnosed with arthritis in his knee), most BJJ'ers will not be suffering from arthritis. BUT, most of us have experienced some kind of major or minor joint injury that may or may not still be bothering us. These are the kind of people that may benefit from these supplements. Also, if you train BJJ or any other type of 'submission' oriented grappling, the extra wear you put on your joints will most likely put you at a higher risk for arthritis in the future. It should also be noted that as a preventative measure for delaying the onset of this painful condition, these supplements have also shown promise. But, as I cautioned before, this is not 100% certain yet.

After a brief scan through relative BJJ and MMA related online forums discussing the above supplements, many posters claimed to have noticed a significant relief in nagging joint injuries after taking these supplements. Injuries listed were constant popping of knees, cartilage damage, and just general joint soreness. But, once again, some posters said that they felt no difference.

Now, if you are interested in giving these a try, I will now move on to recommendations for dosage.

Firstly, purchase a combined Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement. Although most contain an additional amount of sulfur added to the pills, your body gets sulfur from protein rich foods. So, if you are getting your recommended daily amount of protein, which is roughly 1 gram per pound of body weight or 2.2 grams per kilogram, then you should be getting plenty of sulfur naturally. It should also be added that the cartilage in your body is basically made of sulfur and Glucosamine and Chondroiton are tools in turning sulfur into cartilage.

The pills usually come in around 500mg doses. Most credible recommendations are for taking around 1500mg a day for at least 30-90 days. So that means one pill three times daily. Because there are basically no side effects related with these supplements, you can also take three pills together in the morning for one big dose, but stretching out the dosage over a full day is always preferable because it will be digested more efficiently. After this initial loading period, you can lower the dosage to around 1000mg a day or two pills. If you have any stomach or other digestive problems after taking the pills (which is very rare as far as I could find), take them with food.

Now, notice how I wrote that you must take the stuff for at least 30-90 days at first. This is not a wonder drug, or a steroid with immediate effects. It is a natural supplement that takes A LOT of time to build up to effective levels in your system. The absolute earliest I ever read about someone feeling better was after two weeks, but most people will not notice any difference until at least after a month. So, as I've written before, YOU MUST BE PATIENT! Natural supplements will not generally work overnight. So, once again, with all things BJJ related, the only key to true success and improvement is patience and perseverance. No one, and I do mean NO ONE, becomes good at BJJ overnight. And in turn, no one truly benefits from natural supplements either.

Lastly, unfortunately, glucosamine and chondroiton are not the cheapest supplements in the world. The cheapest I have been able to find a bottle of 180 or so 500mg pills in Hong Kong is for around HK$240. So, if you're on a tight budget and don't have any really painful joint injuries, you just might want to save your money. Also, taking these supplements has not helped everyone, so they are definitely not sure to work for all. Also, don't waste money on a product just because it contains sulfur. As I said before, we can get this naturally from food, and shouldn't need to take it in supplement form if we are eating a healthy balanced fighter-type diet like we all should be doing!

Good luck, stay healthy, and C U ON THE MATS!

SCHEDULE

24th DEC (today) 15:00 ~ Kei and Marcio will have `secret` training
19:30 ~ normal training (Taki will come)

25th DEC (FRI) 15:00 ~ X`mas open mat (Taki will come)
19:30 ~ normal training (Taki will come)

26th DEC (SAT) CLOSED (BBQ party)

MERRY X`MAS!!

Kids Promotions

Congratulations to Peggy, Anthony, Sam for getting their yellow belts and jack for getting three strips!
Photos on grading on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/klnbjj/

Hohoho~, Paty time!!!

Guys, excellent time tonight at KLN BJJ's Xmas party.
Thank you soooooo much for cheering up together. We are the family. Also thanks to the punisher who came all the way from Mexico for only doing the punishments shows.

You guys made me cry, rally. I'll fix up my teeth and pay you back with more submissions. I love you all!!!

Thanks again for all your support and yes, KLN BJJ is your second home.

PORRA, KLN!

Dun forget, next week is BBQ party. Let's chill out.

Posted by Samulime

This Saturday Dec. 19 -- KLN-BJJ Christmas Party!

HO-HO-HO, everyone, and a Merry Christmas.

To celebrate the season of giving, we at KLN-BJJ will not only have one, but TWO Christmas parties. Why? you ask. Because that's just what KLN-BJJ members do: train hard and have fun afterward. The first party will be held this Saturday for all members leaving HK for the holidays.

We will have a gift exchange for all those wanting to participate. Bring a small gift of less than HK $100 if you want to join the exchange.

Also, we will hopefully have a special guest appearance by the BJJ Santa.

So don't miss it and bring a friend! Heck, bring two.

JUNGLE BBQ WITH VIKING ON 26th, DEC, 09

KLNBJJ will be closed on 26th (Sat) due to BBQ party. If you are interested to attend this event, please send an email to: info @ kln-bjj.com (Pls remove spaces around "@")

*** WE ARE CLOSED ON 26th (Sat), Dec, 2009 ***

Nutrition for BJJ'ers 101: Whey Protein Supplements

It should be noted that I am neither a doctor nor a nutritional expert. For professional advice one must go to the above. I am, however, a BJJ and combat sports practitioner with an interest in nutrition and anything else related that can help boost performance and recovery from injury and/or training so as to keep me on the mat well into my old age. I also try to take a conservative and skeptical view and do not believe in wasting one’s money on unnecessary products. I highly encourage and hope that others in the BJJ or combat sports community with similar training regimes may also contribute their knowledge and experience via comments or additional blog-posts.

Firstly, despite the hype, especially as touted in fitness related magazines and websites, there is no conclusive evidence that protein supplement pills or powders are any more beneficial for building and repairing muscle than a balanced variety of good, whole protein rich foods such as lean meats, dairy, and plant sources like legumes, nuts, etc. In other words, a weight lifter getting sufficient protein from natural food sources will most likely not experience any difference in muscular gains than one who gets a good percentage of their daily protein intake from supplements.

From this perspective, a lot of the hype over whey supplements is once again, well, just hype. So, are things like whey powders a complete waste of money? I say no. There are some definite advantages to “supplementing” your diet with whey powders for the BJJ’er that we must consider, especially as a post-workout recovery aid, or even a pre-workout drink. But, notice how I said “supplement” and not “replace”.

Whey is derived from cow’s milk and is basically the liquid stuff left over in the cheese making process. Milk contains two proteins: casein and whey. Casein makes up 80% of the total protein in milk and whey the other 20%. Whey can be absorbed much more quickly and easily than casein, has all the BCAA’s (amino acid stuff your muscles need), is very low in fat, contains no excessive carbs, and has a near 100 Biological Value (BV) which means almost all the protein is used by your body and not wasted.

So after reading this, maybe you’re thinking, hey, why don’t I just lose the food and just take stuff like whey? Well, the reason is because one of its benefits seems to also be one of its drawbacks: quick absorption. Because the proteins in whey can enter the bloodstream so quickly, it’s almost like a protein injection. Your body can only handle about 30grams of protein per hour (and not every hour either). Protein in natural foods is digested slowly and enters your system as it’s needed so to speak. Whey’s quick entry can make the kidneys work overtime, and anything over 30grams in your system can potential turn to ammonia which is flushed out by the kidneys as urine. Too much and the kidneys get taxed. So once again, it is a “supplement” not a “replacement”. Now I tried to find some solid recommendations on a protein powder supplement to natural food ratio but could find no consistent answers, but personally, I would never take this over 40% or so, i.e. 3 to 4 full shakes a day, on top of protein over 3 sit-down meals.

Next, we need to think of cost. The best way to figure out the price of protein is to look at the nutritional information label on the packaging of most products. To figure out the price per gram of protein simply times the protein per serving amount listed by the total amount of servings per container. Next, divide the cost of the product by this number.

For example, 1 egg has around 6 grams of protein; a pack of a dozen eggs would therefore have 6 x 12 grams for a total of 72 grams. On average, I buy a dozen brown eggs of decent quality in Hong Kong for around $HK 20. So we divide 20 by 72 to get around 28cents per gram of protein. We can do the same with, for example, let’s say, Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Label Whey, one of the most popular lower cost whey supplement powders which is sold in the affordable independently owned nutrition shops in HK anywhere from $300 to $380 for 5lbs. For argument’s sake, if I bought 5lbs for $HK 350, and 5lbs has 74 servings with 24 grams of protein per serving, my cost per gram is 20cents. Hey, that’s much cheaper than eggs at that price. So on that level, whey is a great bargain and a cost effective way of getting protein, but this also doesn’t take into account all of the other beneficial nutrients in protein rich foods, such as selenium that exists in eggs.

Of course, supplementing your diet with whey as a cost-effective measure only works if you are buying the cheaper brands of whey powder on the market. Most martial artists and bodybuilders discussing the issue on Internet forums agree that the cheaper available brands work just as well as the more expensive ones, the only difference being taste and fancier packaging. Now, of course, the supplement industry, nutritional shop owners, sponsored athletes and anyone else with a financial stake in the industry will say whatever they can to convince you that the more expensive stuff is better. But, I could find no evidence supporting these claims.

The only time I would encourage someone to maybe spend more would be to purchase whey protein ‘isolate’ over the ‘concentrate’ or ‘hydolized’ forms. Isolate is more pure and thus digested more easily than the others. If you have any digestive issues with powders, than you might want to consider paying a bit more for isolate. If you have some serious issues with digesting whey, you’re probably lactose intolerant and, thus, will need to consult the advice of a doctor or sport’s nutrition expert on what to do.

Besides being potentially cost effective, whey also has a very low fat content, which makes it a good way of getting some extra protein without having to load up on the calories. Eggs have a lot of fat, so if you’re worried about that, this is another benefit. Whey is also low in carbs, as most lean meats are anyway, but this is another consideration.

Another good thing about whey powders is you don’t have to cook them, unlike chicken, or eggs (unless you’re Rocky). So the convenience of being able to drink a shake in the gym immediately after an intense workout is a big plus for many people. I can see many overworked and perpetually “busy” Hong Kongers appreciating this fact. Maybe all those jerks that are too impatient to wait for passengers to exit the MTR before entering should be reading this, hehe.

Like I said before, whey is quickly digested, so drinking a post-BJJ-workout shake, after 1 1/2 to 2 hours of conditioning, drilling, and sparring, is a great way to get some quick nutrition to your overworked muscles. Many people like to drink a pre-workout shake to make sure their muscles are “fueled-up” for the workout and won’t go catabolic (that means digest themselves) when the muscles start really working.

Other benefits of whey that are listed on websites, magazines, and books range from boosting the immune system to increased anti-oxidant activity. Although studies on the above have been promising, these were performed on mice, not humans. I am not a mouse, and sometimes, I feel like I ‘m barely a human after a big workout. So these claims, although potentially true, are not proven.

So, in the end, I think whey as an intense post-workout muscle replenisher is a good thing, and I will continue to use it as such in the future. Its potential protein cost-effectiveness also makes it attractive on a budget. It’s convenience for a guy on a tight schedule is also great. But, in the end, my friend who also sticks steaks, chicken and tofu will probably be okay too, and nothing can replace a good and varied natural diet because that is what are bodies were built to handle anyway, right?