Two months into training at Clockwork studios my summer started and the semester after the summer I took off. So I started training 2 times per day and 6 days a week. Plus I was doing strength and conditioning some of those days so I was really “progressing” up until the point I burned out….
Every week I had a new micro injury. It started with my shoulder getting hurt during omaplata drilling, then it was my elbow during an armbar , then I had knots all over my back, constantly getting sick and so on…
I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong… I was training hard and For every 2 steps I took forward I would take 1 back. It was very frustrating. Then I started reading about it and I realized I was a victim of over training! even though I felt like I just wasn’t training enough!
So I took a week off and re-evaluated my training and realized that first of all I wasn’t getting enough rest and recovery. Most people need 6-8 hours of sleep, I needed around 8-10 to feel well rested because my body was getting more beat up than a regular guy and it needed more rest. Also I wasn’t getting proper nutrition(adequate calories/high protein intake). So I decided to go to sleep every night before 11 pm accept a few occasions and Saturday nights. I also decided to really turbo charge my nutrition.
According to a lot of sports nutrition specialists say athletes need between 1.2-1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. So for me that was 130/2.2= 59 Kg ( this told me how much I weigh in Kilograms) Then I multiplied that number by the avg amount of grams which is 1.5. 59 x 1.5 = 88.5 grams of protein was necessary for my daily intake.
Also I needed a lot of complex carbohydrates to keep my body running as well. So I started eating about 10 grams of carbohydrates per Kg which was 590 grams per day of carbohydrates. So my protein intake was 88.5 grams and my Carbohydrate intake was 590 grams so I was eating about 679 grams x 4( calories per gram of protein and carbohydrates)=2716 calories ..plus I would eat a lot of greens and fruits( spinach, Kale, vegetables, fruits,etc). My Daily Calorie intake is about 3000 calories give or take a hundred.
After I made those 2 changes(sleep, nutrition) I started feeling a lot more refreshed and I was able to put in those long hours at the studio. So there you have it folks, Its all about your rest and recovery!
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