do mma fighters take pre workout before a fight

Do MMA Fighters Take Pre-Workout Before a Fight?

Watching MMA fights, the question of MMA fighters take pre-workout before fights might have come to the top of your mind.

Many MMA fighters use pre-workouts such as pain reliefs and other painkillers before a fight. They usually take it 30 minutes before a fight. Before it was banned, many MMA fighters used narcotics as a means of improving their performance.

In the rest of the article, I will tell you about the benefits and disadvantages of using pre-workouts and what exactly MMA fighters take before the fights.

Pre-Workout for MMA

Pre-workout is a supplement or drink taken to give you energy during training. It helps you to stay motivated and supercharged for an extended period during a fight. It also increases focus and cognitive ability.

A few research pieces have shown the significant effect of pre-workout on the body and how it helps to speed up the rate of losing body fat and boost energy levels. [1][2][3]

What Does Pre-Workout Contain?

Pre-workout contains glucose that helps supply additional energy and increases blood sugar levels. Most pre-workouts also contain energy-boosting ingredients, caffeine, and sugar.

Reading the labels to check the ingredients used in a pre-workout is very important. Doing this will help you discover a product with an overused amount of caffeine and other energy-boosting products that might adversely affect insomnia, high blood pressure, and anxiety.

Is Pre-Workout Safe?

Pre-workouts are safe without adverse effects on the health of most men. But there are mild side effects that might make you feel uncomfortable, such as interrupted sleep, jittering, and itching.

It is always advisable to go for smaller doses as a new user and understand how it works.

Benefits and Disadvantages of Taking Pre-Workout

Pre-workout helps a fighter perform better and stay energized for a long period, increase the fighter’s cognition, concentration and focus. The caffeine contained in the product is responsible for these effects.

Pre-workout can result in digestion problems due to ingredients like magnesium, sodium bicarbonate, caffeine, creatine, e.t.c.

However, some pre-workout users do not experience this due to the type of product they use. This is why it is best to use different supplements to find the one that works best for you.

There is also an overstimulation problem which could result in insomnia and jitters. Excessive usage can make pre-workout ineffective as your body has built immunity against its effects.

Do MMA Fighters Take Pre-workout?

Yes, they do. As I’ve said before, pre-workouts are full of vitamins and minerals, and they help your body achieve the most out of each workout.

Most of these supplements contain ingredients to increase your heart rate and blood flow.

Not only that, but they aid in focus during your workout and can modestly increase a fighter’s workload.

Pre-workout supplements have become very important among nearly every high-level athlete, in every sport.

It’s no different with MMA where, in particular, a pre-workout could make the difference between good training, or great training.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that you use the best products available to achieve optimal results.

Here is a complete list of supplements MMA fighters use.

What Else Do MMA Fighters Take Before a Fight?

MMA fighters burn a lot of energy that needs immediate refueling during a fight. This is why eating and drinking right becomes essential as it helps to improve the fighter’s performance. 

A fighter has to ensure that he remains fit to fight another day by eating healthy meals and staying fit.

Proper nutrition should have the right proportion of nutrients to help support the body before and after the fight.

MMA fighters also take energy drinks to keep them energized as well as water to stay rehydrated.

These foods are the ideal ones for fighters before a fight:

  • Protein meals like eggs, cheese, and poultry.
  • Complex carbohydrates like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.
  • Some choose foods like peanut butter with banana and apple slices, cottage cheese with fruit, whole grain bread with chicken, and fruit and nuts with yogurt.
  • Lots of water to keep them hydrated for long periods. They also keep bottles of water (usually taken during breaks) handy to keep them rehydrated.

However, the meal and drink choice before a fight is usually determined by what works best for the fighter. 

All of this is especially important when fighters are in the process of cutting weight.

Do MMA Fighters Take Painkillers Before a Fight?

Many MMA fighters take painkillers before a fight. For effectiveness, it’s usually taken 20 minutes to one hour before the fight.

Painkillers serve as booster during preparation for a fighter, but it has little effect during a fight.

Unlike other types of sports, fighting requires violence, and you need speed and thorough training to succeed. Injury and pain are common in this sport, which is why painkillers are used.

Even when the fighter has an injury or feels pain, he has to continue the training as long as it doesn’t severely affect his health or life-threatening.

At times like this, different kinds of painkillers are employed to make the pain go after the fight.

Aside from using pain relief and other painkillers, some fighters used narcotics to improve their performance before it was baned.

But, narcotics use comes with harmful side effects such as poor coordination, dullness, and being too slow to react.

It can also affect the normal functioning of the brain and pose a great respiratory risk. These risks are responsible for the banning of narcotics.

Other Ways MMA Fighters Treat the Pain After a Fight

A fighter feels so much pain the next day after a fight, and he might experience headaches, broken legs or broken hands, and have bruises or bumps on their body.

These injuries can make it hard for the fighter to engage in basic activities like washing, lifting, e.t.c. Although some parts of the body usually hurt more.

For instance, the head is the most targeted area during the fighting, so there are scrapes, swellings, and cuts around the face and jaws.

The leg might also be broken due to kicks, and the fighter might find it hard to walk for many weeks after the fight. At this point, the fighter relies on pain relievers to heal quickly.

The most severe injury is usually the one done to the ribs since it takes longer periods to heal due to how it is structured.

If you’ve ever had a rib injury, you can relate to how much it hurts. It makes breathing, sleeping, and laughing difficult.

Aside from pain relievers, some fighters rely on ice. Ice is perfect too! It helps the fighter heal faster. Drinking lots of water and taking anti-inflammatory drugs can also help.

Often, fighting takes a lot of process with lots of discipline, and the pain can not be compared to the months of practice before the fight.

The pain that comes with training makes it easier for fighters to handle their pain during the fight. It’s why they easily overcome the pains that come after the fight.

Vladimir Vladisavljevic has been training in the art of kickboxing for over seven years, holds a Taekwondo black belt, and has a master's degree in sports and physical education. He's also a huge mixed martial arts fan. He's a big deal in Bulgaria as a mixed martial arts commentator, analyst, and podcaster.
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Vladimir Vladisavljevic

Vladimir Vladisavljevic has a master's degree in sports and physical education. He has been training in kickboxing for over seven years and holds a Taekwondo black belt. He's also a huge mixed martial arts fan. Vladimir is a big deal in Bulgaria as a mixed martial arts commentator, analyst, and podcaster. He was known as The Bulgarian Cowboy in the Western world. In addition, he has a YouTube channel where he talks about his love of esports, one of the fastest-growing fields in the world. Our testing and reviewing method.
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