You’re eating clean.
Chicken, rice, broccoli. No junk. No sugar. Maybe even cut the carbs to “speed up” your cut.
But halfway through sparring, you feel like your legs are filled with cement.
Your energy drops. Your shots have no snap. You feel flat, slow, and weirdly hungry — even after eating.
Here’s why that happens. And how to fix it.
1. You’re eating clean — but underfueling
Most fighters confuse “clean” with “low-calorie.”
They’ll train 2x a day and eat like a lifestyle influencer cutting for Ibiza.
1800–2000 calories isn’t enough when you’re smashing pads, sparring, lifting, and running in the same week.
Your body’s running a deficit it can’t recover from.
✅ Fix it: Don’t aim for clean — aim for calculated.
Know your output. Track your food. If your weight’s dropping too fast or energy’s crashing, bump your intake slightly and watch performance come back.
2. You’re mistiming your carbs
Even fighters who eat enough still eat wrong around training.
Eating most of your carbs hours after training (or saving them for dinner) means your sessions feel heavy and slow.
You’re showing up to battle without ammo.
✅ Fix it: Put 70% of your daily carbs around training —
before for energy, after for recovery.
Think rice, cream of rice, potatoes, fruit, oats.
Not doughnuts. Not granola bars. And not hours too late.
3. You’re avoiding salt like it’s the enemy
This one kills your performance quietly.
Fighters get scared of “holding water,” so they cut sodium way too early — or cut it completely.
But sodium controls fluid balance, blood pressure, and muscle contractions.
Cut it too soon, and suddenly you’re cramping, flat, and gassed by round 2.
✅ Fix it: Keep salt in your food throughout camp.
Only taper it slightly in the final few days (if you’re cutting).
Salt = hydration. Hydration = power. No salt = flat.
The bottom line?
Clean eating isn’t a strategy.
You need fuel that works for your training — not just what sounds good on paper.
Want meals that are actually built for fighters?
The Athletes Appetite Cookbook has 50+ recipes made to fuel sparring, pad rounds, runs, and recovery — all while keeping you lean and fight-ready.
