Recently I came across an interview given by one of the greatest MMA fighters ever, Georges St-Pierre(also called GSP), to GQ Magazine. In the interview he talks about how a disease changed his perspective about right dietary habits, and his views about fear.
For those of you, who don’t know about Georges St-Pierre, he is a former professional martial artist. Widely regarded as one of the greatest MMA fighters ever, he won titles in two weight divisions, i.e: Welterweight and Middleweight Divisions.
Having retired from UFC 2 years back, and being 39 years old now, he has managed to keep himself incredibly fit post retirement. (Checkout his Instagram page to see for yourself). He has switched to Hollywood now, with movies like, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Kickboxer: Vengeance, Cartels, to his credit.
Here are the key takeaways from the former UFC champion’s conversation with the GQ Magazine, from which we all can learn from :
1) Question conventional wisdom :
The global fitness industry derives a major chunk of their revenue by selling dietary supplements. To boost their sales, the fitness industry spreads fear and lies. We have been told that if you want your workouts to be effective, you need to feed yourself before going into the gym, have BCAA during you workouts and have protein supplements or you won’t gain muscles.
GSP says “I wake up with an empty stomach and I go train. I have found out that training on an empty stomach makes me sharper, because I believe that when you eat in the morning and go train, part of your brain is focusing on digestion. Now, because my stomach is empty, I feel I have more focus on what I am doing. I wish I would have known that before, but like most athletes, we have been raised in a society where they teach you, Oh, you need protein. You need to eat a lot of protein after a workout to make sure you recuperate well. Buy this. This supplement is good. This. This. It’s a lot of consumerism.”
Although I am not against supplements, but in most cases, supplements aren’t required. We abuse our digestive system by feeding it more protein than is required. We buy into the lies fitness industry feeds us with. The thing we should ask ourselves is “Before the advent of dietary supplements, didn’t people manage to look muscular ? “
2) Intermittent Fasting :
Georges St-Pierre was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Ulcerative Colitis is a condition which causes inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract.
GSP says that after his diagnosis he had to completely change the outlook on his eating habits. He got into intermittent fasting.
“…The reason we don’t hear so much about fasting is because there’s no money to make. I realized after I started fasting that we’re overfed as human beings. That I don’t need to eat six times, or even three times a day to recuperate. And the fact that I’m fasting—my inflammation goes down, my water retention goes down, I sleep better. I don’t have those colitis symptoms, these cramps that I used to have. I feel so much better, and I’m much leaner. I’m retired now, I’m 39 years old, and physically, I look—in terms of a bodybuilding look—better than when I was 25.”
“If I would have done the fasting program when I was younger, it would have been amazing. I just regret that—I wish I would have known that at the time. But I believe that if someone would have talked to me about fasting at the time, I would have never listened to them because I was in that culture of consuming products. This idea that we need more protein to recuperate. I had to be sick to learn the efficiency of fasting—in order to believe in it—and I just wish I would have known that earlier in my life”, GSP reflects.
Intermittent Fasting is something I myself, strictly adhere to. When I started training, I was taught that you need to have six meals a day if you want to look muscular. As a noob, I religiously adhered to that. However, due to over exerting my digestive system I started developing digestive ailments and skin conditions. Also I felt dull throughout the day. Since I usually workout later in the day, I started skipping breakfast, as an experiment to give my digestive system some rest, I ensure to intake calories only within a window of 8 hours, while eating the same amount of calories but within time restricted window. As a result, I feel and look much healthy and fresh now.
Don’t believe me, try intermittent fasting for 21 days, to see the results for yourself !
3) Just show up :
Later in the conversation, the interviewer asks the interviewee, ” Were you ever afraid ? “. GSP being a multiple times UFC champion, and an expert in ass kicking, we’d hardly expect him to feel fear. Yet his response was surprising.
GSP replies, “Before every fight, I was terrified, scared. I was extremely uncomfortable. But when I walk into the octagon, I can’t act like that. I have to put on a poker face and pretend that I’m excited, I’m confident, and I can’t wait to fight. Deep down inside, though, it’s totally the opposite. So, I’m acting the whole time. We always say you fake it until you make it.”
We all feel stressed by the nearing of a project deadline. Before appearing for the interview for that coveted job, we always feel pangs of fear and anxiety. It’s completely normal to feel this way. It’s our mind telling us that we care about this event. This feeling of stress, if kept under check can help us perform even better than we normally do.
As Dale Carnegie rightly said,
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
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