Will Fish or Flax seed oil give me healing factor?

[Suprore]

This is a super basic/beginner question i think, but it's pretty much what the title says. I'm jumping back into training bjj 4 nights a week, with an hour of boxing and an hour of muay thai before it on two of those nights, and i was wondering if there was any kind of edge i could get to minimize injury/strain and maximize healing time.

I'm already trying to eat a bit better and stretch after training, but will supplements like fish or flax seed oil actually help someone like me? Search functioning it up and reading old threads i found some evidence to suggest they might be good for someone who's lifting a lot, but is there any reason to invest the money if i'm just training sortof hard?

Or am i completely misinformed about what they do?

[goodlun]

I am not too sure about omega 3s helping with recovery. What I have found that helps a lot is tart cherry(its an anti-inflammatory) and of course heat & ice. Ice is a huge thing. Also here is a cool infographic to take a look at
http://www.informationisbeautiful.ne...l-supplements/

[Sang]

Omega 3 is one of the few supplements I've taken which i can say without a doubt improves my Muay Thai recovery time. I've taken 12 capsules a day for the past 3-4 months and even combined with a large calorie deficit I noticed an improvement in recovery time.

[wetware]

Interesting. Any idea how they affect damaged knees? (Not very specific, I know. All the VA has ever told me is "degenerative arthritis".)

[goodlun]

Interesting. Any idea how they affect damaged knees? (Not very specific, I know. All the VA has ever told me is "degenerative arthritis".)

glucosamine sulfate is suppose to be good for joints. I don't know if it has been "proven" yet or not.

[wetware]

Glucosamine seems to help some. Enough that I sometimes forget to take it because I'm not in pain. It seems to take about 2 weeks to start working, so I don't think it's placebo. I figure if there's any evidence it helps with healing joints I'll try it, certainly beats popping my own knee and not being able to walk right for a week because I'm used the frigging lockdown. (No, that doesn't stop me from using the lockdown and it's only happened once.)

[goodlun]

I already mentioned it but I will say it again because I swear by the stuff tart cherry extract seems to be a great pain and inflammation reliever so its probably good for the joints as well. Also icing the joints after practice even if you didn't hurt them helps because it reduces micro-swelling.

[Aikichick]

Quick background info- I finished my undergrad in exercise science/nutrition and am currently doing a Masters in Clinical Exercise Phys w/ some sports nutrition thrown in.

I haven't heard any definite proof about omega 3/flax/other fatty acids improving healing time. Most of the articles I've seen lean one way or the other (if you want to see any, PM me). From what I understand, the fatty acids (FAs) are good for the nervous system, IE nerve health, keeping the mylination on nerves, better signal transmission, brain health, etc.

Your healing time should decrease if you eat a balanced diet. Standard information, I know, but its tried and true.

If you're really physically active, eat more protein- meat, preferably beans or soy, but just get it in your system one way or the other to help promote tissue health and microtear healing. If you're injured, eat even more protein; your body needs it to effectively repair the trauma and if you don't put fresh protein into the system, it'll take it from elsewhere so it has the building blocks it needs.

Fruits and veggies just have a lot of nutrients the body needs. Actually, if I remember an ancient history class right- IF- the antioxidants in fruits and veggies can help the healing process since they help to get rid of free radicals and other crap that is biochemically bad for your body and the healing process. Tea and coffee (yay!) are awesome in this regard as well. :D

Of course frequent stretching (stay away from ballistic stretching, its been proven to do more damage than good) will help prevent injury and speed the healing of current injuries. Also remember, ice for acute injuries and heat and massage for chronic....

[goodlun]

the antioxidants in fruits and veggies can help the healing process since they help to get rid of free radicals and other crap that is biochemically bad for your body and the healing process. Tea and coffee (yay!) are awesome in this regard as well. :D

It looks like the most current research suggest that antioxidants are not all that they are cracked up to be.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/8/842
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...8&searchtype=a

[Permalost]

A LEO I train with swears by glucosamine for his joints, but he said it takes 6-8 weeks before you start noticing it.