The last ten days after arriving home post holidays have been busy work wise. Squeezed in quite a few tactical training sessions regardless. Nothing worse than a few days without training. I never try to take set days off from training. I tend to use a work day that is just too crazy and have that as a day off. Not too scientific, but very practical. I always plan for at least one 36hr period between training sessions through the week. Normally that day off is not so much a rest day, as more of a busy work day! So although I may not train physically such as weights or cardio, what I do is focus on another aspect of training. This is normally training in the form of how I eat through the day. As a rule, I can predict I won’t make training (though I always carry BJJ and workout kit in the car!!) so I have a scoop of coconut oil and a coffee. The rest of the day then becomes my fasting day, where I will then not eat until 10pm that night. It’s not strictly fasting, but it’s usually at least 16hrs – 24hrs. My days are busy with lots of walking and thinking, and interestingly I become sharper as the day goes on. On occasion if I happen to make training, it never affects my training quality, it usually improves it. Mind you, I really enjoy dinner!! Dinner will then consist of something small like a slab of salmon and salad. I sleep great with a whack of protein on-board, and feel light the next morning. So for me, the fasting is not about weight or dieting, it’s about control over eating and releasing myself psychologically from the instinct to eat three times a day with snacks in between. Once I realised that this was not required, it freed up plenty of thinking and working time. I don’t worry about stopping for meal, and I don’t worry about what there is to eat. It’s a real psychological boost, and a great weapon to have in your BJJ quiver. A great example is if you’re competing and you don’t have time to stop, or access to the food you like, you know you can just power on regardless. You will have done this many times and already psychologically built in the mental strength patterns required to focus on what’s needed. The concept of ‘intermittent fasting’ if googled, has plenty written about it by people who sound like they know what they are on about, so I won’t bore you here. Look it up, try it if you like and see if it fits in to what you need. It’s cheap, easy to do and if you are not enjoying it, grab a donut and shake off the pain!!!