6 Best Supplements for Boxing & Other Martial Arts (2023)

Protein is a vital nutrient for combat athletes as it’s critical for muscle growth and recovery, cutting weight, and preserving muscle mass while preparing for competitions.

If boxers, MMA, and other fighters don’t take enough protein, they lose lean muscle mass and become weaker.

The recommended daily protein intake for boxers is up to 2 grams per kilogram of their body weight. [4]

Since boxing requires almost everyday training, getting all the necessary nutrients, including the best protein from food only, is nearly impossible. You need extra protein to aid faster post-workout muscle tissue repair and regain strength for the next training session.

Consuming 20-30g of high-quality whey protein powder per serving straight after a workout is one of the best ways for a boxer to supplement his diet effectively.

It’s a great way to meet all his daily protein requirements as it’s affordable, easy to prepare, and gets absorbed quicker than protein-based foods or other types of protein powder supplements like casein, soy, hemp, etc. [5]

Proteins are made up of amino acids, and many brands also include BCAAs, glutamine, and other beneficial components in their whey protein powder supplements.

Creatine is made up of three amino acids - Glycine, L-Arginine, and L-Methionine.

Studies show that creatine can increase lean muscle mass, overall strength, explosive force, and performance in athletes involved in repeated high-intensity training sessions for a long time (like in boxing, wrestling, judo, weight training, and other similar sports). [6] [7] [8]

By increasing phosphocreatine stores in your muscles, creatine can help them grow and become stronger.

Creatine also creates more ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in your body, providing it with more muscular energy. Plus, it’s proven to enhance muscle recovery from intense exercise.

Boxers who take around 0.03 grams of creatine monohydrate 0.03 grams per kilogram of body weight daily after a meal and workout may increase their endurance and exercise capacity and retain their punching power throughout long demanding workouts and competitions.

People typically get the necessary vitamins and minerals from their diet, but it’s trickier for boxers because of their frequent overtraining and dietary restrictions to cut weight before fights.

That’s why fighters are at higher risk of nutritional deficiencies, affecting their muscular performance and overall health.

For instance, a boxer deficient in vitamin D is at a higher risk of bone fractures and inflammation. Just imagine how much such an injury or spending a few days in bed with the flu can affect your muscular function, performance, health, and career.

All the nutrients you get from a multivitamin supplement help maintain a healthy, strong immune system, boost your energy levels and metabolism.

What’s more:

Besides countless health benefits, exercising also causes oxidative stress, producing harmful free radicals that may cause many diseases. [9]

Luckily, taking multivitamin supplements rich in Zinc, Selenium, Beta-Carotene, vitamins A, C, and E can help protect your cells from damage, detoxify, and prevent illnesses.

So, make sure you choose the supplement rich in all these nutrients and powerful antioxidants derived from real whole foods without synthetic components, plant-based, easy to swallow, and digest like Performance Lab Nutrigenesis

Fish oil is another supplement every boxer who trains hard multiple times a week should consider taking.

Not only is it beneficial for any athlete’s heart, brain, bones, skin, and general health, but it has numerous other benefits.

Besides boosting your immunity, enabling you to fight free radicals, and preventing disease, fish oil can help you lose excess body fat and increase lean muscle mass. [10]

Research says fish oil improves your cardiovascular function and reduces heart rate, allowing your whole body better oxygen consumption during workouts, which leads to greater aerobic performance.

As a boxer, you put a lot of strain on your joints.

Boxing requires long, high-intensity training sessions twice a day, several times per week.

Many studies have proven that caffeine can:

• Boost energy, metabolism, and mental alertness
• Reduce fatigue and appetite
• Increase strength
• Improve endurance and athletic performance.

Although CBD oil is made from the hemp plant leaves and stalks, it has no psychoactive properties. Many boxers supplement their diet with CBD oil supplements to improve their nutrition, sleep, and everyday whole-body wellness.

Just make sure to pick a formula like cbdMD Oil Tincture, guaranteed to be THC-free, so that you don’t have to worry about failing a drug test.

You can mix this vegan, gluten-free supplement available in different natural flavors with food or drink to efficiently manage daily stress, reduce anxiety before competitions, relieve pain and inflammation, and improve exercise recovery.

The supplements boxers should avoid are those products containing:

• Illegal substances
• Artificial and potentially harmful additives
• Fillers
• Contaminants
• Bovine gelatin
• Anabolic steroids
• Human growth hormone (HGH)
• Testosterone or other hormone products

Boxers are also discouraged weight loss products, impure supplements made by untrusted brands or not properly labeled with non-transparent specific ingredient doses, and similar.

Steer clear from performance-enhancing drugs and other harmful products because they can jeopardize your health, performance, reputation, and career. [1]

Keep in mind that supplements may interact with each other and with prescription and over-the-counter medications you may be using.

“Many supplements on the market have not been rigorously tested. Very few supplements have shown to be of benefit, and many carry unsubstantiated health claims. More is not necessarily better when it comes to micronutrient supplements.”  - JoAnn E. Manson, DrPH, MD

You can find more detailed information on what you need to know about dietary supplements, as well as the potential risks and benefits of specific, commonly used botanical supplements, vitamins, and minerals on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website [2, 3].

Also, to avoid confusion and maximize effectiveness and safety, it’s best to consult your doctor, nutritionist, coach, or another professional if you’re unsure what supplements to avoid and what to use.

Now that you know what to stay away from let’s get back to the best supplements for boxing you can and should consider taking.