Catherine Costigan is a mixed martial arts cage fighter from Limerick. She runs Pankration Kickboxing Academy with husband Dermot McGrath and she is currently training for a major MMA event in Dublin on Saturday March 1. This is the final part in her series of training diaries in preparation for her upcoming fight.
I’m here right now writing this blog and I’m beat up, sore all over my body. I’m tired, it’s been a challenging week. Rosi pushed me to beyond a new pain threshold. She reminded me again just what is needed to be world class. She hit me with everything but again it was all done with good intent. I’m her girl that she’s brought up in this fight game over the last three years. I know she’s proud of me when I refused to stay down as she crushes me into the cage. If I don’t break with her, I think I never will. It was a excellent feeling to have her back as my mentor and true friend but now recovery. How does my body keep taking the work load everyday of a full time MMA fighter?
I realised pretty quick it was down to food and supplements. The highest quality of both. If I want to be the best, I need a full time nutritionist. When I say full time that’s exactly what Mike Leng gives me, daily meal plans, excellent structures to cutting weight in the safest way and amazing abs that many women want. People wondered why I didn’t look tired in my last fight.
Again I put in the very best fuel. Tons of eggs and oats in the morning, tasty cooked chicken breasts with bags of green salad, yummy steak, lean pork and turkey. I’ve gone broccoli mad, and not one potato in sight, just brown rice. I haven’t seen bread or had a sandwich in months and to be honest I don’t need it. I’m totally sold on gluten free all the way. My old injuries don’t hurt anymore; no sugar is good. Mike tracks everything week to week, he’s a fountain of nutrition knowledge and a pretty cool guy. His plans are silly and inexpensive. If you want to really change yourself, get to Unorthodox Nutrition.
I have one amazing sponsor, he’s my only one but the most important I know. Dr Dave Best gives me the very best pharmacial graded products. It’s the highest quality and the reason I shock people when I tell them my age. He puts everything into the research of each product he sells. The immune boost has really helped me stop getting sick. The brain power and regeniser keeps me focused and that’s extremely important to a fighter. I need to be able to remember the moves of the game plan.
Now the last thing that I found as I’m a tiny girl, when I cut I have hardly any body fat, I’ve to usually go on the Mars bar diet after the fight to get back to Miss Chubby. This means I get flus and I had been getting a lot over the last few months, but then my genius of a physio educated me through the tri-lodgics programme in the importance of magnesium intake, or the lack of it these days for most people.
It’s essential for helping the body absorb every nutrient from our food, it helps maintain your ph acid alkaline balance and it also cuts the lactic acid build up in the body. Now that’s major for a fighter and giving us a fast turn around to train again the next day.
I started having baths with a kilo of magnesium flakes at least twice a week, staying in for 20 minutes. Ever since, anytime a cold has started, once I have a bath it’s gone the next morning and it gives me rocking energy.
I highly recommend everyone to start a magnesium programme with Peter and it’s really inexpensive. I haven’t had a sniffle since.
When all these factors are put into my camp it brings amazing results. If you don’t believe me just watch how I don’t ever get tired in fights and look super healthy all the time. By working with these three incredible people I’m going to become world class but also live for a very long time. I’ve tons of holidays to go on at some point!
Right, my Alphas, the fight camp is done, now I walk forward with no fear inside. I’m living, I’m alive and I’m reaching for the stars. Stars that I looked up to when I was a kid and dreamed of being someone who gave something back in life.
I strive to be the best in every way and I’ll show that on Cage Warriors 65 at The Helix on March 1. Keep on my Facebook as I’ll be sharing the link details for the fight. You know it’s the think you need to do on a Saturday night, watch The Atom Costigan zoom around the cage. War with my shield or on it!! No other way I know.
Follow Catherine’s fitness tips on facebook at Catherine Costigan Alpha Female Fitness and Twitter @alphafemalewar.
