THE IMPORTANCE OF DIET IN MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
1. Weight Classes
2. Gaining Vs. Cutting
3. Cutting SMART
What do you weigh right now?
What weight are you competing at?
How many days until the fight?
You and your managers and coaches really need to keep an eye on those three numbers!
If you are trying to gain weight, you have my sympathies. Especially if you are smart
and are doing it drug-free. In 2006 it was shocking to see how many top pros got nailed
for ‘roids .... ...stupid is as stupid does!
Gaining weight and cutting weight have one thing in common. Frequency of meals.
Most athletes I see, especially the younger ones, eat completely wrong. I train with a 19
year-old kid who has amazing skills, yet can’t drop his 20 pounds of baby fat from 175 to
get to 155. He trains hard, but he eats only two huge meals a day! One around 2pm, and
then a massive meal around 10 pm. When you go to bed on a full stomach, you sleep like
crap and your body works all night to store that food as fat.
How many meals per day are you currently eating? Write the number here:
If you wrote 4 (or less) then you are missing feedings. Yes, even if you are trying to drop
weight! The more frequently you eat small meals, the more efficient your body has to
become at burning it. There are special hormone routines that get activated, and your
inner machine runs much smoother.
There was no sauna and weigh-ins were only an hour before you grappled, so there was
no room for shenanigans. You really can’t re-hydrate much in an hour. Guzzling 6
Gatorades gives you a huge gut that hurts when a guy kneels on it!
I brought my weight down around 1-2 pounds a week for 4 weeks. My final week I was
143, and needed to drop 4 pounds. I was doing plenty of cardio every day, roughly an
hour a day on the recumbent bike. I had torn my sauna suit, so I improvised. You can
use Vaseline on your torso, or a make-up remover like Abilene
garbage bag on with holes cut for your arms and head. Then you put your sweats over
top.
I was eating 6 meals a day, of 275 calories per meal. The weeks leading up to the
tournament I was drinking about a gallon of water a day. A week out that was cut to 3-4
glasses, and by Wednesday I was down to ice cubes to handle the thirst. I weighed in
Saturday morning at 138.5 lbs. I drank Pedialyte and Gatorade to re-hydrate for my
match.
BIG MISTAKES IN CUTTING
1. Starving
Have you ever starved yourself? You see those scrawny models on TV that live on wine
and cigarettes? Ever see the look in their eyes?
When you starve yourself, a hormone called leptin gets activated. I have seen first hand
what happens when a bodybuilder starving himself before a contest lost the battle with
his hormones. He snapped around 11pm at night, and drove to an A&W drive-through.
He ate a Grandpa Burger, onion rings, fries, a couple of micro waved apple pies and a
few root beers. He completely looked like crap the next day. All the salt and fat pulled
the water back into his body.
How do you prevent crashing on a diet? Have you ever heard the term “cheat day”?
The body can be tricked into thinking a famine or starvation has ended and prevents the
leptin from driving you crazy and blowing your diet. How? On Wednesdays and
Saturdays you get to cheat A LITTLE BIT on your diet.
What does a little bit mean? About 300-400 calories over your normal daily intake.
Think one slice of pizza, or a small bowl of ice cream. A treat. Something to eat slowly
and savor. A release for the mind and hormones.
Note I said “a slice” and not an entire pizza or tub of ice cream! Discipline my friend.
Imagine how great the victory meal will be after you win your fight. Plan that party.
Look at Chuck Liddell. He invites 10,000 fans to his after parties!
2. Water
Water is an essential part of cutting. You need your body to believe that water is
plentiful in the weeks leading up to the fight. Drink a gallon a day spread over the day.
If you are on a diet, drink 2 large glasses of ice-cold water before every meal? Why?
Your body will burn calories to warm up the water, and it will give your stomach a
feeling of fullness before you eat your delicious steamed fish or chicken salad.
The final week before the show, you must watch your water intake. Have your coach
control the water bottle at training. Your body will die without water, but you must
gradually taper it off before the weigh-in if you are cutting. But since you’re smart, you
started your diet early and you won’t have a ridiculous amount of water to cut, right?
CUTTING WITHOUT DYING
In early 2007 Travis Lutter, the middleweight winner of Season 3 of The Ultimate
Fighter on Spike TV had a title match against champion Anderson Silva at 185lbs. He
showed up at 207 lbs, and attempted to cut 22lbs in less than 36 hours. Unfortunately his
body shut down and stopped sweating...and he showed up at weigh-ins at 187lbs. For a
title fight you don’t get the 1-pound buffer, so they sent him back into the sauna to try to
drop 2 final pounds in 2 hours. When he came back to re-weigh he had only lost ½
pound and LOST HIS TITLE FIGHT! He had months to prepare, he knew everything
was riding on this, and yet he gambled and lost. He fought without heart Saturday night
and was pounded in a triangle choke with elbows by a very pissed off Silva.
When you drop 15 or 20 pounds of water in a day or two, where do you think it comes
from? Muscles, yes. And you need muscles to fight. What about your brain?
Your brain floats in a pool in your skull. What happens when you drain that pool?
Somebody is getting knocked the f* out!
Sadly, people have died from cutting. The greatest “small” bodybuilder who ever lived,
Momo B died after a pro bodybuilding show. His diuretics had messed with the ratios of
sodium and potassium in his body. The heart is an electrical system, and shut down
because of it. Several states like New Jersey
before athletic shows, and this will change the game immensely.
That’s why having time and a plan are the smartest things. Sometimes a promoter calls at
the last second begging you to fight. Sometimes Exlax and a sauna are unavoidable in
order to make weight. But if you have the chance, train smart, diet smart and show up for
the show relaxed, comfortable and strong instead of withered, weak, shaky and
whimpering.
