I have been working the article today and am wondering if I can get a hand.
I have a good friend who is fighting in 8 weeks. Problem is that he ate horrible in December.
He needs to hit 169, coming down from 204. I have read some articles like 6 days to lean, the velocity diet etc… I am wondering what in your experience is the best for fat loss for a fighter who is trying to still keep training at a high level. He trains 5 days a week, morning 1 hr weights and conditioning and evening 1 1/2 BJJ, boxing, wrestling.
5 9’ I think 203 lbs. Probably around 20-25 BF%.
Not trying to be too lazy but I have looked at a few articles and need some advice.
hes making an obscene cut first off, being his height and a couple pounds heavier at a little lower body fat i have contemplated such leaps but they have never seemed reasonable in terms of strength and stamina degradation.
dont do the velocity diet you dont want to cut out all your carbs leading up to a fight and kill your gas tank and recovery capacity.
fix his fucking diet!! i dont know what you have to be eating to sit at 25% fat while training at a high level 5 times a week, cut the shitty food and the beer.
you shouldnt be in a situation where your needing to drop 34 pounds in order to be competitive
from what i have read in weight cutting guides and experienced myself cutting up to 10% of your weight in water is attainable and as far as you would probably want to go some people do more many do less.
if he can get to the high 180s he can make probably drop the water pound pedialite and be ok
the best answer i think though is he needs to seriously re-evaluate his training
He should either:
-Reschedule the fight until he is back in good shape and at a reasonable BF level
-Fight in a higher weight division
-Get a KO or RNC in the first 20 seconds of the fight, because if he makes weight and competes, let’s just say his conditioning won’t matter.
Amateur or Pro, I think weight cutting should be taken seriously and done intelligently. You’re still getting in a cage and fighting, and I would think it’s smart to be able to perform to the best of your ability.
[quote]ugaMMA411 wrote:
He should either:
-Reschedule the fight until he is back in good shape and at a reasonable BF level
-Fight in a higher weight division
-Get a KO or RNC in the first 20 seconds of the fight, because if he makes weight and competes, let’s just say his conditioning won’t matter.
Amateur or Pro, I think weight cutting should be taken seriously and done intelligently. You’re still getting in a cage and fighting, and I would think it’s smart to be able to perform to the best of your ability. [/quote]
+1 to this. If I was walking around at 200+, 20% BF+, I wouldn’t even schedule a fight at 185, and I’m 6’2". At 5’9" and trying to go below 170 (and it sounds like he’s never cut weight before)? Might as well look into pre-paying for his rhabdo and concussion treatments.
Well said, you should never be over ten pounds for fight anything after that you’ll feel like crap, for every 1lb you loose in sweat you’ll loose a % in performance and. Weight cutting is not an answer for being lazy in your diet. Is it really worth your health and his hospital expenses.
Your “friend” can’t be serious about completing
And I know he’s not
If he was he wouldn’t have stuffed his face during the holidays (assuming that that is the only time your “friend” deviated from his training/diet/regimen, and prior to the holidays he was competition ready or reasonably ready)
Tell you what
You should give it a try, post before pics, weight, measurements, etc
Give it your best for 8 weeks, keep this log updated
And maybe some poor soul like your “friend” could benefit from this later on some day
Just think of the good you can be to somebody
[quote]thefoundry wrote:
Well said, you should never be over ten pounds for fight anything after that you’ll feel like crap, for every 1lb you loose in sweat you’ll loose a % in performance and. Weight cutting is not an answer for being lazy in your diet. Is it really worth your health and his hospital expenses.[/quote]
i dont really think that 1 lb to 1% is true at all, many fighters cut weight including the vast majority of pros. cutting within reason is not detrimental to performance. if you are lean and in shape cutting can give you a big edge over opponents, on that same note although in this case he is out of shape cutting isnt always used to make up for shitty diet. gsp isnt cutting 20 lbs so he can binge on mcdonalds. i myself during powerlifting when i was 18 cut from 178-161 at 8% fat. it was a big overshoot by 4 lbs but caused me to gain even more wilks points and leave with best lifter. on that occasion and several others i have noticed no ill effects from cutting provided i managed my re hydraton and nutrient intake well immediately after weigh in
in conclusion of my rebuttal grey maynard fights at -40% skill and gsp at ~20% skill thiago alves at god knows - skill while roy nelson fights at max power
[quote]thefoundry wrote:
Well said, you should never be over ten pounds for fight anything after that you’ll feel like crap, for every 1lb you loose in sweat you’ll loose a % in performance and. Weight cutting is not an answer for being lazy in your diet. Is it really worth your health and his hospital expenses.[/quote]
i dont really think that 1 lb to 1% is true at all, many fighters cut weight including the vast majority of pros. cutting within reason is not detrimental to performance. if you are lean and in shape cutting can give you a big edge over opponents, on that same note although in this case he is out of shape cutting isnt always used to make up for shitty diet. gsp isnt cutting 20 lbs so he can binge on mcdonalds. i myself during powerlifting when i was 18 cut from 178-161 at 8% fat. it was a big overshoot by 4 lbs but caused me to gain even more wilks points and leave with best lifter. on that occasion and several others i have noticed no ill effects from cutting provided i managed my re hydraton and nutrient intake well immediately after weigh in
in conclusion of my rebuttal grey maynard fights at -40% skill and gsp at ~20% skill thiago alves at god knows - skill while roy nelson fights at max power[/quote]
If cutting is done intelligently it can be ok. I have cut for fights and in the beginning I did it all wrong and it left me weak, and my body did not look fight ready, still managed to have good fights but from that I started to learn about diet more. I have never really had to diet in my life. Recently I did a bulking cycle to get my weight up to 195 I went to about 197 and gained some fat. Now I am working on my diet and training to bring the fat % down so I weigh a real 180 lbs and then before my fight I can cut 10lbs of water weight and rehydrate after weigh ins.
I think the problem is when guys are just flat ass overweight and try to crash diet down to some fighting weight. It is better if you can stay close to your fighting weight most of the time. Eating Mcdonalds does not bring anyone closer to that goal. I have also noticed that if I diet to insanely trying to lose weight I will get cravings, which is strange because eating for me can be a nuisance. I don’t care about food most of the time I just eat because I have to. Getting a long term goal and controlling what and how much you eat and staying on the workout makes me feel better and I can bring my calories down incrementally.
Maybe your friend can see if the other guy will fight at a catchweight and just avoid all that for a while.
[quote]Ranzo wrote:
Maybe your friend can see if the other guy will fight at a catchweight and just avoid all that for a while.[/quote]
With a BF% in the 20’s I don’t even think a catchweight is a good idea. The other guy probably isn’t going to want to come up more than 10 lbs, and if he does he’ll be coming in at his full walking-around weight, which is likely to be closer to 10% BF than 20.
Obviously, OP’s friend doesn’t know a whole lot about cutting, so even a 10 lb cut is likely to leave him feeling a little off, and I’m willing to bet that his strength and endurance have suffered alongside his BF%. Weak, flabby, and tired vs lean, fresh, well hydrated, and carb-loaded? His only hope would be for a 1st round KO.