How To Cut Weight For A Fight

[This is the 4th post in a 4-function series. Yous can find the others here: Office I, Part Two, Role 3 ]

In function 2 we discussed how "Cutting weight" refers to the process of weight manipulation in the few days leading up to, and following, the weigh-in for a fight. Information technology does not refer to losing trunk fat, per se.

Weight cutting is a process we apply to allow a fighter to compete heavier than the limit set by his/her weight class.

So for example, a fighter that is competing in the 77kg sectionalisation may begin fight calendar week at 83kg, make information technology down to 77kg for the weigh-in by "cutting weight", and and so re-hydrating and re-stocking glycogen to get back up to somewhere effectually 83kg the following day for the fight.

Photograph past Vladislav Bychkov

This of form is based off a 24-36 hour lag time between the counterbalance-in and the fight. In sports where there is a much shorter catamenia betwixt weigh-in and competing, so weight cutting in this way is a disaster.

For instance, in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) where counterbalance-ins take identify just before competition, and so any attempts to cutting weight will fuck you over performance wise, regardless of how much of an advantage you feel being heavier than your opponent volition bring. The "re-fuelling" window is only too short or sometimes even non-existant.

The process lots of fighters go through is sub-optimal at all-time. And downright stupid at worst. If you notwithstanding think doing burpees in a sauna whilst wearing a bin purse is the style to make weight y'all're in real problem.

So what'southward the right approach to have?

Offset of all, it's important to have the fighter within reasonable sight of the weight they need to make.

About seven days before fight nighttime you should have no more 8-x% of your bodyweight to lose in my opinion.

If you are much heavier than this than either one of ii things has happened:

1. Y'all are not lean enough, i.e. you should have used smart dieting many weeks before this point to get yourself into touching distance of the required weight.
2. You are fighting at the wrong weight class buddy! If you are lean but still have a massive amount of weight to lose then you have simply put yourself in a lose-lose situation; you volition either not brand weight or you lot will take to pull out so many stops to make weight that there is not a hope your body will be able to perform at its best in the fight.

The exact number that equates to best performance volition be very individual. For any particular fighter it could be 5kg (11 lbs), 7kg (xv.iv lbs) or even more than 10kg (22 lbs), depending on the weight course and how that private fighter reacts to that cut.

This is why test cuts are so important. Yous don't want a fighter trying to cut 10kg in weight for an important fight if the most they've ever done before is a couple of kilos. Delight be fucking smart about it, eh?

Obviously from this point on there are going to exist several factors I would need to take into business relationship before deciding on the precise details, such equally:

• What sport is it? – MMA? Muay Thai? Ammie boxing?
• What weight course is the fight at?
• How much does this fighter cut commonly?
• What'due south their game plan for the fight?
• How has the fighter responded to previous cuts?
• What type of diet has the fighter been eating upwardly to this indicate?
• Etc.

Perhaps the best fashion to look at this would be to give you a case study instance. Cian, who I mentioned in previous posts, won his fight at seventy kg in devastating way in March.

In Jan Cian was at about 78kg. So over the course of the side by side number of weeks he was able to drop a couple of kilos in trunk fat (based on what was outlined in part I & part Ii ). A week out from fight dark Cian was about 76 kg, leaving half dozen kg (13.2 lbs) of a cutting. This was a perfect position to be in as the cut wasn't so big it would impair functioning.

Fight Week

Water Load Followed by Restriction

While many accept heard of (and probably used) water restriction to cut weight, I'm not convinced nigh really know how it works and so what it'south achieving.

The water load/brake cycle is based on trying to manipulate something called the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). This is a hormone system that regulates claret force per unit area and h2o (fluid) balance. Specifically, we're focusing on the action of ii hormones: aldosterone and anti-diuretic hormone (ADH).

Both of these influence water retentiveness, only just via unlike mechanisms. Substantially, ADH regulates water resorption, while aldosterone regulates sodium resorption (and thus indirectly h2o resorption).

How do nosotros manipulate the action of these hormones?

When you starting time taking in a lot of extra fluid, your torso volition down-regulate aldosterone. Because aldosterone's job is to conserve sodium, when you down-regulate it'south action you are essentially losing sodium and therefore water past urinating information technology out. And so essentially, you potable lots of water, you decline aldosterone and you start pissing more.

But hither's the cool thing…

When you drop you're h2o intake, information technology takes quite a while for body to realise this and up-regulate aldosterone again.

What does this mean? When you suddenly drop from a high water intake to a low water intake you'll still urinate at the aforementioned frequency. Low amount of fluid coming in + high amount of fluid going out = significant h2o loss = pregnant weight loss.

High intake of fluid will suppress anti-diuretic hormone too and and so it induces diuresis (i.e. pissing out water).

So this was how we structured the water load for Cian, based off a Fri afternoon weigh-in at 1pm:

Monday: 8 litres
Tuesday: viii litres
Midweek: 8 litres
Thursday: one litre
Friday: Few sips until weigh-in that afternoon

Carbohydrate Brake

Carbohydrates are essential for a Muay Thai fighter as the intensity demands of the sport mean that a high percentage of the energy supply will be coming from glucose. This requires a full store of glycogen (the storage for of carbohydrates, which tin be broken down into glucose) to be present in the muscles (and the liver) for optimal performance.

During the preparation military camp, Cian was consuming plenty of starchy carbohydrates such every bit sweetness potatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, white rice, bananas, etc. in order to ensure he could perform to his best during sparring sessions.

On the week of the fight there are no starches in the diet until after the counterbalance in. So from Monday until Friday at 1pm Cian was eating about 30g or less of carbohydrates per day. By restricting the carbohydrate intake, Cian was able to completely deplete his glycogen stores over the course of the week.

Naturally, this meant he weighed less. But the other role of this is that for every molecule of glycogen stored in the muscle it will have 3 molecules of h2o pulled in along with it. Therefore, loss of glycogen means loss of more water which means more weight loss.

So all meals this week are fabricated of a philharmonic of protein and fat. The merely divergence being in the serving sizes, which get slightly smaller towards the end of the week. By Thursday the repast size is very small in comparison to a normal meal Cian would be eating. Steak with greenish vegetables and kokosnoot oil would exist a typical repast.

The lack of carbohydrates here isn't a problem as training will be tapered down throughout the last week. Less volume, frequency and intensity all round.

Table salt Restriction

Many people will have heard that sodium retains h2o. So the idea here is simple. As sodium is limited in the diet it makes the process of flushing h2o from the body a lot easier. Remove all common salt from the nutrition from 3-4 days out from the counterbalance-in.

The reverse of this thought will kick in later on the weigh-in.

Creatine Removal

Equally creatine holds water, stopping supplementation of creatine a calendar week earlier the weigh-in could permit an extra drop in water weight. However, there is a performance benefit to having creatine saturation in the musculus when the fight comes around and it takes many days to completely load the muscle with creatine. So there is a articulate trade-off. During the rehydration process, I make sure the fighter takes in several doses of creatine in an attempt to get creatine levels in the musculus back upwardly.

Diuretics

For the nigh part I steer people away from using diuretics. People tin actually do themselves impairment when they mess around with them without understanding what they're actually inducing in the body.

That said, there are some natural diuretics that may exist useful to help things along in the final couple of days if you feel you're in danger of coming in overweight. Dandelion root is quite mild and is unlikely to take any bad effects.  Dosage would exist something like 3g per day, split up over three equal doses. This should be only used for the last 1-2 days of the cut and but if you feel y'all really demand to.

Saunas/Hot Baths/Induced-Sweating

Inducing sweating through saunas, hot baths,  wearing sauna suits, etc. can sometimes be helpful for taking off the final few pounds. You don't desire to be trying to cut large amounts of weight in this manner. That is going to hurt your functioning in the fight. You want to utilise these methods for the last few pounds, ideally as close to the weigh-in every bit practical.

After the Counterbalance-In

Rehydration

Plainly, after the weigh-in you want to begin the rehydration process as soon as possible. Information technology'southward important to note that hydration is not simply water. It also includes balancing mineral electrolytes. Then immediately after weighing-in yous desire to accept something that can kick off the process of addressing these. Now is also a decent time to kickoff restocking glycogen (carbohydrate) stores then including some easily digestible carbs is a good shout. About commercial isotonic sports drinks volition take of these then you can just drink ane of those.

I brand upwardly my own shake mix of:

Sigma Nutrition Refuel Shake

• 1L of water
• 2g of electrolyte pulverisation
• 3g creatine
• 30g glucose powder
• 20g protein/amino acid pulverisation
• 5g glutamine

I'll have the fighter drinkable that over a 30 minute period after the weigh-in.

Every 60 minutes, a healthy kidney at balance can excrete 0.8-1.0 litres of h2o.  So taking this as a guide, aiming for a rehydration strategy of 1L per hour is a decent way to go. Don't just down every bit much water as you can as quickly as possible. Do information technology in a way that allows yous to absorb as much as possible.

Remember, it's non the amount of water you drink that matters per se just rather information technology's the amount of water that actually makes it to your cells that matters.

And so post-obit the completion of the post-workout shake, they'll consume 1L of fluid per hour, consistently sipping abroad. This will be in the grade of water for some of the fourth dimension and I'll add together in a few of those shakes outlined in a higher place at others, depending on what food is being consumed around that time. The rehydration should continue correct upwards until about 2.5-3.5 hours earlier the fight. Later on this indicate simply sip on water as need exist.

Yous'll also observe that glutamine is also part of that shake. Glutamine helps to increase both water  and sodium absorption .

Glycogen Synthesis

While rehydrating is disquisitional, it is non the simply "refuelling" that needs to accept place. All those glycogen stores that we wiped out during the weight cutting, at present need to be restocked. This will not only increment weight (glycogen also draws in water with it as well) but past maximising storage, the maximum potential amount of carbohydrates will exist available to use during the fight.

Salt

During the cutting we dropped all common salt from the nutrition due to its ability to concur onto water. Therefore it's logical that after the cut we want to do the opposite. Therefore add plenty of table salt to all meals mail service weigh-in.

UPDATE:

Many of my thoughts and practices have inverse slightly over the years and become more refined as more research has come up out and as more pro athletes have tested our protocols. All of my nigh electric current thinking and methods is included in the Sigma Weight Cutting Organization for MMA & Battle (click for details).

Source: https://sigmanutrition.com/making-cut-part-iv-weight-cutting/

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