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[AlexNorton1]

Im entering a relatively small tournament in about 2 months. My current weight is about 73kg (give or take), and the cut off for lightweight is 70kg. Does anyone know any successful tried and tested methods for losing fat but keeping the bulk of muscle still? I would rather avoid fighting at middleweight (80kg) at the moment as I am dwarfed by some people that size. Any tips or advice would be appreciated

[Tay]

how tall are you?
Losing 4 kilos when you're 73 kilos seem a bit much. I would rather try to bulk up to get to let's say 75 - 77 kilos to be a big powerful middleweight rather than cut weight and not be at your maximum potential when fighting.

Otherwise if you really want to cut weight (lose fat without losing too much muscle), I'd recommend doing quite a lot of aerobic exercises (long distance running/swimming/cycling), and avoid food with too much fat.
I'm not an expert though, some people might be able to give you better advice

[Dent]

Osu!

For 6.6lbs of cut, a simple diet of reduced portion size along with increased cardio will put you in easy range. The remainder will be an easy water weight cut just before the weigh-in.

A general word of warning though. Playing with your weight has effects far beyond the weigh-in.

Osu!

[FredInChina]

osu AlexNorton, please open a thread in the intro section of the forum so we can welcome you properly


Osu!

[AlexNorton1]

Im only considering cutting the weight at the moment and it would be less of a immediate weight cut (through dehyrdration) and more of a gradual change for years to come. I understand that playing about with my weight can permenantly affect my body and therefore want to minimise it.
Also i'm approximately 6ft tall with a moderate percentage of body fat.
Osu!

[searcher]

Salt bath the week of the competition. Hot water and table salt, stay in for 15 minutes. Then jump rope for 5-10 minutes or some other cardio for 15-20 minutes. Repeat 3-4 times depending on how much it pulls out.

Another option is to do a "cleanse." It will get a bunch of stuff out of your body, but be done with it at least one week prior to competition.

And then again, you can cut out all rice, wheat, corn, and soy products from your diet. You will cut more gradually and feel a bunch better.

[Dent]

Osu!

Originally Posted by searcher

you can cut out all rice, wheat, corn, and soy products from your diet. You will cut more gradually and feel a bunch better.

What do you recommend for AlexNorton1 to eat as carbs during this time, Searcher?

Osu!

[sandman]

What does your diet look like now? What about your training program?

Osu!

[meguro]

At 73 kg and approx 6ft in height, I can't imagine you have very much fat to lose, Alex. Drop weight and we'd lose sight of you if you faced us sideways.

[searcher]

Originally Posted by Dent

Osu!



What do you recommend for AlexNorton1 to eat as carbs during this time, Searcher?

Osu!

Dark, green veggies!! Spinach, brocolli, cale, celery, .....


These always work the best and you can get your body to metabolize fat for increased energy.

[desibeli]

Originally Posted by meguro

At 73 kg and approx 6ft in height, I can't imagine you have very much fat to lose, Alex. Drop weight and we'd lose sight of you if you faced us sideways.

At 6 ft tall and below 70kg, his opponent wont be able to reach him. He should just stay in the middle of the ring and do knee lifts

[AlexNorton1]

My diet at the moment usually involves a lot of meat for breakfast and some sort of pasta dish for lunch and dinner (which as you can imagine makes me quite heavy after dinner meaning my weight can vary a lot).
Thanks for all the advice guys

[sandman]

What i meant was - Is there a significant amount of non-value added calories in your diet? Do you eat much junk food / fast food? If so, that's the obvious place to start.

But, judging by your build you may not have 6 non-muscle pounds to lose...

[AlexNorton1]

There is a looooooad of excess calories in my diet that can be cut out (massive cheesy bowls of pasta mainly and tonight for dinner I had two large pork steaks). However I usually work out 3 or 4 times a week (maybe going up to 5 in the weeks leading up to the tournament) and I was thinking if I increased my cardio and started regular jogging each night then it would be achievable. I have been down to 68 kg in the last few months and feel like i can get there again as long as i am disciplined with my diet and training.

[seienchin]

AlexNorton1,
The definitive way to answer this question will be to see a sports nutritionist, and ask them to do a body fat calculation (often done by skin-fold thicknesses, or the more hi-tech but slighly less accurate total body impedance monitoring).

Once you have an estimate of body fat, a nutritionist will be able to tell you if you have this weight to lose, or if it's going to be harmful.

Ask an expert, and one who can actually see you, rather than lots of people on the internet who can't even see what your body makeup is.

[AlexNorton1]

I will do just that
Thanks for all the advice guys

[Tameshigiri]

6 meals a day and galon water a day works for me.

1. Big breakfast with good carbs.
2. Proteine bar.
3. Good lunch (carbs if you do cardio)
4. Proteine Bar
5. Small Dinner Chiken or Fish with veg or salad.
6. Proteine shake.

This work excellent for me and ours figthers.
If you want to reduce eat carbs only at breakfast.

I add carbs at lunch to increase my weight but reduce sizes.

Hope this can help.

OSU.

[Dent]

Osu!

Originally Posted by searcher

Dark, green veggies!! Spinach, brocolli, cale, celery, .....

These always work the best and you can get your body to metabolize fat for increased energy.

Limited carbs for the heavy workload of tourney prep. I'd be concerned that this wouldn't be sufficient for his needs.

Osu!

[tmd]

Less in more out - I was 73 coming out of Christmas and will be weighing in this weekend under 70. Tamishigeri has it about right but I have Oats in the morning, good long lasting energy. Bit peeved at the moment as I have a cold and wanted to get rid of my last half kg early in the week and relax about it but I'm cattled just walking upstairs at the moment so it'll have to be done thursday.

[seienchin]

Have a look at this diagram:



Even if you don't really understand biochemistry, you can probably understand that the oval marked "Muscle" has an arrow going out of it from the Amino Acid Alanine. What this diagram is showing is that in the absence of adequate carbohydrate, your body is programmed to break down anything it can get hold of to turn it into glucose. Whilst some parts of you can run carb-free, there are things that can't - The production of glucose from other metabolites is necessary for use as a fuel source by the brain, testes, erythrocytes and kidney medulla since glucose is the sole energy source for these organs. During starvation, however, the brain can derive energy from ketone bodies which are converted to acetyl-CoA....but not the others...nb testes....

Low carb as a dietary approach is enthusiastically endorsed by some, opposed by others, and I think, it is safe to say that there is no dietary panacea. However, NO carb with the heavy workload of tournament training is a recipe for starting to lose muscle instead of (or at best, as well as) fat.

70kg at 180cm puts your BMI at 21.6 - and whilst BMI is not so good at indicating ideal weight for highly muscular individuals at the top end of the range, it is a pretty good indicator at the lower end. The "Healthy" BMI is between 20 - 25, overweight 25 and above. It has its limitations, but the message to me is still that you will be taking yourself quite low, and with considerably less muscle bulk than would be best for a full-contact fighter. My preference is to see fighters with low skinfolds, but at the higher end of BMI - ie, a solid ball of muscle, not a long lean spaghetti.

Then again, there is only so much accuracy from an internet forum. You and your instructor know your skills and if speed and stamina are your strengths, this might be a good strategy.

Good luck.