Weight cutting is becoming more prevalent in most competitive wrestling and mma sports these days to stay ahead of the game and your opponent.
With the explosion of popularity for sports like MMA and the UFC, this term has been used a lot more frequently among fans and fighters, but most really don’t know what the term means.
Walking-weight, pedialite and dehydration are common verbiage used by most commentators and fighters today. But what do they mean when they refer to those terms.
Weight cutting can be dangerous and should never be attempted with out proper medical consultation and professional supervision. Professional athletes like most MMA stars are supervised and advised of weight cutting by licensed doctors. Never attempt to cut weight without proper supervision.
When a fighter cuts weight, he does many different things that impact his weight loss, not just sitting in a hot sauna wearing a oversized garbage bag or designed sweat outfits.
Cutting Weight can be broken down into four phases: the diet, equilibrium change, the sweat and finally the rebound once a successful weigh in has been accomplished.
Dieting takes place not just weeks but months before a fight. The fighter is burning excessive body fat and even muscle so as to be able to make weight for that particular fight. A fighter accomplishes this by controlling their diet and with intense exercise and workouts to burn that fat. The goal is to burn fat and not as much muscle. Each fighter’s approach though is different as they are different body types.
Equilibrium changing begins about one week before weigh in. Reducing carbohydrates and sodium along with drinking many gallons of distilled water. This trains the body to not retain as much water weight and the fighter can expel more when sweating in the next phase.
Sweating begins days and hours before final weigh in. To lose the maximum amount of water required to cut weight, the fighter must dehydrate quickly before the body realizes what is happening. This is why you will see fighters working out in garbage bags and doing intense sauna sessions to sweat off most of the water. Expelling the bowels is also an important part of this phase.
Rebounding is just as important as the weight cutting process. This takes place within the 24 hours after initial weigh in and the actual fight. The goal is get back to the weight before the dieting and before equilibrium changing started. This is accomplished by bulking up on carbs, sodium and water. Pasta is great for high carbs and pedialite has become a staple for high sodium intake. Drinking water must be done a steady pace so as not to have a negative affect.
Never attempt these steps without supervision and we have just tried to discuss the regimen many fighters take for weight cutting before their next big fight.
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