10th Planet Knowledge: Cutting Weight

[DanConway]

Hey guys,

As many of you know, there was a death this last weekend(9/27/13) of Leandro 'Feijao' Souza during his weight cut for Shooto Brazil 43. In addition to this, a few 10p guys seem to have not made weight for a big tournament the same weekend. These two incidents have caused me to expedite the publishing of something we have been working on at 10pChicago: a primer for cutting weight for our team. It was originally just something for the guys in Chicago, but I figured once it was closer to finished I would post it here on the forum. Due to the incidents highlighted above, it seems it might be wiser just to get the core info to people and expand upon it after.

Weight cutting can be hard, unsafe, and is often not even necessary, but many people still choose to engage the in the practice, and for a serious competitor, it can sometimes seem almost unavoidable. If one is going to cut weight, they should at least have a basic idea of what their body is going through, and some idea of what they are doing to achieve their goals.

So I present to you, the BETA version of the 10pChicago Weight Primer:
http://10thplanetjjchicago.com/knowledge/weight.php

Do keep in mind this is a unfinished beta document: Over the next few days it will be replaced with a whole new version, and there will be several updates on top of that in the weeks to follow. I will be adding ALOT more about diet and nutrition in the next major update. Also, as I have not properly quoted references and cleaned up the content to avoid plagerism, please do not publish the link or content of article outside of distribution to 10p members. I also want to stress that MOST of whats here is not original content, I am simply collecting and referencing content from experts on the topics and indexed them into an easy to consume format for the team.

We in Chicago have had great success cutting with this method, and none of us have ever missed weight. The rest of the Chicago crew who has used this method or variations of it, will tell you it is drastically preferable to the traditional methods of cutting weight, and leaves you feel alot better afterwards.

I myself typically walk around between 155-160lbs, and typically cut about 10lbs, but I have cut up to 16-17lbs with it in the more dramatic instances. I want to note that myself and many of the people who use this method (including many top UFC fighters) all agree: you generally feel better after re-hydrating before stepping ont he mat, than any point in the few weeks prior. I don't know if its just in your head because you felt shitty the day before, but if your doing it right you shouldn't have much if any performance loss from a proper cut, and if you do, you shouldn't be cutting. (And realistically, Most people probably shouldn't regardless)

I want to stress that im no expert on Anything, just gathering information that has proven itself legitimate and sharing with the team, So please feel free to create an open dialog about the methods discussed here, and anyone with any knowledge to contribute, or resources to provide that might add more information, please post them in this thread and we can integrate them into the article.

Remember, cutting isn't always worth it: will a few lbs really make the difference between a W and L? That being said, if you do cut, cut smart!

10p4L!!!!

http://10thplanetjjchicago.com/knowledge/weight.php

[DanConway]

Worth noteing: this is primarily the method Mike Dolce uses for all the UFC fighters you may have been hearing about doing weight cuts under his managment. Fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Johny Hendricks, Thiago Alves, Georges St Pierre, Chael Sonnen etc. Many of whom had difficulty cutting weight prior to working with Dolce.

[Slick Rick]

Thanks Dan! You're a mad scientist with this stuff!!

[Eddie Bravo]

Mastering weight cutting is almost just as important as mastering jiu jitsu #unfortunately

[Scott Yockel]

Cutting weight is no joke, I've doing it off and on most of my life. When I was wrestling in HS sometimes all I would eat in a day was 3 slices of cheese and 3 baby carrots plus 8oz of water for weeks at a time. Which was not the smartest thing to do! I've learned from my time in college wrestling and fighting now. I feel it is a terrible Idea to "cut" more than 7lbs the week of a tournament or fight. UFC fighters re hydrate with Iv bag after they weight in. The rest of don't have a medical staff waiting to help get you back to full strength. I would suggest managing your weight, and having a clean diet for a month before your event. Monitoring what you take in and getting your body used to operating out of your normal weight. You'll feel stronger, move faster and be able to maintain your strength. I like to set a pretty fast pace for my matches, so energy level is a major thing for me.!

[Tori Applegate]

I agree with dieting a month in advance..or even two or three months ahead if its a really big tournie, like Worlds. Also, coconut water....I drank that and had granola bars after my last cut, best I have ever felt. Coconut water is the bomb. I noticed there was nothing in your article about sodium loads. We have a lot of fighters in our gym. They follow the one GSP does. I want to say its done over a span of 6 or 7 days.

[Nick Paul]

Check out Mike Dolce and his "3 weeks to shredded" book. It's pretty similar to the article but much more in depth, not to mention his guys cut weight like it's nothing and perform on fight night

[DanConway]

I agree with dieting a month in advance..or even two or three months ahead if its a really big tournie, like Worlds. Also, coconut water....I drank that and had granola bars after my last cut, best I have ever felt. Coconut water is the bomb. I noticed there was nothing in your article about sodium loads. We have a lot of fighters in our gym. They follow the one GSP does. I want to say its done over a span of 6 or 7 days.

Yeah, one should absolutely be dieting prior to competition to be in the best possible shape. I think all of us should maintain a very solid diet year round if we are regularly competing, and get flawless with it leading up to comp. This article is just for the final week the cutting portion, and based more around the passive dehydration and rehydration than diet - I have another article I have been creating for training diets, but everyone tends to have their own plan for that. I do intend to add more information regarding diet for the week of, but diet prior to the final cutting week was intended be referenced externally although it seems it would be better to put it together with this one.

The article highlights how perfect coconut water is for re-hydrating due to its ph balance, electrolyte profile, and isotenacity; it is in my opinion superior to anything else. I also plan to add more regarding sodium loading, although the article does state it should be avoided other than the natural sodium in the raw foods you are consuming, and then once re-hydrating you should be supplementing 75mg of sodium per 8 ounces of water. Most of the article is just information I gathered from elsewhere, one of the sources is GSP's cutting plan. I always feel better than ever before stepping on the mat too, and am always able to recover 90-95% of the weight I had cut, and I think coconut water is heavily responsible... This must be why the brazilian's drink so much ;D

[DanConway]

Check out Mike Dolce and his "3 weeks to shredded" book. It's pretty similar to the article but much more in depth, not to mention his guys cut weight like it's nothing and perform on fight night

Mike Dolce's articles and interviews are a heavy source of information for the article, and again Most of the article is just the works of he and Tim Ferris being combined into one resource. It's been along time since I read his 3 weeks to shredded book, but if I remember correctly It only has diet plan information and nothing about passive dehydration and the re-hydration phase which is the main focus of this article. It seems I need to add more to the article about diet leading up to comp although I had planned to reference that externally.

Everyone should definitely read Tim and Dolces articles on the topic, they actually know what they are talking about where as I am just quoting them. I will add the links to their relevant publications in the document(the main reason I was hesitating to publish it: not having had time to cite everything and provide further reading links, but since I did start showing it to people I better get that sorted asap).

[DanConway]

Cutting weight is no joke, I've doing it off and on most of my life. When I was wrestling in HS sometimes all I would eat in a day was 3 slices of cheese and 3 baby carrots plus 8oz of water for weeks at a time. Which was not the smartest thing to do! I've learned from my time in college wrestling and fighting now. I feel it is a terrible Idea to "cut" more than 7lbs the week of a tournament or fight. UFC fighters re hydrate with Iv bag after they weight in. The rest of don't have a medical staff waiting to help get you back to full strength. I would suggest managing your weight, and having a clean diet for a month before your event. Monitoring what you take in and getting your body used to operating out of your normal weight. You'll feel stronger, move faster and be able to maintain your strength. I like to set a pretty fast pace for my matches, so energy level is a major thing for me.!

Yeah, I honestly think most people shouldn't cut at all, and if people do it should be less than 5 lbs unless its at a high level of competition where it is necessary. I don't hope to encourage people that would otherwise not cut to do so, but aim to provide those who do with a proper source of information on how to. Most people seem to use such terrible methods to do so, like you saying 3 slices of cheese and 3 baby carrots... The sugar in the 3 baby carots might almost make you hold more water than a meal of chicken lol.... With this method, you are eating full size meals 3 times a day all the way up until the day before weigh ins, they just are composed mostly of fats and proteins; no starches no sugars. It's crazy to think of people depriving themselves that much nutrition; Or people running on a treadmil with a sweat suit, pushing water out of your muscles and burning your energy reserves. Stressing your body in these ways there will be no way to recover that energy before competition...

UFC fighters tend to cut extreme amounts of weight, commonly 20lbs+ and even often up to 30... That's just crazy IMO and asking for health repercussions, or even fatalities like the poor guy this last weekend... That being said, I(walking at 160 usually) have cut 15+ more than once very easily and comfortably with this method, and I have always gained at least 13 of that 15 back before stepping on the mat -- and sometimes more than the 15(it is actually common to hyperhydrate at this point to above your starting weight!) with nothing like an IV - just proper re-hydration methodology.

I absolutely agree a clean diet leading up to comp and even all your ready is WAY more vital than cutting a few lbs of water can ever be, and diet should be everyone main focus for weight management. In regards to performance, if your able to safely recover virtually all of the weight you lost, you will have minimal performance loss. I myself, the athletes used in the studies this is based on, and most of Dolces fighters all insist they feel better after rehydration before stepping on the mat, than they did anytime weeks prior. It's absolutely something people should be cautious of though, as even a few % of your bodyweight in dehydration can cost you 25-30% of your strength and endurance easily.