This past weekend was the culmination of a lot of blood, sweat and tears (definitely blood and sweat... it was a brutal fight!).
My client (and chum) Mikey Gomez Jr defended his English Super-featherweight title at the AO Arena in Manchester and put himself in line for a British title shot.
I thought you might be interested in the ‘making weight’ process. How we strip down to incredibly lean levels and get prepped for optimal windmilling action.
A training camp is split into phases. The first phase is what you’d expect.
The Fat Loss phase.
As soon as we begin a training camp, we’ll take body composition measurements (bodyweight, bodyfat, circumferences, skinfolds etc) to identify the starting point.
For a title fight, the weight is strictly governed by the British Boxing Board of Control.
We’ll have the official weigh-in weight (Super-featherweight – 130lbs / 58.97kg) but we’ll also have specific check-weights that we’ll have to hit in the lead up to the fight*.
The fat loss phase is precisely what you’d expect. Training intensity increases, nutritional intake is tweaked to ensure a calorie deficit whilst providing sufficient protein and carbs to fuel and recover from training.
Doesn’t the fat loss ever stall? – I hear you ask.
Excellent question.
Thank you.
Yes, it does.
But we’ll counteract that with intermittent ‘high carb’ days.
A strategic day where carb intake will be pushed up, to bring leptin and ghrelin (appetite / weight regulating hormones) levels back to normal.
It’s not a cheat day, where you go absolutely crazy and eat and drink like a Roman Emperor. It’s still controlled. (Mikey would go for: chicken curry, plenty of rice, can of Irn Bru, some jam on toast.)
And we follow that pattern for a large portion of the camp.
By the end of this phase, Mikey was a lean 62.3kg.
Acute Weight-loss phase 'Fight Week'
Now, when we get to 7-days out from the official weigh-in, this is when we get clever.
We compartmentalise and shed any unnecessary weight.
The past few weeks has seen a lot of lean protein, some carbohydrates, limited fat intake and an absolute dump truck of fibrous vegetables to stave off hunger.
At the start of fight-week, we flip things around.
The protein stays.
(it’s satiating and will limit muscle protein breakdown)
But… carbs disappear.
Why? I hear you ask.
Excellent question again.
(2 out of 2.)
Because carbohydrates mean water retention. Your body stores carbs as glycogen in your liver and muscles. But for every 1g of stored glycogen, we’re talking another 3g of stored water.
So… if we empty the fuel stores and don’t replace it… that’s a weight saving.
So pasta, rice, potatoes, sugars etc are now off the table.
The actual weight saving varies dramatically from person to person, so take these numbers with a pinch of salt. The average man has approx. 600g of stored glycogen (1) with a maximum storage capacity of 15g per kg of bodyweight (2).
600g multiplied by 3 (to account for retained water), that’s 1.8kg (4lbs). If we can reduce stored glycogen… that’s a significant saving on the scales.
Next thing to drop?
Fibrous vegetables.
Veg has been good to us until now, but at this point… we scrap it.
But why? I hear your little voice cry.
Solid question again.
Because we want to limit fibre intake.
To put it politely… we’re clearing out the food residue from the digestive tract.
To put it less politely… fibre = big ol’ poops.
We don’t want to be standing on the scale with a load of turd brewing.
A poo is useless weight.
It takes around 36hrs for your body to process food into poo.
By eliminating fibre for a few days, we can shave off approx. 1lb of scale weight (potentially more if you usually follow a high fibre diet).
Fat intake is pushed a little higher.
Why though?
A fair question… I’m really valuing your input.
Mainly because it’s calorie-dense but low in actual volume.
It will provide energy at a small weight cost (we’re not in a calorie-surplus so it won’t be stored).
And sodium intake is dropped too.
Y tho?
Sodium = water retention.
Water retention = weight.
Sometimes, we might do a 'water load', where we'll increase water consumption for a few days to 'wash out' some of the stored sodium. In preparation for the next step.
By this point, we’ve dropped a significant amount of weight without needing to restrict fluid intake. Which makes the next stage far more manageable and less stressful for the athlete.
Fluid restriction
Isn’t dehydration dangerous?
Yep. Very dangerous.
Which is exactly why check-weights* were brought in.
We would only ever mildly restrict fluid intake.
The risks are way too high to do it excessively.
The sad fact is, a lot of fighters find themselves in desperate weight-making scenarios and go to extreme lengths (they’ll dive into saunas wearing sweat-suits, hot baths for hours on end, restrict fluid all week, etc).
It has cost lives.
Fighters have died during the weight cut or climbed into the ring in no fit state to fight (leading to serious damage).
All we’ll do is mildly reduce fluid intake the evening before and go nil by mouth on the morning of the official weigh-in. That’s usually enough to make weight comfortably and with minimal risk to health or performance. If a fighter has to go further than this, they're probably competing in the wrong weight-class.
Refuel & Rehydrate
Then the fun starts, rehydration and refuelling.
Get fluid, electrolytes and glycogen stores back up to optimal levels.
Lucozade Sport, Nandos spicy rice, jam on toast, sugary sweets etc etc.
High GI carbohydrates with limited protein, fat, fibre to maximise uptake.
Step into the ring at 62kg.
Feeling good, feeling ready.
This is a perfect example of how variable bodyweight is.
We got bodyweight to slide down by 5% and back up within 1 week.
So, if your scales jump up after one meal, don’t worry about it.
Look at trends.
Look at the big picture.
Look at actual body composition.
There’s more to it than meets the eye.
*Check-weights are as follows:
10% - 10st 3lbs / 64.9kg – approx. 2 weeks out
8% - 10st 0.5lbs / 63.72kg – approx. 1 week out
3% - 9st 8lbs / 60.77kg – same week as official weigh-in
A BBBofC member will be present to observe these check-weights.
The idea is discourage fighters from making humongous weight cuts and dehydrating themselves to dangerous levels.
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