Dropping to a lower weight class

[Dagney Taggert]

I am a female who competes middle weight in BJJ ( I weigh 145). I am considering dropping down to light weight, which would mean shaving 10 pounds. Has anyone done this? If so, what kind of time frame did you use for the weight loss? Did you lose strength? If so, how long did it take you to build up your strength again? I am 5'6" and have a medium frame, so the 10 pounds is do-able, I'm just worried about the strength and stamina thing.

Dagney

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I am a female who competes middle weight in BJJ ( I weigh 145). I am considering dropping down to light weight, which would mean shaving 10 pounds. Has anyone done this? If so, what kind of time frame did you use for the weight loss? Did you lose strength? If so, how long did it take you to build up your strength again? I am 5'6" and have a medium frame, so the 10 pounds is do-able, I'm just worried about the strength and stamina thing.

Dagney

Well I used to do this a bit for kickboxing way back in the day. It is essentially harder in say BJJ or any tournament oriented sport where you have to shed the weight and keep it off the day of. (compete and weigh in the same day) In boxing or kickboxing, MMA, etc. If your weigh in is the day before then you can put alot of the weight back on quickly. So in your case you are probably going to want to do this gradually so that you can keep that 10 lbs off and if you do it slowly you will not notice probably not too much of a loss of strength.

 

[terryl965]

Well I used to do this a bit for kickboxing way back in the day. It is essentially harder in say BJJ or any tournament oriented sport where you have to shed the weight and keep it off the day of. (compete and weigh in the same day) In boxing or kickboxing, MMA, etc. If your weigh in is the day before then you can put alot of the weight back on quickly. So in your case you are probably going to want to do this gradually so that you can keep that 10 lbs off and if you do it slowly you will not notice probably not too much of a loss of strength.

Brian is right loose it slowly and this will help you keep the strength, Best of luck.

 

[Zero]

I have shed weight for both kickboxing and mma; I normally fight light heavyweight or heavyweight division but when I was much younger and did not work so much on muscularity I dropped to middleweight and lost about 6 kgs (12.4 pounds). Primarily from running, swimming, increased cardio work and not a change in diet type but a reduction in volume/quantity.

I did not like the lighter weight in general and felt weaker. My first fight I was surprised how drained I felt. If this is not for a specific upcoming competition/title and is instead for the long term then you need to (as said above) focus on gradual reductions over time or you may well find yourself lacking not only strength but endurance/stamina essential for wrestling. I deliberately put on the weight again quickly so can't comment on how long it will take to regain stamina/strength if you do a crash weight loss. But some professional boxers successfully drop divisions so it's certainly do-able if managed properly.

 

[Dagney Taggert]

Thank you for the advice! I started the Gracie diet about two months prior to my last tournament and I dropped 5 pounds within a week and half! And I wasn't even trying to be ultra-mega strict with the diet. I am pretty liberal with the amount of fat (olive oil, nuts, etc) that I eat, so I know that cutting my fat intake will sharpen things even more.

I have toyed with the idea of dropping weight just to give the old mental competitive edge another twist, but I don't want to become a lethargic weak bore. I think I will take your suggestion and make this a year long project.

Dagney

 

[bootcampbj]

Thank you for the advice! I started the Gracie diet about two months prior to my last tournament and I dropped 5 pounds within a week and half! And I wasn't even trying to be ultra-mega strict with the diet. I am pretty liberal with the amount of fat (olive oil, nuts, etc) that I eat, so I know that cutting my fat intake will sharpen things even more.

I have toyed with the idea of dropping weight just to give the old mental competitive edge another twist, but I don't want to become a lethargic weak bore. I think I will take your suggestion and make this a year long project.

Dagney

You do want to be wary of fast weight loss. Dieting as you are doing can lead to a loss of fat but also an equal amount of muscle because you aren´t getting enough protein to sustain your current muscle. Your body will break down the protein in your muscles to make up for the lack of energy supplied by your diet.

Finding your preferred weight to compete at can only come from trying it out. When I drop under 198 pounds I feel a drop in strength. Over 225 and i feel slow, a drop in agility.

- Eat to fuel your training. This requires research on your part but give yourself the right amount of protein/carbs to keep your energy levels up and assure strong recovery.

- Drop the weight slowly and controlled.

- Bring in some strength conditioning drills into your training. Things like double leg takedown maneuvers where you correctly power lift your training partners, and extra bjj conditioning drills your teacher advises to keep your muscle.

Good luck and let us know how you go. If you want some diet advice, throw me a pm.

- bj

 

[tallgeese]

Working down slow is best, for sure. I walk around at 170-175. For comps, I'll cut to around 155.

Personally, I think that starting out slow about 6 weeks out works best. This is when I up the training and cardio. This will peel out some weight early before even starting dieting down. All I do here is clean up what I'm eating.

About 4 weeks out is where I'll start cutting portions a bit and spreading meals out. All snacking other than fruits or veggies goes away. Start watching your protein intake and you'll be fine.

Keep this up till you're about 2 weeks out. I usually shoot for getting to 5-7 pounds or so over by this point and just get used to walking around at that. You're body should be comfortable and strong by now at that weight. You'll also be used to functioning there.

A week out, I start watching fluid intake. Not too drastic, nor should it need to be. Just make sure you're not indulging in soda just because or too much coffee. You'll be ticking the weight all week and should be about right on after workouts.

I try not to have to do anything drastic the day of weigh ins to make a final cut. I have had to sauna a time or two, but that should be last resort and you should have a good re hydration plan in place.

Try to hit the weight you need on the head. Too much and you'll be getting rid of weight you don't need. This will set you behind in you're recovery.

As has been mentioned, this is a pretty individual thing and different things work for different people. Discipline at the front end of the process, no matter the specifics of what you end up doing, will make the tail end much easier.

Good luck.

 

[arnisador]

I used to do it in high school wrestling. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes I felt like I didn't have the energy I had had at 8 pound higher. I don't know what to say!

 

[Tensei85]

I can't really say anything that hasn't been said already.

However I would say be careful as mentioned about losing weight too fast, I've had a personal experience with that. Dropped 20 pounds in 2 in a half months around that time period.

But I lost a ton of muscle mass, found I could no longer muscle people. Lol, instead they picked me up and slammed me lol.

But I have asthma as well, so my respiratory system was functioning at a decent level. Whereas the muscle mass lost impaired my ability to spar, so it was counter productive in certain ways. But generally I need to stay around the 160 weight frame, unfortunately after Winter I'm around 175 now. Probably too much pizza... College sucks!

So it comes down to make a long story short, its best to stay at the weight that you can function best at. Based on your requirements as in what you intend to do at that weight bracket.


But good luck!

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

Like was mentioned above, you need to focus on losing fat and not on losing muscle mass or water.
If you are truely serious about it then you need to get a trainer who is knowledgable in nutrition and excercise. If you lose the water weight last minute then you are going to have alot less stamina and energy for the training, especially since BJJ matches weight in minutes before you fight.
Lose Muscle mass by not eating correctly and you will definitely be weaker.
From your comments, I see no reason you can not drop weight and actually become stronger by increasing your lean muscle mass. It takes commitment, and its not easy. Good luck to you.

 

[still learning]

Hello, My Son and Daughter in High School Wrestling...many of the students where ask for fill out a certain weight class if too many in weight class....for competition only here...

Many where ask to go to lower weight class...as the training begans...everyone will lose weight...many over 10 pounds...to fit into there weight class..as the season begins..

You will have to study who you will fight...and what are you chances in those weight classes....$$$$ is why you fight...

Dropping to a lower weight class...is all about the competition levels you will have a good chance in...

Aloha, Study this well......

PS: Everyone likes to lost weight...and its for the looks too...