Now here’s some weight loss secrets I care about.
Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting talked to Stefane Dias and Everton Bittar of American Top Team and got them to open up about their methodology for helping UFC Lightweight Gleison Tibau cut and regain more than 20 pounds in a day. Tibau, who walks around at over 190 pounds and fights at over 185 pounds, competes as a Lightweight meaning he has to weigh in at 155 pounds. Here’s how they do it:
“During the fight week, he works on the technical part with striking coach Luciano ‘Macarrao’ and jiu-jitsu coach Marcos da Matta, but also maintenance the aerobic workouts to help weight loss together with a dietary restriction of solid foods and an increase in fluid intake ranging from six to eight liters per day (distilled water) — or water with zero percent sodium — for a period of two days after gradually reducing the water,” Dias said. “This causes the body to eliminate more water and not retain anything in the moments prior to weighing.”
As soon as Tibau hits the scale at 155, he starts to get the water back into his body.
“After this brief recovery, he eats light food which is quickly absorbed, like bananas, grapes, fruit salad, as well as Vitamin Water or Gatorade,” Dias says. “The weigh-in usually occurs late into the night and the athlete is already semi-recovered. We continue with the intake of low-fat foods that are rich in carbohydrates every two hours, and also make shakes with added glutamine, dextrose, maltodextrin and vitamins to obtain a super compensation carbohydrate and assist in performance the athlete. We also add calcium pills, potassium and magnesium due to dehydration to avoid cramps on fight time.”
The 30-year-old Tibau has been competing in the UFC at 155 lbs since coming down from Welterweight in 2006. He’s 14-6 in that span and has never missed weight. He beat Jamie Varner via Split Decision at UFC 164.
In the long run we can debate whether or not this is good for Tibau’s health and MMA competition, but you have to admire the specialists skill and ingenuity here.
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