Training mma, how do I *not* gain weight?

Most of the threads here regard training and diet to gain mass. My situation is a little different.

I am 6' 1" 165 pounds and recently started training mixed martial arts. I have been the same size since high school, but have not done much of anything physically. After a few classes, I feel like I have been lifting weights and am pretty sore. I am wondering if this training is going to make me put on weight. If all goes well, I'd like to be able to have my first fight within six to eight months. There is a 155 pound weight class and a 171 pound class. I would very much prefer to be able to make weight at 155. The difference in the fighters at the two classes seems to be a lot more than 16 pounds.

So how to I make sure that I don't gain too much weight from training? Do I limit calories, protein, carbs or all of them? Should I stay away from protein shakes? How much weight training can I do without gaining any weight? Are there some lifts that do not make one gain weight?

I've been a vegetarian for the past nine years. Recently I started eating fish. I will probably order some steak on-line soon, I'm not against eating cows, but my standards for quality would be very high. Grass-fed beef from a cold climate is probably what I'd start with. I'm not going to eat grain-fed beef or factory-farmed poultry. My diet includes peanut butter, walnuts, cottage cheese, beans, salmon, salsa, guacamole, lots of raw broccoli, and fresh fruit on the positive side. On the unhealthy side, I also drink a lot of strong coffee every morning, sweetened with honey, sorghum, and molasses. And I eat white corn tortilla chips with the guacamole and salsa. And I like beer

So how do I train as much as possible without gaining weight, and how should I adjust my diet accordingly?

sorry, just out of interest, how is raw broccolly? and why do you eat it raw?

It's good dipped in blue cheese dressing, which may be limited if I ever have to cut weight. I buy the stir-fry bags of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, but I'm too lazy to stir-fry it. Is it great? No, but compared to the health benefits, it is worth it. I don't think much of the good stuff goes out by steaming it; most people find it easier to eat steamed; it's at least easier to chew that way.

It is pretty much a matter of diet.

Keep the calories at maintenance level and you will stay around the same weight. Everyone is different though and there are a lot of variables so it is hard to prescribe what calorie range you should aim for.

Non-workout days you will need less calories than workout days. For example at 165 I'd hazard a guess and say something at around 2500 give or take a few hundred would do it. Although if you do 2 hours of MMA practice this could become 3000+ etc etc.

Basically you need to track your diet carefully and monitor your weight. Say you weigh yourself and two weeks later you've gained two pounds, adjust your diet down 300kcal a day. Then do the same and if you stay the same weight stick with the diet. If you lose weight add calories.

The key is small adjustments though, after a month or so you should have it pretty much spot on.

As for food it depends what approach you are going for. Protein should always be high, fats and carbs depend on what diet you are following. Obviously you should be minimizing high sugar foods etc.

How does the weight class system work? Is it 155-170 and then 171-???. If so try and get up to 170.

Hope this helps,

Quagmire

Ps-Post up your weights routine. Probably a change here or there that could be made.

No, the cutoff is at 155 lbs. The next class is 156-171 lbs.

I wouldn't worry about it that much because you're only 10 lbs over the limit. Cutting weight is no big deal if you do it right, you don't have to actually walk around at 155 lbs. You say you haven't done anything physically up to now, so that means you're probably going to lose weight unless you start eating a lot more because of the increased exercise. So from your new lighter weight it will be an easy cut, probably 5 lbs or so.

Also, if you want to fight you need to do tons of conditioning, the workouts and diet info people post here are strictly for aesthetics, they won't serve you well for fighting.

Burn more calories then you eat and you won't be gaining much weight.

edit stupid dyslexic me misread the title haha, you will not put on weight if you are training hard.

Also in relation to quality meat. What do you Americans feed your cows if they don't eat grass? Are you guys short on grass or something?
Hunting is great if you want quality meat or you could shop at a game butcher.
Raw eggs are your friend, I take 12 to 24 of them a day. They are the only thing that have ever give me noticeable gains. I'm thinking of buying some hens because I hate the idea of battery hens and I hate paying for organic ones.
Organ meat like liver and heart are nutritionally superior to the flesh and I get them for free from a farmer I know who usually chucks them out.
Also If you get your meat organic and fresh I would try and cook it as little as possible, there are many benefits of raw meat I just forgot them so have a look around the net.

I eat raw broccoli also, great in shakes with an apple and whey.

American beef is fed corn, mostly to fatten up the cows and make the meat have a marbled appearance of fat through the muscle. It might taste better, but by most accounts it is not as healthy. The healthiest beef, at least from what I read, would be grass-fed from a cold climate like Argentina or Wisconsin. The grass at high altitudes has high amounts of the beneficial chemical compounds, and eating the cow gives you the stored-up good stuff from the crass that the cow has eaten over its life. Although my local co-op has some local grass-fed beef that I might try as well.

And, on the original topic, can I still lift weights without worrying about gaining weight?

Trust me, you will not have to worry about gaining weight at all. You will lose weight fore sure, especially if you lift weights.

I tried my hardest to gain weight while training MMA but failed miserably and lost my chance for my first fight.

if you're training MMA a few days a week as well as lifting... without any major tweak to your diet (seeing as you've been 165 for a while) ... you're more likely to lose weight.

wolf116 said:

Trust me, you will not have to worry about gaining weight at all. You will lose weight fore sure, especially if you lift weights.

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Um why lose weight? Eat. Liquid calories if you must. Olive oil??

Yes I drink olive oil and creme and coconut oil and eggs.
My CNS can't handle both. I just have to accept that and spend a few years getting to my goal weight before I start MMA again.

Cool! It take alot of balls to get in that cage. The key to making weight is to stay close to your target weight. You should be walking around at 161 pounds and will have no problem making the weight the night before the fight.

And be careful that you don't get matched up wrong. The promoters are scumbags. Why are you fighting mma. Is it a personal goal or are you looking to make money off it? What is your strength BJJ, Wrestling, Muythai, boxing.

And good luck in the cage and much props to you. I have been doing brazilian jiu-jitsu for almost 2 years and a few guys at my school have fought mma and have done fairly well at the local level.

But if your looking to fight in the UFC which is the superbowl of mixed martial arts than you need to have the explosion. Explosion may be more important than technique at that level.

Thanks, man. I would be happy with just a handful of amateur fights and don't expect to make any money out of this. My promoter is the guy who teaches our mma and bjj classes. He charges next to nothing for the classes and openly admitted to me that he makes good money off the fights.

I went to my first cage fight a few months ago. It was very amateur, and I felt like I could at least hang with the 155 pound guys, although the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. I have no bjj or striking training at all, merely wrestled long ago in high school. It does help for takedowns, but collegiate-style wrestling puts one in the habit of giving up your back. I am starting to become familiar with how it feels to be on the receiving end of a rear naked choke

Thanks for the input on this thread about weight gain. I guess the only thing to do is not worry about it, train as much as possible, and monitor my weight as I go.

Sounds like a great plan BB. Once I heal up my shoulder and get back into my routine I would also like to do a few amateur fights. Like you I wrestled in hs and also did some boxing and kickboxing in college. I also felt like I could step into the cage after going to a amateur mma event in southeastern ohio, pretty much in a large barn but it was packed.

I dont know how hard your practices in wrestling were but some guys would lose 6-8 pounds of sweat in a 3 hour practice. Also at the start of the season, I would lose about 5 or more pounds permanently that was not water weight, while having those 3 hour practices a day. I think once you start cranking up the conditioning you will not have a problem staying at a lower weight. of course diet is important too. I would keep lifting to maintain strength.

you likely will not gain weight due to the considerable cardio and conditioning you likely maintain as a MMA fighter


Two months into this, and you are correct. My 32"-waist jeans are now falling off me, but I am about the same weight. I'm starting to look like I should be on an infomercial hawking ab machines. Girls love it. A gf's friend knocked on my door in the morning looking for her and woke me up; I answered the door w/o a shirt on and she kept dropping her eyes to check me out. This must be how chicks with big t!ts go through life, the other gender conversing with their chest.

I've been training four nights a week, two mma, two pure bjj, probably wrestling/rolling at about 80% effort for thirty minutes each of the four nights. From this alone, I am sore all over all the time. I have not added any weight training, yet. One of my trainer's top guys says I can lift weights and still make weight at 145. I will probably not fight until the fall, so I still have a lot of time. Maybe I will go hit a tractor tire with a sledge hammer or tie it to me and drag it around the block. Fighters do some crazy sh!t for training.

The more I get into this, the more I respect Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as the dominant martial art of mma. Fans love a knockout, everyone loves to see Rampage Jackson or Chuck Liddell drop another poor soul, but for the most part, most of the time, it is submission skills that win matches. In most of the local cage matches I see, the fights are mostly toe-to-toe wild swinging punches and very little ground skills. I think a bjj blue belt could have an impressive amateur mma record...and do it without ever throwing a punch or kick. Winning is great, but to me the next level of fighting would be defeating an opponent who is trying to hurt you, without hurting them and exerting minimal effort in the process. I have read that when Royce Gracie was rolling with his senior students, allowing them to have a chance at defeating their instructor, he would whistle as he calmly submitted them.

Bible_Belt said:

The more I get into this, the more I respect Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as the dominant martial art of mma. .

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Tell that to Kimbo Slice.

Seriously tho, when I was fighting, most of my wins came from submissions (and one flying knee which I'm very proud of ), better feeling IMO.

My experience is pretty similar to yours, started off doing muay thai at 160 pounds 6'2.

I STRONGLY advise letting your muscles grow bigger by eating enough instead of trying to curb this and fight in a lower weight class. Since you are tall at 155 weight you wont have half the hitting power of a 5'9 155 pounder. (Most of my fights have been against shorter people, strength seems to give a better advantage than reach usually).

Do you know about water cutting? Your goal should be to grow bigger (combine weights on off days with mma training) during the next 8 months and aim for 175 or so weight at a lower bodyfat % then drop the difference in water weight to 171 when you have a fight.

I can practically guarantee you'll grow to 175 if you have just started doing hard training and actually eat enough. When i first started i went up 1.1pound every week of nearly straight muscle. (ate like a horse too). That extra 15 pounds of muscle really helps, you dont want to be too skinny.

Any questions you want to ask I'll answer tomorrow.

That is interesting. Guys I train with are telling me to drop weight, maybe 20 pounds to fight at 145. My body fat is already low, that would surely place me down in the low single digits for % body fat. The same trainer guy who recommended 145 says that I can lift weights while I drop another ten pounds of fat, then cut about ten pounds of water to make 145.

Training has actually made me eat less, only a couple of meals a day, one carb-heavy a few hours before training, and one protein-heavy meal after training. With coffee in the morning and beer about every other night, that is pretty much my diet. I have never been a big eater, would rather go a little hungry than force myself to eat when I am not.

Chilli, did you compete in Muay Thai or in nhb cage matches? I respect either very highly, muay thai is imo the dominant striking art of mma, but I wonder if the advantage of being shorter translates beyond striking into jiu-jitsu and grappling? Wrestlers tend to be stocky, but jiu-jitsu practitioners are often lanky and flexible.

My striking skills are my weak point, so it would be best for me to take a fight to the ground, which is the bjj approach to striking - dodge the punches and take the other guy down...or even let him take you down. The crowd ooohs and ahhhs over takedowns, but the better I get at jiu-jitsu, the more I'd rather have an opponent in my guard than stand toe-to-toe. Most of these kids can't even spell 'jiu-jitsu.' They came to the fight to be Rocky and knock a fool out. I think a big challenge would be to submit them before the crowd started booing and got the ref to stand us up. Crowds want wild punches, too. Regardless, I think bjj is a martial art that places minimal emphasis on physical strength; technique is the focus. The Gracies say that if you have to try hard, then you are not doing it right. The idea is relaxed movement that uses the opponent's strength against him.