Every fight week feels like dying. Most fighters accept that. They shouldn’t.
1 Fix your diet OUTSIDE of camp
Your diet outside of camp is where you set the foundation for an easy weight cut. Without this everything else fails. This is also the first thing I do with my clients.
Most fighters don’t. They wing it, then suffer for it during fight week and call it normal.
It’s not normal. It’s just first.
2 Water overloading
Waterloading is a very popular technique that is used in fight week. Most people either tolerate it or hate it. But drinking 100 ml of water of kg of bodyweight is a large amount.
But there us a better approach. Rather than following numbers blindly you just take an increase of your normal intake. This is a way better and enjoyable approach if you use the waterloading method.
None of my clients use the 100 ml per kg of bodyweight. They all drink less, lose the same amount of weight and are way happier.
Bonus: Water overloading
Another mistake that people make is only drinking water. It gets really boring after a while. You can drink anything that has 0 calories. Coke zero, sprite zero,….. just look at the sodium content of the drinks since some zero calorie drinks have a higher amount of sodium.
3 You are what you eat….
and you are miserable. Most people make their fight week foods very bland. The reality is that fight week foods can be good even without being able to add salt.
You can have steak, brisket, peanut butter with dark chocolate, magnum ice cream (my clients have it daily before bed).
Why ice cream? That’s the wrong question.
It’s not why. It’s why not.
You don’t have to eat sad chicken and nuts.
4 Pre workout treats
Pre workout you can have some form of sugar to give you energy before training. Most people get this in the form of candy. 30 grams of sugar coated Haribo pre workout hits different.
5 Heat acclimation
Not adding heat acclimation to your fight camp is a massive mistake most fighters make. Not doing it costs you no matter where you are. Fighters in cold climates can’t get a sweat going. Fighters in hot climates have a hard time because they can’t handle the heat.
The solution: heat acclimation. Getting used to being in the heat but also teaching your body to sweat more efficiently.
Get my heat acclimation guide here.
6 Working with a nutrition coach
Training partners. Coaches. Everyone has advice.
It’s all generic. You suffer anyway.
What actually works is a plan built around you — your body, your timeline, your cut.
That’s what my clients get.
That’s why fight week stops feeling like dying. If you’re done white-knuckling it — sign up to work with me.
Alex
