MUAY THAI FIGHTER DIET, NUTRITION & WEIGHT CUTTING PLANS

By James Bee – JBFS

The following post is by James Bee who works with professional Muay Thai fighters as nutritional coach.

I get a lot of emails from people asking questions about what to eat and drink during fight week preparation. So I felt it was necessary to write some advice answering these important questions about Muay Thai diet and nutrition to help optimize performance for your big week. If you’re cutting weight, there are some essential weight cutting tips in this post to help reach that goal too, so keep reading.

Below you’ll find a breakdown of the important macronutrients like proteins, fats and carbohydrates. I’ve also added 2 different meal plan strategies, one plan is for fighters who are weight cutting and one is for maintaining weight. I’ll talk about water intake, important supplements, and sauna strategy for shedding those last couple kgs if...

TIPS & TRAINING STRATEGIES FOR YOUR FIRST MUAY THAI FIGHT

By Sean Fagan

So what do you do now?

How do you prepare yourself to step into a ring with somebody who has trained for months, if not years, with the specific goal of kicking your ass?

The answer is really quite simple:

DO WHAT YOUR COACH TELLS YOU!

If you train at a decent gym, chances are your coach has trained dozens if not hundreds of fighters for competition. All you have to do is listen to what he (or she) says. Every coach has his or her own way of doing things, but most of us follow a pretty standard formula. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

A general rule of thumb is at least 20 hours training per week, or in other words 3.5 –...

Weight cutting has long been a part of combat sports. When done safely, it allows for fair fights. When done recklessly, it can ruin fights – and lives. . .

AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPETITION WEIGHT CUTTING

COURTESY OF @OCHA (TWITTER).

It’s true that over the course of the history of competition, people will find ways to have gain any advantage possible. Fighting is no different.

Enter: cutting weight. For pretty much as long as fighters have been weighing in, cutting weight has been a practice done by almost everyone.

There are a lot of misconceptions of what cutting weight is, and these misconceptions can prove to be costly, hindering performance during competition or, worse, even causing death.

(Title image courtesy of Andrew Miller, The Star Ledger.)

WHAT WEIGHT CUTTING IS

Cutting weight is a process that involves manipulating hydration levels in the body over the course of just a few days. Fighters will often sweat...

My Top 15 Weight Cutting Tips For Making Your Weight Cut Not Suck As Much

Weight cutting sucks, plain and simple. Trust me, I haven’t picked up these weight cutting tips by just reading them off the internet. I’ve gotten these strategies through trial and error… which was not always the most pleasurable experience.

However, if you are going to succeed in Muay Thai, MMA or any combat sport, chances are you are going to have to do it at some point in your career. Here are the best weight cutting tips I’ve picked up through my fight career:

My Top 15 Weight Cutting Tips

#1 – Prepare Mentally

Before you go through the stress of cutting weight you need to get your mind right. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be fun. Pretty fucking obvious right?

You have to be prepared to make sacrifices in order to make weight whether it’s for Muay Thai, MMA, boxing or wrestling. Prepare to go training sessions feeling...

Why Cut Weight At All?

More likely than not, if you plan on going far in your respective sport, you are going to have to cut weight at some point. Yes it sucks, and yes it’s not the most fun thing in the world, but if you want to keep the odds in your favor, cutting weight is a must.

Benefits Of Weight Cutting

If you are able to cut weight safely and effectively and refuel properly after weigh ins, you will most likely hold a huge strength and power advantage on your opponent.

For instance, I walk around at about 160lbs but weigh in the day before the Muay Thai fight at 147lbs. But just because I weigh in at 145lbs doesn’t mean I fight at that weight.

After rapid rehydration and refueling my body with the liquids and foods it needs, I weigh about 157-158lbs when I step into the ring. That’s almost 15 extra pounds I can use to my advantage!

Dangers Of Weight Cutting

Unfortunately some athletes and fighters go about weight cutting the wrong way by either starving...