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Nutrition Losing fat while grappling

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Van Der Merve

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Has anybody got experience losing fat while actively training for wrestling/grappling? I am not talking about making weight for the comp, that's not very complicated. Actual reduction in fat%, body recomposition. I found that when I reduce caloric intake for long enough time my endurance goes down the drain.
 
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Depends on how much weight you actually have to lose.
As a broad recommendation:
If you have no more than 7-8 kg to lose start with your maintenance calories and see what happens.
If you don't respond very to caloric deficits be more conservative with huge drops. So if you don't notice anything at maintenance only cut in 5 % steps and observe.
Make sure to get enough protein. Aim for 2 g to 2,5 g per kg of bw (roughly).
 
@Van Der Merve, I have no experience with grappling, but will mention that many approaches to weight loss and body recomposition include a "refeed" or "junk" day. You might experiment with that. Two that come to mind are Tim Ferriss' and the cyclic ketogenic diet or CKD as presented in Natural Hormonal ...." - can't remember the last word, but I think the title abbreviates to NHE - maybe "enhancement".

-S-
 
As long as my diet is on point I find that I actually have to bump my calories up as I will lose weight and with that energy. Usually a small amount of carbs like rice or 1/2 a potato a couple hours before training helps me through. I only train for an hour a few days a week, how long and often you train could be the reason for feeling zapped.
 
...the cyclic ketogenic diet or CKD

Cyclic Ketogenic Diet

This isn't exactly a Ketogenic Diet.

Research by Dr Jake Wilson determined that going on a Ketogenic Diet for 5 days and then carbohydrate loading for 2 days meant that you were only in ketosis for 1-1.5 days.

As most know, when going on the Ketogenic Diet, it take about three days to enter ketosis.

High Body Fat and Less Muscle Mass

Wilson research also found the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet did not increase muscle mass but it did increase fat mass.

Wilson finding were that anyone coming off the Ketogenic Diet and going back to a Traditional Western High Carbohydrate Diet needed to gradually reintroduce carbohydrate slowly. Doing so, produced less fat gain.

As per Wilson, consume 100 gram of carbohydrates for three days, then increase it to 200 gram of carbohydrates for three days and then bump it to 300 gram for three days, etc.

Another article that ties in with Wilson's finding is...

"Just One Cheat Meal On A Keto Diet Damages Blood Vessels"
Muscular Development/July 2019


Research determined "That just one 75 gram dose of glucose-the equivalent to a large bottle of soda or a plate of fries-while on a high fat/low carbohydrate diet can lead to damaged blood vessels."

My Experience

i tired the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet several times years ago. I wasn't impressed with it then and am even less impressed with it now.
 
i tired the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet several times years ago. I wasn't impressed with it then and am even less impressed with it now.
My memory of the NHE book - I have it somewhere here ... - is that there were two versions of the diet, one of which did fewer carbs or less frequent refeeds. For myself, I never tried it.

-S-
 
Wait a minute. Did George just say he put on muscle mass without taking in leucine every four or so hours?
 
It will obviously depend on how you eat now. I don't go strict on calories per se, but put heavy restrictions on sugar (I do love chocolate) and keep the training constat if I need or desire to drop weight. Grappling is an excellent way to become and remain lean, but as you write, performance in grappling in the long run is not compatible with eating insufficient amounts of food.
 
"How do I lose body fat?" is a question many athletes ask, but perhaps a better question is, "How do I use my body fat to fuel my efforts?" There are of course different ways of answering my question. I use intermittent fasting (and keto) regularly, and my daily Simple and Sinister is done in a fasted state, so I literally call on my reserves of energy to get through the practice. Of course, I don't push for this as the one true way because I recognize that athletes like elite marathon runners or specimens like Bruce Lee found success with very little body fat to draw upon.
 
Intermittent fasting seems to be the magic bullet. Except that it's not.

I tried every IF template that exists under the sun. Warrior Diet, Fast5, Leangains (not really an IF in my opinion), 24 hours on/24 off. IF by itself does not make you lose weight or change body composition. Losing fat is about calorie deficit and diet composition. It's really simple if this is the only goal you need to chase. To do that while grappling - a very high intensity pastime that requires a lot of power, strength and endurance - is another story altogether.

As soon as I drop intake, especially carbs, my mat endurance goes down the drain. It has an upside that it makes you to focus on technique and energy preservation. However, it is not possible to do every time you roll - most training partners are not in caloric deficit and are actively trying to tear your head off. Literally.

So far some sort of calorie/carb intake cycling seems to be the most sensible way. I need to sit down and think about it.
 
One should not overcomplicate this. But clearly, trying, failing and evaluating some approaches is vital, as the individual differences always comes into play. If IF clearly does not work for you, you must obviously find a different approach. Personally, I did lose some weight when I started replacing meat with lentils and beans. And my stamina in grappling, as well as striking, has never been better.
 
I have been training for over 2 months now and i haven't lost any weight. I have actually gained some. I feel so hungry after class and have started eating alot more than i normally used to.
 
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