[AZ_MMA]

This may be a stupid question (wouldn't be my first), but what are the medical reasons for switching to distilled water?

[Orion]

Not sure if epsom salts have been mentioned before but they work great for cutting weight for a few reasons.

1) The salt will draw water from you and also cause you to sweat out a little bit of water, but not to the point where you're dehydrated. You can lose a 1-3lbs off this.

2) It works as a mild laxative due to the magnesium that is absorbed. It'll help you go a little bit more, but again, not to the point of performance loss or being on the toilet for 2 hours.

3) The hot water from the epsom salt bath will heat up your core temperature and help you to sweat a little bit more.

4) The epsom salts will take care of any muscle soreness and help you relax and feel better. An epsom salt bath before bed is a great cure for any insomnia issues.

A natural laxative that works well and is also packed with health benefits and vitamins to keep you energized and feeling good is aloe vera juice.

Aloe vera juce and magnesium citrate together work as a great laxative and will aid in cutting weight if you need it.

Aloe Vera Juice Benefits
American Chronicle | Health Benefits Of Aloe Vera Juice

[mschatz]

Looked through the thread and I cant seem to find the post that I was looking for. I remember someone suggesting that in the week or two before competition that you up the water intake to as much as two gallons a day, IN ADDITION to upping the sodium intake. The logic behind this was that the increased water and salt would make you urinate more often, and then you cut the water down to a little under a gallon per day the last few days before competition.

1. Is my understanding correct that salt should be increased a week before the competition ?
2. If so, how much should it be increased? Should I be adding a lot of salt to everything?

[Centaur]

Originally Posted by mschatz

Looked through the thread and I cant seem to find the post that I was looking for. I remember someone suggesting that in the week or two before competition that you up the water intake to as much as two gallons a day, IN ADDITION to upping the sodium intake. The logic behind this was that the increased water and salt would make you urinate more often, and then you cut the water down to a little under a gallon per day the last few days before competition.

1. Is my understanding correct that salt should be increased a week before the competition ?
2. If so, how much should it be increased? Should I be adding a lot of salt to everything?

Ms:

I was just about to put this in your log, but I'll put it here instead.

Courtesy of our bud Finny (He summarized it quite nicely, IMO).

Originally Posted by finnegan

The process is:
Drink a gallon of water a day, everyday.
5 days out from weigh in, start drinking three gallons of distilled water a day.
3 days out from weigh in, cut out carbohydrates (they bloat you up)
2 days out from weigh in, begin drinking Dandelion root or Bearberry Tea (mild diuretics)
1 day out, cut out all water and food. Put on some sweats. Light activity only.
Day of weigh in: No food, no water. You should be within, or at most 1-2 lbs of weight when you wake up. If not, you did something wrong. 1 hour of moderate exercise should take care of it. Go weigh in and rehydrate using a drink that has a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein. Don't try to rehydrate all at once. Half a gallon the first hour, half a gallon
the second, etc until you are back to your 4 day out weight.

I'd start adding sodium on "5 Days out". I think, what, 4000mg a day? Maybe a bit more?

[mschatz]

Great summary! Thanks Dan.

2 questions though:

NO food for the entire day before the fight? Really?

Also, he doesnt mention upping the salt intake. I swear I heard that from someone on here. Am I crazy?

[Centaur]

Originally Posted by mschatz

Great summary! Thanks Dan.

2 questions though:

NO food for the entire day before the fight? Really?

Also, he doesnt mention upping the salt intake. I swear I heard that from someone on here. Am I crazy?

Naw, Finn doesn't but like I said, i think 5 days out. When my sister did her figure competition, they have to do the same thing and that's what she did. She took her regular RDI of sodium and added, I believe, 30%. So it's it's 3000mg, you make 4000. I'll check with her.

I know it's not fighting, but those chicks have to dry out completely, so the idea is the same.

For me, I've never had to cut more than a few lbs, so I'd make a small blended protein shake with BCAA and greens and take a mulit-vit. The whole shake was maybe 1 cup. My last "cut" I was pretty much bang on so I ate some cottage cheese and some peanut butter too.

[mschatz]

Originally Posted by Centaur

Naw, Finn doesn't but like I said, i think 5 days out. When my sister did her figure competition, they have to do the same thing and that's what she did. She took her regular RDI of sodium and added, I believe, 30%. So it's it's 3000mg, you make 4000. I'll check with her.

I know it's not fighting, but those chicks have to dry out completely, so the idea is the same.

For me, I've never had to cut more than a few lbs, so I'd make a small blended protein shake with BCAA and greens and take a mulit-vit. The whole shake was maybe 1 cup. My last "cut" I was pretty much bang on so I ate some cottage cheese and some peanut butter too.

Thanks for the help. Definitely interested in hearing what your sister has to say about the sodium intake.

Turns out that I may not have to get as scientific as I thought. Looks like a lot of the amateur fights they have here in the city are arranged before hand. So instead of just weighing in and then getting matched up the day of, you know who you will be fighting beforehand at a weight agreed upon. That could be good because instead of having to go 165 or all the way down to '52, its very possible to get fights at catch weights of '58 or '60. Thats VERY doable, and will be a lot less stressful than trying to get all the way down to the low 150's. To do that, I would definitely have to be doing the laxative/diuretic/weight cut thing, and thats scary if you have to fight an hour or two after weigh-in.

[Newcastle]

I have a grappling tournament on Saturday and can weigh in on Friday afternoon. I am 5'8", 144 right now. I've been following the rules on page 1 since Friday of last week. I'm down from 146-147. Is it reasonable to think that I am on track? I've never had to cut weight before. I am pretty lean and don't have a lot of body fat.

[bayer]

Well im guessing you know about suana suits...they are a gift from god! As a wrestler needing to cut weight all the time it gets simple. First, remember water is eight pounds a gallon. Think about that so if your really dedicated(and have a training partner incase you pass out from dehydration) Try to not drink that water and throw that suana suit on(this should only be done the day before or day of)...and if you have cotton mouth suck on an ice cube, but don't swallow any of the water. Next, if you still have about a pound to lose do the wrestling trick with some bubbleicuos bubble gum ;) The sugar in the gum will make your mouth salivate like hell, spit spit spit... it sounds dumb but i have filled up water bottles just from spit before. That alone is a couple of pounds.
Now for food, you'll lose more weight than not eating if you buy a power bar and cut it into fourths. Eat one fourth of the bar every three hours. THis keeps you stronger and more importantly, your ****bolism up.
Last when it comes to rehydrating you need to start off with sips of water so your body excepts the water.

[cheath]

I just want to vouch for the suggestions on the original page of this thread. By making healthy choices, in about 4 weeks I cut down from a consistent 192 to a solid 186. Then by doing as this thread suggests, I dropped weight to 178. Although I weighed in at 174, my teammates and I think the scale was off. And I have little body fat, so if I can do it anybody can do it!

I never got in over a gallon of water per day, and didn't incorporate any extra training besides BJJ class. OK, the day before I weighed in I jogged in a sauna suit for 20 minutes.

Needless to say, great advice given here!