To discuss the science, practical application and dangers of weight cutting strategies, performance dietitian Jordan Sullivan is on the podcast. Jordan has been the performance dietitian for several years to Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, Leon Edwards, Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France, and many other well-known names.
#374: How to Plan a Fighter’s Diet
Buy the book: Making Weight – The Ultimate Science Based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat SportsEpisode InformationIn this episode Danny becomes the interviewee, as he is interviewed by sports dietitian and owner of The Fight Dietitian, Jordan Sullivan RD. Jordan oversees the diet of several UFC athletes, including champions Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. Danny and Jordan have an in-depth chat about all aspects of nutrition and weight cutting for combat sport athletes, including the concept of the “52 week fight camp” and Danny’s five-phase model of combat sport nutrition. This discussion first appeared on the Fight Science Podcast. …
#244: Ian Dunican, PhD – Sleep & Impact of Weight Cutting
Guest BioIan Dunican, PhD Ian is currently the Director and Principal Consultant of Melius Consulting and has a PhD from the University of Western Australia (UWA), where he worked with elite sporting organisations/athletes to optimise sleep, recovery and performance. He is also the Director of Sleep4Performance and an Adjunct Researcher at Monash University, Australia. Ian has worked with elite and highly trained athletes at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), West Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS), professional teams in Super Rugby, Australian Rules Football, Basketball, Swimming, Ultrarunners and Martial Arts such as Boxing, & MMA. He is an ultrarunner, completing over …
Should You Restrict Caffeine Before Competition To Resensitize To It?
I recently received an email from someone who had purchased the Sigma Weight Cutting System for MMA & Boxing, asking why I had advised athletes stop caffeine consumption in the final 7-10 days before competition. This is an interesting one because my stance has slightly changed on this matter in recent times. So I’d like to outline both my original thinking, and some opposing thoughts, in this piece. As you already likely know, caffeine is quite the stimulant. And its effects are very quickly noticeable. And the literature supporting it’s beneficial impacts on strength [1] [2], endurance [3] and sports performance [4] …
#217: Israel Halperin, PhD – Combat Sport Science, S&C Coaching & Motor Learning (Guest Hosted by Ciaran O’ Regan)
Special guest host Ciaran O’ Regan interviews Dr. Israel Halperin about research and application of S&C coaching. Guest Bio Israel Halperin, PhD Israel is a post-doctoral researcher at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Israel completed his PhD at Edith-Cowan University, Australia in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). His research centered on the effects coaching feedback has on the performance of resistance trained subjects and combat sport athletes. Israel spent the 3 years working with the four Olympic Combat sports in the AIS Combat Centre as a sport scientist. Over the years Israel has trained many world-class combat sport athletes as an S&C and …
#182: Reid Reale, PhD – Research on Water Loading & Making Weight Practices in Combat Sport
Guest Bio Reid Reale Reid recently completed a PhD, focusing on weight cutting techniques and body composition of combat sport athletes. This work was carried out in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Sport, where research is combined with helping elite level Olympic athletes. Reid has a master’s degree in dietetics and holds Accredited Sports Dietitian and Accredited Practising Dietitian status with Sports Dietitians Australia and the Dietitians Association of Australia respectively. He won first prize in the “Young investigator award” at the 2016 European College of Sports Science annual congress in Vienna, for his presentation ‘Rapid weight loss in Olympic combat sports’. On the …
The 3 Principles of Strength & Conditioning for Combat Sports
Share this post on Facebook Let’s face it, combat sports are nuts. In choosing to partake in combat sports, we are willingly putting ourselves into positions in which our bodies are at great risk. We essentially prepare ourselves day in and day out to come out on top when we finally test our damage-inducing and avoidance capabilities against those of our opponents. This element of health risk is not a bad thing. Rather, in my eyes, it is what makes combat sports such a powerful “vehicle for the development of your human potential”, to quote Joe Rogan. The sheer intensity …
#141: Performance Nutrition for Fighters – Common Mistakes
Helping competitive athletes make weight in an effective and scientific manner is my principle area of practice with my own coaching clients. Currently, my personal roster of clients is about 90% made up of such athletes, so pro MMA fighters, boxers and then also powerlifters and weightlifters. And for today’s episode I wanted to get into some of considerations for performance nutrition and weight cutting with fighters specifically. Both in terms of nutrition to support training and to allow them to make weight and refuel appropriately. So what I’m going to get into is really in relation to competitive fighters, …
Making the Cut, Part IV: How to Cut Weight for a Fight (Properly!)
How to cut weight for a fight? If you’re wondering what a fighter’s diet plan for cutting weight for MMA or boxing might look like, read here
Making the Cut, Part III: Supplements for Combat Sport Fighters
Buy the book: Making Weight – The Ultimate Science-based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat Sports Supplementation. This could be a 4-part series in itself. However, I’ll skip on some details to get to: which supplements actually work which don’t and which are actually worth investing in. A brief point to consider before I go into this: If you don’t have the foundations discussed in part I in place, don’t worry about supplements. Sort those foundations out first. Ok, let’s start with what supplements can enhance training performance. Here’s the ones that are actually going to work: Supplementation for Performance Creatine Most effective …