15/03/2022
Post weigh in fueling
All the fighters (whether amateur or professional) hate it, losing weight for a fight.
In combat sports there are certain weight classes in which an athlete can compete. For the majority of fighters out there this means losing weight for a fight (temporarily) to have a bigger advantage over their opponent.
Amateur fighters usually weigh in on the same day of the fight, making dehydration not as huge (or at least they shouldn’t). Professional fighters usually weigh in a day prior making the weight cut oftentimes much much bigger. If rehydration isn’t done correctly, not only will it cost you the fight but can lead to some serious health issues as well. These different weigh-ins require different strategies, below we’ll describe what would be best for either situation.
Weigh in on the same day
Weighing in on the same day significantly reduces the time you have to refuel. Therefore dehydration should be avoided. Overall this makes a much fairer play as both athletes will not be entering the fight with much greater weights as they only had a couple of hours to refuel.
If there is no other way to make weight and so, you’ll have to dehydrate, make sure it isn’t any more than 0,5 kg. Losing more than this might lead to reduction in performance, increased risk of injury, loss of concentration etc.
Avoid cutting carbohydrates out of your diet! A mistake a lot of amateur fighters still make. Carbs are your body's preferred energy source, therefore when participating in a highly demanding activity (fighting) your body will run out of gas if not fed well. Also after the weigh in, there will be a small window of refueling and so you will not be able to get sufficient amounts of carbs in such a small window.
Check out the second slide for professional fighters/weighing in one day before the fight!