casperthegst
Blue Belt
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Just curious I'm sure there isn't a cut and dry answer but what is the average body fat % of mma fighters during training and at fight time?
Does it really matter? Anderson could come into the octagon a fatty weighing 230 and still beat most fighters.
Yeah, it does. Most of us are not Anderson Silva; most of us are closer to average. And there is an optimal weight and BF percentage for everyone; and for most people, its close to the average. So it's not a stupid or useless question.
Generally, fighters are probably between 8% and 12% on fight night, with a few ranging to 15%. Any more than that is pretty rare in today's game until you reach heavyweight.
Thats interesting, because I have heard I think Rippetoe say that athletes are most anabolic at about 14%bf, and I was wondering if there was any athletic advantage there too. I guess its individual
This. Not too many people are like Fedor. The average person performs better when they're leaner. Hell, I can see noticeable improvements in my athletic attributes just from going from 15% to 10%.
I must be like Fedor then, because I perform much better now then when I was a super lean high school wrestler.
I've read the same thing from Rippetoe. Of course Rip is coming more from a lifting standpoint but it's probably still relevant. It jives with what James Fuller posted as well i.e train at a slightly higher body fat % and then cut down closer to fight time.
Surely it doesn't matter as long as you make weight and feel at physical peak...mma is about winning, not looking pretty
Which is why we are discussing at which level of bodyfat the body is most primed for athletic ability, not when it looks best
According to kelly bagget cutting is also bad. He suggests getting to fight weight about a month before the fight. His reasoning is that when you train your muscle fibers shift towards being more slow twitch, and that when you take a bit of time off and your body detrains they shift back to fast, and if you have been doing explosive / power work they go beyond the past levels. But apparently this only happnens with plenty of food, so cutting in the last few weeks before a fight is bad, apparently.
my response to that would be: who is kelly bagget and who the fuck has he ever fought? Fitness "gurus" simply do not understand what they are talking about when it comes to the hows, whys and when's of cutting weight for combative sports. I would love my opposition to follow his advice tho. Throwing around 135lbers at 150-155 lbs is pretty easy work in my experience.
I think he is a pretty successful trainer, he wrote the vertical jump manual and is apparently very good at training athletes for sprints and basketball and things. He also used to box, although his success is with training, not competing.