I am talking about a weight loss regimine that is designed to get you down to single digit bodyfat. Modifications could be made for year round training such as increased protein.
I can guarantee that in my case it was quite the opposite.
When I tried high protein (1.5 grams per pound of body weight) my weight cut was a nightmare, I packed on too much muscle.
To a certain extent this diet is designed to stop you from putting on muscle, if you are 175 and need to get down to 155 adding more muscle will hurt you more than it will help.
Its ironic that you mention Ryan Hall, I followed the above diet form my superfight with Ryan and no one could believe that we were only 4 pounds apart in weight - everyone assumed I was much heavier because of my body composition
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I guess my point is that ideally one shouldn't get above say 10-12% for men, even if the "off-season" if you will. Then not much if any real cut in bodyfat is needed, just some water weight. As for packing on too much muscle, i'm really surprised this would be a problem unless your calories were in surplus. If you are lowering calories below a certain threshold, you really shouldn't be adding muscle (excluding things like creatine, etc.). That being said, you do have a point, but I think that the vast majority of folks gaining muscle is not a bad thing, and should be encouraged. Obvioiusly you were gearing up for a superfight at a specified category so you had to make sure you made that certain weight, so you may be an exception, But for a typical grappler getting ready to compete, my opinion is that quality strength increases should be encouraged and if that means that added muscle mass accompanies this, so be it.