Comments Thread For: David Benavidez: I'm Way More Prepared, No Mistakes Making Weight This Time

[VashDBasher]

I don't see anything about him hiring a nutritionist.

That would be a tremendous help. Go get that Mike Dolce guy that helps UFC fighters always make weight.

He really needs someone like that in his camp.

[M111]

A completely oversimplified view and if you were a boxer you’d come in overweight. Some bits may be obvious to the layman like yourself. Other bits aren’t. People metabolise things at different weights. As explained it’s not just weight. It’s cutting weight without loosing muscle mass, Adp energy reserves, metabolite balance, maintaining good sleep patterns, eating at the right time in line with your training, eating the right things together, avoiding the wrong carbs, eating the right protein, taking safe supplements. But hey what do I know. I only trained fighters for 20 years. Decent nutritionists pay for themselves ten times over.

[M111]

And benavidez needs one.

[THC]

People metabolise things at different weights. As explained it’s not just weight. It’s cutting weight without loosing muscle mass, Adp energy reserves, metabolite balance, maintaining good sleep patterns, eating at the right time in line with your training, eating the right things together, avoiding the wrong carbs, eating the right protein, taking safe supplements. But hey what do I know. I only trained fighters for 20 years. Decent nutritionists pay for themselves ten times over.

You touch on several key factors here. It's definitely not as simple as the "3-square-meals-a-day", "4-food-groups-per-meal", and "fat-is-bad" junk science disseminated by government agencies via commercial food lobbyists. Age and training cycle (thus accommodating intensity variance) are two more aspects I would mention towards a comprehensive nutritional program to support a fighter.

In some ways, boxing has improved over the last 10 to 15 years or so in regards to physical training practices; but outdated traditions linger. e.g. performing situps for abs; long, plodding jogs in the early morning, etc. That said, nutritional science as leveraged by the sport is pretty much in the dark ages except to those well-off athletes who recognize the importance of a sound, long term program and therefore hire a specialist to integrate one in concert with their physical training.

The best nutritional specialists teach their clients to incorporate health-building principles as lifestyle elements and make themselves superfluous as soon as possible. They are not for athletes who only want a quick fix for their weight management issues.