What does MMA weight cutting do to a body long term?

FullRoundAldo

FullRoundAldo

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Almost all top 10 fighters are cutting 15-30 lbs of weight every 3 or 4 months. They are doing this when they are in the age range of 20-40, but, what happens later? Are the health effects only short term for the most part? Will there be serious consequences? Like, serious health problems after 40 or 50? Drastic reduction of lifespan or life quality? Does anyone really know yet?

This is on top of the pills they all take, some legal some not, the extreme stress on their bodies in training, the damage in sparring and fights, etc.

So far, the only relatively healthy over 50 MMA fighters I know of are guys like Royce Gracie(49, whatever), guys who never really needed to cut a lot, never put themselves through too much hell in training, and guys who either never did PEDs, or did very few just for recovery.

Then you have guys like Kevin Randleman and Chris Leben, guys who went HARD both in fights and fight preparation. It seems that the guys that do bad post-MMA are guys who over train, over indulge in drugs, and fight like it's their last day on earth. But does extreme weight cutting factor into that as well, long term? Is there any evidence?
 
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We get enjoyment, and some of us make a decent earning/living, from the short-sightedness of others.
 
brainwash said:
In what ways. What are the repercussions. I would like some serious, researched answers in this thread, not just speculation.
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Google is probably better for that than Sherdog.
 
brainwash said:
In what ways. What are the repercussions. I would like some serious, researched answers in this thread, not just speculation.
Click to expand...
read up the effects of extreme dehydration on your kidneys, now imagine doing that over and over again
 
It rly depends of the way person weight cuts. If they cut healthy via strict diet, sauna, and not noo big dehydration it does totally nothing to your health.

But... If you cut yourself to half dead skeleton = kidney failures, faints, i heard about myth that too big dehydration leads to gettin KOed easier because of less brain fluid to amortise shots.

Also you get sick easier because of lack of minerals like vitamin D,C and many many others. In long term i think it could give you serious health problems.
 
Merks your kidneys, makes you more prone to concussions. Also destroys your testosterone levels over the years which is why guys like Cormier, Hendo .etc had blown out T in their 30s after long ass olympic wrestling trials with huge weight cuts
 
brainwash said:
In what ways. What are the repercussions. I would like some serious, researched answers in this thread, not just speculation.
Click to expand...
Many fighters have had to retire from kidney damage/failure. You have to understand applied physiology because there isnt a whole lot of research done on it per se in terms of fighters, more so just bodybuilders.
So, in an easy to understand nutshell...
Basically, as you lose a lot of intracellular fluid volume, the cell has greater potential to die or become damaged, and your mitochondria die or become suppressed. This is magnified the longer you are dehydrated waiting to weigh in and rehydrate. This interferes with nerve signaling along with the sodium/potassium pumps being imbalanced during electrolyte loss. Your blood becomes more viscous, harder to pump, and your BP and HR change negatively in an attempt to keep you functioning. Your body then tries to reroute all water to vital organs needed for survival instead of working muscles, so when fighters are sluggish the next day in the cage its because their rehydration went to hell.
The dehydrating effects are also horrible for the brain and predispose you to being KO'd/concussed easier due to fluid loss.


Pick up the physiology text "Cells to systems"
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FullRoundAldo said:
So far, the only relatively healthy over 50 MMA fighters I know of are guys like Royce Gracie(49, whatever), guys who never really needed to cut a lot, never put themselves through too much hell in training, and guys who either never did PEDs, or did very few just for recovery.
Click to expand...


hahahaha. great example. royce sure needed a lot of recovery before he fought saku in k-1.
 
FullRoundAldo said:
Almost all top 10 fighters are cutting 15-30 lbs of weight every 3 or 4 months. They are doing this when they are in the age range of 20-40, but, what happens later? Are the health effects only short term for the most part? Will there be serious consequences? Like, serious health problems after 40 or 50? Drastic reduction of lifespan or life quality? Does anyone really know yet?

This is on top of the pills they all take, some legal some not, the extreme stress on their bodies in training, the damage in sparring and fights, etc.

So far, the only relatively healthy over 50 MMA fighters I know of are guys like Royce Gracie(49, whatever), guys who never really needed to cut a lot, never put themselves through too much hell in training, and guys who either never did PEDs, or did very few just for recovery.

Then you have guys like Kevin Randleman and Chris Leben, guys who went HARD both in fights and fight preparation. It seems that the guys that do bad post-MMA are guys who over train, over indulge in drugs, and fight like it's their last day on earth. But does extreme weight cutting factor into that as well, long term? Is there any evidence?
Click to expand...

Once you've already done the weight cut and rehydrated normally, you are generally good to go. With the type of restrictions and monitoring we have in place in professional MMA, it's not something we really have to worry about anymore. The only real significant long-term damage you could get would be with your kidneys, and if you are doing illegal methods, perhaps your brain. People have been weight cutting before MMA, and their organs are generally healthy.
 
Really depends, I've trained with some people that cut a ton of weight and were fine and some that even after rehydrating felt like death once they started warming up, their body was just so spent from the cut. Which was dangerous come fight time.

Everyone's body is different though, some dudes can cut a ton of weight and be ok some cut a few pounds and end up with problems or the other way around. There is lots of articles out there about it, some actual legit ones and not some random person behind a computer.
 
Well, I got fsgs, a kidney disease. I'm not and never was a successful mma fighter, but in my youth i boxed and I did my share of weight cutting. I'm sure I got fsgs because of weight cutting and other fighters of my time have other kidney problems. Weight cutting is horrible and should be banned. When you're young you feel you can withstand anything, but the consequences come when you're older and the price to pay is very high. Weight cutting should be banned
 
Why did he mention Leben, his post mma career is starting to take off. Just got his real estate license or something like that
 
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