Wondering about competition weight.

[TheJawJugglar]

Alright so i'll start off by giving you guys a little bit about my background.

I'm a small guy.

I'm about 5'5 and weighing right now at about 125 pounds.

I recently took a year off of training and am still in pretty good shape but I wanna get in better shape. I took kyokushin karate for 3 years (great school I love that sport) that focused a lot on conditioning, repetition of technique and sparring. The only thing that I didn't like was the lack of head punches. I also trained in a local MMA class(alright gym but a lot of testosterone and very expensive) for about a year and a half. Then I took a year off because of personal issues. The mma class mostly focused mainly on jujitsu but also muay thai so I got sparring in with head shots regularly to supplement the karate.

My main strengths were decent power, quick, good leg kicks. Also I was a good wrestler with alright submissions. I was never THE BEST in class because of my size but I was well respected and I think for my size i'd be a very good opponent for that weight class.

I'm thinking of getting back into the game but i'm gonna start with just weight training at the gym for about 6-9 months so I can enter back in prime shape. After those months I am gonna take either kickboxing or boxing(I cant decide. I really would love to improve my hands because of the lack of head punches in karate but I think I should continue working on my kicks as well. Opinions?) as well as wrestling for grappling.(Greco Roman)

Since i'm 125 right now i'm wondering what weight I should move up to. If I am serious about the training for the next year or two I can definatly compete in karate, kickboxing or mma. I won first place at a karate tournament once.

I could compete in karate or kickboxing and i've competed before but for mma I would have to move up to 135.

Do you think I should just keep at kickboxing and karate tournaments and maintain my weight(I think its an advantage for me since i'm very strong at this weight) or do you think I should train hard for a year or two and try to compete in MMA at 135? I've never competed at this weight before.

I'm 18 years old btw.

So I do have experience but I just don't really know which route to go.

 

[neomage2021]

You are 18 so you will fill out and getting bigger with more training.

To give you an impression of the sizes of guys you would be fighting think about this. I'm 5'6" and i cut from between 160-165 to make 145 for mma, 147 for boxing and 149 grappling.

My friend and grappling instructor john dodson fights at 125 and walks around at 150ish.


I would suggest competing at a weight class 10 lbs less than your in shape weight.


also if you are competing in the next year, with hard work you can get up to a lean 135 and fight at 125. Building quality muscle takes time. If oyu are in shape don't expect to gain more than 15 lbs a year in muscle, and that's with alot of work.

 

[TheJawJugglar]

That kind of makes sense now that I think about it.

I may as well try and pack on some muscle and make 140-145 so I can cut to 135. I just hope that with my height being so small that my cardio and speed won't suffer.

I'll probably do a lot of cardio excersize to make sure that doesn't happen.

Thanks for your help man and advice and good luck with your future of competing!

 

[Aaron Perls]

I'd say get IN SHAPE. Great shape, the best shape of your life, and don't worry about weight, until you're there. Then decide if it makes sense to get good at cutting for competition, or if you need to ad mass.

Most moderately athletic people who do a sport, but have never done real conditioning or strength training are carrying around a lot more fat than they realize (even small skinny-fat kids).

I got out of the Marines a year ago, didn't have great body-comp (too much jogging, not enough lifting, and piss-poor food). I was about 195 pounds. Over the course of the year I "bulked" up to 220+ pounds, and then cut back down to where I am now (about 195) again. Except now my arms, legs and chest are much bigger/stronger, and I'm much leaner and more agile (about 10% b/f instead of 15/16%).

If someone had told me a year ago that's the weight I'd end up at, I'd have said they were crazy. I look much larger than I did a year ago at the same weight, but am much stronger and quicker now too.

The point of my long post: until you get into real shape, you don't know where your weight will fall. I look almost as big now @ 195 as I did at 224, just leaner.

You may end up really filling out and walking around @ 145. You may be carrying around a bunch of fat you don't even realize, and add muscle + lose the fat and end up happy @ 115...

 

[TheJawJugglar]

Two good posts. I appreciate all the kind advice you guys are giving me.

I agree with what your saying about the skinny kids even carrying around fat.

Me at my weight now...i'm thin and muscular but I do have like a layer of fat.

I'd guess that i'm probably about 11-13% body fat. Although I suspect without proper diet and coming age that will go up. So i'm gonna take your advice and start getting in the best shape of my life.

Appreciate it guys.

 

[Aaron Perls]

Two good posts. I appreciate all the kind advice you guys are giving me.

I agree with what your saying about the skinny kids even carrying around fat.

Me at my weight now...i'm thin and muscular but I do have like a layer of fat.

I'd guess that i'm probably about 11-13% body fat. Although I suspect without proper diet and coming age that will go up. So i'm gonna take your advice and start getting in the best shape of my life.

Appreciate it guys.

Squat, deadlift, benchpress. These are your friends. Eat enough so that you can grow. If you start getting "too chubby" keep lifting and cleanup your diet. Don't be afraid to take the time grow and let yourself "fill out" to your bone structure.

T NATION | 11 Myths of Warrior Training

 

[The MT Monkey]

Well dude, it all depends on your body type. You said you're 125 and 5'5 so I'm assuming that you're genuinely a smaller guy and not just stout. Check your body fat percentage. You say you're very strong, so it sounds like you have fairly good muscle composition. If you feel good right now, then fight at your walk around weight, but if you think that there is room for improvement, then start lifting and increase your protein intake (mainly lean meats. supplements are good as well, but it can be easy to abuse them if you're unfamiliar with them, and they are not something that should be abused). If you decide to gain some weight, it's also a good idea to practice weight cutting as well (try it for every ten pounds of muscle mass gained). It's a slow process but it really helped me. I'm 6'3 and weigh 195 with a body fat percentage of 9.84% last time i checked (2 months ago). Most guys my height have more mass (Griffin, Mir, Lesnar), but my muscles are very slender. Big and strong, but slender. I've fought at 170, 179, & 185. By simply tapering my diet, and continuing my standard workout schedule, I can cut to 180. Then I increase workout intesity, start eliminating excess carbs and calories from my diet, and carefully begin to lose water weight (be very, very careful when doing this part). This is excellent practice for finding a comfortable weight for competition and making yourself familiar with the weight cut. Gain some muscle mass and rise to 135 and try it from that weight.