Weight Cutting... Is it worth it? Is it legit?

Hello everyone, back at again and the topic of discussion today is weight cutting. Weight cutting for those of you who are not familiar with the term, is when a person manipulates their food and water intake in a fashion as to temporarily decrease body weight by a substantial amount. It is usually done wrestler's and other combat sports athletes. Here are some common methods of doing so:

http://www.advanceweb.com/SharedResources/Images/2013/052013
/Wrestle_table1_700x.jpg

Now I will be the first to admit that I may be biased against weight cutting due to my inability to successfully cut any significant weight as of yet. Since I have basically decidedly chose to not participate in this practice it will remain undone. 

So you might be asking yourself, "what have you against weight cutting?"

Well for starters it's not the healthiest practice. Manipulation of any kind puts undue stress on your biological systems. People have hurt themselves pretty seriously in the pursuit of getting to a specific weight. While others have gotten to their desired weight, gone on to fight and died as a result. So I reiterate that through critical thought and the mistakes of others, my health is more important than getting down to any weight by this method.

I do have another reason for disliking weight cutting. I am a fan of MMA and know that the main purpose if not the only purpose, to weight cutting is to see who can cut the most weight to the desired weight then gain the most back by fight time. This is all done for an advantage over the opponent.

To put it bluntly, I call it cheating! As a jiu jitsu practitioner and someone who has fought amateur MMA, I think if you have to use a method other than that of your techniques to get the win then you are a cheater. Other people may say , "Oh, it's just part of the game," I think the game could do without it. If you train hard then that should be good enough. Til next time, good day.
And if you have any input on this subject, you know where the comment section is...

What Competitions are Like and Why you Should do a Few

One of my favorite jiu jitsu related activities are competitions. They are always a blast and eventful in a multitude of ways. Most instructor's from what I understand promote a healthy interest in competition experience, I know mine does. Not everyone enjoys competing, however, there are several legitimate ideas as to the importance of competing.

Here's what a big tournament looks like:

http://themmacorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/
BJJDanRodGracieMag.jpg

Now back to what I was saying...

For one, unless you travel frequently and/or have a really big academy, its a way of diversifying your jiu jitsu experience on a person to opponent context. Take me for example, the academy I attend isn't the biggest around and while there are a variety of skill levels and body sizes not everyone makes it to every class. What this means is, that since I don't travel around and I train and roll with a certain group of people consistently, it gives a fresh rolling experience. 

Competing gives everyone the chance to implement their jiu jitsu skills against someone they've never gone up against before and amp up the intensity 100%. This is nice because when you train with a team, everyone learns each others' games and you should keep training intensity at a healthy level as to keep from injuries.

At another angle of thinking, competition serves as an accurate tool for discovering what it is in your skill set that can use some refinement. This goes back to the previous point where knowing your teammates' games and vice versa comes into play.

Competitions usually are an all day event and you get to see and meet a lot of other people who are a part of this community which is fun. Getting to meet people and network is a great bonus. Here is a couple of photos of me and my instructor meeting a couple of world renowned and highly talented jiu jitsu practitioners:

Us with Raphael Lovato Jr.
Photo by Troy Russell

Us with Justin Rader
Photo by Troy Russell

And last but not least competitions are a wonderful way to market your academy and possibly acquire interest from someone who is looking for somewhere to train. Either that or falling back on networking and finding out about places for potential cross training.

When competing make sure you either bring plenty of money for snacks or do as I do and bring something healthy like bananas and nuts. Nothing to heavy on the gut but enough to keep your energy up for the hurry up and wait part of the day. This is usually after the rules meeting at the beginning of the day and while divisions other than yours are in action.

There are usually some venders around selling jiu jitsu related merchandise. Anything from T-Shirts to mouth-guards or a new GI. Well there's my beginner's look at jiu jitsu competitions and why to do them, have any questions or comments you know what to do. Til next time good day.