Okay, so you are fat, like really fat, like obese fat, but you want to do MMA?
Are you embarrassed by the size of your gut? You’re so embarrassed by its size you don’t wanna’ train? You think that your obesity looks disgusting and out of place in an MMA gym?
There are realities that are hard and painful. It’s like getting punched in the face.
You know what, I’m going to let you know what to do.
1. Just start MMA anyway
Guess what? You can’t do MMA if you’re afraid of getting punched in the face. I’m not just talking about physically getting punched in the face, but pyschologically as well.
I have heard it a hundred times. Or maybe even more than a hundred. “I want to get fit first and then I’ll start MMA.”
That is plain wrong. You don’t get it, do you? MMA will make you lose weight. Holy smokes! I’ve had a lot of obese teammates in my decades training. You know what? As long as they trained regularly, all of them got pretty strong and fit.
You see, first of all, you can practice MMA no matter what weight you are. Even if you’re a freakin’ blob or if you’re a skinny twig, there are drills for every MMA practitioner. MMA will make you fitter. Even if it’s just doing a little punching bag work or ground drills.
An MMA training session, of course, typically has a lot of conditioning drills aside from skills training. Just getting exhausted from training is an excellent, excellent work out.
MMA will make you strong. Your bones, muscles and tendons will adapt. MMA is gonna’ increase your cardiovascular strength. Even the efficiency you lose heat will improve as you keep exercising, as your body will be able to sweat better as your pores and sweat glands enlarge.
All of these make losing weight easier, even if you’re obese. And, doing MMA is more fun than doing pure condition training.
Of course, I have to state the obvious. MMA has weight categories. People of all sizes compete in MMA.
2. Stop drinking alcohol
Do you drink alcohol? If you do, stop.
You see, the science is in. Any amount of alcohol is bad for you. There is no such thing as a “healthy” amount.
You know what’s worse? Even just drinking every weekend has some far reaching effects on you. Do you know how? Addiction.
Think of it this way. Do you ever crave for a glass of carrot or orange juice? I mean do you ever crave for it the same way you crave for alcohol? Nope.
Do you know why? That craving is a form of addiction.
Now, what is wrong with addiction? The answer is cortisol. The stress hormone.
This stress hormone does a lot of bad stuff to the body, including increasing the amount of fat your body deposits in your midsection and around your organs. That’s called visceral fat. We don’t want visceral fat. It damages your organ and makes you look bad. For this article, visceral fat is opposed to subcutaneous fat. Stress caused by addiction, meaning cortisol, makes your belly big and fat.
If there is one podcast episode that made me totally abandon alcohol, it’s Andrew Huberman’s super famous podcast episode on it. Here’s a link to it if you like the science stuff on alcohol.
Obese people, of all people, should stop drinking alcohol. Period.
3. Stop drinking soft drinks and other sugary drinks
Soft drinks and sugary drinks are poison. To be more exact, excessive amounts of fructose in sugary drinks do nothing good to your body.
If you’re obese and you want to lose weight, stop chuggin’ down all that sugar.
Do you like softdrinks? Go for Coke Zero or other softdrinks with artificial sweeteners options. Artificial sweeteners have their downsides, that’s true. For example, they can also slightly increase appetite and they might your gut microbiota. But,artificial sweeters are a lot less damaging to your body comoared to the massive amounts of sugar you’ll ingest if you drink softdrinks.
There’s an awesome podcast on sugar by the famous scientist Andrew Huberman which changed the way I understand it. If you’re into the science stuff, it’s here.
Better yet, don’t be a wuss. Drink water. Drink lots of water. Speaking of water…
Drink more water
Lost of people are in a constant state of semi-dehydration and don’t know it. Thirst signals are often interpreted as hunger signals. When you drink more water, you tend to eat less. You drink water you feel healthier.
One of the dumbest things I heard is “I don’t like going to the bathroom often.” If you’re too lazy to go to the bathroom… Suck it up. The activity is part of it. If you’re obese and you’re heavy then that’s good. More weight fo you to move around.
Can’t stand the taste. Try adding some lemon or fruit. Better yet. Drink it despite having no fruit. Each time you do it, you get better, less of an impulsive f*t fuck and more self-control.
Drink more water. Take those frequent trips to the bathroom. Eat less.
4. Can’t run? Walk.
You so fat you can hardly run? Start with walking. Yeah, lot’s of people underestimate the power of walking.
Start with a walking a mile a day. Start with something so easy you will not have any excuse not to do it. Build the habits with something tiny. Make it so easy, you’re going to do it every day, except Sunday maybe. Then, after few week or so, do two miles.
When you feel comfortable with walking for half an hour or so, start adding a little slow jog here and there.
Keep it slow, keep it steady. Keep adding to the miles or speed. Most of all… Keep it consistent.
Are you afraid to run because you’re obese. If you are obese and you start, you will be able to see massive changes.
For an aspiring MMA fighter with a full-time job, a good target is around 3 miles (5km a day), walking or running.
Invest in a good pair of wireless earphones. Music and podcasts = good.
5. Eat less refined carbohydrates and more protein
One of the biggest ways I approach fitness now is the amount of protein I eat.
I used to think that I didn’t need that much protein. The science back then isn’t as good as what we have now. I wish I could kick myself in the nuts for not prioritizing protein when I was younger.
Good news. The “broscience” of eating 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight a day works. Some say you don’t need that much. A few say you can go a bit higher. But the broscience is a good ballpark and it’s easy to remember.
Your body doesn’t need all those protein, you say. Well, eating protein should be a large part of your meals. This is especially true if you’re obese and you’re trying to lose weight.
When I was younger and the available science was not so good, I though the biggest influencer of hunger was sugar in your blood. Guess what? It’s not sugar. It’s amino acids in your blood. As long as you don’t have enough protein, you can keep gorging.
That’s why you can gorge and gorge on sweet stuff like doughnuts and cake. The satiety from sugar is fleeting. Meanwhile, protein stay in your blood longer, leading more satiety, controlling your appetite.
Do I have to count calories?
If you are not eating refined carbs, not drinking sugar, and your meals are reasonable in size , and your protein is sufficient, you will probably not have to count calories.
6. Go to the gym and lift some weights.
It’s a virtuous cycle.
1. You lift weights, your muscles grow.
2. Your muscles grow, it burns more calories at rest.
3. You feel better, you do better in other parts of your life.
4. You see results, you’ll want to lift more.
Focus on compound lifts, like deadlifts, overhead press, squats. Or not. Do whatever keeps you coming to the gym. Two to three times a week is plenty. Even once or twice a week if you already have MMA training within the week,
Especially for obese people, they just have to get the muscle mass up quickly as they can. So focusing on the big lifts would be quite helpful.
Cardio is not not enough for optimum results. Weight training AND cardio is important. The super famous book Outlive by Peter Attia super changed my views on this.
My advice to newbies who hit the gym is usually counter-intuitive. Just focus on having a workout that is enjoyable so that you’ll come back the next session. (Of course, just don’t do anything stupid that can injure you, especially your lower back.)
I even say 10 push-ups a day is better than a hundred as long as you do that ten push-ups.
Just keep pumping that iron and having fun. Worry about the improving and fine-tuning your program once you have a groove in and you’re going to the gym regularly.
Speaking of seeing results…
7. Stop weighing yourself every day
Weight yourself. Not every day. Not every week. Every month.
I don’t usually weigh myself, and for most fit people, there is not much need to weigh yourself, unless you’re after competing in a specific weight category.
This advice is especially useful if you’re obese. Weighing yourself will mostly be so that you’ll see an undeniable proof of your progress, your weight going down.
Remember, muscle is a lot heavier than fat. And, at the start, if you don’t work out much, you’ll gain muscle pretty fast. So, even if you just see tiny results, those are good results. For example, you might have lost 500 grams of fat and gained 400 grams if muscle for a net gain of 100 grams, which by the way is already pretty impressive.
Exert tip: weight yourself at the same time every day. The best time is in the morning before you have your first mean. The weight of food and water can distort the weight a lot.
The results will roll in. Just keep at it.
Conclusion
There is nothing stopping you from starting MMA if you are obese. Losing weight and getting fit is important if you are obese. This should be done for the sake of your health. Also, you’ll be a lot stronger for you weight if you go down a weight category or if you do getting fitter. Obesity should not stop you from MMA.
Let me perhaps end saying… Flip your thinking around. It is because you are obese that you should start MMA.
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