When I first started competing professionally in Jiu-Jitsu, I competed primarily in the 77 kilogram division. 170 pounds.

At the time, ADCC was same-day weigh-ins only, meaning that every time I cut to 170 I’d have a couple of miserable weeks. I’d eat pretty much nothing but chicken and broccoli, and my Instagram explore page would just have a bunch of pictures and videos of cheese pizza, decadent cookies, and enormous steaks. This, I assumed, was going to be life as long as I wanted to be an ADCC competitor.

In late 2023, however, things changed. I had an injury before the ADCC European Trials, couldn’t lose weight because I could barely train, and ADCC didn’t switch to day before weigh-ins until the Tuesday before my trials. I had already paid for the trip and the tournament in Warsaw, so I decided to go up in weight to 88 KG.

I figured I’d go try my best and if I lost in the first round and I’d just go back to 77 and laugh about the time I thought I was “a big guy”.

But I took 3rd in that tournament, and this result changed the way that I think about competition, performance, and weight-cutting.

Today, we’re looking at the pros and cons of weight-cutting.

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• ADCC Prep Week 6: Are We There Yet?

Pro: You might perform better.

When I was competing in my first ADCC Trials, I always felt that I performed well when I cut down to 77 KG.

This is mainly anecdotal because in 2022, I cut to 77 KG, finished in the top four at the West Coast Trials, and then, basically, after that, I had way less imposter syndrome about pursuing Jiu-Jitsu professionally. Cutting weight that one time gave me validation.

The truth, however, is that weight-cutting is always a dice roll.

Con: You might perform the same (or worse).

This year, I competed at ADCC and finished top 4 at 88 KG despite weighing-in at about 85 KG.

I competed at PGF at 205 while weighing the same – maybe a few pounds more and I took 2nd.

Then, I cut all the way down to 170 for EBI and I finished 2nd again.

This last weight cut was not like my high school wrestling weight cuts. I took my diet seriously for 5 weeks and lost 13 pounds and then lost 10 more via water cutting. I did an IV to rehydrate. The weight cut did not impact my performance.

I did everything “right”, but I lost because I wasn’t good enough at EBI overtime. I didn’t lose because of weight cutting, but I still lost.

Makes you wonder what the point is, doesn’t it?

The hard truth is that a weight cut does not guarantee a result. It is always a roll of the dice.

Pro: You’ll learn something about yourself.

Every time I drop weight nowadays, I become more mindful. I feel like the dieting aspect is kind of a spiritual thing.

I realize that sometimes I have used sugar to medicate a bad day. I realize that sometimes I overeat because I’m stressed. I realize that a bottle of sparkling water and some sunshine often make me feel just as good as a cheat meal and a movie. I realize that if my body is capable of an extra cardio session after weights and training while in a calorie deficit, there’s no excuse to skip the cardio when I can eat how I like.

Weight loss for combat sports is maybe not this big noble thing like being a monk, but there’s something (for me) about being a fit person trying to lose even more weight that forces me to be just a bit more mindful, just a bit more focused, and a bit more resilient to discomfort.

I like that part of the process.

Con: There isn’t a healthy way to “cut”, just better ways.

The weight cut follows a cycle every single time.

At first, I hate the diet. I crave dessert, pasta, croissants, and a big f*cking steak. My inner fat kid cries out and he feels neglected and tortured. (Sorry if this is a bit dramatic, I went a bit too hard on the ADCC bulk this year lol)

Once I flush out the sugar, start eating less food, and start to see progress on the scale as I climb toward my goal of making whatever weight I need to get to, I start to feel pretty good. I lean out pretty fast because I train hard every day. My sleep improves because the calorie deficit makes me tired. I don’t feel as strong as I do when I’m in a surplus, but I’m not as weak as I thought I’d feel.

I start to feel comfortable being uncomfortable.

Then, inevitably, the final stage of the weight cut comes, and all that nice mindfulness stuff gets thrown out the window. I start drinking several gallons of water per day, heading to the toilet every 15 minutes, and questioning if what I’m doing is really “safe”.

Dieting is not weight-cutting.

Weight-cutting is drastically losing body weight via water-cutting, fiber-cutting, or whatever else you have to do to get the number down as fast as possible. Weight-cutting is weight loss that is undone the moment you get on the scale.

There’s not really a healthy way to do that. During the cut, your performance will always suffer. The more you cut, the longer you will need to recover from the cut to operate at maximum capacity.

A weight cut might help you win, but there’s also a chance that it’ll be the reason you lose. If you don’t know what you’re doing, the odds of your weight cut helping you aren’t as good as you think.

Closing Thoughts

Sometimes, the pros and cons of weight-cutting are irrelevant. Sometimes, you have to cut weight because we are in a sport with weight classes.

I used to weigh 180 and get invited to tournaments that had 2 divisions: over 170 and under 170.

Nowadays, as a professional competitor, I still don’t always get to pick the weight classes that I am offered to compete in. I got offered to compete at EBI at 170 and PGF at 205, and ADCC at 88 KG (194 pounds), so my options were either to not compete or to mold my body to fit those weight classes.

If I believe have a good chance of winning or if I want to take on a challenge, I will make it work.

What I’ve found is that it’s better for my career to have the ability to compete at multiple weight classes than to be stuck at just one.

But still, I’d never recommend cutting weight to anyone else.

Do I say, not as I do.

Read more from Chris at TheGrapplersDiary.Substack.com 

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