Monitoring Your Boxing Weight

Monitoring your boxing weight is a crucial part of staying in shape and keeping up with the demands of the sport.
Boxers obviously need to eat well in order to maintain muscle strength and provide enough energy in the ring to use punches, speed, flexibility, strength and endurance, to train well and defeat their opponent.
As a result, they require a nutritious diet which will provide them with high enough levels of energy to last throughout the entire duration of a bout.
Unlike most other sports, whilst a boxer needs muscle and power behind them, they are also limited by the restrictions of their weight class.
Boxer's aim to be at the top end of their weight limit to maximise strength and energy, so it's crucial that they have the right diet to provide enough energy to undertake fights and intensive training sessions, whilst staying within their their weight limit.
Most fighters tend to try and stay to within 3-5% of their ideal fighting weight during their training in order to avoid having to lose weight quickly as a fight approaches. Dramatic crash diets before a fight will often result in reduced levels of performance.
OK so the ideal solution to this is obviously NEVER to get to the position where you have to quickly lose weight in the days prior to a weigh-in, under ANY circumstances.
If you are in that unfortunate situation though, there is no really easy way to quickly lose weight without adversely affecting your performance in the ring.
Your best hope is......................
In the two to three days prior to competition, avoid excessive salt intake to cut down on fluid retention.
Adopting a low residue diet for the last 24 hours before competing will help to reduce weight further, as it empties the gut of undigested food and fibre. That alone can amount to a pound or two
Some low-residue foods are - Corn Fakes, Rice Krispies, White Bread, Jam, Honey, Juice, Low-fat milk, Tinned fruit, Jam, Clear soup, White pasta, White rice, Tomato based pasta sauce, Meal Replacement Shake

Sweat/Sauna Suits

Many of us already know that most of your body weight is made up of fluids. (Approx - 75% of the brain - 85% of the blood - 90% of the lungs)

Using a sauna or a sweat suit sure will help reduce your weight quickly......Unfortunately, unless you are used to being dehydrated and fighting or training under those conditions, it can have an adverse effect on you during the bout, and also has the added danger of greatly increasing the stress on your heart.
Rubber, plastic and vinyl sweats suits can actually be harmful as your core body temperature will quickly rise to an extremely high and often dangerous level as water and electrolytes drain from the body without permitting the body to breathe.

Yeah many boxers and other athletes do use sweat/sauna suits for rapid weight loss, but unless you are VERY careful it can have a negative effect on your performance and even your health, as all you are doing is dehydrating yourself.
So keep a close eye on your weight and hydration if using those types of suits - It might make the difference between winning and losing..............and in one or two previous instances, living or dying!