Additionally, the recommendations done by Horswill [20] concerning body mass control during the season are important sources of information. This author suggests specific goals for each periodization phase. Pre-season: determine athlete’s optimal weight category; estimate body composition to determine the minimum body mass the athlete can have to compete safely; initiate the weight category change if needed; adjust technique

and tactics for the new weight category; aerobic conditioning and strength training to reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass; reduce energy and fat intake to decrease body fat percentage; Season: keep body mass near the upper weight limit; increase caloric intake Torin 1 supplier to deal with training and competition demands; maintain strength training; adequate micro and macronutrients intake; Off season: avoid increase in body fat; begin strength training; maintain aerobic conditioning; avoid high-fat diets. Management procedures to control or discourage rapid weight loss Management procedures have been used in wrestling [53] and proposed for judo [8] to avoid weight loss among athletes.

The following recommendations were first drafted in 1976 [54] and reinforced in 1996 by the American College of Sports Medicine [14]. They are currently in use in most scholastic wrestling competitions in United States as a part of a program aiming at controlling the weight management issue among wrestlers. This program has been shown effective in attenuating the aggressive patterns of rapid weight loss and discouraging Selleck LOXO-101 athletes from losing weight irresponsibly [20]. Therefore, these recommendations should be implemented by other combat sports organizations in order to avoid widespread weight loss among combat athletes [8]: matches should begin in less than 1 h after weight in; each

athlete is allowed to weigh-in only one time; RWL methods and artificial rehydration methods are prohibited on competition days; athletes must pass the hydration test to get the weigh-in validated; an individual minimum MLN2238 mw competitive weight is determined at the beginning of each season; no athletes are allowed to compete in a weight class that would require weight loss greater than 1.5% of body mass per others week. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank FAPESP for supporting the studies on rapid weight loss (grant # 2006/51293-4). References 1. Kim S, Greenwell TC, Andrew DPS, Lee J, Mahony DF: An analysis of spectator motives in an individual combat sport: a study of mixed martial arts fans. Sport Mark Q 2008, 17:109–119. 2. Ko Y, Kim Y, Valacich J: Martial arts participation: Consumer motivation. Int J Sport Mark Spo 2010, 11:105–123. 3. Burke LM, Cox GR: Nutrition in combat sports. In Combat Sports Medicine. 1st edition.