by Deb Killalea, News.com.au, Australia
THIS is the man on a mission to transform our bodies and crush Australia’s obsession with CrossFit.
Former UFC fighter Mike Dolce reveals how the world’s fittest athletes really get into shape but it’s probably not how you’d imagine.
Dolce reckons we’ve all got what it takes to look as trim and cut as him and other UFC fighters and is ready to take on his biggest battle yet – against unfit Australians and our unsustainable diets and exercise practices.
The 37-year-old, currently in Australia to launch UFC FIT, a new holistic fitness and nutrition program straight from the US, said we were among the most interested in health and fitness but were doing it all wrong.
The UFC FIT founder and UFC trainer who is sharing the secret diet and exercise regimine of the world’s fittest athletes said his program didn’t involve counting calories, elimination diets or risking injury with unsustainable exercise practises.
Instead he said his regimen involves eating every two to four hours using whole foods and working out between 23 and 47 minutes a day.
And the man responsible for getting the world’s strongest and fittest athletes into shape has the body to prove it, having dropped from 127kg and to around 90kg, with just five per cent body fat.
Dolce said his full-body intensity training is based on the same methods the world’s greatest athletes use to prepare for fights in the octagon and incorporates techniques from Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Karate, Judo.
Broken down into four three-week segments building strength, flexibility and conditioning while burning fat, Dolce promises you’ll lose weight, gain muscle and change your body in just 12 weeks.
Dolce said once the 12 weeks were up, people could go back over the program to beat earlier goals, and those wanting to go further would be fit enough to train in UFC gyms and eventually the octagon.
Asked whether his home-based program could be as big as CrossFit, he said not only was it better but less dangerous and far more likely to work.
Admitting he didn’t get the popularity of CrossFit which “doesn’t suit everybody”, Dolce said his workouts were just as intense but anyone from UFC fighters to expectant mothers could do them.
Then there’s the food bit of UFCFIT, which is being billed as the diet that makes you lose weight by giving us the food we were meant to eat.
As well as weight loss, it also promises to promote tighter skin, brighter eyes and thicker hair.
Designed to eliminate non-functional weight, there are just some essential rules: eat whole foods in the form of plants, grains and animal protein, eat every two to four hours, only eat until satisfied and not full, choose meals wisely, and stay accountable to your goal.
And Dolce whose motto is “don’t count calories but make calories count” said unlike paleo and other elimination diets his worked because participants ate more regularly so didn’t feel deprived and didn’t cut out essential carbs, proteins or other foods.
He also said his homemade recipes were quick, easy to prepare and follow and anyone could eat them.
And while he says alcohol is “poison” and encourages all his fighters to avoid, he adds there is nothing wrong with earning an occasional treat.
“But when it’s four glasses a night instead of one, that’s when alcohol decreases the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.
“This diet is designed to fill you up, and not to limit your food intake.
“It’s simple preparation, in the time it takes you to line up at Subway or wherever, you could have prepared the best healthy meal for you and your family.
“All you do is eat clean and you’ll lose non functioning weight.”
Dolce said like the US, Australia was facing an obesity crisis and unless we did something now, we would all be paying in 20-30 years time.
“The methods you’ll see in UFC FIT are the same ones I’ve used with the top stars in the UFC, but I actually developed them for men and women of all ages,” he said.
The program is available at UFCFIT and Big W.
