Tag: mike dolce

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Mike Dolce: The Art of Losing Weight

One of the leading MMA nutritionists shares his thoughts on the right way to lose weight.

Cutting weight has long been ingrained in the culture of professional combat sports.  Today the vast majority of fighters still seek to exploit the day before weigh-ins and by cutting weight, give themselves a clear size and strength advantage over their opponents.  Believe it or not, some fighters worry more about making weight than they do about their opponent.  Cutting weight can undoubtedly be a cruel process and it’s no secret that it isn’t always undertaken in the most professional manner.  Some athletes will practically starve themselves, use saunas or sweat suits and some have even taken drugs amongst other drastic measures in order to reach their goals.

The Dolce View

One man who is well acquainted with the process of cutting weight is Mike Dolce.  Dolce, a Las Vegas based nutritionist who also describes himself as a longevity coach, is regularly hired to assist elite mixed martial artists with their cut.  Vitor Belfort, Gray Maynard, Rampage Jackson and Johny Hendricks are just some of the world-class fighters who have reaped the rewards of Dolce’s expertise in recent years.  Dolce’s interest in nutrition is a longstanding one and originally evolved alongside his own athletic pursuits as a wrestler, powerlifter and mixed martial artist.  Here he gives an introductory overview regarding his philosophy on the art of cutting weight.
“Really there’s no magic pill,” says Dolce.  “It’s about maintaining a professional approach, not just in the build up to a fight but throughout an athlete’s entire career.  It’s that blue-collar mind-set and making simple healthy choices.  Three weeks before the fight my fighters are at about 7% body fat and throughout the entire process remain the epitome of perfect health.  It’s all done in cycles, three weeks, six weeks, nine weeks, setting goals for each week.  I call it ‘skewing’.  I tell my athletes they’re skewing in the right direction and that we’re always getting better day-by-day.”
‘The art of cutting weight is a matter of peaking.  It’s a very scientific process but in general, I try to bring a healthy and practical approach.  So many fighters look dreadful on the scales because they’re so dehydrated.  Unlike some others, my fighters stay hydrated throughout the entire process of cutting.  The day of the weigh-in is never going to be easy, no matter what.  However, the day before the weigh-in, the fighter should be fine.”
According to Dolce, the process of cutting weight remains stigmatised because of the somewhat primitive methods that are still in use.

The Wrong Way to Cut Weight

“It’s unfortunate that the art of cutting weight hasn’t evolved much in the history of professional combat sports.  The sports themselves have evolved whether it’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or western boxing but cutting weight for many is still seen as a crude process.  Take Brandon Rios (lightweight boxer) for example.  He turns up to press conferences in plastic suits.  Can you believe it?  Two days before a fight and he’s still wearing those plastic suits to try and sweat it out.”
Ultimately for Dolce, a healthy weight cut is about more than what happens in the weeks leading up to a fight.  The choices made in between camps are crucial, not only to the weight cut itself, but so that combat athletes can make the most out of what is essentially a very short career.  He uses the example of two world-class boxers to highlight the consequences of positive and negative lifestyle choices.
‘Take Ricky Hatton for example.  He was an extremely gifted and capable athlete whose career ended too soon because he didn’t take care of his body in between fights.”  Hatton, the former light-welterweight champion who retired recently at the age of thirty-three was infamous for his massive weight-gain in between fights.  “Then you have a guy like Bernard Hopkins at the other end of the scale,” says Dolce.  “He’s forty-eight years old, takes great care of his body and as a result is still competing at the highest level and could be fighting well into his fifties.’  In fact, just days after this interview, the forty-eight year old Hopkins won the IBF light-heavyweight crown against the thirty-one year old Tavoris Cloud.  In doing so he broke his own record to become once again, the oldest man in boxing history to win a major world title.
In an ideal world as espoused by Mike Dolce, combat athletes would incorporate cutting weight into their everyday lives whether there’s a fight coming up or not.  It’s a tough ask for those who like to kick back in between fights but look at Bernard Hopkins and Dolce’s message is clear. Discipline and dedication are much more than just sports clichés – they’re the building blocks of future victories.
For more information on Mike Dolce and The Dolce Diet – visit http://www.thethedolcediet.com
Click to View Original Article Posted on MuscleAndFitness.com

Photo by Ed Mulholland Twitter: @Muls96
 

In episode 24, world renowned weight management expert and peak performance coach Mike Dolce answers your questions! Topics include how to gain muscle, why the Dolce Diet just may be the most expensive lifestyle in the world, types of blenders, how you can be in the next Dolce Diet book, and are healthy people abnormal? Also, a listener gives his two-cents about Mike’s choice of words, and more!

VIDEO: Mike Dolce makes The Purple People Cleaner, a sweet, tasty and clean juice blended with tons of energy packed nutrients! Try it out and let us know what you think!
Check out more Dolce Diet videos on our YouTube Channel!

by Todd H.
As of March 2013 it has been 2 solid years since I changed my lifestyle and started living lean.
I started at (conservatively) 215 lbs. After my first round of Three Weeks to Shredded, commonly known in social media as (3W2S), I dropped 28 lbs and have not looked back. I am at, and have constantly remained at 187 lbs. +/- a few lbs.
No, it has not been easy; we all have our peaks and valleys. I never expected it to be easy, after all, real life is not like some commercial where you sprinkle some powder on your chili dog and everything turns out all right. Nothing valuable comes easy. This lifestyle requires a lot from the individual.
This lifestyle requires you to be accountable to yourself, become reliant upon yourself, make choices and live with the consequences of those choices, the good ones and the bad. It requires that you self govern and motivate yourself. See a theme here? This is about you and what you do; it has no chance of getting done otherwise.
Self-motivation is a huge aspect of this lifestyle but we all get down on ourselves at times and need help. This is where the masterful Mike Dolce steps in. Listen and re-listen to his podcasts. It is like having him over your shoulder coaching you anytime, anywhere through your ear buds. He is talking about a subject you don’t really care about? Use that time to think of what great and healthy meal you are going to make for dinner, then go back to listening.
Use MyDolceDiet.com and The Dolce Diet Facebook, ask questions, start discussions; you get no answer right away? Hit Twitter, if Mike doesn’t answer himself (which is crazy, I think he has clones of himself) then #hashtag that ****ing tweet! Get with it! #3W2S #LivingLean #TheDolceDiet #LivingLeanCookBook #EarthGrownNutrients #HelpMeDolce (LOL) Somebody in this Living Lean Community will see it and get back to you. Use this team as a motivational tool.
Mike Dolce and Brandy Dolce are like your Training Camp coaches, except this isn’t a 6-week or 12-week camp, this is for life! Don’t give up – don’t give in.  Use the resources available to your advantage. Make friends, follow, check @TheDolceDiet’s favorites, fill up your favorites with other people’s inspiring tweets, their success stories and go back and use those to motivate you. It works! I do it.
I have a vacation to Hawaii coming up I leave April 23 to paradise and I plan on being half naked about 98.9% of the time I am there. I am going to be surfing, swimming, paddle boarding, hiking, kayaking, I am going to squeeze every ounce of health and vitality that I have been blessed with, count on it. Like I said I am also going to be half naked, constantly so, I start another round of 3W2S on April 1st. I have already marked my calendar with my GOAL that by the weekend of April 20th I will be a lean mean, washboard abs machine!
Mike doesn’t type and talk until he is blue in the face for us to not take heed. He does it so we will set goals and do our very best to reach those goals. I consider Mike and his team to be my coaches, and coaches with this high level of passion and this much availability come around maybe once in a lifetime. I plan on taking heed and reaping the blessings that come with their dedication and their want for me to succeed. I will not squander this opportunity.
As always I really appreciate you taking the time to read my rants and I hope it encourages you to set your own personal goals and reach the high level of health and vitality that we are all capable of.
 
*Individual results may vary
 
 

If you’ve ever wondered what fight week is like for a UFC athlete, take a look at this video.

Video by Adrian Ramirez

 In Ep. 22 world renowned weight management expert and performance coach Mike Dolce sounds the call for universal Olympic-style drug testing in MMA. He also answers your questions. Topics include how to get children to eat healthy foods, how to gain functional weight in males and females, how much water is too much and how to begin training again after injury and surgery.

Mike Dolce had plenty to say during his interview with BJPENN.COM Radio last Wednesday, March 13, ranging from his thoughts on Johnny Hendricks’ preparation for his upcoming bout with Carlos Condit to his dealings with Cris “Cyborg” Santos and even his belief that Chael Sonnen will “beat the piss out of Jon Jones” in their upcoming UFC Light heavyweight title clash on April 27th.
But perhaps the most intriguing portion of the interview came when Dolce was asked about what has made him famous in the world of mixed martial arts: his system, aptly dubbed “The Dolce Diet”.
A former fighter himself, Dolce takes pride in having been on the receiving end of vicious weight cuts and rigorous training camps due to the fact that it gives him a personal connection with the fighters he works with. It is in that sense that he fancies himself as more than just a dietician.
“Because of ‘The Dolce Diet’ brand, our registered trademark brand and it’s our book series, and the black & gold t-shirt I wear, people think it’s all diet and it’s all about nutrition. It is part of what I do, but I think it’s a small part of what I do. I’m a longevity advocate before anything else; I’m a coach, a performance coach, a lifestyle coach” Dolce said of his popular methodology that has taken on a strong following in MMA circles. “I help the athletes-any individual I help them get their mind right, I say we get all their houses in order; their mental, their physical, their emotional houses in order, which really becomes very necessary as you get closer to a world-class performance scenario.”
Dolce further stresses that he works closely with the teams & families of his athletes to cultivate the most efficient lifestyle in order to fulfill the athlete’s potential. Whether blockages include poor diet, mental and environmental stress or anything in-between, Dolce is intent on making sure that the needs of his fighters are met, even if they’re out of the ordinary.
“I kind of joke sometimes; if the athlete needs me scalping tickets in the parking lot the night of their fight while everyone’s inside watching them compete, well that’s what I’m doing. Whatever the athlete needs, I’m going to be- ’m the guy that’s going to get it done for them, and that allows the athlete to compete at their best and be healthy and kind of, you know, move on their life.”
Having previously worked with the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson during his preparation for bouts with Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida, both of which saw him start camp immensely overweight, Dolce has a proven track record. He now works with the likes of not only Hendricks, but Chael Sonnen and Thiago Alves as well.
In addition, Dolce has been working with Vitor Belfort, who most recently looked sensational in his knockout victory over Michael Bisping. Initially, he says, the process of cutting weight was not an easy one for “The Phenom”.
“When I first took over Vitor, it was very difficult for him to make middleweight, 185. And in time, you know, we fast-forward to what we did in Brazil [for his fight with Bisping] Vitor only cut four pounds. The weigh-in day in Brazil, everybody was commenting on just how amazing his physique looked. Well, it’s because he had been living properly for two years and, you know, they make statements-very uneducated statements- about how he was able to look like that, and this drastic difference. It was two years of work that culminated in that body and that performance. It’s nothing store bought, it’s nothing that you can just go out and pick up, you have to work hard, you have to live the right lifestyle.”
That lifestyle is predicated on principles, as Dolce puts it, that help individuals nourish their bodies properly based on intake of earth-grown nutrients every two-to-four hours. In doing so, blood sugar remains stable and metabolism is continuously moving. However, food intake is based on satisfaction and eating until your body feels good and not until you’re full, which only serves to put a “bottleneck” in your digestive system.
“Think about driving down the highway, and if you have to keep stopping at these bottlenecks and intersections, it takes so long to get where you’re going. Now if the streets are wide open, you can drive even slower and get to where you’re going much faster, much more efficiently. These are some of the general, universal principles, and really it’s that easy. And people say because I have all this success with these elite athletes that there must be something crazy scientific. The craziest thing I can say is: it’s common sense.”
Read the original post on BJPENN.com
 

Johny Hendricks and Carlos Condit looked like a dream fight on paper, and it turned out to be even better than expected. Hendricks used his wrestling to score a total of 12 takedowns over 15 minutes, but Condit got up from every single one of them and bombed away when he was upright. Both men blasted away standing, with Condit taking Hendricks’ vaunted left and firing back with everything he had. In the end though, Hendricks got his hand raised via unanimous decision. All three judges had it 29-28. READ MORE AT BLOODYELBOW.COM

Photos

Above: Johny Hendricks weighs in via The Dolce Diet for his UFC 158 fight against Carlos Condit. Photo by Tracy Lee. Below: Johny cuts the last couple pounds earlier in the day with Mike Dolce. As usual, no sauna needed.

We’re sharing Todd’s blog post describing his experience with one of the largest sandwich chains in the world. Please feel free to express your thoughts and comments. Open-minded dialogue is always welcome!

I tried my hardest to convince myself that the horrible gastrointestinal problems I was having was just a coincidence. But as I previously said, “you can only ignore things for so long”.
~TODD HARWOOD, MyDolceDiet.com Member

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