Tag: vitor belfort

FIGHT MAGAZINE: ‘BEHIND THE FIGHT’ WITH MIKE DOLCE

by Terry E. Bush, Fight Magazine
Former power lifter and pro mixed martial artist Mike Dolce knows about making the cut. The author of Three Weeks to Shredded and The Dolce Diet: Living Lean has found a compelling niche in the MMA world—working with fighters to help them win the battle against the scale.
How did you get started helping fighters make weight?
We all eat and breathe and sleep every day, and I just happened to start paying attention to all these variables at a very early age. I’ve been collecting and applying this data my whole life, so it was a natural progression.
What is your job title?
My role is as a coach, which is really how I identify. I’m not just a lifestyle coach or a diet coach or a performance coach. I try to coach the whole system. I try to fill in the cracks where necessary. I’ve been an athlete. I’ve been a fighter. I’ve cut 40 pounds in a week. I know what it’s like. I’ve experienced fighting at a very high professional level. I’ve been a part of that as a teammate and a coach.
You’ve had more than 20 pro MMA fights, which speaks to your level of commitment to the sport. Does this add another layer of understanding that transfers to your clients?
I believe so. I hope so. I like to lead by example. I train when my athletes train. I train right beside my guys. When my athletes cut weight, I cut weight. We do the same things. We eat the same things.
You’re working with some of the top names in MMA—Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Rampage Jackson, Thiago Alves, Vitor Belfort, Gray Maynard, Jake Ellenberger, and Johny Hendricks. Historically, some of those guys have had trouble making weight. What is the process like when a fighter calls to hire you?
It’s absolutely amazing when I get a phone call. I try to see what they need, and if it’s something I feel I’m capable of doing, we meet face to face. I spend some time with them just to see if we get along. I usually shadow them. I go through their day, I watch them eat their meals, and I look in their cabinets and their refrigerator. I go to work with them, I pick up their kids from school with them—it’s a day in their life. Then we’ll have a conversation about changes and adjustments and formulate plans.
Who has been a fighter who you’ve been really proud of with the end result of a transformation you were able to assist with?
Thiago Alves is really high on the list. And Vitor Belfort has a special story. He won the world title when he was 19 years old, and he’s now 35 years old. That’s 16 years of competing at a world-class level. That’s a long time to do that to your body and go through so many training camps and so many wars, so for him to bring me on after he missed weight against Rich Franklin was important for me. They brought me in to help him make 185 pounds, and his next cut was the easiest weight cut of his career. His wife cried and they called me their angel because they were all so nervous about him cutting weight because he’s a big guy and he’s already healthy. He lives on really clean and healthy food, and he and his family live that lifestyle, so for me to be able to come in and make that type of dramatic improvement was really great. I don’t work with an athlete for just one fight, I work with them for their career. I’m not going to leave them for a bigger payday or bigger limelight or any of that stuff. It’s a family. We plan years in advance. I have a seven-year plan with Thiago Alves. It’s a science that’s result-based and data-driven.
What’s on your horizon in the coming months?
I average being on the road six months out of the year. It’s a very erratic lifestyle, so I’m just sort of this floating soul who’s trying to share my knowledge. I keep going and I keep answering the call and the call keeps getting greater. It’s not just athletes—it’s corporations, too. I’m continuing the evolution—just to keep helping and spreading the positive energy and keep pushing that forward.
 
Article published in FIGHT! Magazine, September 2012

September 21, 2012 – Vitor Belfort weighed in at 204.2 LBS. via The Dolce Diet for his championship fight against Jon Jones. The fight will take place in Toronto at Air Canada Centre on Saturday. Preliminary fights begin on Facebook (6:30 p.m. ET) and continue on FX (8 p.m. ET). The main card airs on Pay-Per-View (10 p.m. ET).
For more information about UFC 152, visit UFC.com
For more information on The Dolce Diet, visit TheDolceDiet.com

By Ariel Helwani
Video Reporter and Writer
So just how much of a size advantage will Anthony Johnson have over Vitor Belfort Saturday night at UFC 142?
Well, we already know that “Rumble” weighed 204.2 pounds this morning, hours after missing the middleweight mark Friday afternoon when he weighed 197 at the weigh-ins. Belfort’s highly-regarded nutritionist and trainer Mike Dolce told MMAFighting.com Saturday morning from Brazil that Belfort weighed 205 pounds at 9:15 p.m. local time Friday night, and he believes “The Phenom” will be around that weight by the time he steps into the cage Saturday night.
“He may get up to 208 with a full belly,” Dolce said, “but we’ll pull back his food a bit as he gets closer to competition time. [He’ll] probably be 204 tonight.”
Dolce said he believes Johnson will “probably be over 220 pounds” come fight time, but despite the expected weight discrepancy, Belfort never considered turning down the fight.
“We wanted the fight regardless,” Dolce said.
According to Johnson’s manager Glenn Robinson, “Rumble” was en route to making weight until he fell ill Friday morning and needed fluids to get better. However, Dolce isn’t buying that excuse.
“Every fighter is ‘ill’ on weigh-in day. He was bouncing around giving high-five’s in the pre-weigh-in line-up, laughing and looking fine,” Dolce said. “Missing weight is an issue of a weak mind, not body. I have seen thousands of cuts. If an athlete misses it is because he did not prepare properly or he breaks mentally.”
And while the scales will show that Johnson will enter the cage with a size advantage, Dolce doesn’t believe the deck has been stacked against his client Belfort.
“Belfort had the advantage the day the fight was signed. Johnson endured no more trauma than Vitor did. Or, any other MMA athlete. I don’t care what the stories say, all these guys suffer exactly the same and endure the same pain. Either you are prepared or you aren’t. Vitor is prepared.”
Original Article Here

Por SporTV.com
Rio de Janeiro

Mike Dolce fala sobre sua Dolce Diet, as semelhanças com a Dieta Gracie e sobre seus clientes brasileiros: Belfort, Thiago Alves e Luiz ‘Banha’ Cané

Entre o grupo de treinadores que Vitor Belfort trouxe para ajudá-lo no UFC 142, no próximo sábado, está um nutricionista que é um dos nomes mais badalados do MMA no momento: o americano Mike Dolce. Criador da Dolce Diet (Dieta Dolce), o técnico já atendeu centenas de artistas marciais mistos, mais de 60 deles com passagens pelo Ultimate, e está expandindo os negócios para trabalhar inclusive com atores de Hollywood. Poucos recebem o atendimento personalizado que o carioca está tendo às vésperas de enfrentar Anthony Johnson, e Dolce promete que o amigo e cliente vai dar show na Arena da Barra.
– Este é o melhor Vitor que o mundo já viu. Acho que o Vitor é o melhor peso-médio e o melhor lutador de MMA no mundo neste momento. O que ele faz é inacreditável. Todos sabemos que sua trocação é excelente. Seu jiu-jítsu é fenomenal. Mas o que está surpreendendo todo mundo é seu wrestling, está incrível. Ele está lutando como um wrestler americano, muito bom. Está em ótima forma. Mal posso esperar, apenas vejam – afirmou Dolce, em entrevista exclusiva ao SPORTV.COM.
Normalmente, os atletas do MMA passam por uma semana extenuante às vésperas de suas lutas, tentando cortar peso para bater os limites de suas categorias. Isso não acontece com os clientes de Dolce, que enchem a boca para elogiar seus métodos. O próprio Belfort, que tinha 10kg para perder no início da semana, está pronto para a pesagem, sem abrir mão de suas seis refeições diárias, apenas com pequenas mudanças no seu regime. Segundo Dolce, sua dieta é baseada em alimentos naturais, os chamados “whole foods”, sem produtos processados e refinados ou suplementos alimentícios, e isso faz a diferença.
– São nutrientes criados na terra. Comida da terra alimenta o corpo. Não acredito em suplementos – sem drogas, sem pó, sem pílulas, não são necessárias. Deus deu todos os nutrientes que precisamos no planeta, naturais – explicou.
A dieta tem semelhanças com a famosa Dieta Gracie, criada por Carlos Gracie e seguida rigorosamente pelo clã criador do jiu-jítsu brasileiro. Dolce começou a praticar artes marciais com um deles, Renzo Gracie, há 10 anos, e apesar de ter começado a formular sua dieta ainda antes de conhecê-lo, é um admirador do regime da família.
– Eu adoro a dieta Gracie porque ela também é só comida natural, nós dividimos o mesmo princípio. Minha proporção de comidas para cada refeição é a minha diferença para a dieta Gracie. Sou amigo de muitos membros da família Gracie, ainda treino com eles, são meus irmãos. Mas aqui no Brasil, é a casa do MMA e dos Gracie, então estou aprendendo muito, todos os dias e todos os minutos – contou.

Descoberta como treinador no ‘TUF’

Pouco depois de começar a treinar com Renzo, Dolce notou que tinha menos dificuldade para manter sua forma e perder peso que seus companheiros de luta e começou a dividir sua dieta. Apesar de um retrospecto pífio nos ringues – atualmente tem cinco vitórias e 10 derrotas – o lutador conseguiu uma vaga na sétima temporada do reality show “The Ultimate Fighter”, onde rapidamente impressionou o então campeão dos pesos-meio-pesados Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, treinador de uma das equipes do programa. Jackson logo o recrutou para ser um dos técnicos dentro do próprio show e, após o final das gravações, para trabalhar pessoalmente com ele.
Foi a grande chance de Dolce, que depois de Rampage atendeu nomes como Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Gray Maynard, Chris Leben e Jake Ellenberger, entre outros. Em 2011, ele lançou um livro e passou a ser requisitado tanto por pessoas comuns quanto por celebridades do cinema.
– Esta é a beleza da Dolce Diet, é para todo mundo. A mesma dieta que o Vitor come, a Joana come e seus filhos comem. A única diferença é para cortar o peso para competição. Neste momento, dez dias antes, a dieta muda para o Vitor, para o corte de peso. Antes disso, a dieta é para todos: para avós, bebês, mulheres grávidas, atletas… Eu trabalho com muitos atores de Hollywood e agora estou trabalhando com um jogador do New York Yankees (time de beisebol dos EUA), mas não tão pessoalmente quanto no MMA – explicou o treinador, que limitou sua lista de clientes diretos para dez pela falta de tempo.
Entre esses dez, estão mais dois brasileiros: o meio-médio Thiago Alves e Luiz “Banha” Cané, que está deixando a divisão meio-pesado, de até 93kg, para competir na categoria médio, até 84kg. Antes de trabalhar com Dolce, Alves teve problemas para cortar peso para suas lutas e muito se especulou sobre se o cearense não deveria lutar como peso-médio. Para o nutricionista, porém, o “Pitbull” poderia até descer mais uma categoria.
– Thiago pode mover para peso-médio ou para peso-leve. Ele pode competir com sucesso em todas essas três categorias. Nosso objetivo agora é que ele seja campeão mundial entre os meio-médios. Depois disso, decidimos se ele sobe para médio ou desce para leve – disse Dolce, que negou que Alves tenha tido problemas para bater o peso em sua última luta, no UFC 138, contra Papy Abedi. – Ele bateu o peso fácil. O problema foi que as balanças estavam erradas. Na nossa escala, ele bateu o peso certinho. Na pesagem, a escala deles disse que estávamos errados. Cinco outros lutadores – Chris Leben, Mark Muñoz, Cyrille Diabate, Renan Barão e mais outro tiveram o mesmo problema que o Thiago. Fomos para o camarim, ele usou o banheiro – o que é muito raro para uma pesagem, usar o banheiro – e 20 minutos depois, bateu o peso, sem problemas.
Já Cané estará no seu lugar certo como peso-médio, na opinião do treinador.
– Ele era um peso-meio-pesado muito bom, mas era muito pequeno! Ele tinha 96kg, lutando contra caras de 113kg! Agora no peso-médio, ele vai ser um monstro – muito esbelto, muito rápido, e ainda com muita força.
Original article here

Canada’s Showdown Joe spoke with Mike Dolce about the coach’s international best seller, The Dolce Diet: LIVING LEAN

LISTEN TO PODCAST
Interview begins 29:00 in

 
 
by Maggie Hendricks
Today, we look at Mike Dolce, the peak performance coach who is known to help fighters improve their nutrition, and in turn, the way they fight. After working as a strength coach for 20 years and appearing on the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Dolce has worked with fighters such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Thiago Alves, Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort.
Cagewriter: What is your job like on a day-to-day basis?
Mike Dolce: I’m running multiple training camps from afar. Right now, in Vegas, I’m running Vitor Belfort’s training camp and Mike Pyle’s. I also have Thiago Alves coming up, and I’m his head coach. I cover so many hats with him, but Vitor and Pyle, I work specifically with their nutrition and weight management issues.
I say more peak performance coach because I do the meals, I do the weights, I do the overall training management. I’m the filter for the other coaches. I set up the training schedule from day to day. I even structure in their business meetings and social function as they get closer to fight time.
CW: Thiago, for example, you set his day?
MD: With Thiago, I literally set up his 24 hours, seven-day a week schedule. Which coach to go to, when he’s not allowed to train, because that can be a problem with him, so I have to pull him back a lot. I have to schedule in massage therapy or alternate therapies to make sure he’s not going to go to the gym.
On Sundays, I would schedule “Man-Day.” He and I would go have a nice breakfast, and then go to a spa. We’d get a haircut, massages, get our feet and hands fixed it, even the random facial. It’s important. I incorporate all those things to make sure my fighters are well-rounded.
I try to keep what I call “the positive bubble around fighters” and not let any negativity in. With Mike Pyle, I would get breakfast ready as he watched a fishing show on Versus, but now the Tour de France is on. It broke our rhythm, so instead of watching fishing, he switched to another channel with Maury and the Jerry Springer show. I’m in the kitchen, 20 feet away and I can feel the negative energy come out of the TV. I had to change the channel just to watch something more positive. You can’t start your day with that kind of negative mind frame.
CW: What is a fight week like for you?
MD: I try to get to town a day prior to the athlete, then I set up the hotel room and do the food shopping. For Chris Leben, he got into town on Monday night, and before he even got here, I packed a huge cooler with the proper foods that Chris was going to need. I made sure he had everything he was going to need, coordinate with his team, talk about what his weight cut process is going to be. On weigh-in day, I will be with him through the weigh-ins, and then go back to his room for the rehydration process. That carries all the way through to the minute he steps in the cage, performs, and then even afterwards, when I give him the food and fluids that need to go in his body to help him repair and recover from that. My job typically doesn’t end until Sunday morning.
CW: What is the best part of your job?
MD: The best part of my job is spreading health. My primary focus is not world titles, and it’s not money, or any of those things. It’s to make my athletes as healthy as possible. That’s the most rewarding part: seeing kids like Thiago Alves, not so much go out there and have a dominant performance, but it’s for him to feel so good and be so happy with himself because his body is in a positive state. Performance is just a by-product of that.
CW: But what’s the worst part?
MD: I wouldn’t point to a worst part and say that it’s bad, but the hardest part is dealing with the ups and the downs of the sport. You can work with an athlete, and have a great training camp and he’ll go out there on fight night, and something doesn’t work. I’m so emotionally attached to my fighters that it’s a hard roller coaster. For me, it’s multiple times in a single night.
Actually, the worst part is the time away from my family, but it’s a choice, but I’m not going to be a victim to it. It’s something we’ve decided over the next few years to do this.
Original article posted on Yahoo Sports here
 
Follow Mike Dolce on Twitter at @TheDolceDiet

DOLCE REVEALS WHAT SEPARATES HIM FROM THE REST
by Stephanie Daniels, Crooklyn’s Corner
Mike Dolce is a name that pops up frequently in MMA. Whether it be from fighting professionally, guiding the top athletes to healthier lifestyles or writing books, more and more people are recognizing him, and his contributions to the sport. TapouT Radio conducted a recent interview with the nutrition guru, and was able to extract the recipe for success, the Dolce way.

“What people don’t realize, is that I’ve been working with elite level athletes for over 20 years. I currently work with the best athletes in the world, on a daily basis. My guys are in the top 3 or top 5 in their weight classes, in the world. My skills, my techniques, my philosophies, my education, and my experience is constantly being refined among the world’s most elite. When you have a relationship with somebody, you experience and you absorb parts of that relationship. I deal with elite athletes, that are on elite teams, with elite coaches, coaching systems and techniques, and they themselves have decades of elite training behind them. I am constantly on the forefront of the sport. I can say that with the utmost confidence. I know what I do in a given day, and I hear when world champions point at me and say the amazing things that they say about me, and how revolutionary my techniques are. That’s why people know the Dolce Diet. That’s what separates me from the rest. Now there’s people that spend a lot of time, sitting in school and getting degrees and all those great things, and that’s nice, but that’s just a very small piece. The experience of being in the trenches, of course, is the most important thing, you know, what actually does work, in a real world setting. Then I take that information, and I add it to the next elite athlete. I have constant petri dishes. I have my experiments, all over the world. My athletes are at the top of the heap, and I’m a part of their performance.”
 
With a new book, websites, family and a full schedule, working with the likes of Chael Sonnen, Thiago Alves, Chris Leben, Jay Heiron, Jake Ellenberger, and Keith Jardine, one has to wonder if Mike has a clone or two stashed in a closet. When asked how he manages to keep all theses components in balance, and if he might be taking on too much, he stated,

“Am I spreading myself too thin? Absolutely not. I’m actually very efficient in blocking out my time. When I deal with an athlete, I deal with them in very specific terms, so each one I work with, retains me for very specific features or responsibilities, and I’m able to professionally maintain all my relationships and fulfill all my duties to them. The area that takes the biggest hit, is my home life, but I’m blessed with a wonderful family that supports me, and allows me time to focus on my work with the athletes, and getting these guys in the best shape of their life. I’m pretty close to the end of my ability to bring on new athletes, though. I’m a loyal guy, and I’m going to stick with the guys I currently work with, with very rare exceptions.”
 
Mike’s new book, Living Lean is releasing in September, via his website. He gave a little insight on it, saying,
“It’s kind of a beginner’s story about myself, getting into the industry and to the business. There is a little bit of a story to it. The story is meant to coach and to teach very specific principles that I want you to walk away with. I get into nutrition, and I show you how you can eat as an athlete, a vegan, a gluten free practitioner, or if you’re just concerned with health and wellness. Those four different nutritional types are what I discuss. I also get into exercise programs, for general wellness or professional athletes. Truly, it’s to build a profile of very lean, healthy, vibrant and energized lifestyles.”
Story written for CrooklynsCorner.com

Working in MMA: Mike Dolce Talks About Peak Performance, Maury and Manicures
By Maggie Hendricks
This week, Cagewriter is taking a look at the different jobs that help the MMA world turn. See part I of the series here.
Today, we look at Mike Dolce, the peak performance coach who is known to help fighters improve their nutrition, and in turn, the way they fight. After working as a strength coach for 20 years and appearing on the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Dolce has worked with fighters such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Thiago Alves, Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort.
Cagewriter: What is your job like on a day-to-day basis?
Mike Dolce: I’m running multiple training camps from afar. Right now, in Vegas, I’m running Vitor Belfort’s training camp and Mike Pyle’s. I also have Thiago Alves coming up, and I’m his head coach. I cover so many hats with him, but Vitor and Pyle, I work specifically with their nutrition and weight management issues.
I say more peak performance coach because I do the meals, I do the weights, I do the overall training management. I’m the filter for the other coaches. I set up the training schedule from day to day. I even structure in their business meetings and social function as they get closer to fight time.
CW: Thiago, for example, you set his day?
MD: With Thiago, I literally set up his 24 hours, seven-day a week schedule. Which coach to go to, when he’s not allowed to train, because that can be a problem with him, so I have to pull him back a lot. I have to schedule in massage therapy or alternate therapies to make sure he’s not going to go to the gym.
On Sundays, I would schedule “Man-Day.” He and I would go have a nice breakfast, and then go to a spa. We’d get a haircut, massages, get our feet and hands fixed it, even the random facial. It’s important. I incorporate all those things to make sure my fighters are well-rounded.
I try to keep what I call “the positive bubble around fighters” and not let any negativity in. With Mike Pyle, I would get breakfast ready as he watched a fishing show on Versus, but now the Tour de France is on. It broke our rhythm, so instead of watching fishing, he switched to another channel with Maury and the Jerry Springer show. I’m in the kitchen, 20 feet away and I can feel the negative energy come out of the TV. I had to change the channel just to watch something more positive. You can’t start your day with that kind of negative mind frame.
CW: What is a fight week like for you?
MD: I try to get to town a day prior to the athlete, then I set up the hotel room and do the food shopping. For Chris Leben, he got into town on Monday night, and before he even got here, I packed a huge cooler with the proper foods that Chris was going to need. I made sure he had everything he was going to need, coordinate with his team, talk about what his weight cut process is going to be. On weigh-in day, I will be with him through the weigh-ins, and then go back to his room for the rehydration process. That carries all the way through to the minute he steps in the cage, performs, and then even afterwards, when I give him the food and fluids that need to go in his body to help him repair and recover from that. My job typically doesn’t end until Sunday morning.
CW: What is the best part of your job?
MD: The best part of my job is spreading health. My primary focus is not world titles, and it’s not money, or any of those things. It’s to make my athletes as healthy as possible. That’s the most rewarding part: seeing kids like Thiago Alves, not so much go out there and have a dominant performance, but it’s for him to feel so good and be so happy with himself because his body is in a positive state. Performance is just a by-product of that.

CW: But what’s the worst part?
MD: I wouldn’t point to a worst part and say that it’s bad, but the hardest part is dealing with the ups and the downs of the sport. You can work with an athlete, and have a great training camp and he’ll go out there on fight night, and something doesn’t work. I’m so emotionally attached to my fighters that it’s a hard roller coaster. For me, it’s multiple times in a single night.
Actually, the worst part is the time away from my family, but it’s a choice, but I’m not going to be a victim to it. It’s something we’ve decided over the next few years to do this.
Follow Mike Dolce on Twitter @TheDolceDiet.
Tomorrow’s working in MMA profile will focus on Bernie Profato, head of the Ohio Athletic Commission.
Original story posted on YAHOO.com