Miller: Cutting may be taking years off my life

This is the biggest problem in combat sports, said Andy Foster, executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission, to Scott Harris for B/R. Five or 10 percent of people are doping. The number of people dehydrating is much, much higher… [Weight cutting is] a traumatic event. Then the very next day, you combine that with another traumatic event, and that’s called a fight. Combine these two things, and you’re just asking for trouble.

Seeing blood is a normal part of fighting, but this time, it wasn’t. UFC lightweight Jim Miller hadn’t even fought in months. But he had suffered a kidney infection a year before. And this time it was kidney stones. The cause was weight cutting.

I was peeing blood, said Miller. “And my kidneys hurt.

I think it has definitely had an effect on my body. It’s something I don’t feel today, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took a couple years off my life.

Miller starts fight week at 170 and weighs in at 156. He is a professional, and has cut some 75 times dating back to his scholastic wrestling days.

It’s kind of miserable, said Miller. You get kind of foggy. It’s hard to make decisions. I get a headache, a little bit of weakness.

The night before he immerses his already dehydrated body in a tub, standing up to scrape away the sweat with a credit card. He wakes up weigh in day unable to produce saliva. He takes in a spinach omelet. And he makes weight. He always does.

But here’s the thing.

My cut, Miller observed, is not on the extreme end.

The problem can be fixed. There are regulatory changes coming, beginning in Arkansas and California. And the culture of extreme weight cutting needs to change.

In general, more accomplished professional athletes tend to have fewer large weight swings in the ‘off season,’ and have the ability to hire sports nutritionists and other…‘experts’ to assist with healthier forms of weight reduction, wrote Dr. Sherry Wulkan, medical chair for the Association of Boxing Commissions and lead MMA and muay thai ringside physician for the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB), in an emailed response to questions.

Maintaining consistent fitness and nutrition habits keeps an athlete closer to his or her fighting weight, which mitigates the need for bigger cuts.

While some in the media make great comment about the actual fight time weight of the contestant and the advantage therein, statistics in New Jersey for mixed martial arts do not support that viewpoint, NJSACB Counsel Nick Lembo wrote in an emailed response to questions. Frequently, the lighter contestant or the contestant who had an easier time at the weigh-in proves to be the victor. …[The other fighter’s] lack of cardio and strength becomes apparent.

State athletic commissions bear responsibility, Lembo wrote. The New Jersey commission, long considered a leader in combat sports regulation, can serve as a role model and partner for less-active governing bodies. Every state athletic commission is freestanding, with no consistent policy-making or information-sharing among them.

The sport should have the same or similar weigh-in rules regardless of the location of the contest, Lembo wrote. A weigh-in change should be discussed by and among the various commissions and their medical staffs…There needs to be cooperative efforts between commissions, physicians, athletes and trainers to educate proper weight-loss techniques, dangers of dehydration and improper cutting, and selecting a proper weight class.

Foster said CSAC is set to begin certifying amateur MMA fighters at a specific weight class in January 2016, based on a physical assessment that will include a body-composition test. Fighters will not be able to compete at a lower weight class than the one at which they are certified. Fighters are re-assessed once per year under the program.

We use a body-composition scale or body-caliber test and calculate the lowest weight the fighters should be fighting at, while maintaining 5-7 percent body fat, Foster said. We assign that for one year, and you can amend it later.

The sport is increasingly going to see the advent of a simple, inexpensive test to measure the degree of dehydration, called urine specific gravity testing, or gravity-strip testing.

The specific gravity of water is 1.000. If a urine sample’s specific gravity clocks in at over 1.020, the person is dehydrated. The higher the specific gravity, the greater the degree of dehydration. Already in use in the NCAA and elsewhere, these tests can be administered at or before weigh-ins, before fights or any other time.

On several different medical supply sites, a pack of 10 gravity-strip tests sells for less than $30. Reusable refractometer devices—shown in at least one study to be the most effective means of specific gravity testing—range in price from $90 to $2,000.

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The beginning of any change is education and awareness. Towards that end, Foster issued about the dangers of weight cutting, prepared by the Association of Ringside Physicians.

THE DANGERS OF CUTTING WEIGHT AND DEHYDRATING

Unhealthy and dangerous weight loss practices continue to be a serious problem in combat sports. One recent study found that 39% of MMA fighters were entering competition in a dehydrated state. Heat illness and death in athletes have already happened in the sports of wrestling and MMA.

It’s been shown that excessive weight loss, rapid weight loss, and repeated cycling of weight gain/loss causes decreased performance, hormonal imbalance, decreased nutrition, and increased injury risk. Other life-threatening problems associated with improper weight loss and dehydration include:
•Decreased Muscle Strength and Endurance: Decreased blood flow to muscles makes them work less well.
•Decreased Heart and Cardiovascular Function: The heart works harder and less efficiently.
•Reduced Energy Utilization, Nutrient Exchange and Acidosis: With decreased blood flow to tissues nutrients don’t get delivered, and the body’s waste products do not get
removed as well. A buildup of acid occurs which ch anges cells’ functions in the body.
•Heat Illness: This takes on four forms: heat cramps, heat syncope (loss of consciousness), heat exhaustion, and heat stroke (which may be fatal). Dehydration results in decreased blood flow to skin and muscles. This is followed by decreased ability to regulate body temperature. The ability to sweat becomes impaired and core body temperature can rise. This increases the threat of all of these to poorly hydrated athletes doing strenuous workouts.
•Decreased Kidney Function: Dehydration leads to decreased kidney blood flow and decreased kidney function. This contributes to the problems listed in the points here, in addition to decreased urine output, concentrated urine, and leakage of protein into the urine. (It is not known if these changes can result in permanent kidney damage.)
•Electrolyte Problems: Decreased kidney function results in imbalances of electrolytes such as unhealthy increases in potassium and sodium.
•Mood Swings and Mental Changes: All of the above contribute to increased mood swings, poor concentration and focus, disorientation and other mental changes.
•Eye Trouble: Dehydration can cause blurred vision and dry eyes.
•Increased Risk of Brain Injury: There are likely increased risks of brain bleeding and concussion.

DON’T:
•Don’t use extreme methods for making weight such as excessive heat methods (rubberized suits, steam rooms, saunas), excessive intense bouts of exercise, vomiting, laxatives and diuretics.
•Don’t use dehydration as a mainstay of making weight. In addition to the above, it puts you at risk of improper rehydration techniques when, in reality, proper re-hydration takes several hours to days. (Many cases intravenous fluids being used for rehydration after weigh-ins have been reported – this is a doping violation with several organizations.)
DO:
•Commit to year-round proper diet and training for proper weight control and body composition.
•By maintaining your weight year round near an appropriate competition weight and not competing in a weight class outside your appropriate weight class you will help avoid large swings in weight.
•Maintain a good state of hydration by drinking fluid throughout the day and staying hydrated during workouts.
•Follow nutritional programs that meet your needs for adequate amounts of calories from a balanced diet high in healthy carbohydrates, the minimum requirement of fat, and appropriate amounts of protein.
•Be wary of nutritional supplements as they are not regulated by the FDA and some have been shown to be harmful.

For more information visit: associationofringsidephysicians.org.