George Lockhart is one of the busiest men working in the sport. The weight cutting specialist has an ever-growing roster of talented fighters seeking his services, and earlier this week, current featherweight champion, Conor McGregor announced he would be working with George year-round. He's likely got as many air miles logged as a veteran pilot, and stays in one place for about the length of time most people use to blink.
This weekend, he's working individually with four fighters from the UFC 199 card, all of them repeat clients. One of his partners from his FitnessVT company, Daniels Leith, is also working with Luke Rockhold, also a repeat client, bringing the fighter tally to 5. In the 27th installment of the Weight List (a proudly featured series of the Three Amigos Podcast with George and our own Iain Kidd breaking down all the science behind weight cutting and nutrition), Lockhart discusses the finer points of getting the following four athletes in prime condition both before and after the weigh-ins.
Here's a quick quote from George on working with fighters moving up a weight class, as lightweight contender, Dustin Poirier recently did after a 4-year stint at featherweight.
"A lot of people think that cutting is difficult, but honestly, going up a weight class is even harder. If you're a naturally bigger guy, obviously this doesn't pose the same problems, but people seem to think that all you have to do is just eat more food and lift weights, and your performance will increase.
What will happen is you'll slow down dramatically, and in this sport, speed is everything--speed, power, and cardio is king. You start adding on unwanted pounds, just adding on worthless weight, not only are you going to slow down, you're going to gas out quicker, and your performance is going to decrease a lot.
Dustin [Poirier] has an amazing team, and they're so intelligent with the way they did it. I never knew this, and I've worked with Dustin since his first UFC fight, but when he was at 145, he never lifted a weight.-George Lockhart
Dustin has an amazing team, and they're so intelligent with the way they did it. I never knew this, and I've worked with Dustin since his first UFC fight, but when he was at 145, he never lifted a weight. I'm not saying lifting weights is the end all-be all on it, and people certainly go overboard with it, but there are different ways, different avenues to incorporate lifting weights efficiently, and these people have it down pat.
At the end of the day, it's actually harder to gain weight properly than it is to lose it and still increase your performance."
George and Iain go on to discuss common mistakes made when moving up a weight class, as well as brief breakdowns of the processes involved with the cuts/reloads for the other 3 fighters he's working with from UFC 199.
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