November 10, 2017

Here is the second guest article about Charles Air Jordan, written by our blogger. This one talks about Charles’ physical preparation before an MMA bout and unveils his official adversary’s name in anticipation of his combat on December 8, at the Bell Center.

After having discussed about his inspirations and his amateur-to-professional career, I am more interested in Charles’ diet. His lifestyle intrigues me and I want to know more about his physical preparation and diet in general: “I train two to three times a day, six days a week. My diet is strict yet flexible, I eat protein, vegetables and good carbs the way I want. However, I really have to eat a lot. Clearly, alcohol and drugs are my biggest restrictions.” I asked if he has always been on a structured diet program: “At first, my diet was very much inspired by Thai culture. Once at Asportek, I adopted a more structured diet, according to my needs. Therefore, no greed, just little for my hunger. The advantage of the diet is that my fat percentage went down and I gained a lot in muscle mass. Gym training has helped me develop not only stronger muscles, but also other skills related to my balance and stability on the ground.”

The physical training program designed by Asportek is based on three specific steps: structure, strength and speed. The team began by rebalancing Charles’ muscle structure, as well as his posture. Subsequently, private and targeted training (according to the days and themes of the week) will give him a better muscular strength which evolves and continuously gets better. At the end, the coaches focus on the young athlete’s speed training. This personalized program is completed with training sessions at Charles’ Prostar MMA. Not only does he train extremely hard, but he is surrounded by a very strong team that has the best formulas and solutions to propel him to the top.

I went on to ask Charles what a typical week before combat looks like: “I stop consuming carbs, exactly one week before the day of my combat. I drink water without minerals and I eat much less. During that period, my body naturally dehydrates. The most important day during my physical preparation is always the day before the fight. I get up at six o'clock in the morning and I stay with an empty stomach knowing that my weigh-in is exactly four hours. Here is the moment where I do a routine to attain the desired weight: the sauna suit technique. I start by taking a bath with Epsom salt and rubbing alcohol until I sweat heavily. I come out of it after ten minutes to put on the sauna suit, sweat pants and I get mummified. I then start all over until I reach the desired weight.”

With a slightly concerned air, I ask him how he does it: "It's difficult, but after the weigh-in I can eat. I take about ten pounds in a day for my combat the next day.”

At the end, I ask Charles if he is nervous about his fight at the Bell Center: "Yes and no. I am very happy and proud of myself, and above all self-confident. In fighter mode, I'm able to shut down everything and I adapt to my opponent: I do not like to hurt people, it's not the way to fight. I do it only for this  moment, during this fight for which I worked so hard. "

Charles Air Jourdain will fight on December 8 at the Bell Center against TJ Laramie, a fighter from Windsor, Ontario, who has a professional card of 6 wins and 2 losses.

The whole Asportek team got your back Charles!