How to make weight for a BJJ tournament: IBJJF weigh-ins explained

A common first-competition mistake goes like this: treat it like a boxing weigh-in, sweat off a few kilos the day before, then find out the scale is in the bullpen, minutes before the first match.

Making weight for jiu-jitsu is mostly a planning problem. Know how your event weighs in, pick a division you can make comfortably, and give yourself enough weeks to get there.

How IBJJF weigh-ins work

The IBJJF rule book (version 6.1, 2024) sets out the process:

• You're weighed right before your first match. The ring coordinator calls your division, checks your ID and uniform, weighs you, and sends you to the mat.
• You get one go on the official scale. Some events put a scale in the warm-up area so you can check beforehand; it's up to the organisers.
• You weigh in wearing what you compete in. For gi divisions, that means your gi and belt. No shoes, and nothing else on you. Knee and elbow braces can come off for the scale.
• Your gi is locked in. After weighing in you can't change gis before your first match.
• Over the limit means out. You don't get to compete in that division.

Other organisations do it differently, and some weigh in the day before. Check your event's page for its rules and weight chart before you choose a division.

Why water cuts backfire at IBJJF events

With a day-before weigh-in, fighters in other sports dehydrate to make weight and then drink and eat for hours before they compete. At an IBJJF event that window doesn't exist. Whatever you weigh on the scale is roughly what you'll be on the mat a few minutes later.

So a sauna session or a day without water gets you onto the mat dry, flat and tired, in a sport built on grip endurance and scrambles. A review of contest preparation in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition also warns that dehydration and electrolyte manipulation before competition can be dangerous (Helms, Aragon and Fitschen, 2014).

The better plan is a division you can walk into on competition morning having eaten breakfast.

Choosing your division

Start with your real weight, measured the way you'll be measured on the day:

1. Weigh yourself in your competition gi a few mornings a week for two weeks. A thick competition gi weighs more than a light summer one, and the difference counts.
2. Take the average, then add what a normal breakfast and some water put on you.
3. Leave a buffer. Brackets run late, and you might sit in the venue for hours before your first match. You need to be under the limit at the end of that wait, having eaten and drunk enough to compete.

If that number sits comfortably under a division's limit, that's your division. If it's just over, you have two options: go up a division, or lose a little weight over the coming weeks.

If you need to lose weight

Give yourself time. A review of contest preparation recommends losing about 0.5 to 1% of your bodyweight a week to hold on to muscle (Helms, Aragon and Fitschen, 2014). For an 80 kg grappler that's 0.4 to 0.8 kg a week, so 3 kg takes somewhere between four and eight weeks.

A few things make that easier:

• Eat mostly whole foods and keep the treats for after the competition.
• Get protein at every meal. It keeps you full and helps you hold on to muscle while you're eating less.
• Keep training as normal. Your jiu-jitsu and strength sessions are what you're trying to protect, so trim food and keep your mat time.
• Weigh yourself in the morning a few times a week and watch the weekly average. Daily numbers jump around with water and food.
• Aim to be on weight a week early, so the last week is about sleep and sharpening, with no dieting left to do.

If you're looking at losing a lot, have a medical condition, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before you start.

The last week

Fight week is for showing up fresh. The usual approach is to cut training volume right down: fewer hard rounds, lighter lifting, nothing new. There's more on that in how to schedule strength training around BJJ.

Keep eating the foods you already eat, at the amounts that have got you on weight. Sleep is worth more this week than any extra session.

Competition day

• Weigh yourself on arrival, in your gi, if there's a scale. If you're comfortably under, eat and drink normally.
• Eat familiar food in small amounts. Something you've eaten before a hard training session works best. Competition morning is a bad time to try something new.
• Sip water through the day, a little at a time.
• Bring snacks and a bottle for the wait and for between matches.
• Check your gi and belt before the bullpen. They're inspected right before you step on the scale, and you can't change gis afterwards.

Making weight without the drama

Choose the division your body is already close to, measure yourself in the gi you'll wear, and start any weight loss weeks ahead. Then competition day is about your jiu-jitsu, and the scale is the easy part.

If you want to be stronger in that division, our free BJJ strength program is a good place to start.