A week after joining the Xen-Do Team Sensei Judah was asked if he’d like to compete in the 2017 Spanish Open tournament in Barcelona. Judah’s first thought was that he would do a full contact fight, but only if he could make weight to fight in the under 90kg division. When asked how much weight he needed to lose, he nervously said,

“fifteen or sixteen kilos. I know it’s a lot in only twelve weeks but I’ll see what I can do. I’m NOT fighting full-contact over 90kg!”

Most people were a little sceptical about his chances. Sixteen kilos in twelve weeks meant that he needed to lose three pounds per week. Sensei Judah was inspired and nothing could stop him. He threw himself into training and worked hard every day, as did all the Sensei’s who wanted to compete in the Spanish Open. For the first four weeks, Judah reduced his calories to under two thousand per day. As the training intensity increased, however, he found he needed to raise that by about five hundred calories to ensure that he had enough energy to make it through the extreme training sessions with Master Raf and continue to teach Xen-Do students all day.

“By week five I’d already dropped under a hundred kilos, so I wasn’t TOO worried.” Judah said,

“Training at Xen-Do is by far the most effective method for raising the metabolism I’ve ever seen. My weight is dropping faster than a lead balloon!”

With only four weeks to go, Sensei Judah hit a plateau. “I couldn’t seem to get below 93.5.” He confided. His remedy was to reduce his protein intake to allow his muscles to become smaller and lean out. This may sound counter intuitive but Sensei Judah knows what his body needs and how to make it happen. Judah is a qualified personal trainer and has a passion for strength athletics. Before the weight drop Judah could bench press 120kg and deadlift 185kg. He had some considerable muscle bulk weighing him down. “I need to be smooth and agile” says Judah, “heavy weight lifting and kickboxing are poor bedfellows, and I had to make a choice.” So, he stopped drinking his protein shakes and continued training hard with the rest of the team, and sure enough the weight continued to drop.

“I hit 90kg the morning of the 7th, the day we flew to Barcelona.” He said,

“I knew I had to eat nothing until after I weighed in the following morning, which meant I was going to bed hungry that night!”

The next day, shortly before breakfast, or at least, shortly before the Sensei’s could go to breakfast, Sensei Javier from Mugendo came with the official competition scale to weigh the Xen-Do fighters. Sensei Judah weighed in at a trim 89.9kg! His hard work and dedication had paid off. The twelve weeks leading up to that moment of strict dieting and hard training were all worth it. “I love to eat! That was the hardest part, giving up my favourite dishes and continue to be firm with my diet” Judah continued “my discipline and will to compete and be a champion were stronger than my desire to eat! Besides, that was only half of it. The training was an important part of it. It really shows the effectiveness of the Xen-Do system. Not only have I lost an incredible 16.1kg in 12 weeks, but I’m fitter than I’ve been since I was in the army and my technique has improved more in the past three months than it did in the last ten years! I feel like I’m 25 again!”

Ouss Sensei Judah!