Muscle & Fitness UK – July 2019

JULY 2019/MUSCLE & FITNESS 23

JEFFBOTTARI/ZUFFA LLC/GETTYIMAGES; BRANDON MAGNUS/ZUFFA LLC/GETTY IMAGES

HYDROREVOLUTION

TRAINING MATURITY

St-Pierre used to hit the

weights hard in his heyday,

but he now admits he would’ve

done it differently. “I used to

think more is always better, but

that’s not true. Smarter is

better,” St-Pierre says. “Now I

train in the water with

Aqualogix, which I started

doing when I tore my ACL the

first time in 2011.” (St-Pierre

suffered a second ACL tear in

2014.) He credits pool training

with keeping his joints healthy

while increasing his power.

DITCH THE WEIGHTS

Another unique aspect to

St-Pierre’s regimen is the

absence of traditional weights.

“My main training as a fighter

is fighting. I can’t let my

strength and conditioning

compromise my main

training,” he explains. “It’s

been many years since I’ve

lifted a weight. I do gymnastic

stuff with parallel bars and

rings and on the pommel

horse.”

THE FAST TRACK

Unbeknownst to the general

public—until recently—

St-Pierre has battled with

ulcerative colitis, a bowel

disease that causes

inflammation in the digestive

tract. Certain foods can disrupt

his stomach, but St-Pierre is still

able to eat whatever he likes,

which he credits to intermittent

fasting, eating within an

eight-hour window each day.

“I love chocolate and want my

ice cream,” St-Pierre says.

“We live a life, it’s important to

enjoy every moment of it.”

But because he’s Georges

St-Pierre—at one time

considered the pound-for-

pound best fighter on the

planet—he takes IF one notch

further. “Three times a year

I fast for five days in a row, only

drinking water,” he says. “You get

your body into a state called

autophagy, where it burns all

the bad cells. It’s very good.”

And if you’re wondering—

yes, St-Pierre still trains every

day, sometimes twice, during

this time.

TO THE LIMIT

Ask St-Pierre what his toughest

fight of all time is, and you’ll get a

couple of answers: “In terms of

damage, my toughest fight was

with B.J. Penn, and Carlos Condit

kicked me and messed up a vein

in my head,” he recalls. But one

fight, he says, stands out as the

toughest of them all. “My fight

against Thomas Denny in TKO

Major League MMA. I almost

passed out, I was sick when

I took the fight,” St-Pierre says.

“I didn’t know how to manage

my energy and pushed myself

so friggin’ hard trying to finish

him in the first round. I felt

like I was going to pass out.

I told my cornerman to throw in

the towel, and he said, ‘Georges,

I don’t have any towels, you are

going to die in that octagon,’

and I said, ‘Eff you, you’re not

really my friend.’ I was mad, and

when they rung that bell I

turned around and beat that

guy by TKO. That was my

hardest fight ever.”

DONE FOR GOOD?

“I might come back or I might

retire as well,” St-Pierre says,

when asked about his career

in MMA. “I don’t want to

defend a belt for 10 more

times. I only want big fights—

fights that are good for my

legacy. The more time that

goes by, the more I think

retirement is a good option

for me. Also, I see a lot of

fighters get damaged, and

I don’t want to be one of these

guys. The fighter is always the

last to know when it’s time to

stop, but I wouldn’t have a

problem right now to pull the

plug and live my life healthy

and happy.”

All of St-Pierre’s resistance training happens in the pool nowadays.