On Nov 12, Tyron Woodley will be defending his Welterweight Title in the biggest UFC card of all-time held at Madison Square Garden!
We sat down with Tyron to talk about how Metabolic Meals has helped him prepare for this mega fight!
Metabolic Meals: How important of a role have nutrition and a proper meal plan played in your training to defend your Welterweight Title?
Tyron Woodley: Nutrition has played a huge role. A lot of guys have just started with different meal prep companies that don’t have the experience that Metabolic Meals has and haven’t been around long enough to work out the kinks like Metabolic has.
Also, especially in my weight class, a lot of guys have forfeited the opportunity to fight for a title by missing weight and being unprofessional and inconsistent. I’m not a light guy. I normally walk around at 200 – 205 lbs., so I taper my way down. The last three weeks have been the best ever. Right now I weigh exactly what I will weigh walking into fight week.
MM: How did you find out about Metabolic Meals and why did you choose them to help you in your training endeavors?
TW: I had a personal trainer, Derek Fairchild, who I had just started training with, and he had met Jason Barbour from Metabolic Meals. At that time, I was coming from collegiate wrestling. Nutrition at the university level was not where it’s at now, and it’s not where it will be five, ten years from now — eventually I think we’ll see Metabolic Meals fueling teens and collegiate athletes, but we didn’t really have a clue about nutrition. We were young, we were athletic, and, as you know, when you’re younger you can get away with eating McDonald’s and then going to wrestling practice and sweating and not having an issue. But as you get older your body’s metabolism starts to slow down, and you’ve got to be a little bit more health conscious.
When I met those guys I had just started with Derek and I was just learning how to do circuit training, which is a huge task. At that point I didn’t really know anything about nutrition. We used to eat bagels and protein bars, and we thought that was the healthiest thing on earth. But in general I had no clue about metabolic rate or about eating every three hours — all those things I learned during that time. It was just the perfect meeting at the perfect time, and I’ve been with these guys ever since then.
MM: Do you have a nutrition specialist or does Metabolic Meals fill that role for you? If you do have a nutrition specialist, how does Metabolic Meals coordinate with that person to optimize your meal plans?
TW: Metabolic Meals takes care of all of my nutrition needs. I don’t need a nutrition specialist because they are the specialists. I trust their ingredients. They have any health term you can think of: grass-fed, wild-caught, free-range, organic, gluten-free, anything that you can think of from a health standpoint. They really go the extra mile to make sure that the ingredients are something that’s going to fuel an individual. Not only athletes, but just the average Joe who’s trying to eat healthy and have a variety.
The main thing is, I can cook grilled chicken breast without seasoning and boil some frozen vegetables and make some brown rice, but that gets old. I think the carb rotation and selection of different protein sources makes you a little bit more creative, and you still can be just as healthy.
MM: What are 2-3 specific benefits that Metabolic Meals offers you?
TW: The number one thing is definitely convenience. When I’m training, I can just grab one of their meals, warm that baby up, and eat right after I train.
The second thing is really quality. You can make healthy food that tastes like biting into a cloud, no flavor, no taste, but the taste of the meals is exceptional. Sometimes I say to myself, “Hey man, I don’t even feel like this should count as a ‘diet.”
Thirdly, I trust them. I trust the chefs, I trust the nutritionists that plan the meals; I know a lot of thought goes into it, and I can really crack the meals open without having to worry about consuming something that’s not healthy for me. So convenience, taste, and flavor. And just trust in the chefs and nutritionists!
MM: How does Metabolic Meals’ ability to coordinate portion sizes to your training schedule add value to your nutritional regimen?
TW: What I do is always order the performance portion size. Because I do a lot of crazy cross training my body is really taxed, and I want to maintain my muscle mass. I’m not really looking to build a ton of muscle, because for my sport I want to be fast, so I want to maintain. And I don’t take a lot of supplements. I used to take all these different supplements: pre-workouts, post-workouts, amino acids… I’m not discouraging it, but I think there are benefits in just getting natural nutrients and vitamins, proteins and things you can get from your meals that can actually fuel you just as well.
MM: How do Metabolic Meals’ plans help you recover from your training?
TW: My meal plan from Metabolic Meals was a huge help. They told me that the grass-fed proteins I would receive would help cut down on inflammation from training and I 100% agree! Metabolic Meals does a phenomenal job making sure I get a wide variety of nutrients because they switch my meals so often. I’m also getting the proper portions at the right times. Keeping my strength up during the weight cut has been VERY noticeable!
MM: How do you manage to stay at 170 pounds but still maintain your muscle mass?
TW: I believe that the macros Metabolic Meals has me on has been key. They know how much protein, carbs and fats I need at specific times. They also know foods that I shouldn’t be eating. Gluten, soy and certain types of fats have been removed from my diet which means faster fat loss and less water retention. I actually come into fight week very lean and in the high 170’s which means making weight will not be as tough on my body.
MM: What are your three favorite options for Metabolic Meals?
TW: That’s easy. My number one favorite dish is the tamale casserole. That thing is amazing. I still to this day have issues figuring out how it’s healthy, because it tastes so doggone good.
I’m also a big fan of the breakfast sausage and either the oatmeal that comes with it or the eggs. That’s something great in the morning because I’m a big breakfast guy. And then lastly, I never thought I would love a turkey burger, but the new turkey burger with the cold salad that goes with it — that thing is on point. You guys have made me like turkey burgers. I would have never eaten a turkey burger in my life.
Tune in on November 12th to watch Tyron defend his Welterweight Title against Stephen Thompson. We’re hoping the fuel we’ve given him takes him all the way!
