Interview with Stefane Dias

Stefane Dias (right) alongside Jeff Monson

This month, physical trainer Stefane Dias completed two years at the helm of the American Top Team. Responsible for conditioning athletes such as Hector Lombard, Gleison Tibau, Thiago Pitbull e Thiago Silva He had a chat with SUPER LUTAS and told him about his work on the team.

In these two years of work, how did you get the team in the preparation part as it is today?
When I started my work, only a few athletes did physical preparation at ATT. We have three levels of fighters in the American Top Team and only the top athletes had preparation. So I started creating group work, where B and C level fighters also did the training and I kept working on the top fighters.

During this period, how many fights did you prepare the athletes for? And how many victories have you had in this period?
Of the specific athletes I prepared for, there were 145 fights and we had 105 wins, 30 losses and the others were canceled or unsuccessful fights.

Of the top athletes that you prepare for, which one can we highlight?
There are several, but I can highlight Gleison Tibau, the Hector Lombard (Bellator champion), we won 10 fights with him, Thiago “Pitbull” Alves and Thiago Silva.

And how is the work of revealing new ATT athletes going? The last great promise revealed by the team, if I'm not mistaken, was Todd Duffee, who ended up leaving the team.
Duffee was raised here at ATT and every fight while he remained undefeated he stayed in the gym. Including Katel (Kubis) and I, who did speed training for the fastest knockout in UFC history. But after that he left American Top Team and last week he came here and asked to come back.

When Duffee left ATT, it was said that he had a job offer in another state, what was that like?
In fact, everyone's eyes were on him, a young, undefeated athlete who in his first fight broke the record for the fastest knockout in the UFC... He ended up losing his mind and what happened.

And the revelations?
In this project we are doing, the objective is to have two top athletes in each category and we have very good fighters, who will soon be in the news all over the world.

You work on preparation with athletes from all over the world, is there any difference in working with a Brazilian athlete, a North American athlete or a European?
Working with an American fighter or one who comes from wrestling is easier, because he is already used to losing 8 to 10 kilos in two or three days and regains that weight before the fight. When the fighter doesn't have this baggage, like the Brazilian fighters, we do the work so that he doesn't lose more than seven kilos in a week. All this weight is recovered with creatine, protein, glutamine, carbohydrates and sometimes I even have to use intravenous serum.

Recently, in a report made here in Brazil, the doctor from the Brazilian Olympic Wrestling Association said that if the fighter receives intravenous serum his life is at risk. How do you analyze this opinion.
The risk to life occurs, according to the College of Sports Medicine, only if the athlete loses more than 10% of their weight in the form of water. But what we do is adapt the fighter's weight and the weight cut is done in advance with aerobic work, practically zero carbohydrate intake and the application of vitamins so the athlete doesn't get sick. As a result, the athlete arrives on weigh-in day with a fat percentage between 3 and 4%.

And how is the serum applied?
If the athlete has lost up to seven kilos, one liter of serum with recovery fluids is sufficient, if he has lost up to nine kilos, one liter of serum one day and half a liter the next. If the fighter has lost more than 10 kilos, he takes a liter of serum one day and another liter the next morning.

Risk to life so the fighter doesn't run?
Run if not done properly. We don't let lose all the weight on dehydration. We have cases of fighters losing up to 15 kilos in a week, but only 6 kilos due to dehydration.

A question that all lay people have is how is weight recovery achieved?
We always give preference to carbohydrates. We have to use a mixture of simple and complex carbohydrates. The simple one will make the athlete recover quickly and the complex one will make absorption slower, which helps with muscle glycogen. Then we started with pasta and then pizza with a lot of red sauce and little cheese. Then bread, fruit and food come in every two hours. We must remember that this entire weight loss and recovery process must be done with the help of responsible doctors and nutritionists together with physical education teachers, otherwise athletes may lose performance and even suffer a risk to their lives...

You teach some seminars around the world. Tell us what this experience is like
Before joining American Top Tem I taught for two years at the Catholic University of Paraná, then in the postgraduate program at Instituto Aleixo. This was an area that always interested me and I am now creating courses here in America. I taught a course in Canada, a group in Russia and there are people who come to the academy to study. It's a job that mixes physical preparation with MMA.

And do we have this course in Brazil?
At the end of 2011 I will participate in a conference in Brazil. On the Paraná journey of physical preparation.

As we reach the end of the interview, I leave the space open for your final considerations

It was a pleasure to participate in the interview, if you want to know more news here at ATT, just access my Blog at SUPER LUTAS. I would like to thank Master Ricardo Libório who gave me this job that I really like and American Top Team is already part of my family, Master Conan who is a great battle partner. Whenever we corner together, we have more than 90% success rate. I also have to thank the 12 technicians here at ATT, especially Katal Kubbis and Fefê. In addition to everyone who likes my work