Inside Jon Jones’ UFC 309 heavyweight transformation, including 4500 calorie diet, 136kg bench press and 227kg deadlifts
JON JONES returned to the UFC last March a completely different man to the one fight fans were used to seeing.
The former light-heavyweight king came back from a three-year lay-off at UFC 285 to make his long-awaited move up to heavyweight.
Gone was the lean and mean physique he carried when he was the long-time ruler of the 205-pound division.
It was replaced by a broader and more muscly frame, which he used to devastating effect as he submitted Ciryl Gane in just under TWO MINUTES to claim the vacant 265lbs strap.
Jones built a body required to mix it with the UFC’s heavyweight bruisers during his pandemic and pay-dispute-enforced hiatus.
It took hundreds of hours of training, thousands of gruelling repetitions in the gym and an incredibly dense calorie surplus to build the Hall of Famer into a heavyweight.
The impressive transformation wasn’t the byproduct of the traditional – and sometimes detrimental – eat-big-lift-big approach millions of men around the world adopt in the gym.
It was the result of meticulous planning by world-renowned transformation and powerlifting coach Stan Efferding, who is regarded by many to be one of the best in the business.
In an exclusive interview with SunSport, Efferding, the 2010 Mr Olympia World’s Strongest Pro Bodybuilder and creator of the Vertical Diet, said of his teaming up with Jones: “It came about through Mark Bell.
“Mark Bell said [to Jon], ‘Hey, who is doing your diet?’ It kind of started, mostly, with diet as I had done a lot of diet work with pro athletes.
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How to Watch UFC 309
The UFC makes it's annual visit to New York City on November 16 for another blockbuster pay-per-view card.
UFC 309 will take place at the iconic Madison Square Garden, which provided some unforgettable moments since mixed martial arts was legalised in New York state in 2016.
Topping the bill at the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’ is the eagerly-anticipated heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and former titleholder Stipe Miocic.
And in the co-main event of the evening, Michael Chandler will throw down with former lightweight champion and fellow fan favourite Charles Oliveira.
UFC 309 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated cards of what has been another massive year for MMA’s top promotion.
And fans in the UK and Ireland can watch all the action from what promises to be an incredible night at MSG live on TNT Sports Box Office.
The penultimate pay-per-view card of the year will be available to purchase for a mere £19.99.
UFC 309 will also be available to buy on Discovery+, EE TV, Prime Video, Virgin Media TV and Sky Sports.
And fight fans don’t need to subscribe to TNT Sports to buy the star-studded event.
Watch UFC 309: Jones v Miocic exclusively live on TNT Sports Box Office from 1am on Saturday 16 November.
For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice
“And when Jon wanted to move up to heavyweight, he reached out to me to do his diet for him, initially, and then I went down there and worked out with him.
“Obviously, I’m well qualified as a strength and conditioning coach.
“So we looked at a few things and did a few things and he saw what I have to offer.”
He added: “I just contributed to that whole camp. I don’t want anybody to think that any one person is more important than any other.
“He has the guys at JacksonWink and having those coaches that he worked with.
“Jon, he’s kind of a student of the sport and athletics in general.
“So he’s always reaching out to try and get more information to incorporate the best of everything that he can into his camp.”
It didn’t take long for Efferding to become aware of Jones’ incredible physical attributes once they started pumping iron together.
“He’s certainly one of the most talented [athletes I’ve ever worked with],” he said of Jones. “Jon is one of those guys who, in a very short period of time, progresses extremely quickly.”
The key to any successful move up in weight is eating enough calories, something Efferding got Jones doing immediately.
- Watch UFC 309: Jones v Miocic exclusively live on TNT Sports Box Office from 1am on Saturday 16 November. For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice.
He said: “We had to get him into a calorie surplus. Easier said than done because a lot of people have a hard time consuming all the calories that they need.
“Especially the quality of calories that you need to gain muscle and not fat.
“And secondly, is, of course, the macros. We wanted to get him sufficient protein, about a gram of protein per pound of lean weight.
“So he was fighting at 220lbs and he was 240lbs when I got a hold of him and we brought him up to 260lbs over the course of the many months that I was there. So we did about 220 grams of protein a day.
“After that, we’re looking at micronutrients. And athletes, they burn through a lot of micronutrients. So for performance, we’d look at minerals and electrolytes.
“Make sure he’d have sufficient potassium and sodium and we’d get those from food. Potatoes, there’s twice as much potassium as bananas.
“Fruit, yoghurt, which has the extra benefit of being high in calcium, and based on his training we’d salt meals accordingly because if you lose weight through your training sessions, you want to replace and rehydrate that.”
Jones would scoff at least four pre-planned nutritious meals a day, which amassed to a staggering 4500 CALORIES on training days, to grow his frame.
Efferding said: “The 4500 would be on high-fatigue training days and the 4000 or 4250 would, say, be on the weekends, days off or days when he did only one low-fatigue session.”
Although he had a bit of timber against his midsection against Gane, Efferding did everything to ensure Jones didn’t put on unnecessary body fat.
He said: “The problem with weight gain is that if you get too much fat is that the likelihood that you’re going to add fat at a greater rate than what would be necessary, reasonable or optimal is higher.
“I like to keep the fats a little lower. So for instance, if we gave him 220 grams in protein, I’d like to give him half of that in fat.”
Fighters, traditionally, have often put their skills training on the back burner when moving up in weight.
That, however, wasn’t the case for Jones, whose training days would be broken up into high and low-load days.
But his brutal lifting sessions with Efferding would take place BEFORE his wrestling or kickboxing practices.
Adding heavy lifting to his traditional martial arts training was no issue for Jones, whose love of powerlifting has been well-documented.
“He actually enjoyed them [the big three lifts]. Jon liked to lift,” Efferding said.
“He’d been lifting down there for some time and had a huge deadlift. He was already deadlifting over 500lbs.”
Efferding, 55, added: “He liked to squat, he liked to deadlift and he liked to bench. Jon was unique in that way. He wanted to do the hardest stuff.”
At times, Efferding and the team would have to reign in Jones’ lifting heavy metal to ensure he didn’t burn himself out.
He said: “Jon is one of those guys [that] when he gets in the gym, he goes 110 per cent.
“There’s just no quit in the guy.
“And you actually have to hold him back or design a programme that causes less fatigue but is still challenging.”
But that didn’t stop Jones from regularly bench-pressing over 130 kilograms.
Efferding revealed: “He would pretty consistently bench over 300lbs.
“We didn’t focus necessarily on the top weight. Again, we weren’t powerlifting.
“But every now and then, he wanted to go up and touch a heavyweight. He was benching over 300lbs.”
Jones weighed in at 17 stone 7lb for his heavyweight coronation.
But he’ll enter his Madison Square Garden melee with Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 early on Sunday morning a stone lighter having made the decision to ditch some of his muscle mass.
He recently revealed: “Right now, I’m pretty light. I’m like 235lbs (16 stone and seven pounds).
“I bulked up, I got really strong and I felt how I was going to feel.
“I got that data down on how I would feel and now, more than ever, I feel I don’t need all that size to win as a heavyweight.
“But I’m grateful for my decision.”
Watch UFC 309: Jones v Miocic exclusively live on TNT Sports Box Office from 1am on Saturday 16 November.
For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice.