The K-Sos diet is the latest craze sweeping mixed martial arts, but can it work for you?

Few fighters have generated as much hype recently as UFC middleweight Mark Munoz. In a division gridlocked by the dominance of champion Anderson Silva, Munoz fans are shining a light onto the 33-year-old Filipino as the beacon of hope who could finally topple 'The Spider's reign – and for good reason.

Stringing a myriad of slick performances together in 2011, including a bloody and brutal battle of will against Chris Leben at UFC 138, that saw the fight stopped at the end of the second round due to 'The Crippler's face being torn apart, Munoz is now set to face his final furlong before contendership, Chael Sonnen. If he succeeds, the gateway to the title will be opened. So what is Munoz's secret weapon for cage domination?

“Krzysztof Soszynski has been implementing his 'K-Sos' system (named after the UFC 205lb'er). He was a bodybuilder, and diet and nutrition have been a big part of his research.

He’s taken all that knowledge and turned it to fighting,” Munoz in a post-UFC 138 interview. “The guy’s an all-in-one package. He does my strength and conditioning, my nutrition and my weight cut.

He’s my fairy godmother. He’s waving that wand.”

The wand has certainly been waved – Munoz shall go to the brawl.

But what exactly is the K-Sos system that's currently sweeping MMA?

“The K-Sos system was born out of 18 years experience in bodybuilding and wrestling,” Soszynski exclusively reveals. “It started when I was 16 and I’ve done all the workouts, all of the diets, all of the supplements and then I moved onto my professional wrestling career when I had to look a certain way and be a certain shape, then to mixed martial arts to the conditioning and the strength training. 

“I used this knowledge with Mark. The hardest part for him as far as nutrition is, the closer that he gets to the fight, the less he eats or drinks. For instance, if the weigh-in is Friday then by Wednesday he’s eating nothing any more.

He’s basically starving his body. That’s the wrong thing to do – you need your body to be hydrated. So I made sure I was cooking all of his meals for him. He ate four meals every day, up until Thursday night.

His last meal was 5pm Thursday night, ahead of a lunchtime weigh-in on Friday, and that was his fourth meal that day. And he cut all of the weight, no problem.”

Munoz certainly looked in great shape at the UFC 139 weigh-in. So what foods did Soszynski pump into him to make him so lean and shredded?

“The meals were very simple – egg whites with brown rice, lentils and spinach, or chicken breast, brown rice, lentils, spinach and mustard, for example. I wanted Mark to eat nutritious meals but light ones.

Lentils are great to add for the fiber as is spinach. I wanted Mark to keep eating protein to maintain his muscle mass so that's where the chicken and egg whites come in.”

Naturally, as a fighter reaches the weigh-in they're required to cut back on carbs to control their weight.

Soszynski states under the K-Sos system there is no set time for carb cut-backs and instead caters for the needs of the fighter.

“I usually cut back on carbs the Tuesday before the fight, but with Mark we had to do that a bit earlier at about two weeks.

In the build-up to the weigh-in we also make sure that we work off the calories that we put in. We still eat protein, fat and carbs but in smaller portions throughout the day.” 

Munoz has admitted to sometimes weighing up to 230lb before going into camp. Cutting so much weight can take its toll, yet just like Soszynski's method of near-enough feeding the fighter onto the scales with the correct nutriton, he also has set rules for re-nourishing warriors once they've weighed in.

“The first thing we put into Mark after he stepped off the scales was coconut water. It’s actually something Mark has been drinking for a number of years and he loves it.

It’s a big staple for a lot of people’s diets now, especially in the States. It’s got everything he needs to replenish himself. I just mixed it with a little regular water, just to dilute it, and yeah Mark just started pounding that back. Within the first hour he was 15lb heavier.

“He weighed in for the fight at the arena the lightest he’s ever been at too. He usually tips the scales at 208–209lb, full of pasta and crap, but I made all of his meals on fight day too and he weighed in at 202lb and he looked sharp, fast, quick, and he never once tired. He looked awesome.”

THE FAST GUIDE TO K-Sos

Use the K-Sos diet in your training regime and cruise your way to contendership,

Essential foods:

Meat – “Chicken breast is my staple. I eat it three times a day.

High in protein and low in saturated fat. I also like to add steak to my diet once a week as it's high in iron. For me, I feel great the next day after a steak meal,” says Soszynski. “When I get closer to my fight I substitute chicken breast for fish. It's a bit lighter and a good source of protein and good fats.”

Vegetables – “For me, the darker the better. I make sure my fighters eat plenty of spinach, broccoli and brussel sprouts.”

Fluids – “I only drink water, 4-6 liters a day. It's essential for keeping hydrated, and this way makes the weight cut is so much easier.”

Supplements – “I don't take too many supplements as you can get most of the things you need through the K-Sos diet, but I do take the basics; whey protein, multivitamins and glutamine for recovery and soreness.”

Carb-Protein-Fat ratio:

“I tailor this to each individual,” says Soszynski. “For me, though, I'm a protein guy so my protein is really high, and I found out through trial and error that my body really likes fat as an energy source.

I am more of a 50% protein, 25% fat, 25% carbs.”