Hello Max how are you?
Listen it's going very well and you?
Great ! So to start, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Maximilien Vallot, I am 28 years old, I come from Vitry sur Seine. I started combat sports at 6 years old with Judo, of which I am a black belt. As I went more on a pure combat aspect like MMA, and I discovered sambo during an internship. Since then I have been fully into sambo and MMA!
Where are you in your career??
I am preparing for my 4th European Combat Sambo Championships, I was a medalist at the World Championships last November, 3 times French champion. In MMA I have 7 pro fights, 4 wins and 3 losses.
Sambo or MMA?
My discipline is sambo, but I like both. There are still more competitions in sambo, so it's less frustrating than MMA where you prepare 3 or 4 months for a single fight. Whereas in sambo, you have several fights in a row: the pools, the final and final stages if you win.
I like to express myself on several fights in one day, even if it is more tiring.
Personally, I'm a boxer, and I don't really understand the difference between sambo and MMA.?
Sambo is the ancestor of MMA, the same rules such as ground strikes, elbow strikes, knees... The differences are for example on submissions where you are not allowed to shift as in mma. We also don't have the right to ankle locks. On the other hand, we have the right to headbutts, that's why we have a helmet, unlike MMA. In addition, in sambo, you score points when you throw the opponent.
Sambo is recognized as professional where it is rather considered for example as Olympic boxing?
I am on the elite lists of the Ministry of Sports, and professional.
You manage to live combat sports?
Not at all, we have bonuses with the France team, but there is not too much money you know. My club pays me through the grants it gets based on my results. But impossible to make a living from it, so I work part-time on the side to be able to train properly.
What are you working in??
I am a supervisor in a college in Villejuif, so it's sport too!
They must love you young people!
Yeah they love it! And I try to bring them my experience, I was restless like them doing anything! What channeled me and gave me rigor was judo, so I try to discuss with them and bring them to sport or to things that will help them express themselves and be focused, have diplomas…
What brought you to judo, then the rest?
So judo, I didn't have much choice: my grandfather was a 3rd Dan judo teacher, my father did judo, my two aunts did English and French boxing. So the fight culture with us is in the genes! I had no say. But good being a kid I hooked directly.
What is your training frequency??
1 to 2 workouts per day.
Physical preparation in the morning and combat in the afternoon?
It can be technical and sparring in the morning, physical in the afternoon. But it can also be two technical classes, or 1 technique and 1 sparring, but it all depends on the organization of the week. In general I do between 20 and 25 hours of training per week.
You have particular difficulties in your daily practice or in your preparations for the long term?
The system of government ! The real difficulty is diet and life at the same time. The mix of training, diet, work and personal life can be complicated to manage. People don't know that in general, on social networks we give the impression of being in the room all the time, but next to it you have the diet, the job, the couple life, the family life and you have to know how to manage all that. In these moments you have the stress of the competition, the stress of the diet plus your normal life.
All this with a climate of war in mind! 'Cause you're preparing for battle, it's war.
It's clear, you know it! With all due respect to footballers or other sports, we are going to take hits, we go there to hurt ourselves and hurt ourselves, so it's not the same thing. The mentality is different.
Today you organize yourself how, what do you put in place to prepare yourself as calmly and easily as possible?
It's a balance, I organize myself day by day. I try to be the most efficient in training, the most efficient at work for the little ones. I try to be at the maximum at all times in each of the things I do.
It's intense all the time
That's it ! Especially at the moment with the covid, it didn't help, especially on the relaxation side; on rest days, no cinema, no small diet restaurant, you are at home, you go around in circles. You don't have those little things that help you disconnect. It plays on morale.
When we do not disconnect more, we want to eat!
Exactly ! We want to eat, we are on the nerves because we cannot and suddenly we are unlivable for others!
With the diet and the preparation that hurts, what does your diet look like??
I eat as balanced as possible: starchy foods, vegetables, proteins, etc. I try to reduce dairy products a lot or even stop them. I eat healthy and varied and reduce the quantities as I go, but I try to have sufficient intake anyway to be in shape and perform well on the mat.
Are you counting your calories or are you more intuitive??
I'm more in intuitive mode, however I weigh my food for example: 100g of protein, 100g of starch, 100g of vegetables If I'm hungry I'll eat an apple, a banana, I have food supplements that also help. I started diets very early with judo, I went down to less than 57 kg. I think I've been fine on every one of my diets..
Lately you started usingNØKO, what can you tell us about it?
So first point: sleep! I sent you a direct message by the way after my first test, I slept like a baby! Normally I have a restless sleep, I wake up, I move in the night. In short, in general I am tired because I have restless nights. And since I consumeNØKO frankly, my nights are peaceful! The next day I recovered well. So frankly, very happy.
We can't wait to have your long-term return as well! We are coming to the end of the interview, thank you very much Max!
Thank you and with great pleasure!
Max Vallot x Maxence Damarey xNØKO
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