Maximum Overeem: Strikeforce Champ Defeats Aerts in K-1

Overshadowing his victory over kickboxing legend Peter Aerts this weekend in Seoul, South Korea, were Alistair Overeem’s engorged trapezius, pectoral, and bicep muscles. The man who had fought at 205 lbs. as recently as 2007 appeared to have been sculpted from Apoxy putty, looking as though he weighed a minimum 240-250 lbs. with a body-fat percentage in the single digits.

For a man who could do what he pleases with a syringe overseas, talk quickly turned to what, exactly, Overeem is doing to achieve that kind of physique. While it’s certainly possible to pack on that muscle naturally -- if mom and dad’s genes are hospitable to the cause -- it’s substantially more difficult to do when an athlete is engaged in the cardiovascular, catabolic demands of fight training. Several athletes have said that a camp frequently shaves 10-15 lbs. off of them. Adding 20-30 lbs. during one is some kind of feat.