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For those of you that have competed (Powerlifting)

metaldrummer

metaldrummer

Level 6 Valued Member
Have y'all ever done stuff like this? I'll be honest it don't sound fun. lol I think if I ever got the urge to compete in the future I would just maintain where my weight needed to be rather than do all this crazy s***. I guess part of it depends on what level you're at (like elite vs local).

rpstrength.com

The Ins And Outs of The Lightest 1,000lb Squat In History

The first question I always get about squatting 800, 900 and now 1,000 pounds is “Man what does that feel like?” The best way I know how to describe it is just a whole lot of squish! The biggest difference for me is that my balance gets much harder to keep, especially when thicker squat bars...
rpstrength.com rpstrength.com
 
I had a few friends that would do this when getting ready to fight. It always seemed crazy to me to drop 20 pounds but to each their own. I would typically do the bathtub 20 in and 20 out to cut a couple pounds right before a big jiu jitsu tournament.
 
metaldrummer said:
Have y'all ever done stuff like this? I'll be honest it don't sound fun. lol I think if I ever got the urge to compete in the future I would just maintain where my weight needed to be rather than do all this crazy s***. I guess part of it depends on what level you're at (like elite vs local).

rpstrength.com

The Ins And Outs of The Lightest 1,000lb Squat In History

The first question I always get about squatting 800, 900 and now 1,000 pounds is “Man what does that feel like?” The best way I know how to describe it is just a whole lot of squish! The biggest difference for me is that my balance gets much harder to keep, especially when thicker squat bars...
rpstrength.com rpstrength.com
Click to expand...
Water cuts suck.

They can also be dangerous.

I have a great works every time protocol but … yuck.
 
Yeah don’t worry about your weight class when you start competing. It doesn’t matter. You have too much going on to worry about what class you compete in.


Luis T. Gonzalez said:
I had a few friends that would do this when getting ready to fight. It always seemed crazy to me to drop 20 pounds but to each their own. I would typically do the bathtub 20 in and 20 out to cut a couple pounds right before a big jiu jitsu tournament.
Click to expand...
I have a friend who did some pro MMA fighting in his youth. One time I mentioned I had to cut some weight and his eyes lit up. He was all “I still have my sauna suits, I can drop twenty off you tonight if we have too. “ he went on to describe one of the most miserable processes I’ve ever imagined for weight cuts.
 
metaldrummer said:
Have y'all ever done stuff like this? I'll be honest it don't sound fun. lol I think if I ever got the urge to compete in the future I would just maintain where my weight needed to be rather than do all this crazy s***. I guess part of it depends on what level you're at (like elite vs local).

rpstrength.com

The Ins And Outs of The Lightest 1,000lb Squat In History

The first question I always get about squatting 800, 900 and now 1,000 pounds is “Man what does that feel like?” The best way I know how to describe it is just a whole lot of squish! The biggest difference for me is that my balance gets much harder to keep, especially when thicker squat bars...
rpstrength.com rpstrength.com
Click to expand...
I used to cut a bunch of water weight right before meet weigh-ins. I'd basically drop all carbs about 5 days before. Once weigh-in's happened the evening before the meet it was off to the all-you-can-eat buffet where I'd engorge myself on pasta, pizza, and basically as many carbs and calories as I could. Once I weighed in right at 198.4 at weigh-in (exactly the limit) and then when I was lifting the next day I was back up to 207lbs. After a while I stopped trying to compete in the 90kg (198lb) class and just competed in 100kg (220lb). It was a lot less stress and I didn't have to try to diet down. While I wasn't quite as competitive in that class it took a load off my mind and made it more fun.
 
silveraw said:
Yeah don’t worry about your weight class when you start competing. It doesn’t matter. You have too much going on to worry about what class you compete in.



I have a friend who did some pro MMA fighting in his youth. One time I mentioned I had to cut some weight and his eyes lit up. He was all “I still have my sauna suits, I can drop twenty off you tonight if we have too. “ he went on to describe one of the most miserable processes I’ve ever imagined for weight cuts.
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Yeah forget that! It's not worth it. It is much better to just get your diet right and not have to worry about what you weigh. BJJ is a lot harder to cut for because you have to step on the scale right before your match so having your diet in check is much more reliable than trying to cut weight. I'm right at 220 now so when I compete later this year in Strongman, I don't plan to cut weight.
 
Rygor the Swoleman said:
I used to cut a bunch of water weight right before meet weigh-ins. I'd basically drop all carbs about 5 days before. Once weigh-in's happened the evening before the meet it was off to the all-you-can-eat buffet where I'd engorge myself on pasta, pizza, and basically as many carbs and calories as I could. Once I weighed in right at 198.4 at weigh-in (exactly the limit) and then when I was lifting the next day I was back up to 207lbs. After a while I stopped trying to compete in the 90kg (198lb) class and just competed in 100kg (220lb). It was a lot less stress and I didn't have to try to diet down. While I wasn't quite as competitive in that class it took a load off my mind and made it more fun.
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Did you feel like you gained most of your strength back after the re-feed? Just curious, because to me it seems like a lot to put your body through and still hope to lift well.
 
silveraw said:
Oof, not even a two hour weigh in? That seems brutal and kinda safer lol.
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I like same-day weight ins a lot more as it - theoretically - prevents a lot of the very dangerous stuff folks due to cut weight, while also making weight classes make a lot more sense. If you are going to compete in the weight class, it would make sense to actually be that weight... I've known some competitors that compete in a weight class 20lbs less than what they weigh at the time of the competition and that just seems ... silly. I mean, rules are rules, use them to your advantage or your opponent will be massively larger than you but ... still ...
 
silveraw said:
Oof, not even a two hour weigh in? That seems brutal and kinda safer lol.
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Yeah, it makes it much healthier for sure. When I was in High School they changed the rules to try and prevent weight cuts too. I was 164 with 7% body fat so they made me wrestle 170 in hopes I would gain weight. It never worked cause I was wrestling, doing BJJ, and lifting. I couldn't eat enough at the time.
 
Steve Freides said:
May we hear about this protocol?

Thanks.

-S-
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Sure. But I want to be clear that this could be unsafe to do, I'm not a doctor, yada yada yada. This isn't my creation, I got it from somewhere but I have no idea where. I didn't save that part in my notes. Basically it is a week without carbs or salt and gradually less and less water. No carbs/salt makes you hold less water. I was working with a fighter and he cut 22lbs doing this, which was insane; the most I've cut using this is 12lbs.

Very important to note that this is only for day before weigh ins, not same-day weigh ins or bodybuilding comps.

The Weight Cut Schedule​


SUNDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals

Water: 2 gallons

Salt: None

MONDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals

Water: 1 gallon

Salt: None

TUESDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals

Water: 1 gallon

Salt: None

WEDNESDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals

Water: 0.5 gallon

Salt: None

Sauna in afternoon

THURSDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals

Water: 0.25 gallon

Salt: None

Sauna in afternoon for 30 minutes, hot water bath at night

FRIDAY (WEIGH IN AT 6PM)

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.

Protein and Fat: Eat 2 very small meals until weigh in

Water: None till weigh-in

Salt: None

Sauna until weight is met
 
metaldrummer said:
Did you feel like you gained most of your strength back after the re-feed? Just curious, because to me it seems like a lot to put your body through and still hope to lift well.
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Yeah. I always felt strong when it came time to perform. Never bombed out of a meet, and usually went at least 7/9 (more usually 8/9) on my lifts. Still hit plenty of PRs, too.
 
The most I ever had to lose to make weight in a short amount of time was about 8-10lb or so (I think I weighed like 205-210 and wanted to compete in 198). There was an early weigh-in so I basically sweat out the extra weight and put it back overnight until the meet. I don't think it affected my performance much, but I remember it being a brutally long meet (9am-8pm) and having a raging headache by the end (probably more a result of caffeine and generally fatigue than anything else but who knows)
 
My cut isn't very much - I walk around, even when not eating at my best, at about 153 lb, and I compete at 148.8 lbs. Lately a water cut and clean eating during the week leading up the weigh-in gets me most of that, and a hot bath before the 9AM weigh-in does the rest. Mine are 24-hour weigh-ins.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
My cut isn't very much - I walk around, even when not eating at my best, at about 153 lb, and I compete at 148.8 lbs. Lately a water cut and clean eating during the week leading up the weigh-in gets me most of that, and a hot bath before the 9AM weigh-in does the rest. Mine are 24-hour weigh-ins.

-S-
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I'm in a similar boat. Most I ever really have to cut is 5-ish lbs. I compete in 242 and my walking around weight is around 235-245. Strongman is even simpler since most meets just run the 275 weight class. Theoretically there is supposed to be a 242 but nobody every has it available, so I just compete with guys 30lbs heavier than me. If Strongman Corp ever picks up in my state I'll probably cut down to their 236 class.

Don't drink water past noon before weigh ins at 7, skip lunch, and if I'm still higher than I need to be I'll turn the heat on for the drive to the meet and sweat out a bit.

After I step off the scale, get some electrolytes, water, food and go to bed and meet starts the next day.
 
One thing I learned for my last weightlifting meet which is relatively easy to do and very little effect on energy/physiology, is to keep macros steady but just switch high fiber carbs for low fiber carbs for the 2 days prior to the meet. Fiber holds water. Low fiber holds less water in total in the digestive tract. Also I did a bit of a water load, but nothing extreme. Then just coffee and a little food before weigh in, which is 2 hours prior to the start of the session, and breakfast after weigh in, with a bit of time to digest before starting to warm up and lift. I'll do this again next week for USA Masters Weightlifting National Championships next week, though I'm in the middle of my weight class currently so not much to worry about.
 
silveraw said:
I'm in a similar boat. Most I ever really have to cut is 5-ish lbs. I compete in 242 and my walking around weight is around 235-245. Strongman is even simpler since most meets just run the 275 weight class. Theoretically there is supposed to be a 242 but nobody every has it available, so I just compete with guys 30lbs heavier than me. If Strongman Corp ever picks up in my state I'll probably cut down to their 236 class.

Don't drink water past noon before weigh ins at 7, skip lunch, and if I'm still higher than I need to be I'll turn the heat on for the drive to the meet and sweat out a bit.

After I step off the scale, get some electrolytes, water, food and go to bed and meet starts the next day.
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Interesting. Every strongman/highlander comps I've done always has three weight classes: lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. I'm generally always middleweight but I've competed in lightweights before a couple times.
 
Rygor the Swoleman said:
Interesting. Every strongman/highlander comps I've done always has three weight classes: lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. I'm generally always middleweight but I've competed in lightweights before a couple times.
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Yeah United States Strongman is the vast majority of meets (and all of the sanctioned meets) in my local area. They kind of have those classes, but broken up into subclasses.

Lightweight: up to 181 with a 161 under class and 181 and under class

Middleweight up to 220 with 198 and 220 class

Heavyweight up to 275 with a 242 and 275 class

Super Heavy over 275 with over under 308 classes.

Then they also have your regular M/W/T and masters.

If I drive 8 hours I can get to some Strongman Corp competitions where they have a bit simpler weight classes. There is talk of them moving into my state, but so far nothing has actually been scheduled yet.
u175 – 175.4 lbs and under (80kg intl)
u200 – Between 175.5 lbs and 200.4 lbs (90kg intl)
u231 – Between 200.5 lbs and 231.4 lbs (105kg intl)
u265 – Between 231.5 lbs and 265.4 lbs (120kg intl)
Open – 265.5 lbs and above
 
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