Nutrition

“How to Cut Weight for a Meet”

By Ian Smalley

Cutting weight is typically an inevitability for any lifter who’s serious about powerlifting training and competitions. Having a 10 to 15 pound advantage over the other lifters in the weight class can make a huge difference on meet day. Plus, most lifters are heavier than the weight class they compete in so you are at an immediate disadvantage if you are right at the weight class requirement or under. At the elite levels of the sport you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who isn’t 20 lbs heavier of more than their weight class. Yeah it sucks, but that’s the way it is. After much trial and error I’ve found what I think is the best way to take off and put back on the weight and suffer no performance issues on meet day.

Ideally you will have a 24 hr weigh in. If you lift in a fed that has 2 hr weigh ins then you can stop reading because this doesn’t apply to you. Using this method I’ve routinely dropped between 12 and 18 lbs to compete at 181. My “walking around weight” is about 195, but in the month leading up to a meet I’ll gain an additional 5 lbs of bloat to get up to 200 or so. The reason for this is to give my body a reference weight to climb back to after I’ve cut to ensure optimal performance. I may only get back up to 196 but that is a solid weight that my body its accustomed to be being at in the gym. Any additional water weight I can put on is gravy…and all of this can be done without diuretics or an IV.

So 12 hrs out from weigh- ins, which is usually in the late evening preceding the morning weigh ins  I will begin sweating off the weight in a hot bath, usually in the hotel room I’m staying at for the meet. I fill the tub with water as hot as I can stand and immerse myself for 20 minutes. Then I stand up and run the shower for 20 minutes and stand in the steam. After 40 I leave the bathroom and sit outside in the room for 10 or 15 minutes to let my body temperature return to normal. Then I repeat the process until all the weight is dropped.

Another key thing to remember is that while you can’t drink anything for an 18 hr period, you can eat a couple of small snacks. I’ve used trail mix with great success. I’ll eat a few handfuls about six hrs in, and then at about 12 hrs in. This is huge for getting some food energy without adding any weight. It  immediately makes me feel better and takes my mind out of the depleted fog that  it’s in. So in summary, stop eating and drinking fluid around 18 hrs out, and sweat off remaining lbs. in a hot shower at 12 hrs out until weight has been made. NOTE: you will feel like crap the closer to weigh ins you get, that last 2 or 3 lbs may be stubborn, but just hang in there and do it. If you ever feel really light headed or cramp up then you've probably reached your bodies threshold for the process, but unless you are trying to lose more than 20 lbs there should'nt be any problem.

Now, right after weighing in drink a 32oz Gatorade, then alternate between 32oz. of water and Gatorade for the rest of the time leading up to the meet. The goal is to replenish all of the fluid loss in a consistent fashion so that it will stay on…and yes you will have to drink much more fluid over the 24 hrs following weigh-ins than you think. You can drink a gallon of fluid in an hour and gain 8 lbs, but inevitably you will pee and need to keep drinking. Don’t get frustrated when you pee, just continue drinking all the way up until you compete. You won’t have completely rehydrated yourself just because the scale says you’ve put back on some weight. Your first pee will probably be like 2 lbs, so just keep going.

Also you need to eat every two hrs. This will be very easy in the first 4 to 6 hrs when you’re starving, but as soon as the hunger is satisfied you’ll want to slow down. Don’t. Force feed yourself small meals all the way up to the meet because this is what gives you the strength you need to lift. Not eating enough will sabotage the entire process and leave you with significantly less strength, so be disciplined and just do it.