Making weight for Powerlifting

BossArky

I've got a powerlifing competition in 7 days. Currently my bodyweight is 84 / 85kg depending on the scales. I need to get down to 82.5kg. Usually I'm underweight, so this is my first time actually having to loose a bit prior to a competition.

From what I've read and heard this shouldn't be too great a task if I follow some simple guidelines. Here is an interesting article which I have distilled down to the following key points:

• Train at a bodyweight no greater than 5% over the category weight at which you aim to complete. This will allow you to drop weight gradually without too much strength loose. For myself this would mean a training weight of 82.5kg + 5% = 86.625kg.
  
  
• Drink two gallons of water each day of the last week leading up to the competition. Increased intake = increased water excretion, which can be used to your advantage when you halt water intake 12 hours prior to weigh in.
  
  
• Avoid these in the 7 days beforehand: diary, bread, pasta, flour, dough, etc.
  
  
• Eat these in the 7 days beforehand: heaps of fresh veg, oats, lean meats, chicken, tuna, etc.
  
  
• Halt water intake 12 hours prior to weigh in. The body wil continue to flush out water as it has been super hydrated during the past 7 days and will be tricked into thinking more is coming. Immediately eat a lemon, as this helps increase urination.
  
  
• After weigh in and before competing drink lots of water before going near sports drinks.

Anyone got thoughts on the above or can contribute tips which have helped them in the past? Thanks!

Hanley

I agree with all of that except for the bit about rehydrating with water. It makes no sense. If your body is just pee'n out everything you put into it, why would it suddenly start to hold water after the 12 hour period?!

You need some form of salt replacement solution to mix in to the water to make sure ya retain it. I use Diarolyte in Ireland, I've used one containing a mixture of glucose, potassium and sodium, amongst other things, elswhere.

Don't go too overboard trying to rehydrate and refeed or you risk having to lift with an upset stomach and/or energy crash from stuffing your face.

The most important part, imo, is not to overcut which is a real risk with that method when you don't have exp with it. Using basically that method, plus nothing eating for 16 hours I dropped from 91ish kg to around 86kg the first time I tried it. Needless to say I'd a f*cking disaster of a comp.

So watch your weight closely over the 12 hours. If I'm going to bed around 300-500g over weight, I'm happy I'll be on target the next morning. Anymore and it might be an idea to sip some water or have a small snack (kcals don't matter - total weight of the food does, so try for something very calorie dense).

And when it comes to the water loading, have a look at the labels and go for the ones with the lowest sodium content.

Khannie

Making weight is one of those things people don't like discussing too much. If you're 84, you'll only need to be slightly hungry and with a mild thirst to make 82.5. 2% of bodyweight is nowt, depending on how close you are to competition after stepping off the scales.

Sugar Free

Sounds good as along as you don't overcut as the others mentioned because you could then be left with a situation where you're trying to pack in fluids/calories after weigh-in where you may only have a couple of hours before you're on the platform.

ormondprop

maybe you could ask some of the fighters in the mma section, i reckon lots of them lads would be used to cutting weight

BossArky

Thanks for the feedback, all.

Hanley - from what I've read in the link above ^^ the reasoning behind drinking water first after weigh-in is to get over any thirst and avoid stuffing oneself with various minerals which would cause an upset stomach if too thirsty. I'll have a look for a salt replacement solution.

Khannie - yeah hopefully it should be easy enough. I actually tipped the scales at 83.5kg last night. It seems that halting GOMAD 1 week ago and eating normally is helping the bloating and weight to come down. Weight peaked at 87/88kg a couple of weeks ago.

Next week I'll update the thread with how it goes. Any more tips - keep them coming.

Mellor

ormondprop wrote: »

maybe you could ask some of the fighters in the mma section, i reckon lots of them lads would be used to cutting weight

I'd say the lifters are prob "better" at cutting, at least in relation to the OP. Lifting being a much more definitive measure of strenth/power. If training at 10% over the division was best, then people would do that. I recently seen a guy, whose prob in the top 5 in the world mess up a cut. Fighters are more liable to overcut because the extra fight weight offers its own advantage.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Next week I'll update the thread with how it goes

...and the answer is:

I weighed in at 81.7kg and hit pbs on Squat, Bench and Deadlift. Dropped 6kg of bodyweight in ~2 weeks. More info in my log post #1351.

Thanks for the help!

Mellor

Any idea what your weight was at competition time?

BossArky

Mellor - weigh in was at 8am and the competition started at 10am. In those ~2hours I drank water with oats, some powerade, had 4 boiled eggs and a banana. I guess I was close to 83kg by the time I start lifting. As mentioned in my log I was 84kg after the final deadlifts.

Mellor

Yeah, figured it might of been in the log, so checked it out, then regretted it as hearing about the 14 year old ans his lifts was depressing