Pre-weigh-in 'cheats' (water manipulation etc)

WHIP IT!

Just curious. Was wondering what some of the posters here who compete in various disciplines do before weigh-ins to be as light as possible? Not that I'm thinking of competing or anything (or in anything!) but just curious...

FunkZ

I don't know much, so I won't say much!

I know that I personally can drop four or more pounds in a week if I drop the carbohydrates and go high fat. I've often dropped up to half a stone in a week this way, though always with the intention of continuing a HFLC plan!

COH

I think the last time I cut for a competition I weight 108+ kg heavily bloated on a Friday. Began water loading (super hydrating) on Sunday - combined with zero carbs/sugars/sodium then cut out everything 36hours out and weighed in around 99kg Friday morning. I probably competed around 106-107kg the next day after 24hrs of 'Man Vs Food - Limerick Edition'

WHIP IT!

COH wrote: »

I think the last time I cut for a competition I weight 108+ kg heavily bloated on a Friday. Began water loading (super hydrating) on Sunday - combined with zero carbs/sugars/sodium then cut out everything 36hours out and weighed in around 99kg Friday morning. I probably competed around 106-107kg the next day after 24hrs of 'Man Vs Food - Limerick Edition'

So dumb it down for me a bit more, from Sunday you drank copious amounts of water until a day & a half before the comp (what foods did you eat in this time?) then u cut it all out for 36 hours & pretty much pee'd 9kg of body weight away in time for weigh in?

COH

WHIP IT! wrote: »

So dumb it down for me a bit more, from Sunday you drank copious amounts of water until a day & a half before the comp (what foods did you eat in this time?) then u cut it all out for 36 hours & pretty much pee'd 9kg of body weight away in time for weigh in?

I ate as normal until after lunch Sunday - then I started chugging water (6l on Sunday. On Monday I made sure that my carb/sugar/sodium intake was minimal. The majority of the food I ate from monday was eggs, grilled chicken, unsalted peanut butter and protein 'shots' and loads of dandelion extract. Monday I drank 8 litres, tuesday and wednesday I drank 10litres and thursday I drank 10-12 litres. Ate my last meal and had my last drop of water at 10pm Thursday night. Slept fine, felt lethargic and thirsty Friday day time (I had a cap full of water to have a few thousand mgs of Vit C and dandelion extract that morning). Cotton mouth by 10pm Friday - began to hvae sexual fantasies about lucozade, mainly because a couple of pr*cks that post here sent me picture messages of large bottles of coke etc..

Slept terribly, had a nightmare that I gave in and drank so I woke up panicking that I had f*cked up my prep at 6am. Realised I didn't, resumed fantasies about drinking toilet water - couldn't get back to sleep so spent about 3 hours cursing my existence waiting for weigh-ins and praying for one last bowel movement to put me out of the danger zone.

Upon weighing in I popped 2 dioralyte and drank a litre of water, then had a couple of spoons of glycerol and a couple bottles of powerade. Then went to every fast food place in Limerick adding extra salt to everything, waddled back to my hotel, ordered pizza for four and spent the night getting through that. Slept like a baby - woke up saturday had hotel breakfast and more fluids then lifted some heavy ass weights

WHIP IT!

COH wrote: »

I ate as normal until after lunch Sunday - then I started chugging water (6l on Sunday. On Monday I made sure that my carb/sugar/sodium intake was minimal. The majority of the food I ate from monday was eggs, grilled chicken, unsalted peanut butter and protein 'shots' and loads of dandelion extract. Monday I drank 8 litres, tuesday and wednesday I drank 10litres and thursday I drank 10-12 litres. Ate my last meal and had my last drop of water at 10pm Thursday night. Slept fine, felt lethargic and thirsty Friday day time (I had a cap full of water to have a few thousand mgs of Vit C and dandelion extract that morning). Cotton mouth by 10pm Friday - began to hvae sexual fantasies about lucozade, mainly because a couple of pr*cks that post here sent me picture messages of large bottles of coke etc..

Slept terribly, had a nightmare that I gave in and drank so I woke up panicking that I had f*cked up my prep at 6am. Realised I didn't, resumed fantasies about drinking toilet water - couldn't get back to sleep so spent about 3 hours cursing my existence waiting for weigh-ins and praying for one last bowel movement to put me out of the danger zone.

Upon weighing in I popped 2 dioralyte and drank a litre of water, then had a couple of spoons of glycerol and a couple bottles of powerade. Then went to every fast food place in Limerick adding extra salt to everything, waddled back to my hotel, ordered pizza for four and spent the night getting through that. Slept like a baby - woke up saturday had hotel breakfast and more fluids then lifted some heavy ass weights

No kiddin. Great story... so you overload on water so as when the time comes to cut it out, this will have a greater impact on your body?

And I always assumed when people said they 'hit every fast food place' after a weigh-in they were being tongue in cheek & really they just pounded a loada healthy pasta-type-high-carb meals

COH

WHIP IT! wrote: »

No kiddin. Great story... so you overload on water so as when the time comes to cut it out, this will have a greater impact on your body?

And I always assumed when people said they 'hit every fast food place' after a weigh-in they were being tongue in cheek & really they just pounded a loada healthy pasta-type-high-carb meals

your body acts like a sponge - once saturated its very effective at expelling excess water. Super-hydrating kicks your body into 5th gear in expelling water, once you cut the intake your body remains in this state for a period after. I literally changed shape overnight. People that saw me Thursday and again Friday were shocked at the difference. I almost had fake abz!

Its a rough process, I personally hate it - but anything that helps you avoid cardio, sauna's and hot baths is preferable as they can leave you feeling drained.

Mellor

A fighters cut would be similar to the water loading mentioned above.
Other techniques would be sauna dehydration, sweat suits, and very hot salty baths.

rubadub

Someone told me of a jockey they knew who would sit in a sauna with a few of the others drinking brandy.

Hanley

Sauna's are a f*cking disaster for weight cuts. VERY exhausting and traumatic on your body.

I've cut similarly to Kieran above - (Wednesday) 101kg -> (thursday) 92.5kg -> (friday) 101kg -> 103kg (saturday). That was using the sauna in addition.

If I was to do it again, I'd put on a sweat suit, then plastic bags over, then another layer and just do some very low intensity exercise. Like cycling a bike for an hour - weight will fall off doing it.

Gummy Panda

Hanley wrote: »

Sauna's are a f*cking disaster for weight cuts. VERY exhausting and traumatic on your body.

I've cut similarly to Kieran above - (Wednesday) 101kg -> (thursday) 92.5kg -> (friday) 101kg -> 103kg (saturday). That was using the sauna in addition.

If I was to do it again, I'd put on a sweat suit, then plastic bags over, then another layer and just do some very low intensity exercise. Like cycling a bike for an hour - weight will fall off doing it.

Where you the person who sent bottle of coke pics to COH?

Will Heffernan

At 6.00pm on a Thursday I was 103.8kg...Friday at 5.00pm I was 93kg and by the time I went to bed that night I was 101.6kg and by 5.00pm Saturday I was 102.9kg

I could tell you how I did it but that would ruin my book entitled 'How to alter your weigh by 20+kg in 2 days' or I might have to write 2 books...'How to lose over 10kg in 24 hours' then after sales subside....'How to gain over 10kg in 24 hours'.

WHIP IT!

Will Heffernan wrote: »

At 6.00pm on a Thursday I was 103.8kg...Friday at 5.00pm I was 93kg and by the time I went to bed that night I was 101.6kg and by 5.00pm Saturday I was 102.9kg

I could tell you how I did it but that would ruin my book entitled 'How to alter your weigh by 20+kg in 2 days' or I might have to write 2 books...'How to lose over 10kg in 24 hours' then after sales subside....'How to gain over 10kg in 24 hours'.

[Reverse Psychology/]
Pffft, you probably suck at pre-contest shredding. You're probably the suckiest pre-contest-shredding sucker who ever sucked.... you don't know about pre-contest shredding... you don't know nuthin!
[/Reverse Psychology]

Will Heffernan

WHIP IT! wrote: »

[Reverse Psychology/]
Pffft, you probably suck at pre-contest shredding. You're probably the suckiest pre-contest-shredding sucker who ever sucked.... you don't know about pre-contest shredding... you don't know nuthin!
[/Reverse Psychology]

The thing is when it comes to cutting weight it's really a 'it depends' answer and I know people hate it but it's true.

I've refined my weight cutting techniques since I've been back in Australia having competed a lot myself in weight restricted competition and having worked with a huge number of fighters from the many clubs that I've trained at around the country.

The key to weight cutting is to make it as 'easy' as possible on the body so it isn't just a matter of....here is a list of weight cutting techniques so do all these....first you need a weigh in time, then you need a starting weight...then you come up with the plan.

From when you start the plan it is then a matter of hitting weights along the way and if everything goes to schedule making weight as planned....that however NEVER happens exactly as planned....so it is a matter of constantly refining the process on the fly which is why experience helps.

If you've not much weight to cut (up to 5%) then some simple dietary restrictions and super hydration will get you there. If you've more to do then you are going to have to throw some thermoregulation on top of that as well. Once you get to cutting a sh*t tonne of weight (10% or more) then you need to throw everything at it...you are talking about things like....3 days out taking a stool softener (I say that instead of laxatives because sometimes when I say laxatives people respond like I said steroids) so you can ensure that come weigh in time you are not weighing anything you don't need to weigh...on that not I once got colonic irrigation prior to a fight and weighed in before going and after getting back from the 'procedure' and I think the winning guess in the 'guess how full of sh*t Will really is pool' was 2.8kg...someone correct me if I am misremembering? This is significant because anyone who has cut weight will tell you that the pain at the back end can be extraordinarily brutal...when I was still in Ireland and before I knew what I was doing and before I'd gotten expert help...I once spent over 90 mins on a bike wrapped up in gear and a sweat suit pedalling away on a bike after having spent more than 24hrs cutting 8kg+ cutting the last 300grams I needed to make weight...it was bruuuuuuutal, then you need to ensure you are glycogen depleted...again...no point weighing what you don't need to and what is easily replaced....I usually leave this till 2 days out...for me carbohydrate restriction and glycogen depletion are significant...this 'process' is usually worth around 2-3% of body weight easily...now this isn't the weight of glycogen lost because as we all know glycogen is stored with water but for simplicity sake I am sure you get what I mean. Then you have super hydration + water restriction...combined with some natural diuretics such as Vitamin C and B6, potassium, silica, caffeine, fennel etc etc etc and you can count on another 2-3% post carb depletion at a minimum. So done properly the combination of these passive techniques are good for 5-7% of body weight. The last stage is thermoregulation...I only cut weight in a bath now and getting this process right is a whole story in itself...you've the humidity in the room to control, the amount of heptahydrate sulfate mineral epsomite in the bath to get the osmolarity right, to how much isocol you use on the individual, to how you time the immersion cycle to achieve the final target weight.

I enjoy the process now and am lucky enough now to get flown around my fine country helping fighters cut weight as painlessly and effectively as possible

The reconstitution process is a whole other science all together but equally as important to ensure that the athlete regains the weight optimally so as to not have any negative effect on their performance.

Cutting weight incorrectly can be painful to the point of death if done poorly and or incorrectly and isn't something I'd recommend people playing with especially at the extreme end (over 5% of body weight) as you can do lasting damage to your body even if you don't kill yourself.

Mellor

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I've refined my weight cutting techniques since I've been back in Australia having competed a lot myself in weight restricted competition and having worked with a huge number of fighters from the many clubs that I've trained at around the country.

Out if curiosity Will were are you mainly based in Australia.

Will Heffernan

Mellor wrote: »

Out if curiosity Will were are you mainly based in Australia.

I really do work nationally at the currently. If it helps...I am based on the east coast. Spend my time hopping between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and every where in and around and between those places. Sydney now, Melbourne tomorrow then...it keeps going like that.

So if you are looking to target a weapons package or something like that you are going to need to reassess your options.

Mellor

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I really do work nationally at the current the current time. If it helps...I am based on the east coast. Spend my time hopping between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and every where in and around and between those places. Sydney now, Melbourne tomorrow then...it keeps going like that.

So if you are looking to target a weapons package or something like that you are going to need to reassess your options.

Nothing as sinister as that.
Just wondering where you were training/fighting, if you were due to fight at an event near me. (Sydney)

Satanta

At 12-14 litres would you be in danger of hyponatremia?

It sounds like you know what you are doing but I think the average joe reading this thread should know that there are risks to severe over hydrating as well.

Will Heffernan

Mellor wrote: »

Nothing as sinister as that.
Just wondering where you were training/fighting, if you were due to fight at an event near me. (Sydney)

I love sinister.

I won't be fighting in Sydney anytime soon.

Will Heffernan

Satanta wrote: »

At 12-14 litres would you be in danger of hyponatremia?

It sounds like you know what you are doing but I think the average joe reading this thread should know that there are risks to severe over hydrating as well.

I am not sure whether you are talking to me or everyone posting in general...but yes, it's definitely an issue. As I stated experience and knowledge helps..that and knowing how much lite salt to use per litre per kilogram per hour when superhydrating to ensure that the athlete doesn't suffer any electrolyte disturbance.

As I said at the moderate weight cutting end it is fairly easy...at the more extreme end...doing it well is tricky.

Satanta

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I am not sure whether you are talking to me or everyone posting in general...but yes, it's definitely an issue. As I stated experience and knowledge helps..that and knowing how much lite salt to use per litre per kilogram per hour when superhydrating to ensure that the athlete doesn't suffer any electrolyte disturbance.

As I said at the moderate weight cutting end it is fairly easy...at the more extreme end...doing it well is tricky.

You or COH or whoever was talking about super hydration. I just didnt see a 'warning, only do this if you know what you are doing' message anywhere among the impressive stats about dropping large amounts of weight in a short period of time.

Will Heffernan

Satanta wrote: »

You or COH or whoever was talking about super hydration. I just didnt see a 'warning, only do this if you know what you are doing' message anywhere among the impressive stats about dropping large amounts of weight in a short period of time.

That's just because we're wild and reckless and have a devil may care kind of attitude...we're kind of like Danny and Sandy from Grease...only in this case if Sandy was a dude and she/he liked to cut weight.

Anyway...yes, you're correct. As I think I did mention...it shouldn't be attempted by children under the age of 18.....although now that I am thinking about it...how much cooler would school be if it was weight class regulated...I would of been forever cutting weight when I was in the 5th grade to kick the hell out of third graders at recess and lunch...cut weight over night...weigh ins at assembly in the morning...then hit the donuts and chocolate milk hard all morning till recess and rock their world.

Anyway....what were you saying again?

Oh that's right....water is dangerous....how many deaths are there from hyponatremia again every year? None? Maybe 1 every 5 or 10 years maybe?

That's probably why people race inside every time it rains.

Satanta

Will Heffernan wrote: »

That's probably why people race inside every time it rains.

No they dont.

thegreatiam

Satanta wrote: »

No they dont.

thats his point

Satanta

thegreatiam wrote: »

thats his point

Yep. I get his point thanks. I was being obtuse to the level that matches his facetiousness

Will Heffernan

Satanta wrote: »

Yep. I get his point thanks. I was being obtuse to the level that matches his facetiousness

Facetious? Are you calling me fat?

COH

Satanta wrote: »

You or COH or whoever was talking about super hydration. I just didnt see a 'warning, only do this if you know what you are doing' message anywhere among the impressive stats about dropping large amounts of weight in a short period of time.

Sorry. ahem....



WARNING - ONLY DO THIS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING


My one hope is that this safety message hasn't come too late

Thud

Damn you COH and Wil Heffernan!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GJcKuVGm8

WHIP IT!

I'm a little offended that nobody was even a little bit worried that I - the OP - might be dead due to a massive water-manipulation-related f*ck up...