Competitive lifters, how do you manage your weight?

[marcf]

How do you manage your weight when you're competing? Do you normally stay just a few pounds above your weight class and do a small cut the week of the meet? Or are you 10+ pounds above your weight class and start cutting in the weeks leading up to the meet?

I did my first meet earlier this year and was underweight by 5 pounds, but I didn't care because it was my first meet. Same goes for my second one coming up because it's a different federation, and the weight classes are different.

I'm going to do another meet a few months after that one and I'm actually going to want to stay in the 110kg/242lb class this time around. I actually weigh just about that now.

[Leah Lutz]

These days I stay within about 5 lbs above or below by weigh in weight. I don't vary more than that because I don't need to be lighter even though my screwed up brain sometimes thinks I need to be lighter. I don't need to be heavier than that because I'm not going to move up a class, cutting too much weight for a 2 hour weigh in sucks, there are now a bunch of technical reasons I don't like to "feel" too different in training, and I need to be a smarter lifter more than I need to be a heavier lifter.

A large cut for a 2 hour weigh in is not fun, and it can add a whole new level of stress that hardly anyone needs to add.

[marcf]

A large cut for a 2 hour weigh in is not fun, and it can add a whole new level of stress that hardly anyone needs to add.

That does seem intense when I hear of people doing that. My biggest issue with a 2-hour weigh-in is having to wake up so damn early.

The USAPL/IPF weight classes currently have me not caring so much about my 242lbs walking weight. I don't want to cut 11 pounds, but I sure as hell am not gonna bulk to 261. I wish the gaps were a bit smaller.

[Simon Rest]

SHWs don't need to worry about that shit.....

[lou t]

Leah is spot on. a big cut to make weight is very stressful. If you manage your weight correctly you won't need to be in the position. 5lbs under is fine.

[Walter Palmer]

I compete at 220 and try to walk around at 228. If I do that, I taper down to around 222-223 starting about 3 weeks out and then can easily cut 3-4 pounds the four days before the meet via water and carb manipulation. A 10+ lb. cut, for most people, impacts performance. I also find that I have a harder time cutting weight as I age and that is not really surprising.

[Eric K]

If I'm competing in a 2-hr weigh in fed, I'd be comfortable at +7, and could probably still make it at +10, but with performance consequences. I water cut 20 in a week for a 24 hour weigh in (12 on the last day) and didn't have much trouble other than screwing up the refeed and getting a stomach ache (pro-tip: low fat, high glycemic carbs, with salt and water/gatorade for the first few hours if you've lost that much in a week). I have competed at 220, and 181. The 20 lbs water cut was for the 181 class at USPA Nationals.

Water cuts are pretty straight forward, but if you don't want to mess with it, then keeping your weight at +5 and watching what you eat that week should do fine, especially at 242, where 5 lbs might be a slightly above average dump. Also, track your weight regularly so that you have a better idea how your weight behaves. For example, it's pretty typical for me to lose 2-3 pounds overnight.

One of the biggest problems with a big cut isn't so much the muscle performance, but the "feel" of your lifts, especially the squat. If you want to consider any kind of weight manipulation, I would recommend trying it out in between meets to see how you respond. Good luck.

[Tom Narvaez]

I usually don't let my 2hr guys cut much more than ~3kg the day before.

I think you can do more like ~5% with a 24hr weigh-in before you start to run into issues. Obviously, 10-15% cuts have been done with 24hrs but, with each additional pound in that range, you're starting to risk more than just performance loss.

[Leah Lutz]

That does seem intense when I hear of people doing that. My biggest issue with a 2-hour weigh-in is having to wake up so damn early.

The USAPL/IPF weight classes currently have me not caring so much about my 242lbs walking weight. I don't want to cut 11 pounds, but I sure as hell am not gonna bulk to 261. I wish the gaps were a bit smaller.

Will it give you a competitive advantage to drop a weight class? Do you want to lean out anyway?

I can understand choosing to not move up. I'm not going to go up to the 84 classes I have zero reason to do that. I CAN be a 63 lifter, but it gets really, really tough for me to keep my smile at that weight. It's a fairly straight-forward choice for me right now: happy and fairly easy food life at 72 or grumpy, frustrated, and very unhappy food life at 63. Training goes better when you don't feel hungry too. I have Jen Thompson who will out total me at 63 and Priscilla Ribic who will out total me at 72. So I am a 72. And I now tend to weigh in several kilos light simply because I drop weight during meet week, even when I eat more, and then I might manipulate water/salt a bit for a higher wilkes. Because you know that matters SOOOO much. Haha.

Really I'm just pointing out that while weight classes and manipulation are part of the game, for most of us there's no need to do a big cut, just to cut.

[Sean Herbison]

I can understand choosing to not move up.

Yeah, especially for those of us in the 264 class who don't want to gain 70 lbs to be competitive.

Though competitive is a relative term anyway and context matters. At smaller meets, I've seen plenty of heavyweights putting up lighter totals because they're just butterballs.