No More Cutting Weight

[Gary Gibson]

I just tipped the scales at 182 lbs tonight. I've officially jumped TWO weight classes in two weeks; went from 165 to tonight's weight, top of the 75 kg to the bottom of the 90 kg. Didn't think I had it in me. And I'm only halfway through this (myofibrillar) mass-building cycle. It looks like I may coast over 185 by the time I'm ready for the taper.

Have only a vague idea if I'm much stronger at this point. The 10x5 in the squat is actually getting a little easier as I inch my way toward using 80% of my old max for ten sets of five (beltless!), so I guess I'm getting stronger there. My bench, however, is feeling pretty heavy and I'm still only at 90% of my best numbers from when I was weighing 175.

I'm not going to bother trying to cut again like I did to squeeze back into the 165 at the Maryland States (ironically the meet was canceled on account of the snowstorm). I hate that I have to rebuild strength because of the cut. It's ridiculous that a man my height should even be entertaining the thought of competing at 165 lbs. I'm not even going to bother trying to squeeze into the the 82.5 kg either. Going to hang out in the 90 kg (can't believe I'm really here!) for a while and get stronger there. Aiming to push my belt-only squat up as close to 600 lbs as I can before I hit 199-200 lbs.

[blowdpanis]

Just out of curiosity, what does your training program look like? I was thinking of doing something to jack up the volume at some point, and 10 sets of 5 might be...interesting.

[confuzzl3don3]

Dam good work Gary. On a similar note though, i was just wondering if there was any studies or evidence showing that such great fluctuations in weight is ok - healthwise. I'm not asking for my own sake, but more for my parents (mostly my mum, dad's pretty proud of me getting stronger ) My parents are worried that such great fluctuations in weight (weight loss, weight gain) would be bad for health reasons. If you guys remember i hit an anorexic phase in year 10 and my weight dropped from 52-53kg (yeh i was always a skinny shit) to 46kg. Parents freaked out, went to doctors, forced to eat more, yadayada. Went back up to peak of 60kg, and gradually without eating enough dropped back to 52kg. Then went back up to 57kg before finally going on SS where i've now gone up to 73kg.

Basically main thing is does anyone have any studies or evidence to show that weight fluctuations (more relevant is the great weight increase during SS) does not damage one's overall health.

[Cmanuel]

I thought you were a bit tall for 165 lol.
I use to hang out in the 198s, then when I moved this past May my weight slowly dropped from 195 to 185 without me trying to do so, all while getting stronger. So I've decided to cut to 180 and be done with it.
Props to you for finding a weight your comfortable at.

[hbriem]

Welcome to 90, Gary, I'm sure you'll do well at your new weight.

[Gary Gibson]

Just out of curiosity, what does your training program look like? I was thinking of doing something to jack up the volume at some point, and 10 sets of 5 might be...interesting.

It's very simple. Variations on lots of heavy, low-rep sets. You induce "a pump with heavy weight" and try to accumulate a little fatigue. 10x5 with short rests (under 3 minutes) will cause more myofibrillar growth than 10x3 with higher weight and longer rests, which would cause more strength adaptations...more like a greasing of the groove.

Bear is just PTTP's two heavy-ish sets of five followed by one more reduction in weight and then a bunch of sets with that. I try to get at least ten, but aim for twenty. When you get a significant form wobble, you stop.

Pins Into Pillars is just ten sets of five, but you start with just 50% or so of your max and then add 5-15 lbs (5 if your max is under 250, 10 if your max is 250-500 and 15 or more if your max is 500 or more) each session for the next 11 sessions. You can keep going if you have it in you, but I plan to switch to a taper of daily practice after hitting 325x5x10.

I like Bear for BP and PiP for SQ. I like PiP's cutoff point; really don't want to do more than ten sets of squats.

RE: weight fluctations

Well, remember that I let myself shrink for the meet-which-was-not-to-be. My real weight at that point was ~175. So think of it as a return to normal and then continued growth. My wake-up and post-voiding weight right now is 177 and I go up to 182 as I eat throughout the day (including the gallon of whole milk).

Looks like I'll be competing in the 82.5 kg in the Florida States only because getting under 182 doesn't require any cutting efforts right now. I just have to avoid eating until after weigh-ins and that's standard practice. I do expect, however, to be a lot closer to a wake-up weight of 181 (the limit is 181.9) by February 20.

The takeaway point is that I won't be doing much if any cutting till I hit 200 and want to compete in the 198. Again, at my height, I won't be really competitive till I'm at least at the top of the 198 (which was Rip's reply when I brought this up on his forum months ago).