Cutting Weight - Powerlifting, Strongman, Olympic Lifting
Cutting Weight - Powerlifting, Strongman, Olympic Lifting
Both powerlifting and strongman often offer 18-24hr weigh-ins prior to the start of the meet. This creates an opportunity for you to plan and manage your weight class with different objectives that cannot be realized when faced with a 2 hour weigh-in.
You may wonder why an athlete would wait to the last minute to cut weight instead of having the discipline to slowly diet down to the desired weight class over weeks or in some case months. The answer is simple: Performance. Properly managing your weight ABOVE your weight class can actually improve your performance on meet day. In this short piece I’ll detail the approach I take with the lifters that I coach.
In the slowly-dieting-down-to-a weight-class approach there are some negatives that come into play. Let’s take an athlete that’s 10-12lbs over their weight class. At two months out from competition this lifter will begin diet restrictions and slowly get down to their weight class for the meet. Unfortunately this will leave you training at a weight higher than you will be on meet day for majority of your training cycle. Of particular importance is the last 1-4 weeks when you’re finally getting close to your weight class. This is a time for 1) de-loading and 2) handling submaximal weights. These two factors combined give you a false sense of strength and don’t allow you to learn the impact of leverage changes due to weight loss. During the heavy training completed at one month out from competition you’re still quite a bit heavier than you will be on meet day. Additionally, in the last few weeks as you get close to the target weight, heavy lifts are reduced if not all together removed. You won’t get the chance to learn the balance and leverage changes at your meet day bodyweight. This approach may lead to underperforming or unrealistic meet day expectations.
Another important aspect to consider is taking advantage of the supercompensatory effects of both carbohydrate and water restrictions. A small weight cut and re-composition that can be done with an 18-24hr weigh-in can actually INCREASE performance on meet day when properly executed. The restriction period puts the body in a state of supercompensation. The body will take in and hold additional fluids and blood glucose that it wouldn’t normally retain. This is very similar to the supercompensation effect provided by weight training sessions. Typically anything over an 8lb cut isn’t going to net an increase in performance on meet day, and 5lbs for the lighter lifters. If done properly you can actually be a few pounds above your typical walking around weight on meet day after refueling and rehydrating giving the meet day performance boost.
With these factors in mind I like to see my athletes diet until they are 5-8lbs above their weight class at 4-6 weeks out from competition. This gives you the opportunity to spend several heavy weeks training at the weight you will be at on meet day. At one month out you can hit your max attempts (or close to) at your meet day weight and know exactly where you will be. Once the goal weight of 5-8lbs above your weight class is hit that weight must be sustained. If it begins dropping you need to UP your calories and keep your weight at the target.
To execute the weight cut, carbs are slowly cycled down over the last 3-4 days with zero carbs the day prior to weigh-ins. If you’re on the upper end of the weight loss spectrum, consider zero carbs two days prior. Water intake should be at 1 gallon a day the week prior to meet week with supplemented electrolytes (calcium 1000mg, magnesium 1000mg, and potassium 100mg all taken 2 times a day). Water is ramped up by ½ gallon a day to arrive at 2-2.5 gallons a day by 2 days out from weigh ins. Sodium intake is restricted to half normal daily amount at 2 days out and zero sodium the day prior to weigh-in. Water intake stays high keeping the athelete superhydrated till we cut off water at roughly 18hrs out. Timing may vary on this within a 12-24hr range based on actual weight to be cut and how the individual has responded in past. When water is cut off you should take 1500mg vitamin C, 2g of Dandelion root, and 1-2 Coors lights (or equivalent light beer) as your last fluid intake.
If any sauna time is needed, which it shouldn’t, do it at 15min on 15min off while making sure to fully dry off immediately upon exiting sauna each time. You want to be within 2lbs of your weight class when you go to bed the night before weigh ins, and this should have you at your desired weight upon waking. If your not there before bed that night then plan on sauna before bed to get to that point, or upon waking before weigh ins.
Food intake is allowed as either 4oz chicken on 2-3 occasions or a tablespoon of unsalted almond butter (or equivalent) the day prior to weighing in. Make sure the chicken has not been soaked in a salt solution is often the case.
Eat and drink all day post weigh in, forcefully pushing past state of being full. Mix in some pedialyte or Gatorade during the day and on meet day. Stay away from slow digesting heavy meals. Eat sweet and salty foods and nothing that has the potential of causing GI distress. Hitting some light training later that day after refueling and rehydrating with just a bar (I only use 1 plate) for a few 20 rep sets of Squats, Bench, Deadlifts, and Rows. This will help pull the fluids in through to your muscles and help everything fill out. NOT HEAVY, just enough to stimulate blood flow.
I do not recommend cutting more than 12lbs in this method unless you are chasing large world records or doing something very big. That’s elite level stuff that should not be ‘explored’ without an extreme understanding. I will not publish the modifications to this approach to achieve more weight loss. This is the reason I never list my actual walking around weight or my weight cut amounts in public forums.
Take this approach to the platform at your next meet. Now go out there and move some weight because… It’s time to get strong!
So… the beer thing is real? Last day of taking in fluids, drink a brewski? Is that a shotgun, simple chug or sip on it ’til it’s hot? Awesome article as usual.
Alcohol is a natural diuretic. very simple, with last fluid intake add in the diuretics to kick off the water loss process. Dandelion root works great as well. How you drink it doesn’t change the alcohol’s diuretic effect.
How would this differ for a 2 hour weigh-in?
Thanks!
Honestly I don’t have a lot of experience with 2hr weigh ins. This entire article was written with 12-24hr weigh ins in mind as disclosed in the introduction. I try not to speak to things I don’t have a level of expertise in. I would not plan on doing much of a loss or recomp with a 2hr weigh in if I was to do a meet beyond a few lbs.
Would you increase your protein and fat intake as the carbs slowly decrease over the week or just leave them both the same?
At this point calories don’t matter that much so it doesn’t matter your not going to gain or lose a significant amount of fat in a few days. The carbs allow you to hold extra glucose/water which is why they are cut out.
Not sure if you will see this, but I had a couple questions. Would a hypothetical water load for a Friday weigh in look like:
Monday-1.5gal
Tues- 2gal
Wed- 2.5 gal
Thurs cut water 18-24hr out?
Do you have any rough carb targets fro Mon-Wed before cutting them completely? Something like:
Monday-150g
Tues- 100g
Wed- 50g or less( Cut sodium in half)
Thurs-0g(no sodium)
I am about 15 over, and have made this cut before. Typically I will load water early in the week and taper, but would like to try your method of ramping. I will also usually cut sodium and carbs Monday, but honestly, no sodium is miserable for that many days.
Lastly do you keep sodium high in the beginning so the cut in half, brings you to a normal-ish level?
Thanks so much!
just make sure you salt food early in the cut. DO NOT OVER DO IT.
Carbs depend on how long it typically takes you to glycogen deplete. I wouldn’t worry to much with ramping them down in a specific fashion. just cut off early in the week.
Thanks Chris, I appreciate the response. My meet is next weekend.
What difference do you notice with ramping water intake up vs traditionally tapering down? Do you feel you stay hydrated longer into the week, and can pull water more abruptly that way?
And lastly should one avoid red meat and stick to just chicken and such?
It works very well with me.
Unfortunatelly I cut a lot of carbs the week prior of the deload week and I had to adjust that.
Thank you so much for the advise, this note is simple and awesome!
Regards from Argentina!
I was wondering if the glycogen depletion and loading post weigh in is the major reason for the possible performance enhancement and if so could the glycogen depletion and loading be used without the water loading as a means to gain that performance edge? Or would at least a minor water cut be require to help shuttling of glycogen into tissue? If so how much of a total cut would be ideal?
4-6lbs in my experience.
I recently followed this plan for a wrestling tournament with a single day before weigh in and felt great competing! However, weigh-ins are usually morning of competition for each day. Some large tournaments require competitors to weigh in 3 times over 3 days of wrestling. Would you recommend your style weight cut for these kind of tournaments?
No. I would get my weight down to where I was at that weight if I had to weigh in 3 times over the 3 days. Up and down that much will play havoc on your body.
I used this method to cut for the NASA Nationals meet back in February. (Minus the beer because I’m 20.) Before I cut down I was weighing about 223. When I weighed in 18 hours early, I was at 212. I did notice an increase in performance. Everything about the meet felt better. My warm-ups felt light, and my body felt right. I hit a 730 kilo total, beating my previous best total by 17.5 kilos. Thank you for all the knowledge you share with us.
P.S. From watching you’re squat videos with Mark Bell, my squat has increased from 545 to 675 in about 8 months. Without learning to stabilize my core, I would likely be struggling with 585 right now. Or my back would be toast. Thanks, again.
Thanks for the feedback Darrell and glad everything is working for you! Cant complain about 130lbs on your squat in 8 months!