Cut 9.3 pounds in 7 days?

Cut 9.3 Pounds in Seven Days?

I will be competing in the American Powerlifting Federation Pennsylvania State Championships on Saturday, September 2, 2006. The contest starts at 9:30 am.

Weigh-ins for the contest is the day before, Friday, 9-11 am. I weighed 123.8 this morning, one week before (Friday, 8/25). So if I go 123s as I’ve been planning, all I have is 0.3 pounds to lose since the actual limit is 123.5. That’s just a matter of going to the bathroom.

However, I am thinking I will try cutting to 114s. The limit is 114.5, so I would have 9.3 pounds to lose in seven days. For someone my size that is a lot, but doable.

I will be competing in the masters (40-49) division. There are no weight classes for the masters at this contest. Awards will be by the Glossbrenner formula. But the pound-for-pound placing for masters would actually make it “safer” to cut. Normally, if you try to cut to a lower class and can’t make it, then that is very problematic. You lose strength for nothing. But at this meet, even if I don’t actually make it down to 114, weighing in lighter will help for the formula placing.

But if I can make it down to 114.5, that will help in regards to my placement on next year’s Top 100 and Top 20 Masters charts. I know I will place higher at 114s than 123s. Also, all of the APF American records at 123s are out of my reach, but I can easily break all of the records at 114s. So it simply makes sense to try and make 114s.

My plan for cutting the weight is as follows. First I will stop using creatine. I used it after my workout on Wednesday, but I won’t use it again. So my final squat workout today and final bench workout on Sunday should deplete the creatine stores. I can usually count of losing 2-3 pounds just by doing that.

Second I will cut the carbs starting after my workout today, so I won’t add a carb source to my post-workout drink as I usually do. That way, I won’t replenish the glycogen in my legs. Then my bench workout on Sunday should deplete the glycogen in my upper body. I’m just hoping I won’t be dragging too much for that workout. Then after that, I might go for a couple of walks next week. That should deplete the rest of my glycogen. Once my glycogen stores are depleted, that should make for another loss of 2-3 pounds.

Third, from there, it will be a matter of salt and water manipulation. What I’ve done before is *increase* my salt and water intake on Monday and Tuesday, then cut salt as much as possible Wednesday, then restrict fluids as need be on Thursday. The reason for increasing the first two days is you body gets used to excreting the extra salt and water. Then when you cut back, it keeps excreting “extra” salt and water for a couple of days.

Then Thursday, I might eat a very light breakfast, then fast the rest of day. Hopefully, that will do it. I’m hoping I won’t have to resort to laxatives or diuretics.

With cutting weight, I might have to rethink my tentative attempts, maybe drop my openers some. The APF rulebook says you can change your openers up to five minutes before your flight begins. So maybe I can wait to see how my warm-ups go, then drop my openers if need be.

However, with weigh-ins 24 hours before the contest, I am hoping that I will be able to get my weight back up to close to what it is now. So maybe my strength won’t take a hit.

My procedure will simply be the opposite of above. I will creatine load and carb load throughout the day on Friday and Saturday morning, along with consuming ample amounts of salt and fluids.

So that is my plan. I’ll post an update on this page on how things work out after the contest.
8/25/06

Made Weight (Barely)

I made weight this morning, but barely. I was still 120.0 yesterday morning. So I had 5.5 pounds to lose to make the limit of 114.5. I didn’t eat or drink anything all day. And let me tell you, the latter was *really* difficult. When the dry mouth got too much, I rinsed my mouth with cold water or sucked on an ice cube. That would help some.

I was still more than four pounds over last night, so I took a really hot bath. That knocked off a pound. First thing this morning, I was still more than two pounds over. So I took another bath, and it helped that I was able to “move my bowels” as well. But when I first weighed in, I was still more than half a pound over.

I spit for a while, walked around some, and tried to take a leak. But I was so dehydrated at that point that nothing would come out! After about half an hour, I tried weighing in a second time, but I was still a little over. So more spitting for another half an hour, and I finally made weight!

So now I’m eating and most importantly re-hydrating. I’ll probably weigh myself in the morning to see where my weight is. Hopefully, I can get it back up to 120. Then it’s off to the contest. I’ll post a contest report next week.
9/1/06

See APF PA States Powerlifting Championship - 2006 for details on how this all worked out.

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