The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: Giro on August 25, 2015, 01:09:19 PM
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I made a goal this year to compete in one competition to do with body building. I will be doing a bench press competition on Saturday. I want to get down 3 more pounds but I don't want to lose any muscle. I've only trained the past two weeks, so I know I'm not really competitive and my bench is my WORST lift. But, it was something to focus on and also take myself out of my comfort zone. I'm very much an introvert so a public competition is REALLY out of my comfort zone.
Safe way to lose a few pounds?
I know boxer, wrestlers etc do this kinda thing all the time. But they get a day to gain weight back, the competition has the weight in and then immediately starts.
I'm female btw, so 3 pounds is quite a bit of weight for me.
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Water weight will be he easiest/fastest way. 3lb is about one good hard workout if your well hydrated already. Make weight. Drink 36 oz of water.
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I recommend checking out Lyle McDonalds Rapid Fat Loss Handbook
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It depends on where you are starting from. If you are 110 5% BF good luck....
If you are a more average female, cut back a bit on food, avoid salt, and drink a lot of water through Thursday. Limit food and water a lot on Friday. Do a few hard workouts that make you sweat a lot. If you are really struggling wear a sweatsuit in a sauna (be careful).
This obviously isn't the ideal (or permanent) way to lose weight, but it's essentially what we did on the wrestling team in high school.
After weigh in and before competition drink water and eat something salty.
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Cutting the water weight is relatively easy, by which I mean it sucks to be dehydrated for three days but you can definitely drop three pounds of water even as a newbie weight cutter. Just exercise without drinking anything.
The problem is that dehydration strongly impacts your performance. Even an hour or two between weigh in and lifting will make a difference. If they're literally second apart, you have to accept that your lifts will have to be lighter if you're dehydrated, or your lifts can max out but you won't make weight.
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I'm at 138 and about 13-14% BF. I used the bod pod months ago so I'm probably close in my estimate with that. I DEFINITELY should be able to lose 3 lousy pounds but I suck at losing numbers on a scale. I usually get strong and go up in weight. Or lose weight and go down in strength.
I'm reading thru the fat loss handbook. I may just have to do the dehydration thing at this stage in the game.
:/
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I've participated in a few meets and competed at one, but everyone had 2 hrs post weigh in before the competition starts. This may be a USAW rule so doesn't mean it applies to any of the powerlifting federations.
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I managed to lose a quick few pounds in April by dramatically cutting down salt intake and eating lots of lots of carrots added to everything. (Carrots were inexpensive at the time.) Oddly, I did drink much more water than usual. I think salt somehow bloats us and causes water retention in cells? Anyway, not a diet I read about online or anything, just seemed like a good idea and it worked.
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Cutting the water weight is relatively easy, by which I mean it sucks to be dehydrated for three days but you can definitely drop three pounds of water even as a newbie weight cutter. Just exercise without drinking anything.
The problem is that dehydration strongly impacts your performance. Even an hour or two between weigh in and lifting will make a difference. If they're literally second apart, you have to accept that your lifts will have to be lighter if you're dehydrated, or your lifts can max out but you won't make weight.
This is what I'm afraid of. I'll make weight but won't be able to push anything. I should've started training earlier and did a trial run.
They also weigh in the morning and I have never weighed myself in the morning before. I'll check tomorrow morning to see where I am. I'm drinking buckets of water right now.
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And my partners are trying to convince me to drink 2 beers on Friday night to give me strength for Saturday. 1. I don't drink beer and I'll probably be sick to my stomach and 2. that doesn't help the weigh in WHAT-SO-EVER!
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You mean a Powerlifting Meet I assume?
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No problem. You're just manipulating water weight. http://fourhourworkweek.com/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/
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You mean a Powerlifting Meet I assume?
Yes sir. It's a pound for pound bench press competition.
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They also weigh in the morning and I have never weighed myself in the morning before. I'll check tomorrow morning to see where I am. I'm drinking buckets of water right now.
I suspect this will be to your advantage. I used to compete in powerlifting and now in another weight classified sport (Brazilian jiu jitsu). I find that I'm usually a bit lighter in the morning, as I haven't had anything to drink overnight and have sweated out some water weight.
Cutting water weight is the way to go at this point. Limiting your carbs will help with this, although it may also have a negative effect on your performance. Having some carbs on the morning of the event might help to ensure enough muscle glycogen and combat performance decrements. Pay attention to the weight of your food and drink intake on the day though, as a litre of water weighs a kilo.
The rules may be different in the US but for the UK powerlifting federation I competed in, there was always an hour between the end of the weigh in and the start of the competition. If you can be first in line for the weigh in (depends on whether they specify an order for this), you might have even more time to get some food and drink down your neck. Don't over do it though. I once saw a guy projectile vomit all over the bar and lifting platform when he reached the top of the deadlift because he'd had too much energy drink!
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I've been researching on this quite a bit. This is very interesting. It's a little late for me to do the hydrate/dehydrate thingy in it's entirety but if all goes well, I'll try it on my next event.
I know I'm not competitive for this one, but I want the experience and to push myself to see what I can do.
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If you are doing any sort of dehyrating the night before, bring Pedialyte to the meet. It doesn't jack up your stomach the way gatorade etc do. Also If you get more than 2 hours between weigh in and lift time you can get quite a bit of food down, throwing up isn't as much of a problem with benching like it is with deadlifting. Otherwise just remember hard arch and drive the heels!
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I competed in boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and the like. I've cut weight many times . . . everything from just not eating the morning of the competition, taking laxatives (don't do this), running laps and skipping in a plastic garbage bag an hour before weigh in, to eating very clean for three or four weeks beforehand. Three pounds is not a hell of a lot, so don't be too worried. I'm assuming you have a very accurate scale that you're using? (You don't want to go through all the effort of cutting weight to weigh in eight lbs under on competition day because your scale is heavy - been there, done that).
If the weigh-ins are very close to competition, you will end up hurting your performance more than helping it if you cut much weight via dehydration (For myself, any lower than 1% of normal bodyweight via sweating it out). Your body can only absorb so much liquid each hour . . . and competing dehydrated does affect your strength. The most that I would do in your situation is nearly completely cut salt out of my diet the day before . . . your body will retain less water overnight and into the next day by doing this, which can knock a few lbs off. Your body is always lighter in the morning (when I was competing at 195, I'd be 195 in the morning and 200 in the evening before bed). Try to get into a habit of taking a crap first thing in the morning to shave off a few more ounces. Weigh yourself every time you eat something and drink something on the morning of the competition to ensure you don't go over the limit.
Remember to try all this stuff a month or two before the tournament so that you know exactly how your body will react.
If you had more weight to drop, it's just a matter of getting into shape. Start eating very clean. Reduce your bad carb intake by a lot and increase your protein consumption to reduce muscle loss (you'll lose some no matter what you do, but this limits it). It's important to keep weighing yourself a couple times each day when doing this . . . because it's easy to lose too much weight which will impact your strength. If you're dropping too far, eat more. Keep your work load normal to maintain your muscle mass right up until the last week or so where you start tapering so that you go into the tournament fresh.
PS - It's a whole different scenario when they give you half a day or more between weigh in and competition though . . . shit gets pretty miserable. Close weigh-ins are my preference for that reason.
PPS - After a few dozen tournaments where I cut weight heavily, it really stopped being worth it. You can be five or six lbs under the max for your category and still rock the competition . . . and it's a lot less stress this way.
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I got really scared of losing strength so I didn't go crazy with this. I did end up winning overall for women. Woo. It was fun. I had my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday afternoon and didn't get close to my max lift but I watched the other women and did enough to win. I'm still a little loopy from the vico den. Yuk.
I'd do it again and this time no oral surgery.
Thanks everyone.
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Congrats on the win and all the best with the lack of wisdom :)
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Congrats
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Good strategy, pull wisdom teeth to lose weight. LOL JK I'm sure that's not why you did it
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Awesome. I'll concur that was a bit aggressive method to lose an ounce or two, but one I can still use if needed. Did the teeth or the blood weigh more?
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Awesome. I'll concur that was a bit aggressive method to lose an ounce or two, but one I can still use if needed. Did the teeth or the blood weigh more?
Nice. +1