Hello, I’m new here and I looked on so many places online for help. I’m a female karate athlete and I will be competing in Brazil for a major tournament. My only issues is my weight. I have to drop down to 55 kg and I am currently between 57 and 58. My weigh ins will be on Aug 19th but I will not fight until the 21st, so I’ll have time to recover.
Depends on what facilities you have available to you. Do you live down there, or are you traveling to the tournament (internationally of otherwise)?
If you will have access to a sauna, a 5-6 pound water cut is pretty simple. Time consuming, but simple. Some people will do some form of exercise in the sauna, I personally am not a big fan of that as you will be burning a lot of energy that way rather than just dropping water. My recommendation would be to put on a sweat suit and go for a jog (outside, treadmill, whatever) or some similar type of cardio to get the sweat started, then go sit in the sauna (you will be there a while - I used to do about 15-20 minutes in and 5-10 out to avoid overheating). Limit your water intake around that time period also, especially between the sauna and weigh in. If you get dry mouth and just have to get some liquid in, use a capful or so of water, just enough to throw in your mouth and swish around (not an actual drink). The couple times I did this, I usually did two sessions in the sauna - one the night before and one the day of (I was also weighing in same day as fight, so you have a bit more leeway). I used to have an idea of how long in the sauna equaled how much weight lost (for me) once I toweled off. Problem is you won’t be able to check without stripping down, toweling off and weighing (and potentially having to put it all back on and get back in the sauna). My recommendation is to do a session in the sauna the night before weigh in - at the end of it towel off really well (don’t shower) and weigh to see where you are. Weigh again the next morning - that way if you need to cut a little more you have the time and it’s not a surprise. My goal was usually at least a pound under fight weight to account for variance between scales or whatever.
You are right at a week out, you can also cut calories from now until then - even if you don’t lose all of the weight this way, it puts you closer to your fight weight and makes the water cut easier.
When you head to the venue for weigh in, take rehydration liquids with you (Gatorade, Powerade, Pedialyte, etc, or just plain old fashioned water). After you weigh in (make sure it is recorded so no mistakes are made to screw you), start drinking and eating - the point of cutting weight is to drop, make weight, and then put it all back on quickly so you are fully fueled and fighting at your best.
@boatguy I will be traveling there internationally and actually will arrive three days before the weigh ins. Unfortunately, my hotel will not have a sauna, but they do have a fitness room and I have a sauna suit.