I’m preparing for my first show in March and I am about 4 weeks out. I have heard that strength loss occurs while you are dieting precontest. I have lost some strength. I have had to decrease the weight by about 10 lbs on just about every barbell exercise. I am wondering is losing this much strength normal? I have lost about 22 pounds of bodyweight.
I don’t think 10lb of each barbell exercise is anything to worry about. Last time I competed my squat and deadlift went down by around 45lb and bench press about 30lb, by the end of the diet.
Within 4 weeks of eating normally again (read- stuffing my face stupid) I had performed personal best lifts on all three. I don’t know about others who’ve competed, but the gains afterwards far exceed the drop in strength beforehand.
Wheels
Hang in for those last few weeks.
Thanks bro!
[quote]Bigbigsize wrote:
Thanks bro![/quote]
Why are you dieting down that much before a contest? you should train closer to the bodyweight you want to compete at.
[quote]ironheadpl wrote:
Bigbigsize wrote:
Thanks bro!
Why are you dieting down that much before a contest? you should train closer to the bodyweight you want to compete at.[/quote]
If you can stay at a weight year 'round where you only need to lose 10-15lbs to place well in a show, God Bless Ya.
I sure as shit can’t
I think that strength loss is something we should try to avoid as long as possible while dieting and if it happens to soon it can be an indicator of muscle loss due to dieting to radical. Now saying that I also think it’s unavoidable in the last 4 weeks IF your lean enough. For my last show I did a long slow process of dieting and my stregth went down without me paying attention and I think it hurt me in the long run. This time around every 8 weeks I’m adding in 3 weeks of strength training and really watching my weights. Good luck, Thad