I am doing my first official powerlifting meet in 3.5 weeks. I did a meet about 6 weeks ago that was just an open competition, and I didn’t worry about weight for that, just had fun and got an idea of what it was like.
My aim is to lift in the 75kg category - that is 165lbs.
My current weight is 78kg - 172 lbs.
Do you think I am in a good position weight wise? Should I just maintain this weight until a week before then water cut? Or should I be cutting from now about 1lb a week just to make it easier?
7lbs can be done in a little more than a day. But not a good idea for 2 hour weigh in if it is. Also how tall are you if your over 5’7" I wouldnt cut the weight cause thats already light fire the height
Since its a real first meet I wouldnt cut especially at your height. Youll fill out the 181 class soon enough. I’m 5’8" and cut from high 180s to the 181 class and although I look fairly big I know I’m destined to be 198+. I’m just taking my time as I’m very competitive as a 181
I’m happy to cut for this as all year I’ve trained with this competition in mind as I have a very good chance of qualifying for the British championships in November in this weight category.
I did my first meet (an unofficial one) a couple of months ago and didn’t cut for that. However this is a full on competitive one.
I’m tempted to try and stay within the 75kg / 165lbs category permanently as I’m not amazingly strong but in that weight category I can at least have a chance of qualifying and getting somewhere. If I went up a category I would get destroyed.
If you are competitive on the 165 class you should do decent as a 181. What kind of numbers are you at? if you do cut be prepared to not hit what you want or have to grind it. Thats what happens to me when I cut, the weight still moves it just feels heavier than normal. You don’t want to be that light at that height, its going to be hard to gain strength. I would say go in the 181s and be competitive next comp
E.g. Cut 5-6lbs of water for the weigh in, then over the next 24 hours just eat a ton load of food and replenish yourself?
My numbers on the last competition was:
Squat: 180kg (396lbs)
Bench: 115kg (253lbs) - I could have done more I think
Deadlift: 190kg (418lbs)
**TOTAL: 485kg / 1069lbs **
My training since that competition has been really bad. Had a bad hip, and some lower back issues. It’s a bit better now, but I’ve barely lifted anything heavy since, and anything on the deadlift feels heavy.
Not sure if that sort of thing is normal following a competition
Depends how much you cut as well as the person. I cut more than I needed so I could see wha I could get away with. I went from like 188 to 175.75. When I was about 180 I still felt normal. The extra weight was from the sauna and killed me a bit. You might not have much change in strength but theres really no need to cut. I did a comp 5 years ago and totaled 1170 @ 166 cause I didn’t care what weight I was at since I was just starting.
Always go in strong. If you don’t do as well just to make a particular class, you won’t be very pleased that you just wasted all your training for that meet. The goal is not about winning a particular class, the goal is always about getting better/stronger than the last time you competed. Does anyone really care if you took first place? Prob not. You should always care more about setting PR’s in competition.