When Should I Lose The Weight?

I’m looking for a little advise here. I just had a meet last month and did pretty well. I currently weigh 235. I am not going to compete again until next Spring. I want to get into the 220 class. Should I drop the pounds now or wait until later? It seems like a double edged sword. If I drop the pounds now I will have plenty of time to regain any lost strength. If I hold off I can gain more power. For the record I’m not fat, but I have room to lose the weight. Thanks.

The answer most people are gonna give you is to not worry about your weight, worry about your strength. But, if you are set on competing at 220 I’m not gonna tell you otherwise. I cut weight like a complete idiot for high school wrestling, so I can definitely tell you how not to do it.

The main thing would be, don’t wait until the last minute. Play the water weight game, but don’t be so dehydrated you tear something. There’s probly a few decent ways to go about it, but I would advise spending the next few months slowly dropping weight and maintaining strength.

You are talking about losing 6% of your bodyweight here, and a good chunk of it can be water. Should be plenty doable. I weigh about 230 right now, and if I didn’t eat anything for 24 hours, hit the treadmill for 2 hours, I could weigh in at well under 220 tomorrow. And my lifts would probly suffer for it, although I don’t think by too much.

I imagine you could make weight from 235 and hit the 220’s, I know I can hit 181 from 195.