Water cutting for a powerlifting meet.

maranarasauce93

So I'm about 7 weeks out from my meet and I want to list somewhere around 6-8lbs to help my wilks score while staying in the 63kg weight class; I'm currently 136lbs so on the heavier end of that spectrum. I heard that water cutting is a great strategy to lose weight in a short period of time, but I have never done one before. So how does one go about this as safely as possible? Only looking for responses from people with experience doing water cuts. Ps: weigh ins are 2 hours before the meet, not 24hrs.

jemhh

I have no advice specific to water cutting to give but I would suggest posting this in the Fitness and Exercise area, as you might get advice specific to cutting for weight classes there.

maranarasauce93

jemhh wrote: »

I have no advice specific to water cutting to give but I would suggest posting this in the Fitness and Exercise area, as you might get advice specific to cutting for weight classes there.

Yeah wasn't sure what category this would fall into because it pertains to weight loss but it's not a long term diet solution.

Gallowmere1984

Dude, if you only have a 2hr window, don't run a rapid water cut. Start now and see what you can peel off gradually.

Trying to watershed and not being able to do a supercomp for your efforts is just going to leave you dehydrated as hell and weak as *kitten*. Two hours is not enough time for your body to put that water back where it needs to be, and best case, you'll end up feeling like a waterlogged corpse if you try.

juliewatkin

Have you done many meets before? I'm just curious as to why you'd want to cut as opposed to go in at the top of the weight class? I understand you want a better wilks but is there a reason you want one?

I've been competing for 8 years and have done water manipulation to cut weight many times. I typically drink 4 litres a day Monday-Thursday of a Saturday meet along with something like Xpel which is a natural diuretic containing vitamin B, dandelion root etc. If you compete in a tested federation, you have to pay attention to things like that as hardcore diuretics are banned. Meet day, after weigh in I drink pedialyte and eat whatever. My stomach is usually dodgy at a meet so I don't go crazy.

My recommendation, however, is just lift at the top of your weight class and be as strong as you can. *kitten* moves mass.

TR0berts

maranarasauce93 wrote: »

Ps: weigh ins are 2 hours before the meet, not 24hrs.

In that case, I highly recommend against trying to cut water weight. Cutting water weight tends to leave you tired - which you don't want the day of your meet. If it were the night before? Maybe.

maranarasauce93

juliewatkin wrote: »

Have you done many meets before? I'm just curious as to why you'd want to cut as opposed to go in at the top of the weight class? I understand you want a better wilks but is there a reason you want one?

I've been competing for 8 years and have done water manipulation to cut weight many times. I typically drink 4 litres a day Monday-Thursday of a Saturday meet along with something like Xpel which is a natural diuretic containing vitamin B, dandelion root etc. If you compete in a tested federation, you have to pay attention to things like that as hardcore diuretics are banned. Meet day, after weigh in I drink pedialyte and eat whatever. My stomach is usually dodgy at a meet so I don't go crazy.

My recommendation, however, is just lift at the top of your weight class and be as strong as you can. *kitten* moves mass.

This is only going to be my 3rd meet and I only started competing in may, so you could say I am definitely new. I'm just super nervous going into this meet because we just got notified that it's going to be a huge 2 platform meet, and there are going to be some strong 63kgers competing. I didn't cut for my previous meets but they were way smaller and now I'm kind of wanting to do whatever I can to help with you wilks score.

If water cutting is too drastic what would be recommended for me to do in this time frame? Even to lose a few pounds in a slightly slower process would be good.

SonyaCele

Since your weigh in is 2 hours prior, if it was me i would definitely not even try and go in dehydrated. Also if you are going to lose 6-8 pounds in the next 7 weeks, that's gonna put you in a deficit, part of that 8 lbs will be muscle loss, and your strength will suffer.
when i'm training for a meet, i stay nourished and healthy and never mess with the chems in my body. if you dehydrate for your weigh in, there is no way you can successfully re-hydrate in those 2 hours, If you're weigh in was 24 hours prior, you could safely and maybe successfully do a water cut. but not 2 hours prior. thats my opinion.

You could do a trial run and do a water cut exactly how you'd do it the day of your meet, and then go to the gym and do your lifts, and see how it goes. If you feel fine and like the results, then you are good to go. If not, at least you found out.

extraordinary_machine

What ^this^ guy said. In 7 weeks, you could do 6 lbs by cutting carbs, maybe cutting some cals (you should be close to your peak and deload/rest week so it won't impact performance,) watching sodium and other things that make you bloat. With a 2 hour weigh in, that would suck. If you're still a pound or two high the day of, you can sit in a sauna or a hot bath for a bit before your weigh in--and don't eat before weigh in and have very little water, then refeed and rehydrate after.

If you're still dead set on the water cut, do it closer to the meet. Read this blog:
http://www.belleofthebar.org/2016/01/my-first-water-cut.html and check out their FB page. Lots of knowledgable women.

Finally, it's your first meet--maybe you don't worry about being "competitive" for it, and just go for the experience and have fun. There's a good chance that you'll be nervous enough about it--there's a ton of stuff to remember, commands, your opener, etc. that stressing yourself out about cutting weight isn't worth it. You have plenty of time to worry about that.

Good luck, the PL community is awesome!

maranarasauce93

extraordinary_machine wrote: »

What ^this^ guy said. In 7 weeks, you could do 6 lbs by cutting carbs, maybe cutting some cals (you should be close to your peak and deload/rest week so it won't impact performance,) watching sodium and other things that make you bloat. With a 2 hour weigh in, that would suck. If you're still a pound or two high the day of, you can sit in a sauna or a hot bath for a bit before your weigh in--and don't eat before weigh in and have very little water, then refeed and rehydrate after.

If you're still dead set on the water cut, do it closer to the meet. Read this blog:
http://www.belleofthebar.org/2016/01/my-first-water-cut.html and check out their FB page. Lots of knowledgable women.

Finally, it's your first meet--maybe you don't worry about being "competitive" for it, and just go for the experience and have fun. There's a good chance that you'll be nervous enough about it--there's a ton of stuff to remember, commands, your opener, etc. that stressing yourself out about cutting weight isn't worth it. You have plenty of time to worry about that.

Good luck, the PL community is awesome!

Not my first meet-- this is my 3rd but the first one I'm taking seriously/ want to improve wilks for. I want to eventually compete as a 57kg lifter and want to go to nationals; my total is nowhere near the amount for 63kg lifters, which is 325kg. I'm terrible with strategy but that is the ultimate goal!

After all this advice against water cutting, I think I'm gonna play it safe and eat on a deficit. The one trouble I have with macro tracking these days is coming across my family's home cooked meals. Ex: my mom wants to make some sort of turkey and stuffing croquette for dinner tonight. She does not know the exact serving size in what she is making so how do I calculate protein, carbs and fat for serving when I don't know all of the ingredients she used and how much she used?

extraordinary_machine

Sorry, mis-read your post.

WRT tracking your macros, eyeball it as best you can and use your hunger cues as to when to stop--stopping before you're full should work out out in your favor.

grob49

SonyaCele wrote: »

Since your weigh in is 2 hours prior, if it was me i would definitely not even try and go in dehydrated. Also if you are going to lose 6-8 pounds in the next 7 weeks, that's gonna put you in a deficit, part of that 8 lbs will be muscle loss, and your strength will suffer.
when i'm training for a meet, i stay nourished and healthy and never mess with the chems in my body. if you dehydrate for your weigh in, there is no way you can successfully re-hydrate in those 2 hours, If you're weigh in was 24 hours prior, you could safely and maybe successfully do a water cut. but not 2 hours prior. thats my opinion.

You could do a trial run and do a water cut exactly how you'd do it the day of your meet, and then go to the gym and do your lifts, and see how it goes. If you feel fine and like the results, then you are good to go. If not, at least you found out.

I agree 2 hours is not enough time to rehydrate. I have lost 5lbs the day before a meet by sweating and then rehydrate after the way in but I had all night to do it.

maranarasauce93

extraordinary_machine wrote: »

What ^this^ guy said. In 7 weeks, you could do 6 lbs by cutting carbs, maybe cutting some cals (you should be close to your peak and deload/rest week so it won't impact performance,) watching sodium and other things that make you bloat. With a 2 hour weigh in, that would suck. If you're still a pound or two high the day of, you can sit in a sauna or a hot bath for a bit before your weigh in--and don't eat before weigh in and have very little water, then refeed and rehydrate after.

If you're still dead set on the water cut, do it closer to the meet. Read this blog:
http://www.belleofthebar.org/2016/01/my-first-water-cut.html and check out their FB page. Lots of knowledgable women.

Finally, it's your first meet--maybe you don't worry about being "competitive" for it, and just go for the experience and have fun. There's a good chance that you'll be nervous enough about it--there's a ton of stuff to remember, commands, your opener, etc. that stressing yourself out about cutting weight isn't worth it. You have plenty of time to worry about that.

Good luck, the PL community is awesome!

Btw I've been in the BOTB facebook group and love those ladies! I'll be sure to look at that blog post for future reference, especially for when I decide to drop down to 57kg.