powerlifting & bulking/cutting

kellysmith410
kellysmith410 Posts: 58 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi!

Had a quick nutrition question and hoping that experienced powerlifting athletes can give me some advice.

I'm training for my first meet - memorial day weekend (9 weeks - can't wait!)

Do any of you who powerlift cut and/or bulk? Do you think it's necessary?
The reason I ask is I'm doing a very very modest bulk right now, as I felt eating a maintenance wasn't really helping my strength all that much and I felt I was too skinny/scrawny (was about 123 pounds at 5'4").

I started this around the end of December and I'm now sitting at around 129-132 pounds and I feel comfortable where I am weight wise and am a little nervous/hesitant about gaining more.

Normally I would just drop back down to maintenance but am worried this might hurt my progress since I am preparing for my meet currently.

Any advice? Would going back down to maintenance (about 2000 cals) be a detriment to me at this point? Should I just wait until after my meet?

Thanks for any advice!

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Willbenchforcupcakes wrote: »
    Honestly, first meet? Eat at maintenance and enjoy the experience.

    It's your first meet. No one but you is going to care how much weight is on your bars. You have a very long time to gain strength. Which can be done very well at maintenance on appropriate programming.

    Relax. Enjoy. Powerlifters are some of the coolest nicest people out there.

    That^^
  • kellysmith410
    kellysmith410 Posts: 58 Member
    Willbenchforcupcakes wrote: »
    Honestly, first meet? Eat at maintenance and enjoy the experience.

    It's your first meet. No one but you is going to care how much weight is on your bars. You have a very long time to gain strength. Which can be done very well at maintenance on appropriate programming.

    Relax. Enjoy. Powerlifters are some of the coolest nicest people out there.

    Yeah, this is what my pl coach is telling me too, so excited :)

    I guess after coming from being severely overweight and losing 60 pounds I still have a weird fear of gaining weight.

    Mostly just worried about continuing the weight gain trend that I've been seeing. Wasn't sure if going back down to maintenance would cause me to lose weight/strength.

    Just to specify - wasn't talking about cutting to make weight or anything (competing in 63kg so not really worried about it at all as I'm right around 59kg), just for my overall health & body fat.

    Thanks for the advice!
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    You can definitely continue to gain strength while eating at maintenance.
    I've been going back and forth between cutting and maintenance and I have continued to gain strength despite losing weight. (I am actually competing next weekend, and I'm down 35 lbs body weight and have increased my squat and deadlift significantly.)

    Personally, I think if you are at a good place to recomp and gain strength at maintenance that's usually most optimal. While bulking is definitely great for strength and muscle gains, cutting isn't. Instead of the constant back and forth with bulk/cut cycles, maintaining is kind of meeting in the middle. Especially if you aren't ok with putting on too much weight right now. The gains might be a little slower, but you aren't making much progress while cutting either. - Just my two cents. Once I reach a weight I'm happy with I plan to maintain for quite a while.

    And as mentioned, enjoy and have a great time, not only competing but in your training leading up to comp as well!
  • kellysmith410
    kellysmith410 Posts: 58 Member
    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    You can definitely continue to gain strength while eating at maintenance.
    I've been going back and forth between cutting and maintenance and I have continued to gain strength despite losing weight. (I am actually competing next weekend, and I'm down 35 lbs body weight and have increased my squat and deadlift significantly.)

    Personally, I think if you are at a good place to recomp and gain strength at maintenance that's usually most optimal. While bulking is definitely great for strength and muscle gains, cutting isn't. Instead of the constant back and forth with bulk/cut cycles, maintaining is kind of meeting in the middle. Especially if you aren't ok with putting on too much weight right now. The gains might be a little slower, but you aren't making much progress while cutting either. - Just my two cents. Once I reach a weight I'm happy with I plan to maintain for quite a while.

    And as mentioned, enjoy and have a great time, not only competing but in your training leading up to comp as well!

    This makes sense - thanks for the advice!
    Super excited to compete - good luck to you next weekend!
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    calories matter. But strength comes from size and also form, there is a lot of strength to be gained just by working on form and technique and programing. 9 weeks out, i personally wouldn't adjust my calorie level unless i was targeting a specific weight class, and if i was cutting i'd expect to lose strength. Its your first meet, just go and have fun and get experience on the platform. There will be lots of time to refine the details later. Your first meet can be to just to test your 1rm to give you a base to grow from
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    I'll just drive the point home: keep doing what you're doing right now. Unless you're some sort of prodigy, you're probably not going into your first meet with expectations of any records for a given weight class (if I'm wrong about that, please accept my apologies).

    If you have a coach and you're trusting them for programming, attempt selections, and everything else that comes with powerlifting, trust their word on your diet as well.
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    Oh and congrats on signing up for your first meet! What federation are you lifting in?
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    I agree with the others, but for me, I cut at my very first meet because I wanted the experience (and I wanted to improve my co-efficent.)

    Now I didn't have any expectations of breaking world records (since it was non-federated at that first meet) but I wanted to pre-flight the experience for later meets down the road.

    Last meet I cut 8 or 9 pounds pretty rapidly (in four days via water cut) and let me tell you, it wasn't pleasant experience but I did improve my Wilks and walk away with one all time PR.

    Anyway, cheers to you OP and many happy meets in the future.
  • kellysmith410
    kellysmith410 Posts: 58 Member
    Thanks everyone for the advice, I appreciate it! I might just stick at my 2250 and focus on what I'm doing and not mess with it at the moment.
    Probably a good idea to check with my coach too to get his advice.

    Wasn't trying to say that I'm expecting any crazy numbers at my first meet, this was more about affecting the awesome progression that comes along with being a beginner in my training :smile:

    Doing a local usapl meet here in philadelphia where I live.
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