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Fitness Systems
Silver State Athletic Center
5680 Morgan Mill Road
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: 775 883 3500
Fax: 775 841 5233
Cutting Weight For Powerlifting Competition
By Lucas Wold www.CarsonCityFitnessSystems.com
While drastically cutting weight to reach a certain competitive class can be dangerous (even deadly), it is going to remain a part of powerlifting contests no matter what, so we might as well look at it in an intelligent way.
Many athletes lose strength when they attempt to cut fifteen pounds in a week, and their performance suffers mightily as a result.
Here are a few simple steps you can take to cut weight effectively while still maintaining your strength:
First, raise your sodium intake a few weeks before weigh-ins. High sodium affects your aldosterone levels, which tells your body to reduce sodium retention. (This will be important later.)
Second, start drinking more water during the week before weigh-ins. This will lower your anti-diuretic hormone and tell your body to continually flush out water.
Third, three or four days before the competition, lower your carbs, increase your water, and cut out the sodium.
Fourth, three days out we add some form of d-alpha tocopherol (this is the most active form of vitamin E), which binds magnesium to its receptor, helping your body to hold onto potassium and reduce cramping, even while dehydrated. This ends worries about cramping up in mid-lift.
The other supplement we add at this time is occasionally a diuretic, which further reduces the water in your body. (Diuretics should only be used under close medical supervision by elite athletes, so no screwing around with this!)
A side benefit of a diuretic is that there is a small effect on sodium levels that allows you to quickly put water weight back on after your weigh-in, minimizing any loss of performance.
Continue drinking water as the competition nears. You should only reduce water if it is absolutely necessary to make weight.
Finally, as soon as you step off of the scale, pack in as much sodium, fluid, and carbohydrates into your body as you can. We use a few certain supplements that really help, but tons of high sodium foods (extra-salty popcorn, for instance) coupled with Gatorade work very well.
We have a proprietary process for this at Carson City Fitness Systems, so we can’t give every little secret away here. However, this is the foundation for what you should do to not lose strength when cutting weight for powerlifting. Heck, you might even bounce up in strength!
To your health!
