Weight Cutting: When Should You, When Shouldn’t You, and What You Need to Know About the Process
Over the years, I have found the topic of weight cutting to be very fascinating. Olympic weightlifting was my first weight class sport and I did not quite have the exposure to non-damaging weight cut methods for other sports growing up. Of course, I knew of the classic amateur wrestling cutting strategies of vomiting, cardio in several layers of clothes, and of course the old stand-by of starvation.
I guess my fascination grew when I looked into the untested side of powerlifting and noticed guys who were supposedly 220lbs were easily 230-240 on the platform and wondered what could possibly allow them to “diet” that rapidly and then rebound just as fast.
That was the thing, they weren’t dieting at all, well, the majority of them weren’t. They were manipulating things such as sodium, water, food weight, and using external methods to drop transient weight.
Before we get into the decision making process I want to preface a few things. First, all of these practices are best judgement of the athlete at the end of the day, do not let a coach force you into this if you are not comfortable. Second, do your research. I know before I ever did a cut I think I had exhausted every anecdotal reference and certainly any empirical data source I could get my hands on. Lastly, consider a longer term diet if body composition is a goal of yours as transient weight loss is not a solution for improvements in that area.
With that laid out, we need to find a clear cut definition of what weight cutting is.
To me, weight cutting is considered as any rapid weight loss method that does NOT necessarily involve manipulation of calories. Meaning, any method that is not heavily dependent on a calorie deficit, this would be a diet.
Popular methods that I have seen include water loading, sodium manipulation, fiber manipulation, and spitting. External means usually are reserved to hot bath, sauna, and extreme heat exercise.
Now that we have a definition, we need to establish when it is appropriate under the context of competition, this case powerlifting. There are deviations for more cardiovascular driven sports.
Long ago, it was reverberated that you should never cut any amount of weight unless it is to take a world record. This is very asinine in my opinion. I think I understand where they were coming from, that you should be focused on getting bigger and stronger, not limiting yourself to a lower body weight for the sake of short term accomplishments. I agree with this notion wholeheartedly, however, if a lifter is within 1-2lbs of their class (depending on bodyweight), and they are reasonably competitive, there are safe, non-performance hindering protocols to get them into the class. Saying you should never cut unless you are taking a world record is very, very dumb because if you do have competitive aspirations you end up in a weight class that you cannot support with lean body mass (generally an unhealthy long term practice) or you are dead in the middle of 2 weight classes and you can’t go down (can’t cut unless it’s for a world record remember) but also you have a ways to go to be competitive within the class because you are giving up so many pounds of leverage.
So, by virtue, I would like to abolish that notion. Instead, let’s look at a few variables that I personally deem appropriate.
You are competitive. This is like ripping a band-aid off quickly and the one variable most people do not want to hear. If you are competitive objectively (which ironically has subjective undertones) you should strong consider cutting down into your class. I want to preface that there are exceptions to this as there are to any variable, but generally speaking, every weight class below super heavy, the more people tend to weigh substantially more than their competition weight. I really have a hard time defining what is competitive and to be truthful, the definition in my head is always changing. I can give you a better definition of the opposite, essentially, if you are 100-200lbs off the median total in your weight class, it is probably in your best interest to not bother. So, for the sake of uniformity, we will call competitive being to the right (greater than) the median total in your age and weight class.
You have competed a few times already. I think the less variables to worry about, usually ensures the best performance. If you have never competed before, you have the variables of competing for the first time against you on top of a cut, to me that sounds like a bomb out waiting to happen. If you have a few meets under your belt, we can look into this more and more.
You are mature enough to handle the post-weigh in process AND the potential performance hinderances. I have stated that many of these methods are non-performance hindering which is only half true as they are dependent on rehydrating and refeeding post-weigh in. I will say straight up, post-weigh in rapid nutrition sucks. You feel sick, you feel bloated, sometimes, you may even be on the verge of vomiting if you pushed the pace too fast. Although this feeling settles, it is very, very hard for some to overcome this and get the nutritional repletion they need. Trying to state this as non-confrontational as possible, if you can’t, “suck it up”, so to speak, this is not an avenue for you to make weight. Additionally, if you do not accept the possibility that a cut can effect your performance, then again, you probably are not ready for it. More to come in the next point this.
You are within 3.5% for a 2-hour weigh in, 5% for a 24-hour weigh in. These numbers are rooted in science, but in practice you can get away with higher the more experienced you are and the more data you have. Basically, the shorter the period before competition, the less aggressive you can be with a cut. If you are a 2 hour weigh in athlete and somehow pull off a 7.5% bodyweight cut, generally you are accepting that you won’t be fully repleted until the bench press if not the deadlift. Again, there are exceptions, but I usually try to have people stick to within 5% of their class and closer to 2% and 3% the smaller they are in totality as 3% on a 265lb lifter is a smaller cut than 3% on a 100lb lifter in terms of magnitude. The more weight you choose to cut, the greater the chance you have for your performance to suffer regardless of post-weigh in times to competition.
Naturally, the opposites of these things would be deemed not appropriate in my eyes but I do have a few additional variables that one should consider for reasons NOT to perform a cut.
Work does not allow for frequent bathroom breaks. It has been brought to my attention that some people just cannot go to the bathroom the frequency of times that most water loading procedures force them to. Although this is uncommon, if you are a surgeon or a guard or something that requires you to be in one area for long periods of time, scrap this out, at least in terms of water manipulation.
Your cuts are exceeding 7.5% of bodyweight. I simply will not help someone make weight if the cut is much over 6%. Not only do I not feel comfortable being apart of that process but I also can’t even predict remotely where we should be on the day in terms of attempts. This is where the trade-off of competition and performance lies. If you know you can win a class if you just make weight, then MAYBE it is worth it depending on the scale of the meet (nationals, regionals, worlds, etc…) but for most, winning best lifter at a local meet really is not worth the potential bomb out.
You are within 500g or 1kg of your class. This is not to say you should not cut but you should not aim to weigh in super, super light. Do not opt for large scale manipulation, look for a protocol that is small scale in terms of average weight loss. I see the same mistake virtually every local meet, X person cuts down 4lbs under their class for “wilks gains” or what have you, and not only are they underprepared in terms of refeeding, but they simply are giving up ground that they did not need to in the first place. A couple anecdotal references I have are the following. If you are within 500g of the class, you are most likely better off doing 12 hours of no food and water, weighing in just under, and then lifting and feeling good as most likely you will total more, and with a higher total always comes a higher coefficient. If you opt to weigh in super light, any coefficient gains you think you have are probably offset by the total amount of weight you can lift, making it at best a net neutral. Lastly, pull up the top 5 at nationals for your class if you are under, say, 120kg. I am willing to bet that 95% of the time, the top 5 weighs in within 1kg of the class. Simply put, being lighter almost always does nothing for you in terms of performance. I learned this the hard way my 3rd competition where I weighed in a whopping 4.5lbs under even with eating in the morning. I had my lowest squat in competition that day and missed my third on strength.
With all that covered, the last thing I will touch on is rehydrating and refeeding.
Simply put, for rehydration purposes, the biggest variable post weigh in will be the following. Water, sodium, and carbohydrates. I would say in order of importance but honestly they are all equally important in my eyes. The tricky part of post weigh in nutrition lies in some not so scientific principles that are just as important as the scientifically rooted necessities. We want things that are not foreign to our stomach AND are palatable. This meaning, if you never eat chips and a certain flavor disgusts you, why are you using that as the bulk of your food post weigh in?
To make it short, I usually recommend a smaller bottle of gatorade or powerade mixed with rehydration salts (trioral is best, liquid IV is eh, anything else is really not worth it) as soon as you have made weight. After that, some type of simple yet filling carb source that can be consumed in large amounts. Kind of a oxymoron there but you don’t want something like candy that will be irritable to your stomach in large amounts but also you want to avoid something so complex like bagels and bread that take a while to chew and digest. I opt for jasmine rice or noodles (I found one I like called bucctine or something) mixed with soy sauce/teriyaki sauce/chinese barbecue sauce, anything that is high sodium, low fat while beginning to pound back water.
After the 25-30 minute force feed, weigh yourself and see roughly where you are at in terms of bodyweight, we need to be either at or slightly above where we started the cut and being under is a sign of not fully rehydrating. If you are at training weight, there is no need to stuff after that, just casually sip and eat as you wish with things that will not irritate your stomach.
I have a few resources I use for cuts and if you need help with one, let me know and I can at the very least, point you in the right direction, at this point I believe counting myself I have coached 13 water cuts all to success. All these concepts can be applied slightly more aggressively towards a 24 hour weigh in.
https://sisyphusstrength.com/blog/2018/6/25/how-to-water-cut-like-a-pro#:~:text=An%20average%20person%20can%20regain,3%25%20of%20their%20body%20weight. How to water cut for a 2 hour weigh in.
https://youtu.be/K8nzxLOvcSM Same concept outlined by notorious IPF weight cutter, JP Cauchi
https://youtu.be/q2q7KT5sAic The best comprehensive video online right now, this could be the only video you watch and you will be much better off because of it. Sean Noriega
Above all else, don’t rely on a cut, take care of nutrition year round and use cuts as an advantage not necessity.
Best wishes,
Erik