Getting Too Big?

Training Powerlifting
1

Now before I get flamed, let me explain myself. I’ve been training seriously for a year, and I plan on competing in powerlifting soon at the 220 weight class and I weigh 223 in the mornings. My problem is that even though I’m lifting purely for strength (I’m doing the Westside program, previous to that was 8x3 and 5x4 on the powerlifts and Olympic lifts with some minor accessory work), I keep gaining mass.

The problem is that I am nowhere strong enough to compete at the 242 weight class, I would get absolutely rocked. My stats are 255 bench, 355 squat, 405 deadlift. I feel like those are weak as it is for my weight class, I barely make Class IV. At 242 I don’t even do that. So how do I stop myself from keeping gaining weight? I ate as clean as I can for being on a college campus, and lift really low reps explosively, never any high rep slow tempo for size or anything. I still have some body fat to lose, but that’s an issue for later. Any advice?

2

Heh, I’m guessing a lot of folks are going to be hating you for your “problem”.

However, how much muscle eating cardio work are you doing? I don’t know, I’m not used to thinking about how not to grow.

3

Weight, hence mass, is all about nutrition. I know you say you eat clean, but you must be eating to much. Your goal is to lose some weight and maybe some fat, all about the calories in.

Take an honest look at your diet, keep a food log to see what you are really eating. You can not gain muscle and mass and weight without taking in the appropriate cals.

I’ll bet you will be suprised what your food log says after a week.

Let us know

4

Dude, it’s easy to stuff a weight class from 223 to 219-220. I am in a similar boat on performance/weight-class. My lifts are a little stronger, but I’m also in the 220 class (weighing in at 210).

ultra-low carb a few days before should do it, unless you are already low-carb anyway.

But stuffing the weight-class isn’t the important part. Don’t worry about the class, just compete AGAINST YOURSELF! Seriously.

I"m not a a die-hard competitor, I do it for fun. I have only done one competition before, but I do have my next one coming up in May.

If you want to drop weight, do it slowly thru proper nutrition. I weighed in at 214 at the last competition, now I’m at 210. But all my lifts have gone up 50-80lbs since Nov.

Just make progress, and compete against yourself.

5

I agree, food log, and get a good body fat calculation.
You need to know what you need to work on.
It could be that you are lifting very effectively and thus gaining mass.
But your max numbers are not high enough to justify large weight gains.

6

[quote]Laxxone wrote:
My stats are 255 bench, 355 squat, 405 deadlift. [/quote]

You must be relatively tall or at least have long arms and some sort of leverage disadvantage? I’m 5’11", ~185 and our total is about spot-on the same (distributed slightly differently).

I agree with the statement to lift against yourself, but I see your predicament. For the meet, maybe you could really focus on that DL (assuming I’m correct about your arm length)? Just a thought.

Hmm, it’s got to be the diet, dude. I’m betting that you have some choices on campus that either you aren’t aware of, or aren’t availing yourself of.

Matt

7

Strongman, I’m not worried at all about the 3 lbs to go to 220. What I’m worried more with my weight is that even though I’m getting stronger and leaner, I keep gaining weight. I haven’t done any BF measurements or anything, but I know for certain that I’m losing fat. My ribs show more, my waist is smaller, stuff like that. Now I’m not exactly complaining, but I honestly don’t want to get much bigger. I can’t afford to keep buying new dress shirts and stuff like that, and I do want to compete at 220. And I know my lifts don’t really imply huge muscle gains, but the way I’ve been training and lifting I have dropped fat and gained a sizable amount of muscle.

About the food log, I really would like to, but it really is next to impossible at school. Somewhere I’m sure I could find nutrition information on the stuff I eat, but I don’t think I could take a scale into the dining hall with me. This summer I’ll have my own apartment so I really do plan on making a log, eating as clean as possible and dropping some BF.

8

[quote]Matthew9v9 wrote:
Laxxone wrote:
My stats are 255 bench, 355 squat, 405 deadlift.

You must be relatively tall or at least have long arms and some sort of leverage disadvantage? I’m 5’11", ~185 and our total is about spot-on the same (distributed slightly differently).

[/quote]

Haha, naw sorry to say I’m 5’11" too. My bench is just downright weak, still haven’t figured out why, and I think flexibility is a problem in the squat. Deadlift is my strong point, and right now I’m doing a lot of hamstring work to bring up my deadlift and squat. So we’ll see what happens when I max out in a few weeks.

9

Not much to add other than I feel your pain about the living at university Laxxone. Add insult to injury the cafeteria failed a food inspection and therefore had to do renovations starting last month… guess what happened to food supply went to shit here is what I have for options for food just so you guys see how truly bad it is.

Main caf- Breakfast —> continental, nothing but muffins and cookies and milk and fruit. (Every day)

Lunch —> Pizza, fries, pea/corn mix, then all the same stuff from breakfast

Dinner —> Chicken… yahoo right… nope its a tiny slice, battered to hell and deep fried, rice, veges

Then the small place on the side offered sandwiches made from the sickest sandwich meat you ever saw all day and burgers/pizza/deep fried chicken strips at night.

So basically I drink a lot of milk and protein powder and fruit, ya I know milk is the devil etc but you know what there isnt much of a choice for another week till I go home.

Anyways Laxonne I feel your pain bro!

10

Man, sometimes I wish I could go back to my dorm food. All you can eat buffet 3 times a day in the commons, then an express place where i could get all the hamburgers, grilled chicken, meatballs, cottage cheese, and salad I wanted.

If I were you, I’d just continue getting friggin huge and worry about your “problem” once you get into your apartment.

11

Here, let me do POX a favor and give you the “professional’s” advice.

Eat more, lift heavy weights, White Devil.

12

[quote]TwistedLocal wrote:
Not much to add other than I feel your pain about the living at university Laxxone. Add insult to injury the cafeteria failed a food inspection and therefore had to do renovations starting last month… guess what happened to food supply went to shit here is what I have for options for food just so you guys see how truly bad it is.

Main caf- Breakfast —> continental, nothing but muffins and cookies and milk and fruit. (Every day)

Lunch —> Pizza, fries, pea/corn mix, then all the same stuff from breakfast

Dinner —> Chicken… yahoo right… nope its a tiny slice, battered to hell and deep fried, rice, veges

Then the small place on the side offered sandwiches made from the sickest sandwich meat you ever saw all day and burgers/pizza/deep fried chicken strips at night.

So basically I drink a lot of milk and protein powder and fruit, ya I know milk is the devil etc but you know what there isnt much of a choice for another week till I go home.

Anyways Laxonne I feel your pain bro![/quote]

hey twisted (or whoever!!)–

MILK IS THE DEVIL?!? thats bad news, cause i power through about a half gallon of nonfat a day. i grew up on it, and just love the stuff.

but i also have the problem of not being able to get very cut, even when dieting and adding good amounts of cardio.

why is milk so bad?? is it because of the high amnt of sodium, or just that its more calories?? (but wouldnt those calories be considered GOOD??)

thanks to whoever,
tim

13

[quote]Laxxone wrote:
Now before I get flamed, let me explain myself. I’ve been training seriously for a year, and I plan on competing in powerlifting soon at the 220 weight class and I weigh 223 in the mornings. My problem is that even though I’m lifting purely for strength (I’m doing the Westside program, previous to that was 8x3 and 5x4 on the powerlifts and Olympic lifts with some minor accessory work), I keep gaining mass.

The problem is that I am nowhere strong enough to compete at the 242 weight class, I would get absolutely rocked. My stats are 255 bench, 355 squat, 405 deadlift. I feel like those are weak as it is for my weight class, I barely make Class IV. At 242 I don’t even do that. So how do I stop myself from keeping gaining weight? I ate as clean as I can for being on a college campus, and lift really low reps explosively, never any high rep slow tempo for size or anything. I still have some body fat to lose, but that’s an issue for later. Any advice?[/quote]

Sounds like you have the same “problem” as a guy I know in Boston. Check your Private Messages.

-Dan

14

Laxxone

Your profile states that you have 20% BF. Get rid of some of that and you have no problen keeping the 220 weightclass.

Get down to about 12% and you can gain about 15lbs of LBS and still stay in the 220. That should bring the lifts up a bit aswell.

(Hope I didn’t screw up on the math here ;-))

15

Gaining mass comes from diet. You can’t create mass unless you are in a caloric surplus. You say you are eating clean. Good. Now show some more self-discipline and eat LESS.

16

Thanks a lot for the advice guys. I’d just like to note this is the first time I’ve seen someone on the site say “eat less”. I’ll keep it all in mind, lose some fat this summer, it’ll have the added plus of looking good on the beach. Hopefully this summer my lifts will really improve as my diet becomes infinitely better.

17

[quote]Big TIM wrote:
TwistedLocal wrote:
Not much to add other than I feel your pain about the living at university Laxxone. Add insult to injury the cafeteria failed a food inspection and therefore had to do renovations starting last month… guess what happened to food supply went to shit here is what I have for options for food just so you guys see how truly bad it is.

Main caf- Breakfast —> continental, nothing but muffins and cookies and milk and fruit. (Every day)

Lunch —> Pizza, fries, pea/corn mix, then all the same stuff from breakfast

Dinner —> Chicken… yahoo right… nope its a tiny slice, battered to hell and deep fried, rice, veges

Then the small place on the side offered sandwiches made from the sickest sandwich meat you ever saw all day and burgers/pizza/deep fried chicken strips at night.

So basically I drink a lot of milk and protein powder and fruit, ya I know milk is the devil etc but you know what there isnt much of a choice for another week till I go home.

Anyways Laxonne I feel your pain bro!

hey twisted (or whoever!!)–

MILK IS THE DEVIL?!? thats bad news, cause i power through about a half gallon of nonfat a day. i grew up on it, and just love the stuff.

but i also have the problem of not being able to get very cut, even when dieting and adding good amounts of cardio.

why is milk so bad?? is it because of the high amnt of sodium, or just that its more calories?? (but wouldnt those calories be considered GOOD??)

thanks to whoever,
tim[/quote]

TIM
I am not a dietician and I must admit I drink/love my milk as well.
From what I have read in articles and forums–for some people–the sugars in milk have an insulin effect. For cutting purposes, of course, this is a negative.

That being said, I’ve never tried to cut so I can’t tell you anything empirical. If you’re trying to cut, it may be worth cutting the milk, given that the rest of your diet is in order.
Maybe you could enjoy just one glass or shortly therafter your workout

18

Unless I am missing something, you left out lifting heavy. If I understand it corectly, dynamic days are @ 50-60% one rep max. They are helpfull, but they are only one component of a system. To lift heavy, you have to lift heavy, in other words you must practice the way you are going to play. You can’t be doing theoretical projections of the weights that you want to lift in comps. based on percentages of one rep max and so forth. See Louie Simmons Secrets of The Westside Barbell Club video series for some great info on preparing for a competition.