How do you make weight before a fight/comp?
This thread is made for everyone to share their experiences so we all can benefit from each other.
As i usually just compete in judo, the weight in is the morning, and i’m having a match in about 3 hoursafter that, I can only have a 6lbs max to be above the weightclass, since we can only rehydrate ourselves by about 1-1.5 lts per hour.
To dehydrate i usually go with the less agressive method and progress from there. I have made more weight for a powerlifting comp, so here it goes the complete process that i have made:
I stop eating carbs the week of the comp, and start superhidratating myself (drinking about 2 gallons per day) and salting the hell out of my foods…
At thursday (comp is on saturday) and if i’m not on the weightclass yet (carb depletion and being in flushing mode makes you lose weight by itself), i start cleaning my bowels taking natural laxatives and eating calorie dense foods, like nuts, while being slightly hungry during the day also stop the salting.
If i still haven’t made weight, only then the hell starts. I usually have a shitload of green tea before cutting the water intake, which will be around 24 hours or less before my rehydratation (after the weight-in). So if the weight in is saturday morning, i cut the water on fryday morning or so.
I wait until the effects of the superhydratation/green tea goes off ( not peeing clear urine ) to go to the sauna ( if alivable), if not, i use the kroc trick (make a sauna in your bath).
I stay away from running with a ton of clothes on ( and if i do, usually when i’m in the weight-in and have a few grams to lose left. In that case i put a lot of clothes on, and do a few sprints, then i sit down and let the sweats go.)
In the sauna i do cycles of 30min in and rest until i feel preparated for another cycle.
I usually lose about 1lb each hour, so i keep doing cycles until i make the weight, or slightly above it, if i’m going to fast until the weight in (if there is little time), or make the weight and checking it until the weight in (if there is a longer time span), so i can eat something between.
But i would recommend to be depleted for the shorter time.(obvius)
After the weight in, and if i have enought time, i “carb load” to feel tighter and enjoy my abs on the meanwhile, obviusly this is only because of the vanity sake. But from a performance point of view i go with gatorade, simple carbs, and avoid pigging out (since you would get a BIG bloat, feel like shit and slowing the rehydratation/bowel emptying process).
Search for the “get shredded in 6 days” article from thib. It’s a nice way to understand how dehydratation happens, and how carb/sodium manipulation happens.