Ok, now that my “vision quest” is done (dropping 35lbs in 6 weeks to compete at Cruiser weight instead of super heavy) I’ll give a recap.
As for cutting the weight, I ended up cutting 9lbs on Friday before weigh-in. The first 6 were relatively easy, but the last 3 was complete hell. The way I did it was with a rotation of 10 minutes in the sauna, followed by 5 minutes on the bike, followed by a 2 minute rest, all wearing a rubber sweat suit. By the end I�??d switched it to 5, 5 & 5. I started at noon and it took until 4 to get all of the weight off. The last hour was absolutely miserable. Sitting in the sauna was by far the worst part. One minute seemed like an hour and it was playing weird tricks on my mind. I literally thought I was going to lose it at the end. Almost as bad as the cut was the drive to weigh in and waiting in line. It�??s a weird feeling, being that dehydrated. My vision was cloudy, my mouth was felt like it was filled with sand and I was weak as can be. I ended up weighing in at 199.1 and downed a bottle of Vitamin Water before I even got dressed. I�??m glad I went through it, at least once, but I think I�??ll make sure I�??m within 4 or 5 lbs next time.
On to competition day. I�??d signed up to compete in Master�??s and Adults Gi and No-Gi, but I ended up only competing in Master�??s No-Gi, because 1) 4 matches in less than an hour really wears you out, 2) I think I was still feeling some effects of the cut and 3) I strained my neck in my second match and it was really starting to tighten up.
Match 1: There were an odd number of people in my division and by luck of the draw I ended up having to win my way into the brackets. I ended up winning controlling most of the match and winning on points, 8-2.
Match 2: This was a fun one. The guy was obviously a wrestler, which I�??m not, so I pulled to open guard and pulled of a nice butterfly guard sweep and ended up in mount. I almost had an arm triangle locked in, but he slipped his elbow down when I was trying to slide to side mount. So then I started to attack the arms and ended up submitting him with an Americana.
Match 3: This guy was HUGE. This is the match where I learned the difference between a lean 199 and one with 15 extra pounds of fat (me). This guy was an absolute beast and I think I was beat mentally before we even started. Long story short, I pulled guard, but wasn�??t able to out technique his strength. I think I was definitely the more skilled grappler and looking back I had some opportunities that I didn�??t take advantage of. He ended up guillotine choking me with about 30 seconds left in the match. I HATE TAPPING!
Match 4: Here I�??m playing for 3rd place. This was the first guy that wasn�??t stronger than me (something to think about) and we had a pretty technical match. We went back and forth for a while and I ended up sinking in a papa choke about 3 minutes in.
All in all it was an excellent day. I felt my technique was the best in my division but I was overpowered at times. I either need to drop weight classes or replace the last of my fat with muscle. I�??ll definitely need to think about my program over the next couple months.
