Meet Prep! Everybody has different ways to prepare for a competition. Some people gain weight. Others cut weight. Some people don’t even have a meet prep plan and go in and try to do their best no matter weight or strength. In today’s post, I’m going to tell you how I am preparing for an upcoming meet.
Water cuts:
The act of cutting water is basically overloading yourself with water. About 5 days before a meet competitors will double the amount of water they drink for two days, triple the amount of intake for another two days, and drink no water on the day of weigh-ins (if you’re doing an early weigh-in) or the day before if you’re weighing in on the day of the meet. When you don’t drink any water on the last day your body is tricking itself to think you’re still drinking a huge amount of water. You’ll then continue to urinate all of the water weight in your body out. Which results in weight loss (not permanent).
I am currently about 128 lbs. I want to compete in the 123 lb weight class. The way weight classes work is if you want to compete in the 123 lb weight class you have to be 123lb or below. I still have to drop a little more than five pounds so I plan to do a water cut.
Body Recomposition:
This is the act of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. You’ll consume around 0.8-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Large amounts of protein help retain muscle mass when you do a body recomposition period.
I am trying to consume around 130 grams of protein per day. I want to retain/gain as much muscle as possible before this meet so I don’t lose any strength during the water cut.
Training:
Below is my training program that I have been following for about a month.
For the last 2 weeks of training I have and will continue to increase the weight and lower the reps. This week (3 weeks out) I will be doing 5 sets of 3 reps. Next week (2 weeks out) I will be doing 5 sets of 2 reps. Then the weekend before the competition I will participate in a mock meet (AKA a fake meet to see what weight you want to attempt in the real competition) the last week before the competition I will take off to recover, rest, and get massages.
My competition is on May 22, 2021. I will keep you updated on my attempts and how I do. Do you have any competitions coming up? Any suggestions, tips, or questions for me and my prep? Let me know down below. For more information on weight classes and determining where you want to be you can visit this website. Until next time, keep lifting.