How to Choose the Ideal Powerlifting Weight Class: A Comprehensive Guide

If you’re new to powerlifting one of the key questions that’s going to come up for you is about weight classes - specifically, which class should I be in? That’s a question that has a large range of factors which you might want to consider. Your weight class not only shapes your competition experience but also impacts your nutrition and lifestyle. Let's delve into how you can make an informed decision to choose the perfect weight class for your powerlifting aspirations.

Understanding Powerlifting Weight Classes

Powerlifting competitions are categorised into various weight classes, established by governing bodies such as the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). The IPF weight classes for men and women are:

Men: 59 kg, 66 kg, 74 kg, 83 kg, 93 kg, 105 kg, 120 kg, 120+ kg (and 53 kg for juniors and sub-juniors only)

Women: 47 kg, 52 kg, 57 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 84 kg, 84+ kg (and 43 kg for juniors and sub-juniors only)

If you’re not competing in the IPF, you’ll probably have different weight classes, so make sure to double check which classes exist for your federation .

The Easy Answer

If you’re new to powerlifting it can be tempting to look meticulously at your own information and compare it to what’s competitive in what classes, but that might be putting the cart before the horse. If it’s allowed for your federation (for your first competition) I recommend not picking a weight class at all, but just weighing in at whatever you weigh in at (sometimes meets will allow you to change your class at weigh in, especially if you’re a novice.)

That’s right, just show up and weigh in.

There will be plenty of time to agonise over your weight and which class you’ll enjoy the most, or be the most competitive, but for now just focus on enjoying your meet and hitting some PRs.

But let’s say you’ve done that, and you now you want to nit pick.

Key Factors to Consider

1. Health, Well-being, and Sustainability

Your bodyweight has a major effect on your overall health and well-being. From the effects of weight on your joints, the hormonal activity of adipose tissue, even to the complex mix of social pressures that affect the way we look at ourselves in the mirror, a choice in weight class is a lifestyle decision as much as it is a powerlifting decision. Take the time to talk do a professional, and use their knowledge. By seeking their expertise, you can gain valuable insights and guidance on how to optimise your well-being, making informed decisions that will improve your quality of life. Remember, your health is an investment worth prioritising, and seeking professional advice is a prudent step towards achieving your goals.

Secondly, there is a question about sustainability. A weight class is not a life long decision, but it’s important to consider whether you can truly maintain both your desired weight and the lifestyle that comes with it over an extended period of time. While it might be tempting to adopt a weight class for a specific competition or event, it's important to consider the potential toll it may take on your body and mental well-being in the long run. The decision to commit to a weight class should be made after careful consideration of not only your physical capabilities but also the impact it will have on your daily life and overall happiness. Taking a holistic approach towards determining the sustainability of a weight class will ensure that you make a choice that aligns with your current goals and serves you well in the future.

Note that this isn’t medical or nutritional advice. You definitely should talk to a nutritionist, dietitian, or doctor.

2. Current Weight and Composition:

Many people have more goals than just being excellent at powerlifting - in fact, many people who start lifting weights do so for weight loss or aesthetic purposes. Taking the time to consider your current weight and body composition, and comparing that to any aesthetic or bodyweight related goals you might have. These goals might conflict with the powerlifting goals you might have, and no-one can tell you how to weigh those against each other except you, but that’s an important factor for you to consider.

3. Goals and Aspirations:

When it comes to powerlifting, it's important to define clear goals that align with your aspirations. Consider whether your primary focus is to maximise strength within a specific weight class or if you're open to the idea of gaining or losing weight in order to compete in a different category. By establishing these objectives, you'll have a clearer understanding of the steps needed to achieve them and be able to tailor your training and nutrition accordingly. Whether it's committing to a weight class or embracing the flexibility to adapt, the choice ultimately depends on your individual preferences and long-term vision for your powerlifting journey.

For what it’s worth, it’s this coach’s opinion that, especially when you’re new to powerlifting, you should be thinking long term about going up weight classes and getting as big and strong as possible, before you think about cutting down.

4. Performance Optimisation:

Consider the weight class that allows you to optimise your strength potential. Sometimes, strategic weight gain or loss can lead to improved performance (for example, Evie Corrigan winning Sheffield after secretly dropping a weight class.) Contrary to popular belief, going up weight classes doesn’t always mean getting stronger - it can also mean putting on a lot of fat, feeling uncomfortable, or even just not getting as strong as fast as you expect. Conversely, dropping weight can sometimes mean you come in leaner and stronger, but can mean you lose a lot of strength unexpectedly. So, take the time to analyze your goals, consult with experts if needed, and make informed decisions that will maximise your strength potential.

Remember, every kilo can make a difference, so don't underestimate the significance of strategic weight management in your pursuit of peak performance.

Steps to Decide

1. Research the Standards:

If your main goal is being a competitive powerlifting, familiarising yourself with the typical height, records, and performances in the classes you’re considering will provide some information to consider. Of course, these standards change all the time, but it gives you a target to compare yourself and your progress to (if being competitive is even your goal.)

2. Consult a Coach:

To truly maximise your powerlifting potential, seeking help from an experienced powerlifting coach will help a lot. These seasoned professionals possess a wealth of knowledge and expertise that can provide valuable insights tailored specifically to your individual biomechanics, training level, and goals. By working closely with a coach, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of powerlifting, allowing you to make informed decisions about your training routine, technique, and overall approach. They’ll also be able to help you make crucial decisions like which weight class you might be most competitive in, or provide feedback and direction on your goals.

Remember - weight class is ultimately your decision, but you don’t have to make that decision alone.

3. Settle on a Class…?

Finally - a weight class is not a life sentence. There’s nothing wrong with trying a class, and deciding you don’t like it and want to try something else. You never really need to settle on a class at all. The only exception to that is qualfication standards - which might mean that you end up “stuck” in one weight class for a season or a year. I would caution you about bouncing around classes too often, as it might hamper your long term development to diet for long or frequently, but you’re by no means stuck in a class.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the ideal weight class is an important decision for any powerlifter. It's a balance between enhancing your performance, maintaining your health, any other lifestyle considerations you might have, and aligning with your aspirations. Remember, the powerlifting journey is about growth, both in strength and self-awareness. Stay committed, train smart, and embrace the chosen weight class as a stepping stone to your powerlifting greatness. Go forth and conquer those lifts!

Powerlifting and Caffeine

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that is commonly used by athletes, bodybuilders, and powerlifters to enhance their performance and improve mental alertness. In this essay, we will explore the reasons why powerlifters should consider using caffeine, the benefits it offers and any potential risks associated with its use, as well as provide usage details for those who are interested in supplementing with caffeine.

One of the main benefits of caffeine is that it increases energy levels and reduces fatigue. This is critical for powerlifters who need to maintain their energy and focus throughout their workout sessions. By using caffeine, powerlifters can push their limits and perform at their best, leading to improved results. Additionally, caffeine has been shown to increase endurance and reduce the perception of pain, allowing powerlifters to train harder and longer.

Caffeine also improves mental focus and concentration, which is important for powerlifters who need to stay focused on their technique and form during heavy lifts. By supplementing with caffeine, powerlifters can improve their overall performance and achieve their fitness goals faster.

Caffeine has also been shown to increase fat metabolism and help the body burn more fat for fuel. This is important for powerlifters who are looking to maintain a lean physique while building muscle mass. By using caffeine, powerlifters can improve their body composition and achieve their desired physique.

The recommended dose of caffeine for powerlifters is 3-6mg/kg of bodyweight, taken 30-60 minutes before exercise. This amount has been shown to be effective in improving athletic performance and reducing fatigue without causing significant side effects. However, it's important for powerlifters to experiment with different doses of caffeine and monitor their response to determine the optimal dose for their individual needs.

While caffeine is generally safe for healthy individuals, there are potential risks associated with its use. Some people may experience side effects such as jitters, nervousness, and increased heart rate, which can lead to discomfort and reduced performance. Additionally, overuse of caffeine can lead to addiction and withdrawal symptoms, which can be difficult to manage. To minimize these risks, powerlifters should consume caffeine in moderation and not exceed the recommended dose of 3-6mg/kg of bodyweight.

In conclusion, caffeine is a powerful supplement that can offer numerous benefits to powerlifters. By increasing energy levels, improving mental focus and reducing fatigue, caffeine can help powerlifters achieve their fitness goals faster. However, it's important to be aware of the potential risks associated with its use and to consume caffeine in moderation. By following the recommended usage guidelines and monitoring their response, powerlifters can safely reap the benefits of caffeine and improve their performance in the gym.

Hypothesis Driven Coaching - A Philosophy

This blog post is an effort to codify my own mental model for approaching powerlifting programming. I expect nothing here to be particularly revolutionary, and in fact I suspect most coaches to have some version of the same thing. This is merely my effort to take what has been, up until now, a fairly nebulous and ill-defined idea and turn it into something concrete. I also don’t claim to have created any of the ideas here - merely synthesised the ideas of dozens of men and women much smarter than me into something that works for me.

Uncertainty in Coaching

The first and most important pillar of this philosophy is that we cannot have perfect information. Because powerlifting deals with humans (which are unpredictable) and human physiology (which is weird at the best of times), we can never be certain that something we’re doing is going to work. Even a decision we’re very confident in might be only be 90% certain. Even if we controlled every plausible variable (training, sleeping, nutrition, etc), there are things outside our control which could throw a spanner in the works (e.g. work or other life stress interfering with training.)

As an aside, excessively high confidence is a hallmark of a charlatan, something we see incredibly often in the fitness industry already.

Further, we don’t even have the benefit of perfect hindsight. Even if a decision we made worked, we don’t know what what would have happened if we tried a different path. Sure, whatever training decision we made resulted in a 10 kg increase on an athlete’s squat (a great outcome), but could a different decision have created a 12.5 kg increase (an even better outcome)? (For this reason, the word “optimal” has no place in powerlifting training or coaching, but that’s a matter for another day.)

Finally, even perfect decision making doesn’t necessarily guarantee good outcomes - it increases their odds, but sports is a wicked problem space. (Conversely, even making bad decisions doesn’t preclude good outcomes - but it might make them less frequent or less likely.)

As a result of this, we can consider every decision we make as a bet - a gamble on the future. As coaches, we have a responsibility to place these bets as effectively as possible.

At this point, I’m going to introduce the concept of a confidence, which we’ll use going forward. A confidence should really be expressed as a percentage - we might say I’m 90% sure we can improve your squat by 2.5 to 7.5 kg over the next 12 weeks. Here, we’re going to use it both loosely and qualitatively, as I think giving specific percentages implies a level of precision we don’t have. For the purposes of this, it doesn’t matter if it’s 90% or 92% or 95%; it’s only going to matter that I’m more confident in one pathway than another. Because this is a blog about powerlifting, we’re going to consider a “good” outcome one which increases our maxes by an amount we consider worthwhile, but this conceptual process applies similarly to any other pursuit.

Decision Trees

A simple decision tree

A decision tree is, as the name suggests, a tree of all of the possible decisions a powerlifting coach can make. Many of these decisions will relate to one another, and thus become layers in a decision tree. Many others will be independent, and thus make our tree enormously large.

Our tree is (probably) impossible to enumerate. There are tens of thousands of decisions a coach makes, some explicit, many implicit, each of which multiplies the size of our tree. Even the most foundational decisions (how many days per week should this athlete train? Which days? What frequency for each lift? Which days? Should they also do cardio? How much? How often?) results in thousands of possible outcomes, and that’s before we even get to the more granular decisions (What RPE or weight should this set be done at? Which accessory movement should be done for this athlete’s biceps? Should they even do bicep work?)

Complicating the process even more, although the pathways on these trees remain more or less fixed, the set of pathways which result in outcomes which we consider to be good changes over time - the outcomes are not static. We still have the same questions to answer (How many sets of squats should this athlete do?) but the answer changes (as a novice lifter maybe 10 is sufficient, maybe they need 18 or 20 by the time they’re experience and much stronger.)

Although I’ve primarily focussed these examples on programming for powerlifting, we can apply the same ideas to other aspects of coaching. What cues should I give this athlete? How should I encourage them, or should I look to encourage them at all?

Fortunately, we have a partner in the creation of the decision tree - the athlete themselves. Even if the athlete offers no opinions about coaching (which can happen), their logistics limit the tree. They might only want to train 4 or 5 days per week, meaning we don’t even need to consider the options falling between 1 and 3 or 6 and 7 times per week (or, technically, 0 days per week.) Athlete limitations set the shape of the decision tree, but they don’t necessarily help us traverse it.

Putting It Together

Putting together the concepts of uncertainty in decision making and decision trees, we come up with an idea - there exists a set of pathways through our decision tree, a set of decisions we can make, which lead to “good” outcomes. We don’t know what those decisions are, and even if we get it right once, we don’t know if we got it perfect, and we don’t know that doing the same thing again will lead to another good outcome.

Sounds grim.

We Don’t Have To Traverse The Entire Tree

All of this sounds very bleak so far. We have infinite options, don’t know enough, and even everything we do know changes constantly. It’s time for some good news.

Firstly - there’s lots of options which will lead to good outcomes.

Just like it says on the tin, there isn’t just one pathway to success in powerlifting. There are lots of ways to get strong, there are lots of ways to peak, there are lots of ways to communicate. Not everything you try will work, and not everything that works will work for everyone, but we are not searching for a single needle in an entire haystack. Success is not unique.

Secondly - we don’t have to traverse the entire tree.

We don’t have perfect information, but we do know some thing. Every person is different and unique, but largely we all fall within a few standard deviations of one another on some important dimensions. I don’t know how many sets of squats per week someone needs to get stronger just from looking at them, but there’s a good chance something between 5 and 20 is going to work. If I know their previous training, that’s somewhere I can start. If I know someone morphologically similar to them, that’s somewhere I can start. If I have neither of those, I can fall back to general literature, and use that to give me a starting point for my search.

We also have heuristics and other tools that help narrow our search - some of these come directly from our own experience (it seems like people with long legs need more quad work, lets include that), others from literature (women tend to use their pecs less when benching, let’s include more pec work), and yet others from biomechanical analysis (this lifter moves loading towards their anterior chain while squatting, they must have a stronger anterior chain.) All of these are tools we use to limit how much our decision tree we have to span before finding a set of decisions that works for us.

Finally - if we miss, we’re not left with nothing.

When we write a training program we are, implicitly or explicitly, making a hypothesis, or a guess as to what is going to happen. At minimum, that hypothesis is “this training will cause positive adaptations in this athlete”, though they might be much more nuanced if you’re trying specific things for a lift or an athlete. In addition, our responses are not binary (a good response or a bad response), but rather graded - a program can be anywhere between “really bad” (the athlete got weaker, or injured, or hated training) through to “really good” (the athlete hit new 1RMs on every lift) and anything in between.

Even one data point tells us something (even if it’s just “don’t do that”), but by stringing together a set of hypotheses and graded responses, we can narrow down our search towards what constitutes effective training for a given athlete. By making several similar, but modestly different training programs in a row, we can get a fairly good idea of the changes we need to make to move towards effective and efficient training by the trend of responses to those programs.

What Does an Experienced Coach Get Us

Although any coach (or indeed, any person) can follow this process, a good and experienced coach is going to get you three things - a better starting point, faster convergence, and better stickiness.

Of course, no coach is going to get it perfect the first time, every time. Even very good coaches are going to get it very wrong occasionally. What we expect to see, however, is that an attentive and experienced coach is likely to get a better starting point, on average, than a less experienced coach. As an incidental aside, I suspect this is at least partially why some coaches end up with a specialisation in their roster in terms of athlete weight classes or sex.

A more experienced coach should be able to converge on a “good” solution better. There’s a combination of factors that contribute to this, but two in particular come to mind - faster recognition of trends, and more useful heuristics. A coach who has seen every variation of trend and response before can, at least in theory, see trends faster than someone who hasn’t; because they’ve seen all the trends before. There may be small pieces of information they can tie into the pattern a less experienced coach can’t, or they may be able to project trends more accurately.

Finally, a more experienced coach may be able to predict or react to factors which move us away from “good” more quickly. It’s no secret that major changes to life stress can affect our training and recovery - we might expect a better coach to be able to react to changes more quickly, and potentially even forecast effects based on scheduled events (for example, an experienced coach might be able to forecast the effect of university exams, or react more quickly or effectively to a period of high work stress.)

Concluding Thoughts

This has been a philosophical ramble through the art of powerlifting coaching - an effort to codify the thought processes that go into the day-to-day decision making we all use. Although nothing here can be immediately actioned, I think it’s useful to conceptualise our own thought processes as we make decisions, and it might even help change the way we make decisions over time.

How to Become an IPF Referee

Becoming an International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) referee is a challenging and rewarding process that requires dedication, patience, and a deep understanding of the sport of powerlifting. This article will provide an overview of the steps that are required to become a national level, and a Category 2 or 1 international referee for the IPF.

National Referee

The first step in becoming an IPF referee is to gain experience as a national level referee. The exact steps to become a national level referee vary by country, but most countries have at least one step prior to being a national referee - often a state or provincial referee, and some have more. Usually becoming a national level referee will involved proving in both theory and practical circumstances that you have a good grasp of the rules of powerlifting, and also that you can effectively officiate a powerlifting meet. Once you’re a national referee you’ll typically be able to referee any domestic meet.

If you’re interested in becoming an IPF referee, you’ll first need to look up how to become a national referee in your own country.

Category 2 Referee

The author immediately after passing his Category 2 referee exam - note the blue tie!

Category 2 is the lower of the two international referee ranks, recognisable by their blue ties and badges. To become a Category 2 international referee, individuals must have a minimum of two years of experience as a national level referee, and must have refereed at least two national level meets in that time. Once you’ve had two years experience, your federation can reccomend you to sit your Category 2 exam, which only takes place at international powerlifting meets. You have to pass a theory exam and a practical exam, each with a passing grade of 85%.

The theory exam is done first under supervision, and for the practical exam you referee the meet as one of the side referees. A member of the Jury will watch you, checking that the decisions you make are acceptable, and that you will represent the IPF well as a referee. Once you pass these two exams, you are certified as a Category 2 IPF referee, and are eligible to officiate international IPF meets.

Category 1 Referee

Category 1 is the higher of the two international referee ranks, recognisable by their red ties and badges. To become a Category 1 international referee, individuals must have a minimum of four years of experience as a Category 2 referee, and in that time must referee at least four international meets, from which bench-only meets are excluded.

Like the Category 2 exam, the Category 1 exam consists of both a theory and a practical portion, though the layout is a little different, especially for the practical portion. The Category 1 exam is marked out of 100 marks, 75 of which come from refereeing, where the referee is the Chief Referee, but the other 25 marks come from how the referee handles gear check and weigh ins, which is not assessed directly for the previous exam. The pass mark is 90%, and all three members of the jury will scrutinise the referee.

Interestingly, to be a Category 1 referee, you must also be conversant in English (more on that below.) The criteria to become a Category 1 referee are thus quite high; needing to pass several written exams with high pass marks, several practical exams, and also be conversant in English; but also it takes a long time, a minimum of 6 years. A Category 1 referee can do everything a Category 2 referee can, but is also eligble to sit on the jury.

A Side Note - Regional Category 1 Referees

A Regional Category 1 referee is a referee who has passed all other requirements to become Category 1, but cannot converse in English. For Regional Championships (e.g. European Championships or Asian Championships), that referee acts as a Category 1 Referee, and for World Championships, they act instead as a Category 2 referee. They are recognisable by their purple ties and badges.

Summary

The process to become an IPF referee is fairly long and difficult, but it can also be rewarding, and it helps deepen your understanding and appreciation for the sport; as well as allows you to give back to the sport in a way you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. If you’re interested in starting on this journey, reach out to your local affiliate to get started.

A Brief History of Powerlifting

If you’re here, you probably already know that powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three main lifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift - but powerlifting is a fairly recent sport, and evolving from the odd lifts and only really being standardised in the 1960s. The sport has its roots in the early 20th century, when weightlifting and bodybuilding were becoming increasingly popular. Over the last 50 years or so, powerlifting has become a competitive sport in its own right, with its own records, championships, and international bodies.

The earliest roots of powerlifting can be traced back to the early 1900s, when weightlifting was a popular form of physical culture. At the time, weightlifting competitions focused on the one-handed snatch and the two-handed clean and jerk (at one point growing to as many as five lifts). However, some weightlifters and bodybuilders began to focus on developing their strength in other lifts, a range of lifts called the odd lifts, which were trained by many lifters and recognised by weightlifting federations for record and competition purposes - including the lifts we know today as the power lifts, as well as other lifts. A common competition format at the time was what was known as the strength set, consisting of the bicep curl, bench press, and squat.

In the 1960s, powerlifting began to take on a more organised form. The first official powerlifting competition was held in March of 1964 at the York Barbell Company in York, Pennsylvania. This competition, known as the York Barbell Meet, featured the squat, bench press, and deadlift. This served to solidify the three lifts we recognise today as the basis for powerlifting. (York Barbell actually still runs meets today, in 2022.)

In absence of another governing body, the Amateur Athletics Union (AAU) took over the organisation of powerlifting in the USA in 1965, and ran the first National Championships that year. In 1966, the British Amateur Weight Lifter’s Association (BAWLA), an organisation previously dedicated to the development of weightlifting, became more interested in supporting non-Olympic lifts, and fell in line with the AAU definition of powerlifting.

The AAU ran “world championships” in both 1971 and 1972 - though the meets were almost entirely made up of American lifters. In 1971, there were 37 lifters (all male), all but 5 were American, and 5 bombed out. In the 1972 event, there were 67 lifters, all but 20 were American, and a whopping 10 bombed. At the time there was little standardisation of rules or equipment, all referees were American, and of course some disputes occured.

Immediately after the 1972 AAU World Championship The International Powerlifting Federation, the first truly international federation was formed. The IPF standardised the rules of powerlifting, added women’s divisions in 1979, and by 1982 had introduced drug testing at international powerlifting meets - effectively forming the IPF and the beginnings of powerlifting as we recognise it today.

Today, powerlifting is a popular sport with tens of thousands of participants around the world. Although new training methods appear, and the popularity of different equipment or styles of lifting wax and wane, it is still much the same as it was in 1980, and the core principles remain unchanged - to test an athlete's strength in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. The sport continues to provide an outlet for individuals to test their strength and push themselves to their limits.

Competitive Powerlifting 101 - Appealing to the Jury

The author passing his Category II referee exam in 2019!

Welcome to the first blog post in what I hope to make a series - Competitive Powerlifting 101. This series will focus on how meet day coaches (or handlers) can make the most of the rules of powerlifting in order to get the best result for their lifters. What I’m talking about here is specific to the International Powerlifting Federation (other federations will have their own rules) and probably won’t apply unless you’re lifting or coaching at a very high level. If you’re not familiar with the technical rules, you can see them here. (They’re provided in many languages, but the normative version is the English version.) There’s been some bad opinions floating around the internet lately about this one, so I thought I’d take the time to clear up any misconceptions.

First - what is a jury? If you’ve never been to a big powerlifting meet before, you might never have seen one before. At Open Worlds (or the World Games) the jury consists of five referees; otherwise the jury is three referees. At the world championships those referees must be Category 1, but at regional championships (or nationals etc) the jury consists of the highest ranking referees present. The jury can do three important things with respect to the competition.

1. Remove a referee or other official they deem to be incompetent (by majority vote)

2. Give a lifter an additional attempt at a lift (at their discretion)

3. Overturn a 2-1 referee decision (by unanimous decision for a 3-person jury, or majority vote for a 5-person jury.)

It’s the last point we’re going to focus on here today.

What is an appeal?

Only in extreme circumstances when there has been an obvious or blatant mistake in the refereeing will the Jury in consultation with the referees, by unanimous jury vote with (3) Member Jury or with Majority vote with (5) Member Jury may reverse the decision. Only 2 to 1 referees’ decision can be considered by the Jury

Jury, Rule 9

In a separate location, it says this.

In the event of a complaint being made against a lifting member or official of an opposing team, the written complaint shall be accompanied by the cash sum of Euro 75 or its equivalent in any currency. Should the Jury in its verdict consider that the complaint is of a frivolous or mischievous nature, then the whole or any portion of the sum may be retained and donated to the IPF at the discretion of the Jury.

Miscellaneous Rules, Rule 13

I find Misc Rule 13 a little vague, but by the way it’s applied at worlds, it seems it applies any time you appeal a lift made by a lifter from another country. By the last sentence, I gather that so long as you’re not a dick and only appeal legitimately borderline referee decisions (and not EVERY SINGLE DECISION) you should usually get your cash back, even if the jury don’t agree with your appeal.

Referee Gang from NZPF National Champs in 2020.

So mechanically, there’s two cases here.

Case 1: 2 Red Lights, 1 White Light

1. Your lifter fails a lift 2-1

2. You go to the jury, and point out an “obvious or blatant refereeing mistake”

3. The jury considers it, and they turn your failed lift into a good lift instead

Case 2: 1 Red Light, 2 White Lights

1. An opposing lifter succeeds on a lift 2-1

2. You go to the jury and hand them 75 Euros in cash

3. You point out an “obvious or blatant refereeing mistake”

4. The jury considers it, and turns the opposing lifter’s good lift into a bad one instead

5. You get your cash back

When Should You Appeal A Decision?

So how does this work? The simple answer is any time there’s a blatant and obvious refereeing mistake. To be slightly less pithy - when there’s a borderline referee decision that will affect the standing of your lifter in a material way. What that means to you is probably a discussion for you and your lifter to have before the meet. Appealing to the jury can cost you 75 Euros, it can annoy the referees, and sure won’t make you friends with the other lifters (especially if you manage to turn their good lift into a bad one), but it’s the only direct way a game day coach can affect the outcome of a powerlifting meet. Given that trade off, you need to make sure it’s worth it to you and your athlete to appeal. If you think it’s a tactic you might pursue, you’ll probably want to have 75 euro (or the equivalent) on hand for your bond.

Personally, I save this for when it’s going to make the difference of moving up the podium or making a qualifying total for something - successfully getting 5 kg added to your squat, or taken off the opposing lifter’s, can make all the difference when it comes down to the end of the day. I probably wouldn’t do this in the case when my lifter wasn’t within spitting distance of the lifters who would be affected!

Of course, not every meet has a jury. If you’re in a small local meet, or even some regional or national championships, appealing the lift won’t even be an option. You can still appeal to the head referee in that case, but all they can do is offer an additional attempt to your lifter to try again, which may or may not be worthwhile for you.

This has been a brief look into appealing decisions to the jury for competitive powerlifting - one of the best levers a coach has in a powerlifting meet, but one that doesn’t come up very often. I hope you’ve found that helpful, and I’d love to know any times you’ve successfully appealed a decision to the jury. I’d also love to know any aspects of competitive powerlifting you’d like a deeper look at.

Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins

I’ve quoted this essay before, and likely will again, because of everything I have ever read, this has left one of the greatest lasting impacts. I think everyone should read it at least once. Whatever stage of life you’re in, whatever your passions and goals, I think you can take something away from it. Originally published in Details Magazine in January 1994 (this essay is older than I am), it hasn’t lost anything with age.

Here is Iron and the Soul, by Henry Rollins.

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Your First Powerlifting Meet - Should I Compete?

One of the most common questions I see from novice powerlifters is “should I compete?” My answer is almost always yes, for a huge range of reasons. Today, I’m going to explain why I think competing is a good idea, when you should compete, and briefly how to prepare for a competition. Let’s get started.

Should I compete?

There’s several great reasons to compete.

The author looking like a tomato in his first powerlifting meet, circa August 2014.

The first and most obvious reason to compete is that you think it might be fun. Sport is about a lot of things; pushing our bodies to new limits, meeting people we like, and long term health, but most importantly we do sport because we enjoy it. If you think preparing for and competing in a powerlifting meet might be fun, you should give it a go.

Preparing for a meet might make you get stronger, faster. Setting goals with definitive time frames tends to make people progress faster. “I want to be strong one day” is a good goal, but a much better goal would be “I’m going to put up the biggest total I can 10 weeks from today.” It can push you much faster than you would push yourself when you feel like you have all the time in the world.

Finally, it gives you a solid point of comparison for strength gains. If you like to be strong and feel strong, powerlifting is a good way to prove you’re making progress. You can, of course, use measures in the gym to ensure you’re progress (and I’d argue you should), but it’s much easier to trick yourself in the gym than in training. If you compete periodically and compare yourself to where you were, you’ll know objectively you’re getting stronger.

There are a few reasons competing might not be a good idea, but the most important one is that if you don’t think it’ll be fun, don’t do it. Competing can be a lot of work, so if you’re simply disinterested in the idea, maybe it’s not the best idea for you at the moment.

When should you compete?

Early and often. Powerlifting is a hobby, but it can be a hobby that takes up a lot of your time if you let it. If you think you might enjoy it, you should try it out as soon as you’re comfortable with the movements. That could be less than 6 months after you first walk in the door of a gym. There is no strength threshold you need to meet, no level of experience you need to have, and competing can be a fun and enlightening experience.

If you find that you enjoyed competing, consider finding another meet. Usually I’d recommend something between 2 and 4 meets per year, so doing another meet after 3 to 6 months would be a good idea.

Am I strong enough to compete?

Short Answer - Yes.

Slightly longer answer - everyone is strong enough to compete. There is a temptation among new lifters not to compete until they reach some sort of milestone. Sometimes, that’s “being strong enough that people won’t judge me”, sometimes it is “being strong enough to win”, and I’ve even heard “strong enough to break a world record.”

No-one judges novice lifters who are trying their best. Everyone started from somewhere, and was exactly where you are now at some point in their career. In my experience, people are very encouraging towards new lifters. Trying something new is a sort of experiment. You’re starting with the hypothesis I am going to enjoy doing this thing. The best way to validate (or invalidate) that hypothesis is to try. You might try it, and discover powerlifting isn’t for new. That’s fine, and if anything it’s better to find out now than after you’ve sunk months or years trying to meet some target which is important to you. Conversely, you might absolutely fall in love (as was the case for me) and never look back.

What do I do before a meet?

Firstly, you should be following a structured training program leading into a meet. If you don’t know how to do that, there’s plenty of great content online. I’ve got a 15 week novice program available for free, and my app has plenty of great beginner options. Your program will probably be 12 to 15 weeks leading up to the meet, with perhaps a one week taper (easy week) beforehand. It can be tempting to head to the gym and max out during that week to make sure you can hit your numbers, but resist the urge! The recovery will do you good at that time.

Otherwise, live your normal life, including food and rest. Don’t be tempted to cut weight for your first meet - you should probably just walk in and weigh whatever you weigh. Many meet directors will let you move weight classes on the day as a novice, so don’t stress (but check beforehand.) If you need to declare a weight class, it will almost certainly be better to pick a higher one, rather than a lower one.

Remember, bench press is a paused exercise.

There’s a few different powerlifting federations - make sure you check which one you’re competing in, and their specific rules, particularly around things like squat depth and bench pressing. Some federations allow your head to lift up off the bench, for example, while others don’t. Make sure you check, and then train according to the rules of that federation (including pausing your bench press!) You can see the IPF Rules here, which are a good standard to train to if you’re not sure.

What happens during a meet?

Attempt selection could be a whole blog post in itself, but in short - be conservative with what you’re doing on the platform. Powerlifting is like The Price is Right rules - you want to get as close to your max as possible, without going over! It’s better to get every attempt and potentially leave 2.5 kg or 5 kg on the platform, than to go well over what you can achieve, fail, and increase your injury risk.

Otherwise, do whatever you’re comfortable with. Listen to music if you like music, banter if you like banter, and eat food that is similar to your regular food choices. Game day is a not a day for experimenting with new things.

If you can, finding someone who knows what they are doing to look after you on the day (a handler or meet day coach) can go a long way towards making sure you get the most out of the day. Don’t stress if you can’t, if you ask around, you’ll almost certainly be able to find someone willing to point you in the right direction.

What do I do afterwards?

Celebrate! Even if you didn’t hit the exact numbers you may have had in mind, you probably went out of your comfort zone and pushed yourself, and that’s something to be proud of. Also, take some time to reflect - did you enjoy yourself, is it something you’d like to do again? If so, what would you do differently next time? Even taking ten minutes to write yourself some notes about your competition experience can go a long way to improving meet to meet.

Conclusion

Powerlifting can be a lot of fun, and competing takes it to a whole new level. If you’ve been thinking about trying it, consider this your sign to go ahead and try.

Do you have any questions about competing, or stories about your first meet? If you do, pop them below, I’d love to hear them.

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The Muscle and Strength Pyramids - A Review

I first encountered the Muscle and Strength Pyramids in about 2013 when, like many 19 year olds, I was trying to work out how to get more jacked and I was wading through screeds of bullshit on Reddit and Bodybuilding.com. I was lucky enough to come across Eric Helms’s video series, The Muscle and Strength Nutritional Pyramid. (There’s also the Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid, here.) In it, Mr Helms (now Dr Helms) laid out a straight forward approach to the priorities an athlete should have when dieting for muscle gain and fat loss. That video series helped me cut through the rubbish on the internet and start focussing on what actually mattered.

I was mind-blown (not to mention star struck) when I showed up at my first powerlifting meet in 2014 and Eric Helms was actually there - I later found out he lives just up the road from me, and now I’d consider us to be friends. In some ways, the Muscle and Strength Pyramids were my introduction to evidence based training and dieting information, and I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if I’d stumbled into a different set of videos.

Eric Hems (left), myself (centre back, in the glasses), IPF World Champion Evie Corrigan (centre front) and some Auckland powerlifters and strongmen competed in a Highland Games together in December 2020.

Today I’m going to review The Muscle and Strength Pyramids. The Muscle and Strength Pyramids are a pair of books (mostly e-books though physical copies are available now) written by Dr Eric Helms, Andrea Valdez, and Andy Morgan. The Training Book, as you might expect, covers everything you need to know to practically start writing programs for powerlifting or bodybuilding (or most other sports with some creativity and extrapolation) with a staged approach to the level of emphasis you need on each aspect. Likewise, The Nutrition Book covers everything you need to build muscle, lose fat, and perform in the gym for powerlifting or bodybuilding, with the same staged approach to the principles of dieting.

The books build on the aforementioned video series (which are great, if a little old now.) If you’re on the fence about picking up these books, start by checking out the videos. The books are the same thing, but in much more detail and with much more nuance. The books are available over here, at their website, and are also featured here, on Sisyphus Strength.

The books.

The Muscle and Strength Pyramid Training Book lays out, layer by layer, the important principles to adhere to in order to get stronger. It’s very well referenced, providing a huge reading list if you’re that way inclined, and absolutely no nonsense, skipping all the bro-science and rubbish that doesn’t really help. It includes six sample programs (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced for both powerlifting and bodybuilding), which are provided as examples of how you might construct programs using the principles outlined in the book, but could equally be run word-for-word by a lifter. It strikes a great balance between science and practicality - many books about exercises science either assume a lot of knowledge, or start by taking you through screeds of physiology you don’t need to know in order to get stronger. This book gets straight to the point, and puts the most important stuff first.

The Training Book.

As a "training guy” when I first picked these books up, I assumed I’d enjoy the training book much more, but I actually found The Nutrition Book much more interesting. Like The Training Book, The Nutrition Book is no nonsense, evidence based information that teaches you how to diet or mass while still performing in the gym. There’s so much misinformation and bullshit out there about nutrition, and this cuts right to the heart of it, including both the science, but also practical recommendations about what to do with it, and how to adapt if it isn’t going to plan. Of all the sports science (and adjacent) books I’ve ever bought, The Nutrition Book is probably the one I refer back to most often. You won’t be able to be a nutritionist after reading this, and you definitely won’t be able to be a substitute for a Registered Dietician, but you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Interestingly, if you buy the pair, you get future editions of the Muscle & Strength Pyramids, for free. The second edition was released in late 2018, so those people who bought both got the second edition for free. The authors have committed to releasing new editions as concepts become better understood and more clearly studied, so it’s a good investment on your future education. I’ve never seen authors commit like this before, and I think it shows good promise for the future.

As far as I know, this only applies to the e-book, though physical copies are available also, in a number of languages.

The Nutrition Book.

One limitation of these books is that at just under 300 pages each, and assuming no prior knowledge, the books are relatively superficial from an anatomy and physiology perspective. That has its pros and cons, of course. The advantage is they’re easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to start implementing in your day to day training and dieting. The draw back is that they’re not sufficient to make you a coach or a nutritionist by themselves - they’re a start of a curriculum, but not a curriculum by themselves. If I were going to recommend a course of study (and assuming you don’t have the time or inclination to do a bachelor’s degree in the subject), I’d use these books as a starting point, then books like Renaissance Periodization’s The Renaissance Diet or Scientific Principles of Strength Training as a second port of call, and perhaps a MASS subscription as well (of which Eric is also an author.)

I love these books, and I’ve probably recommended them to 20 different people since I read the first editions in 2015. They provide a good, no-nonsense approach to training and dieting that suits powerlifters, bodybuilders, and most other strength athletes. They won’t make you a coach or nutritionist overnight, but they’ll definitely start you off in the right direction. If you’re just starting to think about coaching, or self-coaching, or tightening up your nutrition, these are a great starting point. If you’re deep into your career as a coach or nutritionist, you might get a little bit less out these books, but they’re still not a bad investment.

Disclaimer - Some of the links of this page are affiliate links - if you buy things, I might get some money. It helps me keep this website online.

Screening Powerlifters for Sleep Problems

My last couple of blog posts have been about how to improve your sleep quality, and how to get over jet lag quickly, but there’s one last thing I want to cover to wrap up this blog series. How do you know if you’re in a sleep deficit, as an individual? How do you, as a coach, know if your athlete’s are sleep deprived? How much sleep should you/they be getting? How do you assess the quality of their sleep?

These are all the questions I intend to cover in this post. If you missed the previous blog posts, I’ve linked them here.

Part 1 - Sleep Plans for Powerlifters
Part 2 - How to Kick Jet Lag

How much sleep do I need?

From 2014-2018 I would estimate that on 90% of nights I got 10 hours of sleep (from the time I set my alarm). Anytime I would get less than that is when I would have bad training sessions or get sick. Sleep is 🔑.

Jackson Spencer (IPF World Champion)

If you’re concerned you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re almost certainly right, and even if you’re not, there is no harm is getting more sleep than you’re presently getting. Dr Cheri Mah, a sleep expert who works with pro teams in the NBA and NFL, recommends 8 to 10 hours for athletes.

That’s right - 8 to 10.

Like I said in the first blog in this series, this can seem daunting. I was chronically sleep deprived as a student, sleeping only 6 hours or so almost every night. Being told I had to sleep 8 hours a night was almost scary - it was like being told I had to spend two hours less each day doing things. I get it. If you’re a person currently getting less than 8 hours per night, you can start by creating yourself a slightly longer sleep oppourtity each night. Start with an extra 30 minutes. Once you can do that consistently, try for another 30, and another, until you get up to 8 hours or more.

So, the first point - if you’re creating a sleep opportunity of less than 8 hours per night, you’re probably chronically sleep deprived.

Side note - you’ll occasionally see evidence that suggest people who sleep more have higher all-cause mortality, and sometimes it is cited to suggest you shouldn’t sleep more than 8 hours per night. Although the statistic is true, it’s not a causal relationship. People who are chronically ill tend to sleep much more than average. Giving yourself a longer sleep opportunity each night will not put you at risk.

But I’m Fine on 6 Hours

Or 5 hours. Or 7 hours. Or whatever.

Dr Thomas Roth, Director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit explains this way more succinctly than I ever could.

The number of people who can survive on five hours of sleep or less without any impairment, expressed as a percent of the population, and rounded to a whole number, is zero.

Don’t get me wrong, the so so-called “sleepless elite”, a group of humans with a genetic abnormality that allows them to survive effectively on much less sleep than every one else, definitely exist, but it’s probably not you. If you’re anything other than certain, trying to sleep more is only going to be good for you.

How’s my Sleep Hygiene?

Sleep is more than just duration. There’s a tonne of questionnaires available to look at your sleep hygiene, but I particularly like the Athlete Sleep Behaviour Questionnaire (ASBQ). The ASBQ asks 18 questions, and asks the athlete to rate themselves between 1 (never) and 5 (always), then sums the scores across the questions. Low scores (<25 or so) indicate good sleep hygiene, and high scores (>40 or so) indicate poor sleep hygiene.

The only modification I make for powerlifters is to the question abut caffeine - the original question is “How often do I use caffeine before training?”, which I don’t think is an appropriate question because I encourage caffeine use for it’s ergogenic effects. I’ve changed the question to “How often do I use caffeine within 5 hours of going to bed?”, which I think better reflects the actual requirements of my athletes.

The reason I like this survey over some of the other options is that it also helps you to identify which parts of the athlete’s sleep hygiene need to be addressed. In my athletes who end up with high (bad) scores, I’ve found it common for scores of 1 or 2 (good) in most categories, and then two or three 5s (very bad). That gives a good indicator of where to focus your efforts in creating a sleep plan.

Second point - identify the areas of your sleep hygiene that need improvement, and focus on them.

Screening Powerlifters for Sleep Problems

Let’s put that together. Creating a good night’s sleep comes from two places - the first is duration in bed, and the second is quality. From our perspective, that means looking at…

1. Duration of sleep opportunity. Am I in bed for 8 or more hours per night?

2. Sleep hygiene. How’s my sleep hygiene? What areas can I focus on to improve it?

I’ve been using that myself and with my athletes over the past few months, and it’s helped me identify some problems I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. You can have the best programming in the world, but if your lifter isn’t sleeping at night, they not going to make good progress (just like if they don’t eat, they’re going to struggle.) Unfortunately this isn’t something that always comes naturally when talking about what might be holding you back. So often it’s some kind of badge of honour to survive on little sleep, or to stay up all night. I have found these questions as a good catalyst for discussions we should be all having, with our coach or our athletes.

Further Reading

If you’ve found these blog posts informative or interesting and want to do some more reading, there are two books which I rate highly, and a podcast which is only 30 minutes but changed the way I think about sleep for athletes.

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker - This book changed the way I think about sleep. It’s not focussed particularly closely on athletic performance, but more generally on health and wellness, but it’s compelling and well written.

Recovering from Training - this one is by the Juggernaut Team, and is focussed much more closely on the way athletes recover from training (obviously sleep being a large portion of that!) If you’re more interested in athletic performance and less generally and sleep, I think this is probably a better starting point.

The Nike Trained Interview with Dr Cherie Mah - (Not a book.) If you have 30 minutes to kill, this podcast serves as a great start to thinking about the role sleep has in athletic performance, and how we should probably consider it part of our regular training plans.

Well, that’s it from me on sleep for now. I hope you’ve taken something away from all this, even if it’s just that you should try sleep a little more than you already do. If anything has particularly stood out to you out of this series, I’d love to hear from you, either on Facebook, or in the comment section below.

How to Kick Jet Lag (like an athlete)

Most people have, at some point, suffered from jet lag. It’s horrible - eyes popping open, wide awake in the middle of the night, and daytime drowsiness to the point where you can barely keep your eyes open. It is unpleasant, but more to the point, in detriment to your performance as an athlete (or a coach). In this blog post, I’ll cover off what jet lag is and why it happens, and a plan to kick it as as fast as possible.

My last post, Sleep Plans for Powerlifters, was targeted at sleeping regularly in your home time zone. This post is specific to travel - how to kick jet lag as quickly as possible. It’s written with a bent towards competitive athletes, but the same principles apply whether you’re traveling to lift, traveling to coach, or even traveling for work or a holiday.

Note that the advice in this blog post is aimed specifically at adjusting to a new time zone. If you regularly have trouble sleeping in your home time zone, consider a sleep plan, or seeing a medical professional.

Circadian Rhythm

I know I promised to explain what jet lag is and why it happens, but a thorough understanding of how to beat it comes from understanding the underlying mechanisms. If you don’t care about any of this stuff, and just want to know what to do, skip straight to the last section.

Your circadian (circa- about, dian - day) rhythm is the internal clock which dictates the way your body behaves during parts of the day. This rhythm is why you wake up at around the same time most days (even if you don’t set an alarm), why you get sleepy in the evenings, and even why you get hungry at particular times. It also regulates some more obscure biological processes, like tiny variations in your core body temperature.

One of the curious points about your circadian rhythm is that it isn’t 24 hours long - for most people it’s around 24 hours and 15 minutes (though I believe free running periods of up to 27 hours have been observed). Each day, you need to expose yourself to a series of zeitgebers to keep your internal clock in sync with actual days. Zeitgeber is a German word meaning syncroniser or time giver, and in this context it means the external signals the time of day to your body. The most common natural zeitgebers are the light and heat from the rising sun, signalling the morning (which is why you’ll often wake up at night if your room gets too warm).

What’s Jet Lag?

Jet lag is the phenomenon when your internal clock doesn’t match the actual day. You get sleepy in mid afternoon because your brain still “thinks” it’s the middle of the night, and then wake up at 3 am because the sun in rising in your home time zone. It’s disorienting, it often means you get less sleep than is ideal, and you sure as hell can’t lift to the best of your ability like that.

If left to your own devices, it takes about 1 day to adjust to each timezone you’ve crossed, though it’s slightly faster travelling westward than eastward. We already touched on why - human free running periods are slightly longer than 24 hours. Your body already wants to go to bed later and get up later.

Time Zone Adjustment for Pros - Example Plan

Okay, time to make an actual plan to adjust to your new time zone.

Before landing

Start eating and sleeping according to your new time zone. This isn’t super fun, but meal timing, especially breakfast timing, is a massively powerful zeitgeber. Something like a 16 hour fast followed by breakfast at 7 or 8 am in your new timezone will help start your adjustment before you even land. If you’re going to do this, you’ll want to take some kind of high protein meal to eat, because it almost certainly won’t line up with the meal times provided by the airline!

During the day

Don’t nap. Don’t do it. You’re going to need that precious sleep pressure to help you to go to sleep at the right time. Do your best not to sleep during the day, but if you really have to, try limit yourself to 30 minutes.

Eat at normal times. This might be hard because you won’t be hungry (or will be hungry at weird times), but eating is an important zeitgeber, and it’ll help you adjust faster if you eat regularly.

In the evening

Follow your regular evening routine at a sensible time. If you don’t have a regular evening routine, see post one in this series.

Have a warm bath or shower. Compared to control groups, a warm bath before bed increased deep sleep by 15% in healthy adults, and decreased sleep latency in animal models by around 25%. That’s a massive win. (There’s a whole bunch of papers on this, but here’s one that has a good summary.)

Take melatonin 40 minutes before you want to go to sleep (even if it isn’t a regular part of your routine.) If you have a healthy circadian rhythm you’ll experience a natural spike in melatonin, triggering sleepiness in the evening. In a new time zone this won’t happen, or will happen at the wrong time. You can make sure you get that sleep inducing melatonin spike at the right time by taking exogenous melatonin.

This is my preferred melatonin (<- that’s an affiliate link).

In the morning

Get up as soon as that alarm goes off (or one snooze, if you must.)

Get some sunlight, if you can. If you can, some warmth goes a long way too.

Eat a regular breakfast and drink regular coffee (if you drink coffee normally).

Bathe yourself in blue light. For real. Blue light is supposed to selectively stimulate your suprachiasmatic nucleus (the part of your brain primarily responsible for regulating your circadian rhythm). That’s not the best thing to do in the evening before you go to sleep, but if you’re trying to wake up, it might help.

Don’t

Drink alcohol. If you’re travelling to compete you probably shouldn’t be drinking anyway, but it’s worth reiterating. It’s beyond the scope of this post to talk about all the consequences of alcohol on sleep, but needless to say it’s bad, especially if you’re trying to adjust to a new sleep schedule.

Drink caffeine within 6 hours of going to bed. Make it 8 to 10 if you can. I know it can be tempting when you’re sleepy (because you’ve been awake 20 hours, or because it’s midnight in your home time zone) to have a coffee - just a boost to keep you awake until it’s time for bed. Because caffeine has a long biological half-life, it can unfortunately disrupt your sleeping for many hours after you’ve last had any.

Ending Thoughts

That concludes my thoughts so far on adapting to new time zones for athletes. Travelling to compete is certainly exciting, but it brings a set of novel challenges you never even have to think about when you’re competing a short drive from home.

If you’re finding this series on sleep interesting, I highly recommend the book “Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams” by Matthew Walker. “Recovering from Training” by the team from Renaissance Periodisation is great too. I’m planning one more post in this series - a practical guide on how to screen for sleep deficits and poor sleep hygiene in athletes. Stay tuned for that.

I hope you’ve got something interesting out of this series so far. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Sleep Plans for Powerlifters

I’m just starting to play around with the idea of sleep plans for powerlifters, and I feel like this is something I should have been thinking about a long time ago. I think we all agree that sleep is essential (both duration and quality), but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk seriously about a sleep plan, at least not in the context of powerlifting. What I’m going to do here is lay out why sleep is so important, and then the key variables that I think we should be focusing on to improve sleep. I’d love for you to share any thoughts you’ve had on sleep in the comment section below.

This post is aimed squarely at sleep as it relates to recovery and training; not crossing time zones in order to compete. This is intended to be the first in a series of three posts, covering sleep plans, assessing sleep deficits, and adjusting to new time zones (especially as it relates to competition.) I’ll link each of the posts as they’re finished.

Note that this post is not intended as medical advice. If you’re having serious sleep problems, you should see a doctor.

Kangaroos are jacked and sleep most of the day. Coincidence?

Why do we need to sleep?

Strangely, it doesn’t seem to be entirely clear why people need to sleep. The best answer I’ve managed to find so far has been because we get tired, which is entirely tautological. There are any number of gurus and zen monks or what-have-you claim to get by on 2 hours of sleep per night, only napping 20-minutes every few hours or whatever their specific protocol is, but the evidence in sports is clear - you perform best on at least 8 hours of sleep per night. Dr Cheri Mah, a sleep expert who works with pro teams in the NBA, NFL and so on claims there is no upper limit to how much sleep athletes can use. Obviously, that isn’t always practical, but it seems like aiming for 8 to 10 hours per night is a realistic goal.

I haven’t been able to find specific numbers for powerlifting, but some related data I have found…

• Collegiate basketball players who increased their sleep by 110 minutes per night for 5 weeks increased their free throw percentage by 9%, 3-point field goal percentage by 9.2%, improved their reaction times, and shaved an average of 0.7 sec off their sprint time for 86 metres (strange distance, I know) [source]

• MVA data across 160 student athletes shows the best indicator of likelihood of injury being hours of sleep per night; athletes sleeping less than 8 hours per night were 1.7 times more likely to be injured than those sleeping more than 8 hours per night. [source]

I could keep going, but I’ll stop there for now. Those probably don’t map exactly onto powerlifting, as reaction time and coordination play into powerlifting much less, but I think it’s fair to say that the link between sleep and performance is strong.

Factors in a plan

As I’ve been thinking about this, I’ve identified ten (10!) factors which I think are worth trying to control in order to improve sleep duration and quality, which is actually way more than I expected to find. In no particular order…

1. Duration

   Like I said previously, it seems like you should be aiming for at least 8 hours of sleep. If you’re currently sleeping 5 hours or less, aiming for 8 hours or more immediately might not be feasible, so setting incremental goals of half-hour increases every two weeks or something similar might be of useful.

2. Room Temperature

   Ideal room temperature for sleep seems to be 16 to 19° C (60 to 67 F) for most people, with some individual variation. That probably feels quite cold for most people, so again, don’t jump straight to it if it isn’t comfortable. If you can’t control the temperature exactly, a fan or a heater will likely go a long way.

3. Room Brightness

   Dark is better. Invest in blackout curtains if you can (best $100 I’ve ever spent), or a face mask if you can’t. It’s seriously worth it. Unlike the first two points, it seems like you can see immediate benefits from this one.

4. Snoozing

   Some people snooze their alarm 2 or 3 or 12 times before actually getting up. As comfortable as snoozing can be, if you’re snoozing that much, you’d probably get more benefit from sleeping that extra time instead, and getting up when your alarm actually goes off. Personally, I limit myself to one snooze per day.

5. Supplements

   This is probably a little individual, but I’ve found melatonin, magnesium, and zinc to be useful as a pre-bed stack for sleep. I take them around 40 minutes before I go to sleep, and the difference is like night and day. I take 5 mg of melatonin, 550 mg of magnesium, and 15 mg of zinc, but you should scale for your own body weight. Note that there is not a linear dose-response relationship between these supplements and sleep quality! (i.e. doubling the doze doesn’t double your sleep quality.)

   Note that ZMA gets a lot of hype, but is just a mix of magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B6. L-Theanine supplementation looks like it might be promising too, but I haven’t experimented with it personally.

   This is my preferred melatonin (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link). For zinc and melatonin, I just ask for the highest dosed option at my local pharmacy (most supplements are woefully under-dosed).

6. Wind down time

   Spending some unstimulated time winding down before bed has had a big impact on my sleep quality. I originally thought it was fine, but I’ve found just taking five minutes to do some stretching and cognitive offloading (next point) before turning out the light to be impactful. I’ve heard quotes of up to an hour being beneficial. This is also a great time to practice visualisation or meditation that you might be meaning to do. This time should probably be screen-free, but it has nothing to do with blue light (I suspect the whole blue light thing is rubbish), but more to do with the stimulation devices give.

7. Cognitive Offloading

   If you’re anything like me, your mind is racing with things you want to remember for the next day or random thoughts you can’t get rid of when you lay down. Cognitive offloading is the process of taking some time to write all those thoughts down. That way, you won’t forget them, and the process of writing them down seems to be helpful in its own right (much the same way as telling someone about your problems feels like it alleviates them). I now keep a notebook and pencil beside my bed, and use my wind down time to note down anything on my mind.

8. Morning Routine

   Morning routine is important for sleep because humans’ circadian rhythms are actually much longer than 24 hours; 25 to 27 hours being the typical range. A morning routine helps to reset your circadian rhythm and keep you in sync. Important factors for that sync are temperature, light and movements. A light walk in the sun when you get up is perfect, but it’s usually dark when I get up so I tell myself stumbling into a warm shower first thing in the morning is basically the same thing.

9. Caffeine Timing

   Caffeine has a 5 or 6 hour half-life, which is quite long, so limiting caffeine before bed is probably a good idea. If you’re training in the evening, your pre-training caffeine should be your last, otherwise stopping caffeine 6 to 10 hours before your intended bed time will probably improve your sleep a lot.

10. Training Timing

    Training is (unsurprisingly) stimulating. The research seems to show that you should finish training at least one hour before you go to bed, but in my experience that isn’t long enough. I’d shoot for at least 2 hours when possible (though of course, due to lifestyle factors, that isn’t always possible.)

Making a plan

Like training or nutrition, a sleeping plan should be tailored for you, and I suspect that any improvement is going to help at least a little. Start by taking stock of where you’re at - which of the above are you doing well on? Which ones aren’t you doing well on? If you’re an athlete who likes to push yourself, it’s probably tempting to pick all of the things and try to do them all at once, but that’s not how habits are formed. Pick one or two things to tweak at a time. Aside from duration, which is probably the most important, it likely doesn’t matter too much which factors you decide to play with first.

I hope you’ve found some of the above useful. Like I said in the introduction, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on sleeping plans for powerlifters. Have you had one before? What factors do you think are most important? Which ones have you played with?

RP Diet App - A Full Review

Last year, Renaissance Periodisation (RP) released an app as an alternative to their extremely popular diet templates. They first released an iOS version; unfortunately for plebs like me, the Android version wasn't released until much later, in December. I downloaded it immediately, but elected not to start my diet until after Christmas (good decision, Rory.) I've now been using the app for some weeks, and I feel like I'm in a position to give a reasonable review of it.

You can download the app in the Google Play Store or Apple Store.

First - What it is

If you've used the RP diet templates before, you'll be familiar with the structure. You set a goal and a diet length up front, and define some lifestyle information, including things like what time you wake up, when you train, and how many meals you want to eat per day (you can set these on a day-by-day basis; you don't have to stay the same every day.)

Each day, a series of meals is defined for you. They're presented with little cards, and you can select food from an approved list, then the app tells you how much of each food to eat at that meal. If you flip the card over, it also shows your macros and calorie total for that meal. Two or three times per week, you weigh in, and the app adjusts your calories for the coming days to ensure you're on target to hit the goal you defined right at the beginning.

That's it!

Second - What it's not

There seems to be some confusion around the Internet as to how this works with the existing diet templates, and how it's different from Avatar Nutrition or MyFitnessPal.

This doesn't play with the templates. It's a completely separate product. You use one or the other, not both at the same time (and I probably wouldn't recommend switching mid-diet either.)

Secondly, it's not an If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) diet. Although your macros can be exposed, it's meant to be used so that you eat the food from the lists, and at the suggested times (more or less.) In their book, The Renaissance Diet, (which I highly recommend), they explain that although calories and macros make up most  of the efficacy of a diet, they don't make up all of it, and some small extra benefits can be eked out through nutrient timing and nutrient quality. That makes it different from MFP or Avatar Nutrition.

The Good

I'm going to say up front, I think this RP diet is the best way to diet for performance, hands down. The RP Diet App makes following the RP Diets so much easier than the old excel templates, giving you notifications of when to eat, and how much of each food to eat. It also takes ancillary macros into account (which the templates do not) which means you stay much closer to the overall (implicit) calorie goal, so that's all fantastic. For each meal, you can only select one food of each category. If you're happy eating quite boring mix-and-match meals, like I am, that's probably not a huge problem, but if you're a person who craves variety and coherent meals, that's probably something that needs some improvement.

It also has a cool Shopping List feature, where if you preplan a week's worth of meals, it gives you a checkable list of how much of each food you'll need. I started using this, but soon discovered that because I'm a bit disorganised, it was much easier just to buy a pile of each food type and mix and match on a meal-by-meal basis. It think this feature would be greatly improved if you could select a data range instead of just the options "This Week" and "Next Week", which I found a little vague.

Finally in the good section, there's a two week trial period, which is more than enough time to get a feel for if you like the app.

The Bad

The RP Diet does not play well if your social life revolves around eating, which many people's do. There, I said it. I suspect this is the best way to eat for performance, but it is not flexible, and that leaves you with the option of not complying/partially complying, or making some sacrifices. If flexibility in your lifestyle is something you want, this is probably not a good app to start with.

Like many brand new apps, this one has some stability issues. It freezes occasionally. Sometimes food quantities don't update immediately, and update on the next page refresh instead.

The app is relatively expensive, at $15 USD per month (~25 NZD per month.) Personally, I think that's an acceptable price, especially during aggressive dieting phases, but if I was just maintaining, or was more casual, I probably wouldn't be able to justify it to myself. I certainly wouldn't buy the 1-year option, mostly because of the lack of flexibility.

The Ugly

By "Ugly" I mean things which are currently a little strange or slightly negative, but could easily be improved. I've also hidden some feature requests here.

All of the foods are localised to what I assume is American standards. I didn't even realise the same cut of meat had different names in different countries until using the app, so I guess I learned something, but it turns out that what we call sirloin steak in NZ, is not the same thing as they call it in the States. I've managed to figure it out now, but some localisation would be nice. On that note, more food options are a must. I assume that growing the food lists is on their road map for the product.

They use point weigh-ins, two or three per week. If you've made it this far, I suspect you know that body weights fluctuate a reasonable amount day-to-day and that using a moving average tends to give more accurate results. I feel slightly cheated when I'm trending down but a random one-day spike causes my macros to be slashed. I could calculate a moving average and use that myself, but I feel like daily weigh-ins where the app calculates a trend for you should be an included feature.

There are a couple of strange UI things, most notably that I set my target weight at 88 kg and it insists on displaying it as 87.9 kg. I suspect this is something to do with translating between kilos and pounds for storage / display, but I find it a little odd none-the-less.

Your largest meal of the day is always the last one, I suspect to combat the evening hunger many people experience, but I'd really like to be able to make it the second to last meal of the day instead (just personal preference). I know I could manually make the swap, but again, I feel like that's something the app should be able to do.

The default fat-loss setting was custom which means, that despite knowing better, I gave myself quite an aggressive goal (mild regrets now my macros have been slashed a couple of times.) I do suspect that setting the default goal as being moderate, and the user having to deliberately make it more aggressive, might end up meaning people make overall smarter choices. 

Final ugly note - I found an athlete referral option, but it was buried in the settings page and not obvious at all, definitely not part of the on-boarding flow. I've set it now, but was I meant to? Does the referring athlete get anything for having referred me? I don't know. It's not clear at all.

The Verdict

The RP Diet App is not an app for a casual athlete or a novice, but if you're an advanced athlete (or like to pretend you are, like me) it could be perfect. Having laid out all the things I've thought about the app, it feels a little arbitrary to now give it a score out of five, but on the "will I keep paying for it" scale, my answer is "yes." At least, yes, for the rest of my current diet. Once I'm at maintenance and maintaining happily, I'll likely cancel my subscription until the next time I want to do a serious diet or mass phase.

Have you used the RP Diet app, or the templates? What did you think? I'd like to hear your thoughts in the comment section below. Until next time.

How to Water Cut like a Pro

Recently, I have seen a lot of competitors, even smart and experienced competitors, make their lives unnecessarily harder and throw kilos away on the platform by cutting weight for a meet poorly. There are lots of smart ways to cut weight, and I'm going to lay out my preferred method, layer by layer, here. 

This is a proven method which I've used dozens of times, both on myself, and athletes that I've coached. That said, deliberately dehydrating yourself for sport is neither particularly smart nor safe, and you should consider seeking medical advice before doing so. I will not address the more aggressive weight cutting strategies employed for 24-hour weigh ins here, as I think they're disproportionately more dangerous than those discussed here. 

Just want to be told how to do it? Pick up a water-cut template here.

Layer 0 - How much can I cut?

The most important part of a water cut / weight manipulation is the very last part - recomposition after the weigh in. Being dehydrated is stressful, bad for your health, and bad for your performance. We're going to work backwards by planning how much weight to lose, which is determined by how much we can gain back. 

An average person can regain about 2% of their body weight in lost water in 2 hours, and most people can lift at around 1% dehydration without affecting their performance. That means that for a 2-hour weigh-in, most competitors should not look to cut more than 3% of their body weight. 

With that in mind, we can say that most competitors should not begin their water cut at more than about 3% over the top of their weight class. For a 93 kg man, this means weighing something like 95.8 kg, and for a 57 kg woman, something like 58.7 kg. One can cut more weight, but it becomes increasingly dangerous and detrimental to your performance. If you're intending to compete in a class, and you're currently more than 3% over the top of the class, consider dieting down slowly over weeks or months, and then water cutting the last few percent. Ideally, you'd be reaching 103% of your weight class about four weeks out from your meet, so you can eat at maintenance (for recovery) for your final few weeks of training. 

Finally, this process takes about a week, but you will need to decide to commit 2 weeks before meet day. Start weighing yourself before bed and first thing in the morning. Calculate how much weight you drop over night - you're going to need that for Layer 4 - Hyperthermia. 

Layer 1 - Water 

The most obvious layer is the water. The idea here is to drink way more water than you're accustomed to, to "convince" your body it's normal to pee constantly, and then cut it off. It takes a while to return to baseline excretion levels, and in that time you drop extra fluid mass. 

A common mistake here is to taper your water off, but this does exactly the opposite of what you're trying to achieve. By tapering water intake, your body is adjusting to lower intakes and compensating with lower excretion levels. If you taper for too long, you'll actually retain extra water, making you even heavier. 

So, how much do you drink? Your peak water intake should be something like 120 mL / kg.body weight. This isn't that precise, so feel free to round it to an easy number. For me, as a 95 kg human, this comes out at around about 11.5 L (3 gallons-ish, for my American friends.) 

We're not going to jump straight to peak water, though. If competition day is Day-0, then 1 and 2 days out we're going to drink 100% of peak water; 3 and 4 days out we're going to drink 80% of peak water; and 5 and 6 days out we're going to drink 60% of peak water. On the last day (1 day out), cut all fluid intake 16 hours before weigh in. On other days, drink however you like, just be aware that if you consume all your water in the evening, you're going to be up all night peeing.

Layer 2 - Sodium

Just like with water, the idea of salt loading is to "convince" your body that excreting a metric tonne of salt every day is normal. Sodium pulls water into your cells, and conversely, when you excrete a lot of it, it pulls more more water out of your body to maintain osmolarity. 

My standard sodium protocol is 1 and 2 days out - minimum possible sodium, aim for under 1000 mg. For days 3 to 6, high sodium. I tend to say "5000 mg", but honestly, I don't try track it, and just throw salt on every bit of food I eat. I've also seen people mix up saline "shots" by mixing a teaspoon of salt into a small amount of water, which works just fine as well. 

Layer 3 - Carbs

This is the first optional layer. If it's your first water load, or only have < 1.5% of your body weight to lose, probably skip everything from here down. 

Glycogen stored in your muscles stores water. If we can deplete your glycogen stores, you pee out all the extra water, and lose weight (hint - this is also why you lose a lot of weight when you first move to a ketogenic diet.) Flip side - carbs also aid recovery, so if we're eating for performance, we want to keep our carb intake high. 

I've found the best compromise to be eating normally until 3 days out, and then, 2 days out, switch to low-carb mode, aiming for < 10% of your normal carbohydrate intake, but maintaining calories. You also want to drop total food mass in this time (i.e. eat calorically dense foods, high in fat and protein), but this tends to be a natural consequence of dropping carbs so low. 

Note that here I am referring to total carbs, not net carbs.

Layer 4 - Hyperthermia

I'm going to preface this by saying that you probably shouldn't be planning on using hyperthermia to make weight for a 2-hour weigh in. This should only be necessary if you're dropping more than 3% of your body weight, and usually not until > 4%. If you're doing this, you're definitely going to see a hit on your performance, and you need to be okay with that. 

The other time you might need to sweat out some weight is if (for one reason or another) the rest of your cut has gone poorly. If your evening weight the night before you lift (morning weigh-in) is more than your average overnight drop over your competition weight, it is worth considering 1 to 2 rounds of hyperthermia before bed, or waking up early to recheck your weight. 

So, if you're still planning to use hyperthermia to lose weight, my preferred method is to use a hot bath full of epsom salts, and cycle 20 minutes in the bath with 10 minutes out, fully drying yourself and reweighing yourself after every period out of the bath. Your weight loss won't be linear, as you do this, so you do need to reweigh yourself frequently. 

If you are doing this, do it with supervision. Have someone sitting with you the entire time. 

And.... that's it. No saunas, no running in fat suits, no cardio of any description. 

Rehydration

Okay, so you weigh in, what's next? This is very important, and doing it poorly will mean you spend the entire day moderately dehydrated and under performing. I recommend consuming a bit of salt just before weighing-in to expedite the rehydration process immediately after weigh-ins. Make sure to have your electrolyte solutions (Pedialyte, Hydralyte, Trioral, etc) already mixed and ready to drink right. After coming off the scales, you need to regain as many of your lost fluids, electrolytes, and any lost glycogen as fast as possible. In order, you should consume an electrolyte/sugar concoction, some fast carbs (a few tablespoons of honey or maple syrup), and a moderate GI, low fibre carb (I like rice; wholemeal bread, potatoes or sweet potatoes, muesli etc are all good, but make sure to stick to foods you eat regularly). I see a lot of people making the mistake of downing extremely fatty foods, or foods high in protein after weigh in. Although I understand the temptation, those foods tend to slow digestion, which in our depleted state isn't what we want. 

Throughout the day, keeping up the fluid and electrolyte intake is important. You're going to be more prone to cramping than usual, so keeping an electrolyte mix on hand is going to be essential. 

Finally, if you start to feel bloated when you're rehydrating, stop. The last thing you want is to push it and end up not being able to brace properly.

Conclusion 

That's what I've found to be the most efficacious, least damaging way of water cutting. There are plenty of other ways to get down to weight too, so if this isn't what you've seen before don't be too surprised. I hope that helps, but if you're still struggling feel free to leave a comment below or flick me an email. 

We also now offer a range of water cut templates, to help make it as easy as possible for you. Check out our range here.