My weight goes CRAZY

Grissim Connery · 11-07-2008, 10:13 AM

i'm cutting weight for a grappling tournament in columbus, oh tomorrow. i finished loading up and hit around 180lbs yesterday early in the day. after sweating and fasting a bit i'm already down to 166.5 as of noon today. i only have to get to 164.9 and i'm like already there (22 hours until weigh in).
what's funny is that i'm not even thirsty yet and i'm only at moderate hunger. i feel that IFing has trained my mind to easily handle this, but i'm wondering how low i could comfortably go. because i feel so physically and mentally good right now (aside from the stress of my game plan for the matches), i think i could actually get under 160 if i needed to (weight class is 150-165.9 so no need). that's a 20lb weight difference from 180 that feels doable.

basically my body pisses me off because i never know what i can really weigh. i fluctuate like crazy. anybody else have this issue?

Emily Mattes · 11-07-2008, 10:35 AM

Did you just say that you're expecting to drop TWENTY POUNDS before your tournament? In a few days?

Sweet Christmas! I'd heard about dropping weight, but I thought it was maybe five pounds at most! Sweet Christmas!

Derek Simonds · 11-07-2008, 10:53 AM

I have read about and discussed this a couple of times. I don't have an answer for you. I have always heard that anything more then 10% was too much to cut but I really have no idea if there is any basis in fact. I know that I have cut from 191 to 184 in 1 day without even really doing anything other than moderating intake and little sweat work in the garage. I have a couple of friends that were wrestlers and at the last tournament one of them overshot their target weight and lost like an extra 7 lb's. He thought it was funny. I thought it was crazy that he could do that.

IF you feel good and can moderate your intake before the tourney I wouldn't worry about it. Just get your game plan drilled into your mind and be ready for the adrenaline dump that is competition.

If you get a chance post some video I love watching other guys comps. What division or divisions are you competing in? I am guessing it this tourney. http://ohiograpplingchallenge.com

Looks like a good one. Kick some serious arse and come tell us about it.

Garrett Smith · 11-07-2008, 03:59 PM

Somewhat related, somewhat off-topic...

The head coach at my gymnastics facility was an All-American college gymnast (Randy Sooter), he said that he would carefully watch what he ate for several days before a big meet...he said that what he had in his digestive tract (in terms of weight) could really be felt in his big strength moves. I found that fascinating.

Grissim Connery · 11-09-2008, 05:55 PM

Results:
Weight - 162 Comfortably (wasn't even that thirsty, but still kinda hungry)
Division - 150-164.9lbs No Gi Intermediate , Gi Blue Belt
Matches:
No Gi
- First Match - win by arm-bar from side control
- Second Match - win by toe hold from half guard top
- Third Match - lost on points (but i was so damn close!!!)
- Fourth Match - (competing for third place) - lost by submission by arm triangle (very embarassing how it happened)
Gi - lost first match to a Darse choke

i had a good amount of fun at the tourney, but i'm a little disappointed with myself. i felt that my passing was much improved from my last tournament. This is comforting because passing has been the main thing i've worked on since then. Now i mainly wanna focus on half-guard bottom and takedowns.

Derek Simonds · 11-10-2008, 02:09 PM

I hate the Darce. 10th Planet had a cool video showing a Darce to Arm Triangle in the last couple of days. Worth watching. If I feel anyone even reaching for it I posture out as quick as I can even if it means giving up position.

Nice job 2 submissions in the first two matches way to go. How did your conditioning hold up? How did your strength feel in comparison to the other competitors?

Once again really nice job.