26 Apr Book Excerpt: Cutting Weight

TO CUT, OR NOT TO CUT

Decisions, Decisions

Now that I’m over a decade into my powerlifting career, I look at things a lot differently than I used to. After several years of cutting weight for every meet, it’s not worth it to me to do this anymore. In fact, the only time I suggest cutting is if you’re looking to compete against a particular lifter in a specific weight class, you have some kind of unfinished business in a weight class, or if you’re going for a world record—a true world record, and not some cheesy federation record.

Wait. This is a weight cutting manual, right? So why am I telling you that it’s not advisable to cut weight in the first place? Well, first off, I meant what I said. Things can go horribly wrong for you, both mentally and physically, if you don’t do everything right. You can have a great fifteen-week training cycle—along with a lot of money and a big opportunity—go down the drain just because you did a bad job of cutting weight.

The key? Pick your spots. If you’re going to do this, do it at the right time, do it carefully, and don’t take it lightly. I say this because one of the major reasons why I suggest that lifters not cut is the fact that it becomes an all-consuming process while you’re doing it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not attempt to cut more than 5 percent if you’re mentally weak and have no heart.

Once you have some experience under your belt, don’t cut for smaller meets. Save your cuts for the big ones. With that said, however, I wouldn’t suggest trying your first major weight cut in the biggest meet of your life. If it’s your first time, try it out in a meet that doesn’t have a world title on the line.

When I was making ten percent cuts, it was all I could think about. It was really the only thing on my mind during meet week—and then, once I actually made weight, I needed to get obsessed with recovering so I could have some decent strength on the platform. The problem with this was that I wasn’t able to fully focus on meet day and the things I had to do. I was always distracted, and things that could have helped me were put on the back-burner. Sometimes this was a good thing, but in general, I wouldn’t suggest being distracted like this on meet day—especially when the distractions are avoidable, and even more so if you’re not a highly experienced competitor.

It can seriously beat you down after a while. I remember always worrying about what I was eating, and always being obsessed with whether my weight was up or down a pound or two—and I’d be pissed if I’d gained anything when I didn’t want to. This type of thing can make you feel like a supermodel instead of a powerlifter, and that’s bad. I wasn’t able to enjoy myself, and constantly starving and dehydrating myself down to nothing wasn’t worth competing in a lower weight class after doing it for so long.

I don’t suggest cutting more than 8-10 percent of your body weight more often than twice per year, because it’s so very taxing, both mentally and physically. When you do it right, you can still perform at 100 percent and look like you belong two weight classes higher, but it takes a lot out of you. Use extreme caution, and do this sparingly.

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.

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