Meet Prep Guidance - Weight Cut and Peak Week

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi BBM Team!

I hope you all are doing well.

I’m currently running the Powerlifting II template going into my meet on 9/25 (USPA SoCal Drug-Tested Open). I will be competing in the Men’s 67.5 kg class and am currently maintaining my weight at 68.5 kg. I had a few brief questions related to my meet prep that I was hoping you all could answer: 1. With only 1% of my BW to lose before the comp, is there a meaningful difference between losing that weight now and losing it, say, 2-3 weeks before the meet?

  1. If it makes any difference, there is a 24-hour weigh-in.
  • My meet is on a Saturday. On Week 13, should I do:
  1. Day 1 on Monday
  2. Day 2 on Tuesday
  3. Rest until Saturday?

Thanks so much,
Aidan

–

P.S. Really enjoying this template, and all of your templates!

Current 1@8s are:

S: 156.5 kg
B: 102 kg
D: 181 kg

2

Aidan.

Very cool, man. Looking forward to seeing how you do!

  1. I don’t think it matters given how close you are.
  2. This is mostly personal preference, but I’d do Day 1 on Monday, day 2 on Weds, weigh-in Friday, compete Saturday.

-Jordan

3

Thanks so much Jordan, really appreciate the response!

Will update you all on how it goes.

4

Hi all,

Little update:

Suffered a pretty unpleasant back tweak on Week 12 that has improved minimally with loading/exercise adjustments.

I am on Week 13 now and took my Day 1 singles today (Squat 1@8, Bench 1@8, Deadlift @ last warm-up). Squat and bench were fine, but deadlift performance is markedly under where it has been for the rest of the block. The deadlift also seems to be the most provocative movement for me at the moment.

Besides altering my game plan on meet day as needed, is there anything else I can/should be doing this week to improve my chances of a good performance in 5 days?

Thanks,
Aidan

–

For added context:

My planned deadlift warm-up was 170kg. I worked up to 160kg today and cut it there because of pain/RPE. My best 1@8 this block was 3 weeks ago at 190kg.

5

Powerlifting II Template Final Summary:

Overall, I made excellent gains on this template! Unfortunately, I tweaked my back pretty badly 2 weeks out from my meet, so my meet day performance (except bench) wasn’t reflective of how well my training had been going.

Squat: 340 lbs @10 pre-template → 350 lbs @8 during template
Bench: 230 lbs @10 pre-template → 247.5 lbs @9.5 on meet day (!!) Deadlift: 405 lbs @8 pre-template → 415 lbs @8 during template

All these gains were made at a lighter bodyweight (153 → 148 lbs).

I look forward to some modified training in the coming weeks to calm my back down, then will probably run PB II into PL II again. Thanks as always for providing top-class templates, products, and content!