Weight cuts are a very popular part of the sport and any sport with weight classes for that matter. There are a lot of old ways that have carried over and are still being used with deleterious consequences to performance. First and foremost the amount of weight cut should be in the realm of 3-5% if you don't want to see a drop in performance. You can certainly go above that but just expect performance to take a hit. How you cut weight is important and beyond the water, sodium, and carb manipulation you have the actual weight cut process.

A lot of people use sauna's to cut weight and others use baths. Something to consider when choosing those is that you can withstand greater heat increases in a bath than in a sauna without the systemic stress on the body. In a study by Rissanen et al 2020 they found decreases in strength 24 hours after sauna use in its subjects, so that may be something to consider when thinking about different modalities. The stress of the heat from the sauna can create nueromuscular and strength deficits that will make competing at a high level almost impossible.

Hot bath's don't create as much heat but should you take a bath or a bath with salts in it. A recent study by Connor and Eagan 2020 showed no difference between groups when comparing baths versus baths with added salt. While another study found that bathing in a higher salt solution around 3.5% found a 32% greater drop in body mass. This study by Hope et al, goes into comparing the regular bath with a higher concetration of salt to be far more effective and that can be due to a higher rate of sweat proliferation due to the high amount of salt.

If you are interested in cutting weight for your next meet I would highly digging into this research and also doing a practice run to see how your body feels.

References:

  1. Connor J, Shelley A, Egan B. Comparison of hot water immersion at 37.8°C with or without salt for rapid weight loss in mixed martial arts athletes. J Sports Sci. 2020;38(6):607-611. doi:10.1080/02640414.2020.1721231
  2. Hope A, Aanderud L, Aakvaag A. Dehydration and body fluid-regulating hormones during sweating in warm (38 degrees C) fresh- and seawater immersion. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2001;91(4):1529-1534. doi:10.1152/jappl.2001.91.4.1529
  3. Rissanen, Joonas A.1; Häkkinen, Arja2,3; Laukkanen, Jari2,3; Kraemer, William J.4; Häkkinen, Keijo1 Acute Neuromuscular and Hormonal Responses to Different Exercise Loadings Followed by a Sauna, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: February 2020 - Volume 34 - Issue 2 - p 313-322 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003371

mark-yoke-bar-bis-home