Here’s line-by-line notes of what I do to make weight. I’ve perfected this after 14 tries.

Vincent Dizenzo, Jim Wendler, and Matt Rhodes come together to deliver a classic tale of body odor, sketchy needles, and a whole lot of that sweet power bloat. Complete with quite a few verbal jabs at each other in between, like does losing weight even count as a challenge as a super heavyweight powerlifter?

Four weeks out is when I suffered a quad tear—I should have dropped out at that point. In fact, I talked to Dave Tate, and that’s exactly what he told me to do.

The key to stepping on the platform at maximum strength after cutting weight is to spend as little time as possible with your body weight at less than you intend to weigh when you lift — this process is difficult and requires a great deal of desire, discipline, and pain tolerance.

This is the first meet I’ve done in three years that I didn’t win best overall lifter, and it was a huge—and much needed—kick in the ass.

There are a lot of ways that you can make a cut easier for yourself, keep your strength, and finish the meet with a high Wilks. Maximize Your Wilks and weight loss without losing strength.

I’ve already written about my training strategy going into the meet, and what I’ve learned from my meet prep, but I didn’t share a few things for competitive reasons.

A lot of strong lifters have come and gone through this sport, posting two or three big totals to then never to be heard from again. The best lifters are there, year after year, finding new ways to stay healthy enough and hit PRs. How?

I don’t recommend this big of a cut for anyone. It is detrimental to many bodily processes and overall health. To be clear, this is not a how-to guide; it is a documentation of my process.

If you’re going to cut weight, you need to control your body’s response to food and water. Use these reliable methods to make your class without hurting meet day performance.

Use my steps to create your own strength and weight management protocol.