Up until the Ottawa Open meet in mid-October (17th), I thought I would be competing in the 63 kg class at provincials. I was sitting at around 135 on a good day, and just felt that cutting down to 125 was no longer attainable, or just quite simply not worth it right now, what with school and whatnot, and that I would potentially cut at some point when I had more time.
With that said, when I pulled 374 at the Ottawa Open, I rethought that, and a few days after the meet, started my cut and decided I was all in for 57kg by late November. Meana helped me through a carb cycling diet which brought me down to about 129-130 in 4 weeks (about 5-6 pounds down), and lost the remaining 3-4 pounds through a 6 day water load (4-6-6-6.5-6.5-5) and cut, as well as fish and asparagus on the day before comp.
I do feel that since I did this cut rather last minute, it did affect my training leading up to it. I had a few workouts where I felt low on energy, but overall I kept the last 10 days or so very light in volume to save myself for the meet. I think that was essential. I knew the strength was there, I just had to let the body muster up energy.
Meet day was pretty much a perfect day. Felt great to eat carbs again, and managed my food and water intake well. I felt like I had put in the work beforehand, and all I could do now was showcase it. Having a coach behind me was helpful too. Allowed me to focus that much more on me and now everything around me.
This is the first meet where I felt stronger going into it than the weeks leading up to it, all because of the taper, which was a good lesson learned.
That’s how it should be.
Moving forward, I think the weight class issue is still one to consider, but for now, I will attempt to keep myself at 130-132 range in order to make it an easier cut. If that simply becomes too difficult (putting on too much muscle mass) then 63kg it will be.
Id like to take the next little while to focus on my technique. That is #1 priority. I know I have more strength than what is being showcased in my numbers. All of my lifts simply need more tightness, more control. And I have weaknesses (hamstrings, lats, upper back, even shoulders) that need to be looked at in order to give me more balanced strength.
I will most likely do a meet in the summer, but if not, then it may not be until next provincials. This gives me ample time to fix things and come back in 2016 with better form and bigger numbers!