'Typical' Weight Cuts

[Neuro]

I understand of course that it varies from wrestler to wrestler/grappler to grappler, but what is the average, any of you can say, from personal experience (or stats if there were to be any)?

I'm 5'10, I walk around at about 173, I'm very lean and my weight is a lot of water and muscle. Should I be cutting to under 159? Under 155?

Thanks for any advice and help.

For reference, I've cut weight twice, and I cut like...5 pounds. It was terribly easy. I know this is an amateur question, but I appreciate any help.

[Mods, feel free to move this to the Dieting & Supp form, but I posted it here deliberately so that I could get Wrestlers, BJJ guys, etc.'s opinions, and I think more of those opinions reside here in F12 than in the D&S form. Thanks!]

 

[ZGr88n]

This can tend to be a difficult question, one that can't be answered right, unless we knew enough about you...

I know from my personal exp., I used to cut from 130ish(give or take a few) all the way down to 103lbs (5'9)... Was it difficult absolutley, but if you have the ability and actually want to do it, you can usually get there as long as it's plausable

 

[bjjaz]

Cutting that much weight isn't necessarily going to give you a technical advantage, plus you weigh in right before you fight. If you are somewhat of a beginner, I would say just do 167 and see how you feel.

 

[Neuro]

Cutting that much weight isn't necessarily going to give you a technical advantage, plus you weigh in right before you fight. If you are somewhat of a beginner, I would say just do 167 and see how you feel.

I'm a blue with an acceptable amount of tournament experience, so I'm not a beginner in terms of that, but weight cutting, I'm a beginner for sure, yeah. And obviously, in the grand scheme of things, a blue belt is such a beginner still even if I'd competed 20 times.

I don't think the technical advantage will be significant, I was just thinking about taking the weight cut more seriously this time around, than my last few times.

 

[Balto]

5% is a good starting point. So 173 * 0.95 = 164.

You can do more, but I'd start with 5% if it's your first time so you can see how your body reacts.

 

[redaxe]

How much time between the weigh-in and your match?

 

[Neuro]

How much time between the weigh-in and your match?

Thanks for your responses guys.

Two tourneys, one, I can do night before, and the second one, it's literally right before you step onto the mat. Obivously for the latter, I don't want to cut too much.

 

[Mad Sweeps]

Depends on your body type, honestly. Not just what you currently weight and if its fat/water/muscle/bone/etc, but how your body works. For instance, I have an average of a 3.5lb "throw," meaning that one morning I could weigh 157, or I could weigh 163, but my walking weight is typically 160lb by the end of the day. so its easy to "manipulate" my weight.

That said, I compete at feather (I am 5'8", 160lbs) so I have to hit 150lb nekkid. Ive done that in 4 days (really bad decision, but a last minute decision). I didn't feel like shit, just didnt feel on top of my game.

 

[Waldorf]

I'm a little shorter and 5-10 lbs ligther then you and compete lightweight for NAGA and IBJJF. I think most guysin those weight classes are between say 5'6" and your 5'10"

I think if you were doing a NAGA or something where you had to hit 159.9 the night before, I don't think it would be much of a problem to do a water cut. If you wanted to deal with being and training hungry for a couple of weeks, and then the water cut wouldn't even have to be that big.

For IBJJF with a light gi, you could probably get stay around 173 and diet down in the 4-6 week lead up. To get down to feather, you'd be looking to loose almost 25 lbs so you'd have bring your walk around weight down a decent amount.

 

[gocubs1815]

For BJJ the weight classes are usually 167 or 170 and then up to 181 or 185. You can easily cut to 167 IF you diet down more than half and then sweat the remaining water weight off.

I'm 5'10 196, but I was making 181 a year ago before I got hurt and packed on the holiday weight. its not to difficult thru diet alone.

 

[Mike Wilson Jr.]

You should do 167 for IBJJF tournaments man.

People who cut 15+lbs for a jiu jitsu tournament are weaksauce.

 

[DCLXVI]

Ive done 105kg - 96kg Night before weigh ins. Just Cut carbs a week out no water or food on the night and day before weigh ins and a couple kilo sweat out. Felt great match day, Pinned in the first round by my training partner..... TOURNAMENT OVER FML! Never bothered since hahaha

 

[The MT Monkey]

To get the best estimate, you want to find out your body fat %. Also, you want to get an estimate of approximately how much water weight you carry around, which can be a fairly large amount if you supplement creatine (and saturate it the way the way you should). For example, my cousin weighs 165 with about 3% body fat (he's a ungodly health freak, and works out like crazy), but when he cuts out his creatine, he's down to 155. Bottom line, if you don't use creatine and you have a low body fat precentage then you really don't wanna be cutting to much weight. And if your not at a disadvantage at your walk around weight and you feel good, then I wouldn't bother cutting anyway.