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So I competed in the UPA Clash of the Titans push-pull meet this past weekend in Kenosha, WI. This was my first meet since August 2015, my third ever meet, and my first with a 24 hour weigh in! I had injured my left psoas and adductor back at the end of March so this meet was a maybe for me until about 5-6 weeks out when I fully committed. So coming in, I wasn't "mentally committed" so to speak. I didn't think I would be my best, so I just came in wanting to have fun and compete, no pressure. (I think this actually helped me a lot in the end) Coming in my comp. bests were 180/100/205 (lb) at ~60kg and gym bests of 210/105/215 (lb). The cut I started my “diet” about 5 weeks out from the competition at roughly ~143 lbs. My goal was to compete in the 60kg weight class which equates to roughly 132 freedom units. I didn’t really start logging data until about 3 ish weeks out. I followed a carb-cycling type of approach, with higher carbs on workout days, lower carbs on rest days. Towards the later 2-3 weeks I upped carbs more and lowered fat because my energy was being affected. DATA!!! Averages from 5/2/16 - 5/29/16: Calories:1768 Protein:120 Fat:58 Carb:173 Starting 5/30/16 (M) I removed nearly all carbs from my diet. Carbs that I did have were trace amounts in things like protein powders, nuts, etc. I didn’t eat any dedicated carb sources. Starting this day I also was drining 1.5+ gallons of water a day. My last sodium containing meal was Wednesday at lunch. In hindsight, I probably would have made this my last meal on Tuesday, but I already meal prepped sausages and didn’t want them to go to waste. Meals were things like eggs, unsalted nuts, and low-sodium protein powders. Thursday I didn’t drink any water, only what I needed to swallow my food essentially and minimal sips throughout the day. Maybe about 20 oz total. Averages from 5/30/16 - 6/2/16: Calories:1346 Protein:133 Fat:75 Carb:38 Weigh in was Friday morning and I woke up about a pound too heavy. I went into the steam room for about 10 minutes that morning and toweled off to sweat out some of the weight. (SOOOO THIRSTY). I went to weigh in and was 0.1 kg too heavy (dammit) so I spat in a cup for a few minutes and was able to spit out the weight and weigh in at 59.95 kg. YAY!!!! Replenish and Rehydrate After weighing in, I needed to replenish my water, sodium, glycogen etc. So I relied on food and lots of it on Friday: Coconut water 2 coca colas, 1 root beer Plenty of gatorade + whey powder or BCAAs throughout the day Juices - OJ and cranberry Pringles Reduced fat oreos Donuts Pretzels Enchiladas, chips and salsa Porkchops and potatoes for dinner Sour patch kids And I think I probably should have ate/drank even more than I did. I also ensured I took my multivitamin and creatine, to replenish what I had been missing the past few days. Day Of the competition! Weighed in at the home scale about 137 lbs, so I gained about 5 lbs over the course of Friday. Breakfast was more porkchops, eggs, and potatoes. Also juice. Got to the competition site and as I’m walking up to the venue my waterbottle (with BCAAs and gatorade) spilled out over my entire gym bag. Everything got wet: shoes, belt, singlet, wrist wraps, everything. UGHHHH So I attempted to towel dry off all of my items and then get ready for the day. Lifting was scheduled to start at 10 with rules meeting at 9:30, but they were running a bit late. I was the first bencher of the day so I was getting warmed up fairly early, prior to rules meeting. Warmups went fast because #povertybench only requires a few warmup sets. Ended up having to compete with still wet wrist wraps. Rules meeting happened and I come out to find @Flex Luthor and @Laghail waiting for me! YAY!!!! Bench My opener was 42.5 kg which equates to roughly 95 lbs, which I’ve hit for as many as a set of 6 before so NO PROBLEM here. Went up quick and easy. Second attempt 47.5 kg which is essentially my current max. Also was pretty good, a little struggle on the lock out, but not terrible. Third attempt 50 kg. Speed and control on the descent was good, but I hit too low on my chest and wasn’t able to get it to move more than a few inches. Deadlift Set my opener at 90 kg which I was fairly confident in. I debated setting it higher, but I wasn’t sure how the cut would affect me so I felt safe with 90 kg. First attempt, fast, easy. No problem. Second attempt, 97.5 kg. Again no problem. This was basically my existing PR. I got some help from friends setting my third attempt. I wanted 100 or 102.5, but based on how attempt 2 went, people were saying I should shoot for 107.5 or 110! I decided on 105. Third attempt: YAY!!!!! I kind of wanted a fourth attempt because it felt FAST! Barely any struggle. I have had this mental barrier of 225 in my head for SOOO long and I absolutely smashed it. It’s soooo all in my head. It was also really cool to have all the big guys from my gym who lift 600+ cheering me on as I pulled that Results: Closing thoughts: Good to know that I CAN do a cut with a 24 hour weigh in successfully, but I’d prefer not to. I don’t anticipate ever competing in 60kg class ever again. If I compete this fed again it will be 67.5kg or stick with 63kg for IPF classes. I literally made myself nauseous from all of the food, water, and sugar that I was consuming to replenish myself! Also, everything is all in my head. All of it. I can lift more weight than I think I can if I get out of my own head.