Not often asked question in here

[solidj55]

Hey guys Im new here and I thought I would introduce myself. I am 5'5" 165lbs and 21 years old. I have recently within the past year converted from bodybuilding to powerlifting. I am all natural, I have not used steroids. The last time I maxed my lifts were as follows_ I bench press 315lbs(will be around 350 in the next 8 weeks) Squat-435 and Deadlift-385. Now that I have that out of the way I have a question that no one else seems to be able to answer. I know all about good nutrition and dieting when it comes to bulking and cutting for a show but I know nothing about dieting for strength. I would like to stay in the 165lb class at least until this December but its really hard to maintain this bodyweight. I am wanting to bench press around 405 at a bodyweight of 165 before I move to the next weight class. How do you guys diet is my question. How do you maintain your bodyweight without cutting carbs and getting weak? Right now I am eating 5 meals per day. Each meal contains 40grams of protein and 20 oz of water. As far as the carbs go it kind of varies. I just need some ideas on how you guys diet. By the way I train using periodization.
Monday-Bench press,closegrip bench press, incline press, and abs
Tuesday-Squat,pause squats,leg curls,calve raises
Wednesday-Off
Thursday-Light bench press,tricep extensions,weighted dips,abs
Friday-Deadlift,T-bar Row,Lat Pulldowns,straight bar curl
Sat/Sun-off
Sorry for the long post guys but I really would like some input.

 

[Molten]

Most powerlifters I know, myself included, train at a bwt higher than their contest wt. Some significantly higher. Example, when I competed @ 198 I usually trained at 210 (sometimes 220) and then started dieting down about 8-10 weeks from the meet, with a target bwt of 200 to 202. The rest I would sweat off before weigh-in, and I would cut down on what I ate the night before and day of weigh-in. Most meets you can weigh in the night before so you can pig out afterwards, and actually compete 5lbs or so above your wiegh in bwt.

To diet down I usually cut my carbs down, and consumed most of my carbs in the morning and pre-workout. Then some post workout carbs, but none after that. Basically, high protein and low carbs, but enough carbs to get you through the workout. You'll have to experiment for yourself. And for me high protein is 60 grams per meal X 5, plus 40 grams before bed. That really seemed to help maintain. I throw in some ECA after a couple weeks to keep my metabolism up.

Another route is to stay fat as shit and take lasix injections and lose a bunch of water to make wt. But that's harsh on your body.

So to summarize, don't worry about staying at 165 during training, just for the 5 minutes you weigh in.

 

[powerlifterjay]

That is exactly right! Molton you know your shit bro! But you do have to cut carbs. Alot of top powerlifters actually do card depletion before a meet. George Halbert was like 220lbs 2 weeks out from the Arnold and he carb depleted. So since you know bodybuilding you are probably pretty good at it. But from experience do start cutting down a month or so out i used to loose my last 10lbs the week of, and that sucks. I finally just moved up.

 

[solidj55]

Thanks a lot guys, finally some people that know their shit. One more question, how much strength did you guys lose when dieting down?

 

[Zombie Eater]

The only time I get weaker by dropping weight is when I do it at the last minute. Once I dropped 8 lbs. in one day and I figure it cost me at least 25lbs on my bench. I don't recommend extreme weight loss, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

 

[plifter]

Solid, I used to compete at 165. My off season weight would be around 172. I would start dieting about 6 weeks prior to the contest. When I lost the weight slowly I didn't notice any strength loss.