Topic: What Weight Class

[Bryant Wright]

I have a question about what weight class I should compete at.  I currently lift in the 85kg class.  I have only been olympic lifting for about 3 months now and have competed once and did fine in that weight class.  I have a meet in January, which i will stay in the same class, but I was wondering if I should maybe drop down to the 77kg class to be a little more competitive.  I am 5'10 and normally weight around 190lbs.  The question I have is would I lose to much strength by dropping that much weight.  I currently CJ 115kgs and snatch around 85kgs.I think much of the weight I would be losing is fat, but I havent been that low in weight since probably a sophmore in highschool and Im currently 23.  Would this be to much weight to lose and would it be worth it is really what im wondering.  If I could get any comments back on this I would really appreciate it.  Thanks
Bryant

[Dustin Oranchuk]

at your height, moving DOWN is probably the last thing you want to do to be more competitive.  you might be more competitive right away but over time loosing weight is usually a very bad idea.

i would say at 5'10" you should be 94 class, and depending on your age, maybe 105 eventually.

i myself am 5'11" and am relatively skinny for a weightlifter at 94kg class and will be moving up a class in the summer.

besides, if your doing 85 and 115 at 85 with one 3 months of training, you have ALOT of time to become more competitive.

Basically what I'm saying is stay at 85 for the season and maybe move to 94 when you have a little bit of a break between comps.

[Bryant Wright]

thanks for the reply.  Im not really worried about it much simply cause im just getting into it, but was wondering.  thanks for the advice

[Matt Erdman]

Just work on improving your body composition. 20lbs is way too much hassle, especially at your height. Once you are at a lean 192-195, then think about moving up.

[Bryant Wright]

Well right now Im at 16% body fat so I could def improve that, but hopefully keep my weight.  thanks

[Tom Weary]

I'm also 5'10" and lifted for years at 77kg., but it became increasingly difficult, finally requiring me to get my bodyfat down to around 6% (which is tough in your 40s).  Often I would worry so much that I would overshoot and come in a couple pounds under and feel that my strength was sapped for competition.  I finally moved up to 85, although I only tend to weigh around 80 with 10% bodyfat and feel fat when I get up to 82 or 83.  I love not having to stress about the weigh in and I feel stronger.  Just lift where you feel comfortable and focus more on composition than total weight.

[Mike Wittmer]

I definitely would not go down.  At 5'10", hopefully you'll be moving up to 94 at some point.