I just took a look at the flyer for the upcoming tournament in Bonney Lake, the one sponsored by Liberty Events on November 10th. In particular, I wanted to know what the weight divisions would be, how close they would be to the Copa and PacNW Championships divisions.
The answer? Not so close. The flyer for the upcoming event is incomplete, but assuming they keep their weight divisions the same, I’m looking at competing either lightweight (155-169.9) or at featherweight (154.9-140).
I’d hoped to be able to stay at or around 160 in order to make a 158.9 cut. With lightweight in this event being an additional four pounds lighter, that gives me a little something to think about. As a white belt, I have competed nine out of ten matches in the 146-158 division. The next division up has been 159-171 (which I competed at in my first tournament). I definitely feel more comfortable under 159 than over it; when I’m training at full pitch, my weight drops to 158 without any dieting whatsoever.
That means that this time around I’ll need to put a little extra effort into shedding the last few pounds. Five weeks is plenty of time to lose five pounds—though I’d like to get down to around 152 or so to give myself plenty of room for error. My suspicion is that we’ll have a couple of guys at 155-169.9; I’m thinking that anybody who competed at 159-171 is more likely to compete above 155 than below it come November 10th. This would mean Lindsey for sure, and probably Mike. But it also might include James, Sean and even Jason. Clint, who has competed at 158-145 I think, could probably get under 155. And Jason (Garcia) is a shoo-in for under 155 insofar as I think he has competed as light as under 146.
Anyway, the upshot is that I’ve got some weight to lose—and the sooner the better. I weighed in at 165.7 fully dressed this morning, which is typical for a Monday. By Monday, October 22nd, I need to be weighing 159.7 fully dressed—or less. That will give me another three weeks to cut another six pounds. As a progress check, next Monday’s limit (October 8) should be 162.7.
