Research

Mixed

A 3-month pre-contest energy-restricted diet combined with an 8-week resistance training taper results in significant body mass loss (10.3%) but preserves or transiently increases maximal strength (isometric knee extension) prior to competition.

If you are cutting weight for a competition, expect your strength to fluctuate. In this case, strength peaked early in the cut and declined as the event approached, but returned to baseline after the event. Focus on maintaining protein intake (1.9-2.2 g/kg) and using a taper (reducing volume) in the final 10 days to manage fatigue while preserving strength.

LimitedSupportsLOW confidence
The athlete undertook a 3-month pre-contest preparatory period that included an extreme to sufficiently energy-restricted diet intended to reduce body mass... The athlete’s isometric knee extension strength rose sharply during the initial month of the pre-competition phase (336.4 Nm), followed by consistent declines... eventually returning close to baseline values 2 months post-competition.
Max Sapuppo et al. · International Journal of Strength and Conditioning · 2024

Why this rating

Single-subject case study; descriptive statistics only; no control group.

Source

Preparation for Powerlifting Competition: A Case Study

Max Sapuppo et al. · International Journal of Strength and Conditioning · 2024

DOI 10.47206/ijsc.v4i1.361

case_report · n=1Cited 3×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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