To cut or not to cut?

I've presented myself with a bit of dilemma. I stepped on the scale the other day and was shocked that it read a whopping 190.4 lbs. Granted I had just eaten a meal but even the pound or pound and a half from the meal would still put me around 188 lbs (85.28kg).

The problem with this is: I normally compete at 169 lbs (77 kg). All the heavy squatting and heavy eating (and not the cleanest) has packed on the pounds this summer.

Now I have to decide whether I want to cut about 20 lbs to compete at 77 or stay where I'm at for the 85 class. But I'm just not sure what do to. I've scoured the various weightlifting forums for advice and I've gotten mixed feedback.

There are some proponents of the "get as big and as strong as possible" approach. If it means jumping up a weight class do it. In essence this does kind of make sense. Bigger guys have a better advantage in weightlifting than smaller guys. Even in the same class, lifters try to be the heaviest in their class because theoretically you are stronger. That's really not always the case, especially with non-elite level lifters like myself. For instance, you can gain a whole bunch of weight and the majority of that weight be body fat (which does nothing useful) and not muscle. Now granted if you are lifting heavy like you are supposed to, a gain of weight is generally accompanied by a gain in muscle mass (hypertrophy) and that's a good thing. Also bigger weightlifters also have an advantage in that they have to lift typically less weight in relation to their bodyweight in order to win competitions or even qualify. For example, I've plotted the qualifying totals in relation to bodyweight to show that being heavier helps.

As you can see  the bigger guys in the heavier weight classes (85 and up) have to lift less weight relative to their bodyweight for everyone except the lighter guys (56 and 62 kg). Hell, the super-heavies (230lbs+ / 105+) lift proportionally less than a guy weighing 137 lbs. Yes the heavier you are the more absolute weight you are going to have to lift but it will be technically easier for you to do so because you are bigger. 

Also notice that if you compete in the 77 kg class like me you've got to lift more relative weight than EVERYONE else making that class technically the most challenging in which to compete. Boo :(

So what should we do? Do we cut or not cut. Do we try to gain weight? Donny Shankle has said that you should always be trying to improve the total no matter what. I agree with this. For example, if you are a 77 kg lifter and total 300 and then at 85 only total 285 then obviously you should not be moving to 85 because the weight gain has not improved your lifts. If you can stay at 77 and continue to increase your total, stay at 77. You will move up the chain and be more competitive in your weight class. If you've been lifting at 77 for a while and nothing seems to be substantially improving your numbers despite your training, then maybe gaining some muscle and strength will be just what you need to start hitting PR's again. 

Now I'm not an expert on this subject by any means, but I do know what has worked for me. In my experience, cutting and being lighter sucks. I'm not as strong because with cutting weight you are going to lose some muscle and with that, strength. It's pretty much biologically impossible not to. I also feel pretty fatigued because typically I'm eating less and not having as much energy to burn. My recovery time increases and I start getting inured. Cutting 20 lbs would take several months and just doesn't sound like something I want to do. I don't really see any advantages at the moment of being lighter.

That said, I think I going to try my hand at the 85 weight class. I'm about to start a new cycle where I am going to focus on continuing to get as strong as possible by lifting heavy and frequently. I can clean up my diet a bit and drop some body fat but I am going to try to maintain my weight around 185-187 lbs. Hopefully this will be beneficial and I will be able to improve my total. And if it doesn't then obviously I know what I'm going to have to do.