Taekwondo Weight Cut Calculator
Know your numbers before the scale does.
Plan your weight class the way Team USA athletes do. See your fight-week entry weight, your weekly target, and whether your cut is realistic, before you ever step on the scale at weigh-ins.
Weight Cut Calculator
Built for taekwondo: real WT weight classes, day-before weigh-ins, and the competition-morning random weigh-in that limits how much you can rebound. The form opens with an example athlete. Change it to yours.
Weigh-ins aren't the goal. They're the price of admission.Coach Tim Thackrey
Why most cuts go wrong
The calculator gives you the destination. The phases decide whether you arrive strong or empty. Here's what athletes ask me every season:
Off-season maingain. Eat to train, build muscle and power, stay in range of your class.
Choose the right class with data: body composition, growth and your event calendar.
Lose slowly while training hard. The plate does the work, not extra running.
Planned food, fiber and sodium changes drop weight without touching performance.
Only if needed. Short, focused, unmemorable, and sized to the morning weigh-in.
Fluids, electrolytes and foods you've tested, timed hour by hour after weigh-in.
After the event, return to maintenance gradually so the weight stays off and the metabolism recovers.
Get the order wrong and everything costs more: cut water too early and you lose your true read on the scale; diet too hard too soon and your body slows down right when you need it to drop. Every phase has a job, and the timing changes with your weigh-in format, your division and your body.
The numbers under the scale
Two athletes can weigh the same and be in completely different places. Making weight and keeping your fight means knowing what you're losing, what you're fueling with, and how well you're recovering.
Lose fat, keep the muscle that powers your kicks. Body composition scans show what the scale can't (for athletes 15+).
Know your true weight versus water weight, so you're not making decisions on a number that moves 1-2 kg a day.
Under-recovery shows up before the scale moves. Sleep and readiness data tell us when to push and when to back off.
Food testing finds what your body digests well, so camp meals and competition-day fuel work for you, not against you.
What you do in the hours after weigh-in decides how you feel in round three. It should be planned and practiced, not improvised.
A planned reverse diet brings you back to maintenance so you don't rebound, and sets you up for the next event instead of starting over.
Athlete results
"[Two or three sentences from the athlete or parent about how the plan felt and how they performed.]"
"[Short quote: what changed at weigh-ins or on the mat.]"
"[Parent quote: what changed for their athlete at tournaments.]"
"[Coach or school owner quote.]"
Why this works
Athletes who miss weight, or make it and feel flat on the mat, usually knew their number. What they didn't have was the plan around it. I've competed on nine U.S. National Teams, medaled at the World Championships, and coached Olympians as Team USA's strength and conditioning head coach. My program puts every piece in one place:
Strength, conditioning, nutrition and weight-class planning built around your competition calendar.
A quick snapshot of where you stand. Then we map your path forward.
The fueling basics every athlete and parent should know.
Questions
No. Growing athletes should compete at the class they naturally walk around in and move up as they grow. The planner switches to a growth plan for cadets instead of a cut plan.
At many WT-format events, athletes can be re-weighed on competition morning and must be within 5% of their class limit. That caps how much you can rebound overnight, so a big water cut the day before doesn't buy you much and costs you a lot.
It decides how much you have to take off in the final days. Enter fight week close to your class and the last drop is short, focused and unmemorable. Enter heavy and you're forced into a water cut that drains the power you need in round three.
Usually not. Extra running on top of taekwondo training adds fatigue without much extra loss, and it eats into the quality of the sessions that actually win matches. In camp, the plate does most of the work.
No. The planner gives educational estimates. Talk with your physician or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat, especially for youth athletes or anyone with a medical condition.
Estimates only, for education. Not medical advice. Weigh-in rules vary by event; always check your event's official rules.