Wrestling

Can You Lose It?

Wrestling, the world's oldest sport and still considered today the most difficult and grueling of them all. When wrestling the wrestler must decide what the best weight class is for him to wrestle at, most of the time this means losing weight to wrestle at a lower class and although it is not seen that often bumping up a weight class may occur. Wrestlers will lose weight at any costs and this has been proven to be very fatal in the cases of Billy Saylor, Joseph LaRosa, and Jeff Reese. These three athletes died from malnutrition, dehydration, and over exercises while cutting weight in order to meet the dead line to wrestle. These wrestlers were trying to lose more then five pounds a day before the weigh-ins after already losing more then fifteen pounds from the beginning of the season (www.intermatwrestle.com).

The factors that effect the decision could be an inner squad battle where you have two very strong wrestlers at the same weight, one of them need to move to a different weight class in order to have both of them in the starting lineup. Also cutting weight might be a result of avoiding a stronger weight class in order to be successful. The logic in wrestling is to make the lowest weight you can in the weigh-ins, which are 24 hours before the match. Then you can replenish and re-hydrate your body over the course of the 24 hours between the weigh-in and the match. This will give you an advantage in the

competition because you really will be bigger and stronger then most of the wrestlers in that lower weight class.

Weight loss is classified under two different type's short term and long term. Long term consists of dieting and high cardio activity to burn fat; this is the ideal method to lose weight. Short term is the total opposite and very dangerous. A recent study done in Virginia revealed that 93% of wrestlers engage in strategies other than exercise to lose weight and 82% lose 5-10 pounds every week in order to make weight(short term weight

loss, the 5-10 pounds are gained back within a day) (Weight Loss in Wrestling) . The main methods of short term weight loss are dehydration and starvation and 75% of wrestlers are guilty of it. 34% use rubber suites and saunas sweat more. Diuretics, self-induced vomiting and laxatives are used to rip the body of water and waste but isn't that common (Jimmy Young). Another way to rid the body of water is to spit in to water bottles. You will find many wrestlers chewing gum to activate the saliva glands and then spit the saliva out.

The NCAA responded quickly with several rule changes effective immediately with the ban of saunas (defined as a room with a temperature above 79 degrees), as well as rubber and impermeable suits (Weight Loss in Wrestling). Also a seven-pound weight allowance has been added to each class, an increase from the previous one pound allowance. This means that a wrestler in a 118-pound