Weight management

As a wrestler, the words "weight management" are all too familiar. In my sport, there is a negative connotation to when these words are paired together. Horror stories of individuals cutting weight come to mind for many people. Today, my focus will primarily be on the sport of wrestling.

Weight management is a very touchy subject in wrestling. Promoting a healthy life style and an awareness of exercise and nutrition has the potential to be a great attribute to our sport. We have the ultimate form of accountability with weight classes. If done the correct way, one can learn an abundance of good discipline and knowledge of their body that will help them remain healthy their entire lives. It also has the potential to do the exact opposite.

In a video I watched ten years ago, Greg Strobel, a former USA National Team coach, spoke of telling his athletes that they're members of the wrestling team, not the weight cutting team. Often times, I see coaches and athletes focus more on making weight than they do on wrestling. If making weight consumes the energy of athletes and prohibits them from participating well in practice, then it's a problem. I personally know coaches who believe that every wrestler on their team must cut weight. The body fat testing becomes a licence for them to direct their athletes to go to their minimum weight because they honestly believe that is their healthiest weight! This is unbelievable. I also know coaches who use their practice prior to a competition as a weight cutting day, also unbelievable. We have precious time with each athlete and should be taking advantage of it.

Practice should not be used to "cut weight." This basic principle alleviates a lot of the weight cutting problems. It forces individuals to keep their weight under control, feel well and eat healthy. If these aren't in check, practice (and competition) will not go well. It should always be in an athlete's best interest to feel great for practice at all levels, youth through college and international levels.

Competing at the collegiate level requires one to pay attention to all facets of training, such as nutrition. It wasn't until I was in college that I truly understood the science behind weight management. I was fortunate that I had a nutritional science course first semester of my freshman year. I understood that maintaining my weight helped me perform better. I didn't let my weight "balloon" between competitions because I had adjusted my natural body weight. It was also important that I ate regularly. The foods that I chose to put into my body were high in nutritional value. It's helped me eat well now that I am finished competing, too. I educated myself on nutrition and it made a big difference in how I felt during competitions.

Many times that I talk to someone not involved in wrestling about our sport, they tell me a story of an athlete that cut weight in a very unhealthy way. It's their perception of the sport. I usually ask them if the person they're talking about won on a regular basis, but they don't know how to answer. When one cuts weight in an unhealthy way, they usually don't reach their potential. High school boys have a machismo attitude that says they're tough, manly, etc. (insert your own macho adjective) if they can cut a lot of weight, like they're earning their stripes or it's a badge of honor, but it's flat-out stupid. It doesn't make you more of a man or tougher, it makes you stupid. Doing something that harms your body as you try to become a better athlete and person doesn't help you. Sorry to be so harsh, but it's stupid.

I've been doing some amateur research on the correlation between cutting weight and state championships. It's very difficult to find the information I'm looking for, so I would appreciate any insight or help (maybe I should call Koy). I wonder how many state champions in Wisconsin each year actually compete at their minimum weight class according the 7% body fat rule. I'm not entirely interested in that number as much as I'm interested on how many of them "dropped" a weight class at the end of the season.

When I was in high school, I wrestled the first dual meet of the season at the same weight class I competed at in the state tournament (I did pretty well at the state tournament each year, too). I used the "growth allowance" at Christmas as a growth allowance...novel idea, huh? I didn't suck my body down further when the season was most difficult. As I recall teammates close to me who were state champions, they did the same. They used the growth allowance. The most successful wrestlers in my club in terms of state championships over the past three years wrestled the same weight class all season. The growth allowance shouldn't be viewed as a reason to drop another weight class, it should be used to promote health at the end of the season.

Weight management is an issue in other sports, too. In cross country, track and field, football and other sports, an athlete's weight has a huge impact on performance. Sports that are physically revealing or image-driven also have pressures of weight management. However, in high school, no sport has the microscope on weight like wrestling does. Unfortunately, this has the power to be a "black eye" in our sport. On the other hand, if done properly and in a healthy way, wrestling has the potential to educate athletes about wellness far more than any other sport.

Which avenue are you going to take? Sometimes doing what's right requires much more energy and attention, but doing what's right is never wrong and is worth the effort.