Weight Loss For Wrestlers

Many people claim that the sport of wrestling is un-healthy because of extreme weight loss techniques. What I say to those people is that neither is drinking, drugs, cigarettes, Big Macs, and sleeping all day long. These are all things that a wrestler that is serious enough to lose weight won't do. In my opinion it is a balance. I wrestled from my sophomore year till my senior year of high school. My sophomore year I wrestled in the lowest weight class, at 103 pounds. At the start of the season I weighed 105 pounds so it was no big deal, but towards the end I put on some muscle and weighed closer to 115. That's when I became experienced in weight loss techniques. Junior year I was a seasoned pro and had been waiting for the season to start by the time the last one had ended. I chose to wrestle at 112 pounds even though my natural weight was about 125. Finally in my junior year I was not able to cut weight since I was taking college classes in the degree of culinary arts. So I wrestled my natural weight of 125. Here is the many different ways I cut weight.

Exercise, too cut weight quickly three hours on the mat won't do it. Every morning my friend and I would get up ( We lived in dorms) and we would run five miles. We would go on cardio machines after practice every day at the gym and exercise for another hour. This kept us trim, cut, and gave us endurance. As anyone knows endurance is everything in the sport of wrestling.

Diet is another key factor. I rarely ate any bread during the season. It was a spin-off of the Atkins diet. The only think I would eat the day and day before a meet was a little bit of meat at a time. Nothing high in fat. In the mornings I would eat a scrambled egg. Lunch would consist of some lettuce and tuna. Dinner was considered optional, but when I ate it was usually just a banana for the potassium, and some times a few veggies.

When it came down to it, extreme dieting became needed. I came up with the gum and tabasco diet. These are simply two ways to combat the feelings of thirst and hunger. Gum kept your mouth chewing creating the illusion of eating, and when tabasco hit my tongue I would salivate ending my thirst for a little bit.

Many layers of clothing helped sweat out a lot of weight. A wise investment was a waist trimmer. I would have to wring it out after every practice. Also, in order to keep water weight down, never chug water. Swish it around in your mouth a few times and spit it out to quench your thirst. A little bit will go down your throat. But you never want to drink water during practice, you will just throw up. When you do drink water drink in small sips. Never drink energy drinks such as red bull or gatorade, it will cause you to crash in a few hours.

Saunas are another great last ditch effort to lose weight. However be careful how long you are in one, go with a friend to keep each other awake. You never want to fall asleep in a sauna.

People claim that wrestling causes anorexia. This isn't true. Anorexia is a disorder where someone is repulsed by food and cannot eat. At the end of every season wrestlers will swarm fast food joints.

Despite the dangers that people may claim are related with rapid weight loss they should realize that the only wrestlers that commit to losing weight are the serious ones. Is there anything wrong with taking their sport seriously? Wrestling teaches hard work and commitment. Also, as previously stated, there are far worse things you can do to your body then temporarily cut some weight.