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A Division of Watertown Area Health Services

Training Tip of the Month

Weight Loss in Wrestling
Wrestling dates back to the beginnings of sport. It is one of the few sports that give athletes of all sizes a venue to compete. It provides individual as well as team competition. Wrestlers pride themselves on mental and physical toughness. Participation has been shown to positively impact self-discipline and character. In spite of these attributes, the sport has been long challenged with the issue of healthy weight loss management. For decades, most competitors in the wrestling community have believed that, to give yourself the best chance of winning, one must cut weight to the lowest level one could maintain.

Weight cutting or making weight using rapid weight loss methods have widely been reported in spite of concerns from the American Medical Association as early as 1967 and the American College of Sports Medicine since 1976. Renewed scrutiny of weight loss practices occurred in 1996 when the American College of Sports Medicine released an updated position statement on weight loss in wrestlers. Unfortunately, in 1997 tragedy struck the wrestling world when three collegiate wrestlers died over a one-month time frame while engaging in rapid weight loss behaviors to qualify for competition. A review of the three deaths by the Center for Disease Control concluded that the wrestlers were attempting to lose an average of 1 - 2 pounds an hour after having lost an average of 21 pounds over the previous 10 – 13 weeks. All three wrestlers had been wearing rubber suits and exercising in overheated conditions.

Statistics

Studies in high school wrestlers prior to recent rule changes found that up to one third of wrestlers were cutting weight an average of 4 – 6 pounds, 10 times a season. At the 1991 NCAA national championship wrestling tournament with weigh-ins 20 hours prior to competition, the average weight gain post weigh-in was 8 pounds or 5% of body weight.

Health problems related to this type of weight loss

Many negative physiological effects of weight cutting have been identified. These effects include:
1. Severely impairing the body’s ability to regulate body temperature.
2. Acute and/or chronic fatigue.
3. Decreased kidney function.
4. Kidney failure.
5. Reduced endurance capacity.
6. Reduced work capacity.
7. Altered hormonal status.
8. Stunted growth.
9. Stunted mental and physical development.
10. Cardiac Arrhythmias.
11. Pulmonary embolism, (a blockage of an artery in the lungs, causing breathing
complications and potentially leading to heart and lung failure).
12. Pancreatitis, (inflammation of the pancreas, leading to several health
complications and possibly death).
13. Decreased immune function.
14. Altered psychological states.
15. Impaired academic performance.

Wrestlers rationale for dramatic weight loss

With the health risks involved with such a dramatic weight loss one would wonder why would athletes do this to themselves? There are several reasons for this. First, there is a belief in wrestling that weight cutting gives one a competitive advantage by having a relative increase in strength and power by wrestling in a lower weight class. Whether moving down a weight class or two improves ones performance is debatable. Research has not shown this theory to be true. Furthermore, it is something that has been going on in wrestling for decades, thereby becoming a tradition of sorts. In addition, if there is a better wrestler in the same weight class on the same team, sometimes the coach needs to shuffle the lineup to create a better chance for his team to win.

High school and collegiate rule changes

Prior to the deaths in 1997, most attempts to change regulations regarding weight loss behaviors had come in the form of recommendations from both sports medicine groups as well as NCAA Committee of Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to discourage the use of techniques or devices that promote rapid weight loss. These efforts were met with great resistance from the wrestling community. In 1991, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association adopted radical changes setting a minimum weight wrestling criteria. Following the deaths in 1997, the NCAA Wrestling Committee with the guidance from the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee adopted significant rule changes to address weight loss behaviors in the sport of wrestling keeping in mind that weight is the competitive equity variable in the sport.

The NCAA and WIAA established 3 guiding principles to provide for the formulation of these new rule changes. These principles are:

1. Any and all weight control practice that could potentially risk the health of the
participant should be eliminated from wrestling. To do this effectively, the incentives
to attempt these practices must be minimized.

2. The focus in the sport should be competition not weight control.

3. Recommendations should be practical, effective, and enforceable.

The new rule changes for the WIAA include the following:

1. Establish a permanent, healthy weight class early in the season for each wrestler.
Rationale: Prevent excessive fluctuation of weight by maintaining proper hydration. If an athlete cannot consistently remain within a few pounds of his or her wrestling weight, then he or she should probably be at a higher weight class.

2. In order to establish a maximum amount of weight that can be lost by each athlete, the WIAA established a body fat percentage that each wrestler cannot go below without the consent of a parent and Physician. This body fat percentage is 7% for males and 12% for females.
Rationale: These body fat percentages have been shown to be a safe minimum body fat percentage for adolescent growth and development. Any percentage lower than these affects the body’s ability to regulate temperature and hormone levels.

3. Each wrestler must pass a hydration test before taking part in skinfold testing to determine body fat percentage.
Rationale: The purpose of the hydration test is to help assure that each wrestler’s weight taken at the time of skinfold measurement is an accurate weight from which a minimum weight can be established. Often wrestlers will dehydrate themselves prior to skinfold testing to “beat or cheat” the skinfold test. Studies have shown the athletes are beating themselves with this practice. The more dehydrated an athlete is, the lower the predicted minimum weight for that wrestler will be.

4. Each wrestler is only allowed to lose ½ pound of weight a day, and wrestlers have a target day set by the WIAA where they are allowed to wrestle at their minimum weight.
Rationale: Limiting weight loss to ½ lb a day has proven to curb rapid weight loss in wrestling. Curbing rapid weight loss has also lead to fewer incidences of heart and kidney problems associated with such weight loss.

The NCAA has established many of the rules that the WIAA has, but they have also included establishing weigh-ins closer to scheduled match times, having wrestlers weigh in for each day a tournament is taking place to reduce the practice of binge eating, and educating coaches of the consequences of rapid weight loss.

Research following the implementation of these changes has been very promising. Weight certification resulted in wrestlers staying closer to a natural weight throughout the season. In 2005, the National Federation of High Schools, the national governing body in charge of most high school athletics in the USA, adopted the WIAA’s weight management program. All high school associations governed by the National Federation of High Schools now has to have a weight certification program in place.

Conclusion

Since the inception of wrestling as a competitive sport, extreme weight loss measures have been readily accepted. In recent years the NCAA, the WIAA, and the National Federation of High Schools have adopted measures to limit the amount of extreme weight loss in wrestling in order to protect the well being their athletes. If you are a wrestler or thinking about becoming a wrestler you deserve access to safe and scientifically sound training environments and techniques. Adoption of the WIAA weight loss program into your personal regimen will help you lose a safe amount of weight effectively while still being able to compete at an elite level.

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