I was an Idaho high school wrestler in the 158-pound class. Once, I went on a crash diet for three days
and lost the match because I did not have full strength.I see local high school wrestlers making the same mistake. Sweat suits, saunas, spitting, laxatives and crash diets seem to all be part of wrestling tradition.
Crash dieting results in loss of strength and athletic ability. Wrestlers may make their weight but usually lose their match. Not only is crash dieting detrimental to your health and performance it is unfair to your teammates.
With a few tips, coaches and parents can guide your athletes to more healthful weight reduction practices.
The first step in starting a weight reduction program is to determine your ideal weight based on your percentage of body fat. The most convenient and accurate way is to measure fat with a skin-fold caliper.
This instrument works on the principle that fat is stored underneath your skin. The more fat you have the thicker the layer. By measuring the thickness of your fat layer the calipers measures you body fat.
This will allow you to know how much weight you can safely lose without endangering your health. The average male is 15 to 18 percent fat. An ideal wrestler is 5 to 6 percent fat.
If you lose below 4 percent you will be unhealthy, chronically hungry, tired and weak.
Height-weight charts are inappropriate for athletes because they provide little information regarding the composition of your body weight. Muscle is 22 percent denser that fat. Therefore, a 158-pound wrestler may be overweight according to height-weight charts, but may not have too much fat.
In most cases, losing weight is mathematics. One pound of fat is equivalent of 3,500 calories.
By eating 1,000 less calories per day you should lose two pounds of fat per week. So if you plan to lose ten pounds, allow yourself four to five weeks. Weight loss should be slow and consistent.
You should educate yourself on what a proper diet consists of. Go down to the library and check out a book on proper nutrition and educate yourself.
You need to eat wholesome foods and stay away from sugary and fatty foods like soda, deserts, butter, salad dressing, mayonnaise and ice cream.
These have little nutritional value and will not help you become a better wrestler.
Never skip breakfast or lunch.
Some wrestlers starve themselves till they weigh in, then pig out just before their match.
This is a sure recipe for defeat. Choose your calories for nutritional value and plan ahead.