articles on weight management with wrestlers?

[psykim]

Curious if anyone has written about weight management issues and wrestlers. When I was a high school wrestler-I was pretty good, not great- we would wrestle on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I would binge eat after meets and gain 6 to 8 pounds in a short period of time (and I wrestled at lower weights). We would then practice in a hot room with sweats on and I would lose the 6 to 8 pounds while eating VERY LITTLE for 2 days and then make weight. I would obsess on food while fasting-I can empathize with people on strict diets now who would have strict diets and have obsessional thoughts about foot. I learned to bake in high school and ate all sorts of brownies or chocolate chip cookies after matches or got to all you eat places on Sundays! At the end of season we had parties with all sorts of wonderful foods!
My senior year I was so glad it was over and I did not have to crash diet again. In college I wrestled intramurally so I did not have to lose weight but played varsity soccer for 1 year- I could eat after practice then!
I would think colleges have nutritionists and even sports psychologists help wrestlers deal with this issue. From reading this board it sounds like coaches at some colleges do require some wrestlers to make big weight losses to wrestle at a lower weight!Sounds like Cael and PSU take a sensible approach here on weight loss/wrestling at lower weights!
Anybody have info or articles on this-even to this day 50 years later I have trouble with thought of dieting as I hated the short term fasting during wrestling season!

 

[BrucePa]

Yeah, I recall my high school days, long ago. I was 5'9" and would weigh about 185 for football season, cut to 165 for wrestling season, and then back up to 185 for baseball season (I was a catcher). On weigh-in day we would wear plastic dry-cleaner bags under our sweats and run around the gym, and do a lot of sweating and spitting, and we would easily drop a pound before weighing in. Basically, we dehydrated down to weight.

I'm guessing the rules are different these days, especially with respect to hydration.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

I'm guessing the rules are different these days, especially with respect to hydration.

quite different. The high school rules and the college rules specifically outlaw most of the old-school techniques for losing water weight. I don't believe they outlaw spitting (I'd have to check), but that technique always made me smile, as I never thought it would have any impact on a wrestler's weight.

 

[TiogaLion]

quite different. The high school rules and the college rules specifically outlaw most of the old-school techniques for losing water weight. I don't believe they outlaw spitting (I'd have to check), but that technique always made me smile, as I never thought it would have any impact on a wrestler's weight.

Have a listen to RBY's interview. I've started the video at the 35:30 mark they start talking about his weight. RBY said he weighed 145 when he wrestled Desanto this year in the Semi's, even though he would have to make weight again in the morning.