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weight loss??


cmmndalum
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Just this year it seems almost overnight the rules on Weight loss and weigh ins have drasticly changed. i was once a highschool wrestler and have had to loss my share of weight. I had grown to know the weight loss as just as much a part of the sport as the match itself. Now in some extreme cases when a persons health is in danger thats when someone needs to step in. But as far as the weigh ins and not trying to cut that 1/10 of a pound after you weight in, just let the kids do there thing like they have been for the past hundred years.

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Rules are put in place to protect wrestlers from doing damage to their bodies. Most states have enacted rules based on the athlete's body weight in the beginning of the season to prevent massive weight loss during the season. When you have a kid who is developing and maturing, and you try to trim 10 to 20 pounds from a frame that is naturally gaining 10 to 20 pounds, it is dangerous. There are a lot of kids within 25 pounds of 150 in high school, but not very many wrestling slots for them to wrestle in. As unbelievable as it sounds, many coaches will pressure kids to drop 2 to 3 weight classes to better compete, ie, win. Anyone not in favor of these rules either doesnt understand the sport, or doesn't care about the kids. It is no different than the steroids of the 70's and 80's in football, they were widely abused, and often with the blessing of the coach. Wrestlers are probably as dedicated and competitive as any group of athletes, and sometimes, they do not think in the long term. They will do anything to win. Someone must look out for their best interests, and sadly, more times than not, it isnt the coach. Therefore, the governing body has to.

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However, I do believe that weight loss has been an aspect of wrestling that has proven positive at times. I'm not a fan of extreme weight loss, because I know how it hurt myself in competition. However, most wrestlers NEED to lose at least 5 to 8 pounds. I've seen more than my share of wrestlers who lost no weight and, as the year went on, lost more naturally. The problem came when they weighed low enough to go a weight down, but were already certified at a higher class.

 

Posted by Clotis:

Rules are put in place to protect wrestlers from doing damage to their bodies. Most states have enacted rules based on the athlete's body weight in the beginning of the season to prevent massive weight loss during the season. When you have a kid who is developing and maturing, and you try to trim 10 to 20 pounds from a frame that is naturally gaining 10 to 20 pounds, it is dangerous. There are a lot of kids within 25 pounds of 150 in high school, but not very many wrestling slots for them to wrestle in. As unbelievable as it sounds, many coaches will pressure kids to drop 2 to 3 weight classes to better compete, ie, win. Anyone not in favor of these rules either doesnt understand the sport, or doesn't care about the kids. It is no different than the steroids of the 70's and 80's in football, they were widely abused, and often with the blessing of the coach. Wrestlers are probably as dedicated and competitive as any group of athletes, and sometimes, they do not think in the long term. They will do anything to win. Someone must look out for their best interests, and sadly, more times than not, it isnt the coach. Therefore, the governing body has to.

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Guest Coyote8
Posted by Clotis:

Rules are put in place to protect wrestlers from doing damage to their bodies. Most states have enacted rules based on the athlete's body weight in the beginning of the season to prevent massive weight loss during the season. When you have a kid who is developing and maturing, and you try to trim 10 to 20 pounds from a frame that is naturally gaining 10 to 20 pounds, it is dangerous. There are a lot of kids within 25 pounds of 150 in high school, but not very many wrestling slots for them to wrestle in. As unbelievable as it sounds, many coaches will pressure kids to drop 2 to 3 weight classes to better compete, ie, win. Anyone not in favor of these rules either doesnt understand the sport, or doesn't care about the kids. It is no different than the steroids of the 70's and 80's in football, they were widely abused, and often with the blessing of the coach. Wrestlers are probably as dedicated and competitive as any group of athletes, and sometimes, they do not think in the long term. They will do anything to win. Someone must look out for their best interests, and sadly, more times than not, it isnt the coach. Therefore, the governing body has to.

 

Cutting weight is just as much a part of wrestling as anything. I would say that in most cases the match itself is only a fraction of the what it takes to wrestle, with weight and practice being just as, if not more, important. I agree that it is taken way to far in some cases, but to compare it to the steroids era of football is very inaccurate. Steroids is, in the most basic sense of the term, cheating. It's "something for nothing." It doesn't take hard work or sacrifice to get the results that they offer. Cutting weight is a very difficult task in most cases. It takes determination and self-discipline. Short term, it may be unhealthy in some cases, but I don't think that any long-term damage can occur as long as the amount of weight is reasonable. I've been doing it for years and I've already grown a lot bigger than the doctors said I would. Don't get me wrong, I think there should be limits, rules and plenty of supervision when possible. However, trying to dismantle the practice of weight cutting would be impossible.

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