Nutrition Facts

Over the course of 33 days in 1997, three college wrestlers died while cutting weight in supervised settings.  In response to those deaths, the NCAA instituted new rules about "making weight" for college wrestling (see also the PDF file The Wrestler's Guide to Optimal Performance for an excellent discussion).  In short, the rules require that wrestlers "certify" their weights for the season by weighing in while fully hydrated before the beginning of competition for the season.  The rules also establish a "minimum wrestling weight" for each wrestler based on the level of body fat, again given full hydration.  While similar rules have not yet made their way to the high school level, they represent what is in my opinion a much safer and more practical approach to weight management for wrestlers.

A lot of myth surrounds wrestling and weight. In the wrestling room, you always hear "If I could only cut 5 (or 7, or 10...) pounds, I'd be unstoppable!"

Weight loss is a complicated subject, especially where growing athletes are concerned.

There are five fundamental ways to lose weight, either short- or long-term:

• Dehydration (short-term loss of water weight, harmful to both the individual and his/her performance)
• Emptying the gastrointestinal tract (obviously, a short-term loss)
• Depleting the body's glycogen stores (short term and minor weight loss. Glycogen is the primary energy source for anaerobic exercise, and is stored both in the liver and in muscle fibers. Loss is obviously harmful to athletic and especially wrestling performance)
• Loss of body fat (long-term loss, through exercise and reduced caloric intake. No magic formula can truly promote rapid loss of body fat)
• Loss of muscle mass (when the body exhausts its energy stores, muscle protein is cannibalized for energy needs)

For an already-lean athlete, little body fat is available for loss. Weight loss can either be temporary (from fasting and dehydration to "make weight"), or can involve loss of muscle mass (over the course of weeks or months, you cannot change the weight of the skeleton or organs, and if there is no body fat to lose, the only thing left is muscle).

Losing muscle mass means that the ratio of muscle to total weight decreases, meaning that the athlete losses strength more rapidly than weight.

In my opinion, most wrestlers (who tend to be fairly lean as a group) would be better served by adding lean muscle mass, entering their matches well hydrated and well fueled, and by working on their skills.

General Nutritional Suggestions:

• Eat a well-balanced diet (generally recommended to be 50-60% carbohydrates, 20-30% protein, no more than 30% fat)
• The American College of Sports Medicine recommends:
  • A minimum of 1700 to 2500 calories per day for high school and college wrestlers
  • A minimum of 7% body fat for wrestlers under the age of 16, and 5% for older wrestlers.
• Concentrate on hydration (the normal recommendation is to drink 2 quarts of water per day. Water loss from dehydration [like after a workout] should be replaced by drinking an additional 16 ounces of water per pound of weight lost)
• The normal recommendation for protein intake is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For athletes, that recommendation is increased to 1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of weight. To make it easier, I converted to units that we're more accustomed to using:

• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables (great sources of carbohydrates and vitamins and other nutrients)
• Avoid rapid weight loss (as outlined above, it involves techniques that hurt athletic performance)
• Eat several small meals every day rather than one or two large meals (helps decrease cravings)
• Avoid processed foods (most processed foods are high in salt/sodium and fat, and the processing inherently reduces the nutrient content of the foods)
• Avoid soda/carbonated beverages (high in sodium and sugar)
• Consider a daily vitamin (when an athlete disturbs his or her dietary patterns, a daily vitamin is good "insurance" that the recommended vitamins and nutrients are consumed)
• Be careful with caffeine (caffeine is a diuretic as well as a stimulant. There is a limit to the amount allowed in the bloodstream for international competition)
• Be very careful with supplements and "energy" products (many such products contain ingredients [such as ephedra] that are banned in any quantity from international competition. Few "performance-enhancing" or "muscle building" products have been studied to see what their long-term effects on the body will be. To my knowledge, none has been properly tested with growing athletes)

Nutrition Links:

Weight Management Education by the NCAA

The Wrestlers Diet: A guide to healthy weight control and Nutrition Plan for Wrestlers
(Made available by The Gatorade Sports Science Institute.)

"Something to Chew on" by Ted Witulski/USA Wrestling

USDA's Food and Nutrition Information Center

SportsMom

Local Resource:

Monique Ryan is an Evanston-based nutritionist who is nationally known for her work with athletes.
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