Don't know enough about cutting weight (at least in Wrestling :>)) so I wonder about someone like ISU's Pestano. It says he wrestled 220 in HS and now is cutting to 165. Isn't this a lot? It's a third of his present weight. Or does someone know if he was quite chubby in HS.
Weight cutting--how much is safe?
- Thread starter IamHawkeye
- Start date
Here is a video of him talking about the weight cut. A lot of the weight he had in high school was due to unhealthy eating habits.
Depends on age, but the best answer is none. Everyone has a healthy weight. Sometimes losing weight to get to that number is a positive. "Cutting" weight is ridiculously unhealthy, especially for anyone whose body has yet to mature.
In high school wrestling, the weight that you can go down to is determined by your body fat test at the beginning of the year. Once it is determined what weight y can wrestle, the wrestler is placed on a decent plan that will only allow them to lose a certain percentage each week. The athlete must follow that plan to reach their desire weight. For college wrestling, I am not sure how weight loss is regulated.
In MO (and I assume other states) the hydration is tested as well. If you don't pass the hydration test then you don't even get to continue to get your body fat assessed. Once you pass the hydration they take your "alpha weight" and then your body fat is measured with skin calipers. That's all plugged in and it shows the weights you can wrestle all year. High school doesn't allow you to go below 7% and college is 5%. In MO, you're only allowed to lose 1.5% of your body weight a week...not sure what they allow in college but I would guess it's not much more than that.
Iowa requires that the wrestler pass the hydration test before their body fat is checked via calipers.
It really comes down to the individual. Some freaks of nature can perform without eating for 3 days and barely hydrating. Still, The hydration test is about the best control that could be put in place, but as someone mentioned earlier, there are even ways around that.
I would say the current consensus is super healthy eating and maintaining weight control year around. I was from a timeframe where most would get up to 30 lbs over comp weight in the offseason. The current way isn't as fun, but is definitely the better way!
I would say the current consensus is super healthy eating and maintaining weight control year around. I was from a timeframe where most would get up to 30 lbs over comp weight in the offseason. The current way isn't as fun, but is definitely the better way!
I broke an arm before the start of wrestling season my soph year. The cast came off a few days before the first dual. I had to cut from about 110 to make 105 for the JV squad.
After weighing in the morning of the first dual, I was told by the coach that I'd be wrestling at JV 112 that night. When I told him I'd rather go at 105 due to a weak arm, he told me to go 112 or not at all. I watched that dual from the stands.
For the rest of the season I was on a diet for about five days out of each week. Making that cut in a growing body was difficult. Each week I made the cut to wrestle 105 JV and was then sent out to get horsed around by bigger kids at 112 JV almost every meet.
That was a frustrating season for me.
After weighing in the morning of the first dual, I was told by the coach that I'd be wrestling at JV 112 that night. When I told him I'd rather go at 105 due to a weak arm, he told me to go 112 or not at all. I watched that dual from the stands.
For the rest of the season I was on a diet for about five days out of each week. Making that cut in a growing body was difficult. Each week I made the cut to wrestle 105 JV and was then sent out to get horsed around by bigger kids at 112 JV almost every meet.
That was a frustrating season for me.
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