We are quickly approaching the days of the week that are most difficult in a wrestling household. For those young men that are cutting weight and getting ready for the opening day, these can be stressful days! I would like to encourage the athletes and their parents to be aware that your crankiness is not an excuse to be nasty to your families! For those of you that have been here, you know what I mean! We want everyone to have a great week and enjoy the wrestling. There has been more than one parent ready to take a wrestlers head off during the weight cutting season! There may be a good article come out of this post. How about we have some people recall a funny story or two about weight cutting!
Tried it last summer - went from 170 to 155 in about 2 weeks...after that, it was either eat a double cheeseburger with super-size fries at McDonald's or open fire on a crowd. Fortunately, McD's was open late that night...I'm back to 165 at last check and much less mentally whacked out than I was then.
Have a great amount of respect for those that can keep their weight down the way they do this time of year. With the holidays and all the food that goes with it, it's gotta be tough to maintain without losing your mind.
Last year I cut from 197 to 170 in 48 hrs I wasn't eating or drinking and I was sprinting on a treadmill non-stop I even shaved my head in hopes of that helping. Now this is funny because I was up ten to nothing in my first match and feeling great in the start of the third I went international start and got ankle picked twisted my ankle so bad I couldn't put any weight on it I only made it to two other tourneys that year. talk about a bum senior year.
I remember hearing a story about a coach from SSC or something like that who let his boys off 5 miles out of town to run in before they weighed in so that they would make sure to make the weight.
I did not wrestle in High School. I played that other sport, with the round orange shere thing that rots your hands. (Basketball). However, I saw firsthand a lot of the trouble a couple wrestlers at my school went through all year long to keep the weight off. Saunas, not eating, heck, the morning before weigh ins, one of them even used chewing tobacco, to make it easier to produce saliva to spit out.
I would hope those days are but a distant memory. However, they probably are not completely gone.
At my 20 year class reunion, I talked to one of those who did drastic things to keep weight off. He told me he would do things differently if he could do them over. He would have kepp the weight on, not been sick all year, and had more strength to wrestle with.
I am jsut glad my kid has been lucky so far, and not been in the spot of having to lose weight to compete.
Wow! I thought for sure we would generate a better list of stories! I guess that not everyone has experienced enough pain with the weight yet this year to get a good conversation going about it! Maybe in a weekor two!
My oldest brother dropped more than 40 pounds his sophomore year to get down to 105...in the mid-70s that was just the way things were done. He was ranked number one in state, but didn't make weight the second day of Districts because his girlfriend sneaked a cinnamon roll to him. Because of that, my other brothers and I were not allowed to date during wrestling season. And before Mikey C and Stormy start giving me crap about it, that's my excuse as to why I didn't date much in high school and I'm sticking to it!
My daughter made a comment about her brother's weight cutting. She said that during wrestling season last year, he only said two things to her the whole season. "Shut up," and "Thank you." The thank you was for a little Hershey's Kiss that she snuck to him while doing homework one night.
This is the first year that i've had to cut weight, and i have so much respect for anyone that has come before me. I've had to cut 20 pounds, and it's incredibly hard, but worth it. Still, i think that everyone should know his limit and be sensible about cutting. You need to cut weight before the season starts, so that you don't have to lose 27 pounds in 48 hours.
Being the mom, I only had to live with a wrestler cutting weight. Richard swore by the shiver method. He would turn the heat down in his room to about 50 degrees and sleep with one blanket. He was convinced he could lose two in his sleep that way. (Personally, I think he was crazy!)
Of the three boys in my family, my brother Sean and I cut the most weight. I usually dropped 15-20 pounds to make 130. Sean cut at least that in order to make 105 back in 1987.
My brother was 10 years older than me and after he left for college, I inherited his bedroom. One day, years after he'd left the house, I was cleaning out the closet at my parents' wishes.
I came across a teeny sized raisin box. On it Sean had written, "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner."
________________________________________________
Say what you want about weight cutting. If I had to go back and do it over again, I'd do things a little differently, but nothing compares to the focus a weight cutter has for the sport. That focus alone won many a match for me . . . unfortunately, a couple of the losses came in the state semifinals . . .
I was always lucky that from my sophmore year on I never had to lose weight I went up and was a light unlimited (heavyweight) wrestler back in the late 70s and early 80s. I was the one everyone hated, came to the bus with donuts and chocolate milk for the trip over. Would have Todd Hart so worked up he would be calling me names on the trip. I was always able to eat what I wanted then and was still a light heavyweight (190 as a sophmore, 230 as a senior). My younger brother cut weight for 3 years to get a varsity position. He would sit and watch me scarf food down while he sucked on ice cubes and ate a little jello. When he went to heavy weight his senior year he was amaised at how easy it was to not walk around wondering if he could drink things to keep under weight. Today in my house hold my boys both are watching their weight (I consider this different because to me cutting is not eating or watching what you drink). My wife had never seen wrestling (from North Dakota and loves hockey) till I let my boys join in 3rd and 4th grade. She never seen dieting until they reach high school. She stated the other day that she brought out last years pants for the boys because they had sucked in so much (they won't wear them, look like flood pants). She is also amaised at how growly they have become. Told her to learn to live with it as long as they are watching what they eat and to only keep the good food around. Will be a learning experience for her.
I would just like to say cutting weight sucks and you should be smart and do it 3-4 weeks before season, take off real weight not just water weight that you will gain back right after you weigh in. Keep your fluids up and you calories down and youll be fine if you do it ahead of time, other wise youll do what i did goin from 156 to 135 in short amount of time(last year) this yeah i started a week before practice and am still having to use a little water weight but just start soon, drink water and youll be fine.The first few meets sucks to get down but your body should level out and it will be better and if anything else just wait for the 2 pounds you get after christmas!!
they come from the week after state. last year a friend bet me that i couldn't put on 25 pounds in the first week. i finished it 30 pounds heavier and 5 bucks richer.
I lost 8 pounds in 17 hours my freshmen year. I had been aiming for 112 but gave up the day before certification and starting eating a bunch of cookies. After practice one of the seniors made sure i made it to 112. It sucked, but I have continued to cut every year. I also know what it feels like to put weight on. After state last year, i was up to 135 from 121 in 3 days.
If you guys would cut weight properly you wouldn't be crying all the time. I know, you all seem to think that telling everyone how much weight you lost, makes you a big man. BUT, actually you give wrestling a bad name. And scare a lot of your classmates off. If you decide to cut weight do it the right way, slowly and keep it off don't benge after weigh-ins. Pick a weight and stay with it.
posted 
