Why Wrestlers Should Cut Weight Loss

What do Billy Saylor from Cambell University, Joseph LaRosa from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and Jeff Reese from the University of Michigan all have in common. Unfortunately, they are dead now and are because of unsafe weight cutting methods in wrestling. Wrestlers and other athletes in sports with weight classes should not cut weight by starving and dehydrating themselves. Most wrestlers lose lots of weight by dehydrating themselves and losing water weight or by starving themselves and not eating for days at a time.

One of the easiest and quickest way to lose weight for wrestling is to wear a sauna suit and sweat out water weight in a high temperature room. According to Anne Marie Helmenstine, a chemistry expert, the average adult human body is made up of 50-65% water. Because of this wrestlers and other athletes who are required to cut weight can lose a large amount of weight in a short period of time. Most wrestlers wear sauna suits which help keep in your body heat and help you sweat a lot. Sauna suits are made of rubber, vinyl, or plastic and wrapped around your body and are illegal to wear at high school practices but are worn anyway. By not drinking a lot of water and sweating out a large amount of weight this can …show more content…
A much healthier alternative is to lose weight slowly by eating less fat food and eating less but more frequently so they don’t overeat which will also make them perform better and not lose their strength or be dehydrated during a match. There should be no more deaths because of dehydration and bad weight cutting habits in wrestling and other sports like it. All wrestling programs should prevent their athletes from doing these practices and be required to inform them of the better alternatives. That is the only way to prevent terrible situations like these from