How Do Boxers Make Their Weigh-In?

About 60 percent of an adult male's body is water, which offers a boxer great potential for rapid weight loss by purely dehydrating themselves. Most boxers refrain from liquids before the weigh-in to bring their weight down, only to excessively re-hydrate and eat afterwards. This procedure enables a boxer to make the weigh-in, only to balloon their weight in preparation for their fight.

  1. Sweat It Out

    • The sauna and the stream room are great places to lose weight, owing to the high temperatures in which the body sweats excessively. Boxers have been known to work out in spa conditions with temperatures turned up to maximize sweating. Commonly known as "drying-out" among the boxing fraternity because of the loss of fluids from the body, it does have a detrimental effect on a boxer's body, which loses valuable fluids that are essential for health and strength.

    Physical Exercise and Sweating

    • One of the most popular methods among boxers is to wear a plastic workout suit while running or doing other cardiovascular exercise, such as skipping. Exercise itself results in weight loss from burning calories, which can be further accelerated by wearing a sweat suit to encourage perspiration. A good coach who properly monitors his boxer's weight in the lead up to the fight can avoid these measures.

    Extreme Measures

    • Chewing gum to promote saliva and spitting, though slightly excessive, assists in weight loss with the further loss of liquids from the body. In moments preceding the weigh-in, such methods are often used in a quest to shed the ounces that may be required to make the required weight. Boxers can often be seen walking around with spit cups before weigh-in.

    Avoiding Extreme Measures

    • Many boxers are able to meet the weight without extreme measures, which is encouraged since there is insufficient time between the weigh-in and the fight for the body to restore itself to a normal function. The best way for boxers to meet the weight is to maintain a consistent exercise routine and healthy diet and monitor their weight in the weeks leading to a fight. This is preferential to draining the body of vital nutrients preceding a fight just to make the weigh-in.