Wrestling Tips for Weight Loss

Losing weight for wrestling season is a tradition, but is it a safe practice? If a wrestler does it by starving himself two weeks before a meet, jogging in a plastic trash bag and sitting in a sauna in an attempt to sweat out all the water, not only is he endangering his heath, but he is reducing his strength and thus his ability to win at the competition.

  1. Hit The Weights

    • When a wrestler is in the offseason, he should be in the gym, training his muscles as often as possible. It is even more important to stick to a good strength-training routine when trying to lose weight. The body tends to break down body tissue for fuel when its in a caloric deficit. It will do this in equal parts from the fat and the muscle. Regular weight training can fight off the amount of muscle you lose in this critical time.

    Eat Often

    • The worst way to lose weight, especially for an athlete, is to starve yourself. Eating frequent, small meals will keep your metabolism burning like a furnace, and will prevent you from getting tired, rundown and weak from your diet. This is an excellent routine to practice during the offseason as well. The body can process nutrients much more efficiently when they come in small doses.

    Don't Drop Calories Too Low

    • You want to make sure you're getting the right amount of calories. Drop them too low and you'll wind up burning off more muscle than fat. To get a good figure of what your caloric intake should look like, take your current weight and multiply it by thirteen. That number will give you the calories you need to consume to hold on to your current muscle mass.

    Give Yourself Time

    • Don't wait until two weeks before season to start losing weight. Give yourself a month or two and you'll find the weight comes off in a much smoother, healthier fashion. This will not only keep you from falling into a yo-yo dieting habit that could plague you later in life, but it will give you the best opportunity of going into your competition at your best.