Wrestling.

[KarateChick06]

We wrestle occasionally at my karate class. I really suck at it, lol! The last time I was paired with this huge muscleman who just let me "work" him the entire time. I kept trying to do pressure points on him, but he said "Aaaah. Feels like accupressure."

 

AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!

[Gumbi]

Well, it is my sincere hope that you don't follow the nasty habit that most high school wrestlers do...seasonal anorexia. It's absolutely ridiculous! They do it to gain an "edge", but everybody does it, so there's no edge. If everyone would stop simultaneously, there would be healthy athletes with life-sized stomachs, but they're too stubborn for that I guess.

 

 

I was never fond of cutting weight either, in fact I believe there was a study done that suggested that it doesnt work as well as some believe- its said that between weigh ins and match time, your body doesnt have enough time to recuperate from such high loss of water/food.

 

It also doesnt work out too well for high school athletes- in college, you're hopefully a full grown man, so starvation leads to weight loss. In high school, especially freshman, thats when alot of kids are hitting their growth spurts (and eating everything in sight). Wrestlers are unable to do this because they've got to make weight (I knew kids in high school who wrestled 112 and would go the entire week withs no lunch and a salad for dinner).

 

I do think they set a new rule that applies to collegiate wrestling- it says that competitors have to have a minimum amount of body fat in order to compete.

 

BTW monkeygirl, Im assuming you're somewhere in middle/western PA. You should know that PA has some of (if not the) best wrestling in the US, so you're going to see some hardcore coaches and wrestlers who'll go to any extreme to win.

[mai tai]

monkey girl i couldnt agree more. not healthy for a growing boy to restict diet to the point where nails stop growing.

 

the rules should be the wieght that you are the first day of practice is your wieght class. if you gain you could go higher but never lower.

 

i was a wrestler in hs. and starved myself. kids dont know any better but grownup coaches should.

[monkeygirl]

the rules should be the wieght that you are the first day of practice is your wieght class. if you gain you could go higher but never lower.

 

I heard something from some of the wrestlers that at the beginning of the season they had to fast for 24 hours so they could get their 'bottom weight', which is the class they would wrestle at all year...but apparently it's very difficult for them to keep that weight? Or something? I don't understand all of it. All I know is that they barely eat during the season. I've heard that "cutting weight" involves eating half a grape fruit and drinking 8 oz. of water...for the entire day. That's it! And then they run and work out during every chance they get, wearing as much clothing as possible...during breaks they sit around in a hot room wearing trash bags. Trash bags are illegal in most states (well, to wear them to lose weight for wrestling, not to buy...and it's a wrestling law not a state law...BAH I'm confuserating myself), but who's going to catch them? Furthermore, who would turn them in? I've never seen them do it myself, but I've heard a few admit to it. It's such a shame. As far as coaches go, they say they disapprove of it, but never take any action when they see it happening. That's pretty widespread if you ask me.

 

The shame of it is that wrestling is such a great sport. We did "ground sparring" at my old dojo, and it was a heck of a lot of fun...less rules than real wrestling . Then I came to my high school last year and we have this big school competition where everyone competes in different sports. I joined the girl's wrestling, wrestled up a weight class, and pinned her in 15 seconds in the first round! Man that was fun

 

I thought about wrestling during the school year, but I don't have that kind of endurance, our coach feels it's a "boy's sport" (even though he's obliged to let any girl who can hack it wrestle...one girl tried last year and he worked her 5x harder than anybody else until she quit), and I really don't need an eating disorder.

[AngryMatt]

That coach was doing that a favor. It's not that wrestling is a "man only sport because only men can take it." It's not that at all. Nor is it that men get uncomfortably wrestling women in a match.

 

It's because it's extremely dangerous to run women down to the body fat percentage that most solid middle weight wrestlers (and by middleweight I mean 130-160) get down to. As a former HS wrestler who worked in a very difficult program, which yielded good results on the mat by the way, I can attest to the fact that it's very unhealthy for women to be in that kind of condition.

 

It's a biological thing. Had that stuck with it there is a decent chance she could have jeopardized her future when it came to having children. Is that what drove the coach? I doubt it. But the point remains the same.