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Wrestling dads? How much weight cutting for your kid?


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I have casually observed two schools of thoughts. I may be completely wrong, happens a lot.

First school is that why cut more than a couple pounds, stay close to your wrestling weight or build up, usually expressed by dads that have wrestled. Mainly because they remember how awful the experience of a big cut was for them.

Second school, if their wrestler goes down a full weight class, they will be "strong" for their new lighter weight class with "smaller kids".

Where do you weigh in on this? Yes awful pun.

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Depends a little on the age.

 

Middle school and below should be close to Zero. Healthy meals 3-4 x per day and a good hard work out every day will put kids where they should be.

 

High School and above shouldn't be much more but you need to look at an optimal weight based on body fat %, energy level, strength, endurance, attitude, etc. If a kid is low on energy, strength and has a bad attitude all the time then they are cutting too much weight. Also, they should be fluctuating only a little day to day. If a kid is always going up and down its not good.

 

Just my thoughts...

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2-3 lbs tops... IF that comes off by a healthy diet. Making your child eat a salad and some fruit for dinner a couple nights is NOT child abuse. That being said, it's pointless to cut weight if your kid feels like crap. My kids have gone both directions and usually wrestle better if they feel good, rather than sacrificing good nutrition for the sake of being stronger against smaller kids. That strength goes away after the first period if they don't have stored energy.

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I think this, like most things should be taken on a case by case basis.  It is not uncommon to see two kids with relatively similar leanness and one can easily eat light Friday, wait until after weigh-in Saturday and float a few pounds or more, while the other struggles to lose the same weight even if they try the whole week to get it to come off.  Know your (or your son's) body.  Listen to it.  It will tell you what is best for you (or your son). 

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Cutting weight is one of the dumbest parts about this sport.  I'm not talking about a kid who drops weight naturally by working out and eating right.  Cutting weight, depleting your energy, and dehydrating your body is ludicrous.  It's one of the reason kids burnout. 

Let your kid wrestle at his natural weight.  The myth that you need to go down in weight to be successful is ridiculous. 

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If you want to wrestle down a weight class next year... You need to start eating right and increase amount of cardio exercise now. It can be done in a proper fashion if given enough time. The problem comes when its 2 weeks before the start of the season and then people try dropping a large amount of weight in a short amount of time.

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i know if my dad knew how much weight i cut i wood have never wrestled again...i actually started to go blind...couldn't read textbooks and was having trouble just standing up. Made weight but couldn't wrestle went home 1st thing started eating again and gained that 21 lbs back in 2 weeks

 

that was many many moons ago before they had strict rules

Edited by fearless fly
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I believe it's all about each individual kid, and I am talking HS age, not younger kids.  Where he falls in between weight classes.  His willingness to educate himself about nutrition.  His ability to self-police what he eats, and not just during wrestling season.  His body make-up, including BMI.  Also, keep in mind there may still be large weight fluctuations during the season as wrestlers hydrate themselves, practice hard, and repeat.  And by the way, wrestlers should be hydrating themselves (3-4 quarts of water per day minimum) all season, even if they taper off the day before a tournament or dual meet. 

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    My son never cut in the off season.  As he got older.  He cut less and less.  This year he did not cut much at all.

I would say 6 lbs at the most this season.  There were many times he was under weight on Friday after practice.

Just had to watch his intake until Saturday morning.

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The only reason to cut weight is if you arent at your optimal weight class, 7-10% body fat is considered optimal for most hs aged wrestlers. Proper diet and hydration should always be maintained.

Edited by formerchamp
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No one has mentioned cutting weight in order to gain a spot on the varsity roster.  It may not be a big deal in large schools, but in smaller schools this is reality.  A wrestler who is not good enough to earn the varsity spot at this natural weight may be able to cut one class and fill an empty space or win a spot.  Let's not gloss over this and say it doesn't happen.  All of your talk assumes your child is good enough to wrestle any weight he wants to.  That's just not the case all of the time.

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No one has mentioned cutting weight in order to gain a spot on the varsity roster.  It may not be a big deal in large schools, but in smaller schools this is reality.  A wrestler who is not good enough to earn the varsity spot at this natural weight may be able to cut one class and fill an empty space or win a spot.  Let's not gloss over this and say it doesn't happen.  All of your talk assumes your child is good enough to wrestle any weight he wants to.  That's just not the case all of the time.

This is a good point but I think there is a difference in "cutting" weight and "losing" weight. Cutting weight, to me, is drastically losing weight in a short period of time knowing the weight you lose will return. Losing weight gradually over time to make a weight is a lot different.

 

It is a little naïve to think that every kid on any HS team knows exactly what weight each of his teammate will go year to year and kids are obviously going to grow but most of the weight classes are within 6-7 lbs of each other and 6-7 lbs of "losing" weight should be easy to do over a 6-8 week period vs 2-3 days before every meet.

 

So I think a kid can "make" a certain weight to get in the varsity lineup without "cutting" a bunch of weight.

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No one has mentioned cutting weight in order to gain a spot on the varsity roster.  It may not be a big deal in large schools, but in smaller schools this is reality.  A wrestler who is not good enough to earn the varsity spot at this natural weight may be able to cut one class and fill an empty space or win a spot.  Let's not gloss over this and say it doesn't happen.  All of your talk assumes your child is good enough to wrestle any weight he wants to.  That's just not the case all of the time.

Even going down one weight class usually doesn't put a kid at risk.  Cutting down multiple weight classes is not smart and shame on any coach for letting it happen in order to fill a lineup.  It's short-sighted.  Looking out for the safety of the kid should be a priority.

 

How many coaches out there are "doctoring" their bad fat and hydration tests to manipulate the lowest possible weight class for their wrestlers.  I know it's happening.  

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My son wrestled his first match last year at Kids Folkstyle State at 65 lbs. I don't place an emphasis on "cutting weight" for the most part at the the highschool level I always had my wrestlers wrestle within 5lbs of there alpha weight. I am not big on having kids cut weight. I can attest that before the perimeters were set place; I cut allot of weight to wrestle 125 my senior year. I cut from 145 to 125 in two weeks and wrestled fairly well at our first tournament of the season. Needless, to say my coaches encouraged me to move up a weight class cause it was to big of a cutt for me. Not to mention I had came in from football

That following Monday at practice I wrestled off for 130 and stayed there the rest of the season.

 

As a coach I have had my wrestlers wrestle within their normal weight and I have them chose where they want to wrestle.

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