Physical Fitness for Wrestling

Nutrition and Weight Control

The importance of nutrition is often lost amongst most students in an athletic programme. This is probably due to the fact that most young athletes might not notice an immediate difference in their performance as a result of variations in their diet. The established dietary habits of the students also are a factor. I cannot say that any coach can tell what their athletes are eating based on their performance but in the long term nutrition can be a factor. Our bodies are always replacing its resources and athletes have a greater turnover of resources than non-athletes have due to the higher level of activity. Competitive wrestlers do not want to bypass any advantages that can help them in competition, so do not ignore the importance of proper nutrition.

Another reason for the importance of proper nutrition is weight control. Weight control is a common concern for general health. However, it is also a particular concern for wrestlers, since wrestlers want to compete at the lowest possible weight class. Many wrestlers try to loose weight for this reason. There is nothing wrong with loosing weight provided that the wrestler maintains a nutritionally sound diet and does not resort to excessive dehydration practices.

We do not expect any wrestler to loose weight in order to qualify for a particular weight class. If you find that your current weight is very close to the next lowest weight class, you might consider loosing some weight through proper nutrition but it will be up to you to decide to loose weight. We would rather that you enjoy the sport and participate than have you feel the burden of working off weight. You can read more about weight loss below.

Whether you intend to loose weight or not I hope that you will follow good nutritional guidelines. I have included two good sources here that can be followed.

Do not worry about small discrepancies in the number of servings between the two guides. They are actually quite close to being equivalent. The largest discrepancy is in the allowable number of servings of grain products. It should be noted that Canada's Food Guide is a general nutrition guide where as the Sports Nutrition Pyramid is primarily for athletes. Since different athletic events have different energy requirements, the number of servings of grain products will have a wider variance since grain products are the main source of energy.

Some General Advise:

• Do refer to the food guides
• Do not skip meals, especially breakfast
• Try to make most of your grain servings whole grains
• When choosing vegetables, select a variety of bright colours, green, yellow, red, orange; avoid transparent leaves such as lettuce
• Limit the following items: sugar, fats (especially saturated fats), salt
• Allow limited amounts of unsaturated fats. Serving fish twice a week will help here
• Remember to stay hydrated

Weight Control

If a wrestler chooses to reduce weight in order to wrestle in a lighter weight class it is important to remember that weight loss cannot be at the expense of nutrition. In this case, a wrestler must practice portion control within the limits of a nutrition guide. Nutrition becomes more important when limiting portions.

Weight loss must be gradual while following good nutrition practices. Do not try to hurry your weight loss by reducing the number of serving below the recommended amount. Instead, try to limit your fat intake by selecting lean meats, avoiding fried foods, and read the food packaging labels. Limiting sugar intake also helps reduce weight. Also, do not exceed the recommended serving suggested in the food guides.

Do not try to loose weight by dehydrating yourself. This is a very dangerous practice and your performance in the sport of wrestling will suffer. It is possible to safely lose 2 to 3 percent of your body weight through dehydration, but only up to a few hours before a weigh-in and the wrestler should re-hydrate immediately after the weigh-in. This is a last resort. In this case, if necessary, wrestlers can sweat off some weight by running for about a half an hour at the location of the weigh-in. You will not be loosing any more weight than you would loose during a normal workout.

Wrestlers will not be permitted to wear a raincoat, plastic bag, or excessive clothing in order to sweat off weight. Also, wrestlers will not be permitted to use a sauna or steam bath to accelerate sweating. Furthermore, the use of laxatives, purgatives, or diuretics is forbidden.

Any wrestler known to be using any of these forbidden methods of weight reduction will not be permitted to wrestle. The health and safety of the wrestlers will always have priority over team progress.