Weighing the Consequences: KSHSAA’s rules and precaution help prevent wrestlers from getting into harmful weight loss habits.

Sitting in a sauna an hour before the weigh-in at his club wrestling tournament, junior Max Franklin wanted to make sure that he would make weight for his competitions. Aiming to sweat out some water weight, sitting in the sauna for 15 minutes was about the equivalent of going on a quick run.

Former and current wrestlers on the East team have experimented with methods of rapid weight loss — such as dehydration and short periods of fasting — in order to meet the benchmark criteria of their desired weight class for the sport, but there are rules and precautions in place by KSHSAA to prevent this from being taken to an unhealthy extent.

Before wrestlers hit the mat, they’re required to hit the scale to determine their weight class placement — competitors in the same weight class are paired together. The weight classes are used to maintain as fair of a match as possible. According to those in the wrestling community like 2018 East Alumni and former wrestler Dane Erickson, dropping down a weight class gives you an advantage over your opponent. If you can quickly lose temporary weight and wrestle someone that’s smaller than you, you’re generally the stronger one.

“[Wrestlers] will try to lower their body weight, and often use extreme means to do so,” psychologist and Director of the Eating Disorder Center at Children’s Mercy Dr. Kathryn Pieper said. “I will say that these days, a lot of high school and college coaches have been educated on how dangerous this can be, and it can put someone at risk for developing an eating disorder.”

Mental health can become a bigger issue the worse or more rapid the weight loss situation gets, says Pieper. Limiting food and water not only plays into muscle fatigue, but without necessary nutrients, the brain isn’t properly fueled. With these combined, losing sleep can become a problem as well.

“We see some athletes in the Eating Disorder Center at Children’s Mercy that are affected by what they think they’re doing is rigorous training for their sport, but sometimes it tips over into an eating disorder,” Pieper said. “And then they become dependent on using these methods to either keep the body weight down or sometimes they’re relieving the psychological pressure that they’re under.”

Erickson explains that common rapid weight loss methods he and other wrestlers have used are dehydration and short periods of fasting. Dehydration being the most effective — wrestlers would avoid water for half a day and enter lower weight classes.

Dispatch Health water is essential in regulating functions of the body. If the body runs low on water, it can cause physical weakness, less endurance and bring on a set of impaired brain functions such as trouble with grammar, math and other tasks requiring excessive brain functioning.

Franklin recalls times where he would limit his food intake the night prior to a competition, though he notes fasting is a rare method of cutting weight for most of the team. Dehydration tend to be more effective in rapidly losing the weight, where as limiting food eaten can be more of a gradual process. 

Some athletes may over-exercise and wear layers of clothes that cause them to sweat more to shed off water weight quickly.

According to prevention.com, these short-term weight loss methods can bring forth a multitude of issues like dizziness or lightheadedness throughout the day, or feeling overall fatigue due to a drop in blood glucose. Losing this glucose can make athletes “hangry” putting them in a bad mood, referenced by Erickson. 

“It’s amazing how much weight you can lose in one day,” Erickson said. “I’d go and usually weigh-in Saturday morning. So I go on Thursday night, Friday morning, weighing three pounds over and have no problem getting down to the weight I need to be. Oftentimes after practice Friday nothing enters your lips. So no water, no food after practice Friday.”

Precautions and education surrounding these issues are required by KSHSAA as an effort to eliminate the issues before they become severe, according to Pieper.

KSHSAA requires all wrestlers to pass a hydration assessment before the alpha weigh-in — the one prior to the beginning of the season — and the certification weigh-in, which decides the lowest possible weight class for each wrestler.

The wrestler provides a urine sample after the alpha weigh-in and before the certification weigh-in. The assessment cannot be passed until the sample expresses a correct level of hydration, and once passed, the wrestler can continue to the certification weigh-in, according to KSHSAA’s Wrestling Handbook.

This assessment is to get the most accurate representation of the athlete’s weight in order to categorize them correctly. It guarantees that the wrestler did not cut water weight prior to the weigh in to make a lower weight class, effectively giving them an advantage over the other wrestlers in that weight class.

Franklin thinks wrestling is a very physically demanding sport that can sometimes be difficult to stick with, but believes that as long as wrestlers follow a healthy diet and exercise only within healthy amounts, there shouldn’t be a reason to cut weight rapidly in most circumstances.

Boys’ wrestling coach Chip Ufford agrees with Franklin, and says that it takes courage to step on the mat and go one-on-one with another wrestler. He has respect for the people that make it through the season and come out stronger and healthier. Aware of the pressure wrestling can put on athletes, Ufford makes an effort to preach healthy eating and lifestyles in order to keep his team in shape and successful.

“We tell [the wrestlers] that they’re a race car and need race fuel,” Ufford said. “That means eating clean: Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, avoiding sugar eats, pops and all that stuff. And are there some guys that don’t do that and try to lose weight the wrong way? Yes, there are. But we want them to try to work towards their ideal body weight.”