It’s Tuesday, and for junior, varsity wrestler Dane Erickson that means another duel tomorrow. This means he and the rest of the varsity wrestling team are going to have to cut weight in order to compete in their respective 14 weight classes. Each player has their own diet regiment – fruits and nuts, protein shakes, chicken and vegetables and some don’t even drink water for a full day, according to Erickson. After cutting weight all day, practice after school means endless running, pushups and sweating.
Despite the intensity of the weight loss varsity wrestlers battle with throughout their season to fit into their specific weight class each week, they are still able to consistently complete single leg takedowns and know the drill every winter.
Midweek duels affect the wrestlers routines heavily. Instead of losing their normal amount of weight in five days, they have only one or two days. According to senior, varsity wrestler Clarence Miller, this makes the weight loss much more difficult.
“You just feel terrible all day, you’re hungry all day, and you have no energy when you’re wrestling [at practice], so it’s just a pretty bad day,” Miller said.
But, according to Miller, the extreme weight loss does not affect most of the wrestlers’ performances in actual tournaments and duels because their energy is restored by the time they wrestle, as they usually have time to eat beforehand.
Erickson said the entire reason why the stigma around wrestling is dropping weight and building muscle is because the top wrestlers, and majority of wrestlers do it.
“All the top-tier wrestlers to be successful are cutting at least 5-10 pounds, so because the majority of wrestlers at the top level are cutting that much and you’re not, you are basically a whole weight class behind,” Erickson said. “So if you could get everyone to not cut which would be almost impossible, it would take it away entirely, but because the majority of wrestlers cut, everyone has to.”
Although they all have different diets, the whole team comes together after school to lose weight the same way. Those who are underweight do normal wrestling practice drills. While those who need to cut will put on sweatpants and do sprints, running drills, push-ups and live wrestling.
The practices after school are the biggest influences the coaches have on the wrestlers’ weight loss. According to Lucas Vincent, the varsity head coach, he trusts the varsity wrestlers to make sure they are keeping up on their weight loss and diets.
“We suggest fish, poultry, berries, greens, anything with a lot of nutrient content that is also not that heavy, so they get the maximum amount out of what they are eating,” Vincent said.
Most wrestlers hydrate all week by drinking gallons of water, and then do not drink any water for a full day leading up to the tournament or duel, according to Erickson. They are then able to rehydrate after being weighed-in.
During practices, the coaches make sure the players are sweating as much as possible. One way they do this is by running drills crowded under a tarp, which traps in the heat.
“The guys who need to lose a bit more will go with coach Goodson and he’ll put them through body weight workouts, running, live wrestling, things that’ll cut the weight off you,” Vincent said.
For younger first-year wrestlers, the coaches and captains of the team recommend they go up a class instead of down one. According to Vincent, it is harder for him to make sure the new wrestlers are keeping up with their weight loss, where as the veterans know what they are doing when the season comes.
This constant weight loss and restricted diet allows bonding for some of the varsity wrestlers, according to Erickson. Although Vincent says you do not want to go near the wrestlers when they are on a strict diet due to their moodiness and irritability, Erickson says it’s nice to be able to relate with them on how hungry they are and talk about what food they can’t wait to eat on Sunday – post-tournaments.
“When you are sitting there dying, you have someone to relate to because they know how you feel…instead of people who are like ‘oh, I’m really hungry,’ but they don’t understand because they ate breakfast,” Erickson said.
Erickson says he hears about other wrestlers taking laxatives to lose weight, however, no wrestler at East use these types of drugs – only utilizing natural weight loss methods. According to Vincent, it is in the official leagues rules to not take laxatives or similar substances. Practices like wearing plastic sauna suits, a suit made to make the user sweat profusely, and taking water pills or similar substances are also banned, Vincent said.
“There used to be not a lot of rules and regulations, and now there are, because some things unfortunately have happened in the past, just throughout the country with wrestling, but I am not too worried about [health risks],” Vincent said.
Throughout the season, they still need to keep up their weights. They gain around four to five pounds over the weekend depending on the person, and then have to drop it all during the week, according to Erickson.
“Throughout the whole season everyone weighs themselves like three times a day,” Miller said. “We [had] a tournament [last week], so everyone is probably going to enjoy themselves and then we are just going to suffer next week again.”