By Katherine Kelly, Managing Editor
Most wrestlers experience the need to lose weight in order to fit into a certain weight class. It is often difficult for them to get weight down for a match while retaining muscle gained earlier in the season.
One would think that the pressure to lose weight could be unhealthy for adolescents, but the school has put certain measures into place. According to coach Anders Blomgren, the athletes actually have an immensely strong and hard-working support structure keeping them safe and healthy during their weight loss.
The coaches and the league both try to keep wrestlers healthy while they participate in the sport. Since losing weight in a healthy way can be difficult, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the National High School Wrestling Association (NHSWA) have created specific weight loss plans. Some VHS wrestlers follow these plans.
Some wrestlers don’t have problems losing weight, and are able to keep their weight healthily where it is. Junior Lewis Kanagy is on the wrestling team, and is an example of this.
“I think that I am in better shape and healthier than the average person because I do wrestling,” Kanagy said. “I don’t think I’m damaging my health.”
The wrestling team is known for the grueling workouts that make them able to compete at their optimum level during meets. Increasing weight can mean increasing the level at which a wrestler is competing.
“Exercise is the best way to lose weight,” coach Anders Blomgren said. “We work hard in practice, and we encourage our wrestlers to get in extra workouts on their own.”
Wrestlers don’t want to be in a different weight class if it means being ineffective or weak. Their hydration and body fat is checked at the beginning of the season. If need be, the coaches and athletes build a plan for the athlete to lose weight.
“At the beginning of the season, the whole team does a weight certification, which is a pee test that tests how much water you have [in your system, as well as] a body fat test,” junior Payton Bonaventura said. “This figures out what the most you can lose is.”
In summary, coaches only want athletes to lose what they can manage to lose healthily, and there is a specific process that each wrestler goes through to determine what they can healthily lose.
Generally, you want to be the heaviest you can be in your weight class without being over the specified weight limit. This allows you to have the most muscle and strength that you possibly can within your particular weight class.
It is more or less common knowledge that the best way to lose weight is healthy eating and exercise, and wrestling is no exception.
“Healthy ways to ‘cut’ [are] the same [for] someone who is trying to lose weight for other reasons,” Bonaventura said. “Eat healthier, exercise, the whole nine yards.”
Wrestlers have a set amount that they are “allowed” to lose each week. This is to ensure that they do not lose an unhealthy amount too quickly.
“I have never lost enough weight to be weak,” Bonaventura said. “You need to stay with your certification paper which shows how much you can lose every week.”
Blomgren does not think that this process leads to a negative change in the way that wrestlers view themselves or their body image. He does not think that this process leads to mentality issues beyond the ones that already affect the average student.
“If anything, wrestling helps your body image and you feel good working out,” Blomgren said. “You become more comfortable with and knowledgeable [about] your body and how it works.”
