Cutting weight is a term that everyone knows. Cutting weight is a practice that is used to lose weight in order to compete in different weight classes during a wrestling competition. There are many different forms of cutting and are viewed differently by everyone, but how differently is it viewed by a wrestler, a wrestling coach, and a coach outside of wrestling?
Jonathon Hatchitt is a senior on the wrestling team. To him, cutting weight means losing a lot of weight relatively fast, often by proper diet or soaking in a bath or hot tub. While Hatchitt focuses on maintaining weight throughout the season he still has cut weight in the past.
Hatchitt said that he personally doesn’t like cutting weight.
“I don’t think it’s good when you cut weight, you feel very tired and you just don’t feel good,” Hatchitt said.
He believes it affects one’s performance negatively and avoids it as much as possible.
To ADM Head Coach Chris Rupe it is different. He says that the term cutting weight has changed over time and is currently a lot more regulated. For ADM, he utilizes the term weight management.
He said this is used because “we don’t want kids to cut or lose large amounts of weight in a short period of time.”
Rupe teaches the athletes about proper diet and hydration to maintain weight and flush out one’s systems. As the athlete gets closer to competitions they move to, “minimizing the amount of intake that we have,” Rupe said.
Since more regulations have been placed, Rupe believes that it has gotten better. He believes that since there is less weight-cutting happening, it’s better for the athletes and even the sport.
“You don’t see kids out there drained as much. And we tell kids, for the most part, you need to wrestle at the weight class that’s gonna allow you to go ahead and be confident,” Rupe said.
Dakota Steiner, the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Forever Strong Training Center, believes that cutting weight is typically when a larger-sized wrestler loses weight to compete in a lower-weight class. He said that while there is an advantage to being larger in a smaller class, there are far more disadvantages.
“If you’re pretty lean and you’re trying to cut weight, the only thing that you’re gonna lose is muscle mass and if you get below a certain percentage of body fat, It’s gonna be super unhealthy,” Steiner said.
Steiner believes there are some safe ways to cut weight. Through proper nutrition and having a calorie deficit from running, biking, or other physical activities. This focuses on fat loss, but many uninformed athletes can cut unsafely and cause a loss of muscle.
“A lot of kids too will want to cut down on water consumption because you know your muscles are around 75 percent water. So if you’re not hydrating, you’re going to be a little bit lighter. But if you’re not hydrating, you’re not going to perform very well. And once you get so dehydrated, then it’s going to start affecting your internal organs too,” Steiner said.
However, Steiner generally believes that wrestlers should not try to cut weight. When wrestlers start cutting weight that is ten or more pounds it becomes unsafe and unhealthy.
Cutting weight in wrestling is viewed as unsafe and unhealthy. While some still practice cutting weight, it is for less weight and performed safely and with guidance. Cutting weight is not a practice that is as commonly used by teams to help athletes compete safely and at their performances.
