Notice you are overweight the night before your match? These tips should help you make weight.
To lose weight fast for a wrestling tournament, first, you should strategize by knowing your goal to do it safely. Then proceed to reduce your food intake and water intake. Empty excess water weight through cardio workouts, then get good rest to prime you up for your fight.
Keep reading below for full details about how to drop the weight safely.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Know your body
Wrestlers need to consider their body composition. If you fast too much, you might not have enough strength for the competition. Drink too little, and you might collapse before your match starts.
Consider your entire body before diving into tricky methods to cut weight.
Step onto the scale and see how far you are from your target weight. Once you jot down your current and target weight, you will be prepared for the intensity of your weight cutting.
You should always have an experienced coach to guide you through this and ensure you are doing it safely.
How do wrestlers watch their weight?
While most coaches are lenient with their wrestlers, some enforce strict dietary and training guidelines. What’s essential in a wrestling career is that they are on a constant workout.
Constant weight measuring, following your diet, and doing that extra bout during training help most wrestlers stay in their weight class.
It’s important for wrestlers to be in perfect shape and won’t be cramming in during their competition season. If you keep a good condition all year round and maintain weight, you might not have to go through hell trying to cut 5 pounds.
Why are wrestlers weighed in before their match?
Well, most wrestling promotions and even the Olympics (that’s right, the world Olympics!) have standardized weight classes. These weight classes are essential to determine the contenders in the wrestling promotion. It gives a chance for wrestlers to compete against their own size.
The weight difference between you and your opponent dictates who can pin down who wins inside the ring. You are weighed in, so you would be competing within your weight class.
If a wrestler’s weight does not fall under their category, they can still make or lose weight before the match or sit their fight out. Your weight matters in the competition.
Step 2: Dehydrate to cut water weight
The water in your body accounts for more than half of your body weight. Cutting your water weight will be the most helpful process to reach your target weight in a short time.
Start dehydrating as early as possible but avoid overly restricting fluid intake 24 hours before your match.
Hitting the steamy saunas can be a great starting point to rid some of the water in your body.
Dehydrating means you would have to watch what you eat, too. Cutting carbs is your best bet since it reduces the water stored in your muscles.
Hot baths for dehydration
You can remove excess water weight in your body by laying in a hot bath with or without added salt. This is also widely used by MMA fighters trying to cut weight.
Wrestlers heat up the water in their bath; they may or may not add some salt (not limited to table salt). They soak up for about 20 minutes to lose 2-3 pounds.
Dehydration methods can take a toll on your body and your performance, so it’s best to do this when the worst comes to worst.
Step 3: Portions and food control
While limiting your food intake, controlling the contents of your meals is the biggest player in shedding some pounds.
You can start by removing and replacing foods high in sodium. If you have enough days leading to your competition, you can try to consume fiber-rich greens and less indulging takeouts.
Controlling your food and how much of it you munch on will significantly bring that weight down.
Keeping carbohydrates and sodium low while still eating protein usually helps you to maintain muscle while shedding off fat and water weight.
Step 4: Do cardio to cut water weight
Any fighter training and cutting weight includes a cardio workout. If dehydrating is not enough to reduce the remaining water in your body, going for a good run can be your additional exercise to sweat it out.
A good cardio workout is essential to improve your performance as a wrestler. More than losing and squeezing those excess pounds, exercises like burpees, jogging, and cycling can help you last longer in the wrestling ring.
Step 5: Chewing gum and the mundane things
Even the mundane stuff can help a wrestler to cut some weight. Chewing a gum stick won’t magically make you lose some pounds, but it has some benefits.
What makes this effective is that you can pair it with other little stuff that can make a big difference. You can chew your sugarless gum on your way back from training and take the stairs instead of going with an elevator all the way up.
When you combine the small activities days before your big game, you might be able to shed 1 more pound.
Step 6: Get enough sleep
Take rest as seriously as you do with your meals and workouts. Sleeping also helps you lose water weight overnight. Though some wrestlers lack sleep when cutting weight, sleeping correctly on the nights leading to your big match can boost your performance.
Through perspiration (sweating) and respiration (breathing) during your good night’s sleep, you burn a certain amount of calories scaling with your weight.
Hitting the hay and getting enough sleep in the evening would stop you from craving your late-night snacks that can add more pounds right before your match.
Wrap up on losing weight overnight
It’s better to be on the lookout for your weight as a wrestler than to squeeze it all out days before your match.
You can assess your body and target weight before doing cardio exercises and dehydrating activities.
Portioning your food and water intake can help you control your weight. Cardio exercises can also help you sweat some of your water weight. Lastly, ample sleep can prep you and aid your weight-cutting.