How to Diet Safely For Wrestling

Nick Smoot

Owner of Smoot Fitness, SmootFitness.com

 

 

I was asked an interesting question the other day, “how can a wrestler diet safely?”  When I think back on my days as a high school wrestler, the first memories that appear are intense weight training sessions, 5 mile runs, endless sprawl drills, and being cross faced every time I took a shot at the seniors.  I would be lying if I said that I loved to wrestle, but it helped me lose 50 pounds, taught me discipline, and ultimately led to my entry in to the world of health and fitness.  Unfortunately, it was also the first time I had ever experienced extreme dieting.  Wrestling matches are split in to weight classes.  Whether you are 5 or 15 pounds over your class weight, you are forced to drop it by any means necessary.

I wrestled the 152 pound weight class, and weighed 156 pounds the night before my first match.  I ate an egg for dinner, skipped breakfast the next morning, ran laps with a trash bag on during lunch, and did not have a drop of water until I stepped on the scale at 3:00 pm.  After my match, I stuffed my face with enough sugar to kill a small child and had gained 10 pounds of water weight in a two hour span.  If you think that’s bad, the wrestler in the class above me performed my exact protocol, but complimented it with diuretics and self-induced vomiting.  Although we did not realize it at the time, our actions fit the definitions of anorexics and bulimics.  Not every wrestler exhibits signs of eating disorders during the contest season, but many of them do.  Extreme dieting and/or training protocols do not only hinder performance, but are a hazard to the metabolism, health, and development of growing adolescents.  I feel these habits result from a poor understanding of nutrition and a lack of proper planning.  I hope this is not the case after reading this article.

 

FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL

I think the number one reason that a weight loss diet for wrestlers turns unhealthy is because many wrestlers fail to give themselves enough time to lose weight.  When a wrestler shows up 2 weeks before a match with the entire team counting on him/her to compete, he/she has no choice but to use extreme weight loss measures.  The goal should be to diet as slow as possible, while eating the largest amount of food that still results in weight loss.  To give you some perspective, natural bodybuilders who are 10-12% body fat (visible abs) take anywhere from 20 to 30 weeks to diet for a show.  This type of dieting is not meant to shred pounds rapidly.  Honestly, you will be lucky to lose one pound per week.  However, dieting slowly maintains a higher metabolic rate, better hormone levels, and leads to less muscle loss.  What does all of this correlate with?  Better health long term and better performance during the match.  My advice would be to start your diet during the OFFSEASON.  Figure out the amount of weight you need to lose for your first match, and try to make weight 1-2 weeks before weigh ins. If you don’t reach your weight by then, you should be pretty close and still have time to lose it without resorting to extreme and unsafe measures.

 

IS YOUR WEIGHT CLASS RIGHT FOR YOU?

The second reason I feel that many wrestlers end up using extreme dietary measures is their attempt to compete in too low of a weight class.  The problem is not dieting too rapidly, but dieting to a point of malnourishment.  This commonly results from pressure to fill an open slot, or the belief that dropping a weight class will provide the wrestler with a size advantage that will lead to more wins.  Instead of focusing on weight, I think the attention needs to be redirected to body composition.  According to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, the optimal body fat for wrestling is between 7-10 percent (1).  Fat provides joint stability, optimum hormone levels, usable energy, insulation, and protection for internal structures.  I have no evidence other than my own personal experience, but I would be willing to bet that the majority (not all) of injured wrestlers are below the recommended body fat range.  If you are at 10 percent body fat and dropping a weight class will have you at 7 percent or above, I see no problem.  However, if you are not a bodybuilder getting ready for a contest, you have no business getting “shredded.”  You are not training for aesthetics.  You are training to go beat someone’s ass.  If training is specific to the goal, why should the nutrition protocol and/or weight goal be any different?

 

EDUCATE YOURSELF ON THE BASICS OF NUTRITION

No matter if someone enjoys watching wrestling or not, there is no argument as to whether or not wrestlers are elite athletes.  They display tremendous strength, world class conditioning, flawless technique, and incomparable mental determination.  Well, the good ones anyway.  These attributes are achieved through hours of intense training and taking their body past its limits every workout.  Whether the best or worst on the team, every wrestler practices together.  It always amazes me when I witness half the team fueling themselves with Doritos, Gatorade, and Snickers bars after practice.  This is before a teammate’s mom arrives with a couple of extra-large Domino’s pizzas.  Now I am all for flexible dieting, but NUTRIENTS MATTER GUYS!!!  When they tell me they have no idea what macro or micro nutrients are, or the difference between a whole and processed food, I know exactly why they have never won a wrestle off.  Food is fuel, and a wrestler needs to provide his body the right fuel to perform optimally.  This is even more important when in a calorie deficit and the amount of nutrients are limited.  Just a few tips:

-Get at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (a little higher when calories are restricted)

-Eat enough fats and carbs for your individual energy demands

-The majority of your diet should come from nutrient dense whole foods in order to hit micronutrient needs (fill in the rest of the intake with less micronutrient rich sources)

-Consume at least 2-3 pieces of fruit per day

-25-35 grams of fiber minimum

-Consume 2-3 servings of vegetables

Nutrition is 80 percent of any performance and body composition goal.  Eating properly can be the difference between winning a few matches and becoming a national champion.

 

DESIGNING YOUR PLAN

So now that you know some of the circumstances that cause a wrestler’s diet to become unhealthy and the fundamentals of basic nutrition, how do you go about designing your weight loss plan?  The first step is to determine what weight you are going to compete at and how much weight you need to lose.  When deciding how long to diet, plan to have yourself make weight 1-2 weeks early.  The next step is to determine your maintenance caloric intake, the amount of food you need to eat to maintain your current weight.  If you currently track your macronutrients and calories, you should have a good idea of what that number is.  If you have never used a tracking tool in your life, record what you eat for one week.  If you gain, maintain, or lose weight, you are over, at, or under maintenance intake respectively.  You must be in a caloric deficit to lose weight, but DO NOT MAKE THE DEFICIT TOO LARGE.  Start with a 250 calorie deficit each day and assess what happens at the end of the week.  When weight loss stalls, reduce calories slightly again.  It is not necessary to include cardio in this discussion because wrestlers perform a mix of high and medium intensity cardio at every practice.  A slight caloric deficit adjusted weekly to biweekly, maintaining intensity during practice, and the implementation of refeeds/cheat days (the frequency and amount of food eaten will vary based on current body fat, length of diet, energy levels, current intake, etc.) should be enough to get a wrestler to their desired weight goal.

Now I want to touch slightly on macronutrients.  However, I want to make it clear that macronutrient needs are vastly individualized and these are just general recommendations that should provide good results.  If you want optimal results, hiring a coach is going to be your best bet.  Protein should be set a little bit higher above offseason intake.  A good range is anywhere from 1.2-1.5 per pound of bodyweight.  A higher protein intake will lead to more preservation of muscle mass when fat and carbs are lower.  Protein should remain relatively constant throughout the entire diet.  Fats should be anywhere from 15-30 percent of total intake, or .3-.5 grams per pound of bodyweight.  I would aim for the higher range at first and adjust as needed.  Once protein and fat intake are set, fill in the remainder of calories in the form of carbohydrates.  Over the course of the diet, adjust fat and carbs (only when needed) in order to continue losing weight.

 

CONCLUDING POINTS

So there are my tips for healthy weight loss during a wrestling contest season.  Do not make the same mistakes I did and use unnecessary and unhealthy measures to lose weight.  There is a reason that I barely won any matches, and it isn’t just because I shared a weight class with a national champ.  If I took my nutrition as seriously as my training, I could have at least taken him down once, and possibly came out of high school taller than 5 ft. 8.  Plan ahead and try to make weight early.  Pick a weight class that keeps your body fat at a level specific to your goal: performing optimally.  Eat more nutrient dense foods, diet slowly, and you should be able to maintain overall health, performance, and the longevity of your wrestling career.

References

(1)”National Collegiate Wrestling Association Weight Control Plan.” Ncwa.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.