ACSM Position Statement: Weight Loss in Wrestlers

Weight Loss in Wrestlers
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Weight Loss in Wrestlers
Wrestlers spend a great deal of time and resources trying to gain weight and build muscle which is good for their career. Unfortunately, some try to lose weight shortly before competitions in order to compete in lower weight classes with much muscle and increase their chances of winning. These dangerous practices have been gaining traction among high school wrestlers and thus becoming a subject of concern among parents, health professionals, and educators (Oppliger, Case, Horswill, Landry, & Shelter, 1996). The wrestlers end up using dangerous methods of ‘cutting weight’ that adversely affect their health during the time of competing and afterward.
The young wrestlers use potentially dangerous methods of cutting weights such as food and fluid deprivation, restriction to certain vital foods such as fats and vigorous exercises. These practices have severe implications for the wrestler’s performance as they result in lower muscle glycogen and water level as well as reducing lean body mass (Oppliger et al., 2016). The consequently create water, glycogen and electrolyte imbalance that undermines the wrestler’s performance.
This same phenomenon of weight loss is common and spans across all sporting activities including athletes. Athletes employ the rapid weight cutting techniques and consequently undermining their performance. Internal homeostatic equilibrium is vital for optimal muscle activity and endurance (Khodaee, Olewinski, Shadgan & Kiningham, 2015).

Therefore, wrestlers and athletes need to works on achieving a homeostatic control of glycogen and water balances as well as maintaining a favorable body mass.
The American College of Sports and Medicine (ACSM) recommends better techniques of losing weight if need be without endangering an individual’s health (Oppliger et al.,1996). ACSM stresses on educating sportspeople on healthy weight gaining and losing practices and associated thresholds to safeguard their health. ACSM also recommends the introduction of more weight classes for flexibility and reduce the likelihood of sportspeople engagement in dangerous practices.

References
Khodaee, M., Olewinski, L., Shadgan, B., & Kiningham, R. R. (2015). Rapid weight loss in sports with weight classes. Current sports medicine reports, 14(6), 435-441. Retried on April 10, 2018, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/412a/60cc4131fa5f486c48159b707175d531a285.pdfOppliger, R. A., Case, H. S., Horswill, C. A., Landry, G. L., & Shelter, A. C. (2016). ACSM Position Statement: Weight Loss in Wrestlers. Retrieved on April 10, 2018, from https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/ACSM_Position_Stand__Weight_Loss_in_Wrestlers.49.aspx