Wrestling Blogs - Ben Askren

This post is way past the date this article was published, so no one may ever read.... However, I am a former WI high school wrestler, and I agree that wieght cutting is important, and essential to form the best team. Ex. 2 studs way 140, 1 of them needs to move up or down.....Anyway, my real point, and question is: Why does Wisconsin still have a 103 lb wieght class? Minnesota allows 7&8;graders to wresstle varsity, we don't.....We never had a kid small enough to wrestle 103, either allow underclassman to wrestle, or get rid of the wieght class......Kids can only cut so much!

props to all the guys that could do it... personally i can't. The few times i did, I ended up wrestling like cuz I wore out quickly. It destroyed my mental game as well.

to wrestler-coach-ref: I strongly agree that they need to make a 118 weight class in college, b/c there are a lot of sr. 103 and 112's who are very talented and love wrestling but will not get too wrestle in college or have any chances at scholarships because they are too small :(

I believe that weight cutting has a positive external effect on wrestlers of improving their conditioning. In order to cut weight wrestlers, improve work out more. However all things being equal I think it would be better for a wrestler to condition as they are cutting weight but eat well and keep hydrated this would lead to the best performance.

How on earth do you drop 23 lbs that quickly when you likely didn't have but a pound or two to spare to start with?! Mental toughness? I dunno. Sounds like madness! : )

Cutting weight is over rated! Even if you cut weight properly, which most wrestlers don't do, it will effect you later in life. I cut hard to make 98's and 105's. I took first at state both years, but was than too small to wrestle 118's. I weighed 118 but the other guys were cutting 10-15 pounds and than had TOO MUCH TIME to put the weight back on before the match. I say cut all the weight you want, but lets wrestle right after weigh-ins and lets see who the better wrestler is at the ACTUAL weight. I wrestled on the same team as the NAIA National Champion and I would beat him the day before a weigh-in, but of course hours after a weigh-in he was no where near 118's.

First, I make a motion to put 118's back into college wrestling. My understanding is they removed it to prevent weight cutting? It has prevented many talented wrestlers from wrestling in college.
My second motion is to have "Mat Side Weigh-ins". That's right, You check in at the scorer's table, step on the scale and than step on the mat! We all know that the 2 guys wrestling in the NCAA finals are weighing about the same anyway, just no where near what the weight on the bracket says.

Well I cut from 148 1/2 to 128 in 3 days and you know what? I got killed in my tournament because my body felt broken. Extreme weight cutting is dangerous and not worth it. The sport isn't even fun when you do it like that.

How many times did you throw up?

Dude, that's not healthy!! You can't feel good or very strong. Good luck to you though.

HAHAHA. yeah well i don't think i have the toughest mind or that im the toughest guy out there. but last week i came into practice on monday 160+ lbs. and i had to make 135 that saturaday. +2 lbs for the allowence. I made it to the weight. 5 practices.23lbs lost in those practices.

I like the idea. I agree that not more than 7 or 8 lbs should be cut in a week. I personally weighed 145 coming into season to wrestle 130 but everyone knows the first time down is the worst and after working out through about a quarter of the season my weight never is above 141 even after eating like a maniac. Cutting weight for some people does pay off though because of all the extra practices and work outs that they put themselves through. If you are mentally tough enough then cutting 12-15+ lbs shouldnt effect your wrestling. If you know what has to be done and youre willing to sacrifice a lot of time and energy and you can mentally handle it then cutting weight isnt as bad as its made out to be

nice insight.

Cutting weight is part of the sport, but it should not be something to brag about. Yes, it does prove that this "macho" wrestler has mental toughness but does he have mental toughness on the mat? Will he be ready when he hasn't recuperated from cutting weight and has to step on the mat? The way I see it you should only have to cut 6-7 pounds a week. If not then you may need to move up a weight class to be healthy when you compete.

Cutting weight is part of the sport, and always will be. If you want to be successful in the sport of wrestling you'll have to do it. I'm definately sick of hearing people cry about cutting weight. "Oh I feel so bad for you buddy. Your the only one out there doing it." Toughen up a little bit. Our society has turned into a bunch of pu$$ies. If your working hard enough it shouldn't be a problem. Everyone wants to be the best, but most aren't willing to do the work to get there. See you guys later, I'm going to go play nintendo, eat a pizza, drink a soda, and try to figure out why this weight isn't coming off.

Running a marathon was tough enough when I did it but I understand your point. My best time was 3:10 and it was hard. I went through some training at a federal facility ten years ago and I was the oldest man in the class at 50 but ran the mile and a half faster than anybody else. Today I confine myself to five miles a day in cosmo park and lifting a few days a week. That's still probably more than most people.

Anybody can cut weight, I see a lot of guys gas in matches because they cut too much weight.

if you learn to spell Mizzou we might take your opinion seriously. I guess you didn;t make it past Hooked on Phonics.

wow they must have just given you a degree at Missou because that was the worst writing I have ever seen. If that was just opinion, then why would you say, "And that folks is how weight cutting became so highly looked upon in the sport of wrestling."

maybe if he cut more weight he wouldn't have been smashed on in the Olympics

Cutting weight takes a ton of mental toughness, but the question really is--what's best for the wrestler. I'm slight and have no hydration problems so I was able to cut down last year to make a weight that had me under 5% body fat as a high school junior. I dominated most of the year, but got weaker as the year went on and lost in the state finals. This year as a senior i'm wrestling my weight at about 8%, now with the growth allowance more like 9%-10%. I feel I'm getting stronger as the days go by. I've locked up the #1 seed already and am looking forward to state. But the real issue isn't toughness, it's character. Weight cutting, wrestling your weight, preparing in and out of the room are all important. In an even match, the toughness that wins is mental, not physical. Physically, all you can do is put yourself in a position to win. Your inner strength wins the close ones. I've learned that the hard way--and I think I'm ready.

Lmao
Woww, Swaine was cutting like 30 lbs if I remember correctly
I also remember him sniffing that girls under garments
If that movie werent based on wrestling, I think Id claim it to be the worst movie ever produced

Well the reason I posted this is because I know that weight cutting isn't as great as everyone makes it out to be. This is my theory about how it came to be that way, obviously it is just a theory and not fact. I wanted some feedback as to what people think. And yes I think a lot of people are getting off topic and there are a lot of different situations where weight cutting is beneficial, but overall it is not.

Cutting weight worked for Laudin Swaine, he beat Shoot.

WELL.....let me give one example that further supports my point. The video posted of Bergman, Olympic hopeful. He admits to cutting 30 lbs in a few weeks before a big tournament. And is anyone wondering if it was a fluke that he sustained a huge injury that is taking him a full year to recover from? Does that make him tougher than the other guys who went to compete, in shape, near their more ideal weight, or does it make him stupid? I am sure he is great guy and clearly a tough competitor. But c'mon... who thinks it was a good idea to cut that kind of weight?

Your call.

That is 100% true GSBones, but to understand that it is not only harder to put the pressure on yourself to compete in a dynamic environment at a high level as opposed to starve yourself in your static everyday environment with weight cutting you need to be educated. So if all a wrestler was taught or known was to cut weight, which was the culture back in the day and is true to a much smaller extent now, then the tougher wrestler may have cut the most weight....aaaand because he was tough there was a good chance that he won his matches on the weekend.

Ben,
I accept your assertions 1. and 2. I follow your argument. I conclude that you are throwing this out there to start a spirited debate. Most of the responses, I think, miss your point.

I disagree, I must say, that the toughest guy can cut the most weight. Compared to vigorous training, pushing yourself to the aerobic limit and then pushing yourself into anaerobic zones and sustaining it, skipping meals is easy. It is a pain in the a$$, but it isn't nearly as difficult nor does it takes as much dedication as doing the other things I mention above, day after day. There are plenty of non athletes with eating disorders that starve themselves down the equivalent of several weight classes all the time. If they pursue athletics, they are rarely top performers.
The "ideal" concept of cutting weight is to bring yourself to what you refer to, above as your "best" weight. For wrestlers, this is being lean,period. Going beyond that means loss of muscle mass and water. There is no wrestler that will perform at their peak while trying to recover from dehydration. We have all seen ( or experienced) running out of gas when pushed to limit when undernourished or dehydrated. At least I have. And it was a performance WAY below what I could do on other days....and it was NOT lack of mental toughness on those days, by the way.
Cutting weight sensibly is fine. Beyond that, it is an ego trip, a misguided attempt to prove something to someone, or just poor judgement.
And doing it for sustained periods of time leads to an unhealthy relationship with food, for a long, long time to come. Ask me how I know (burp)

My point was to share a counter opinion that I would rather run, lift, swim, or any training, rather than not eat to make a weight. I was not trying to justify my marathon training program. I'm sure it was very flawed. I had all the same circumstances as the other individual, as far as, family, job, kids, house, and I would much rather try to add a difficult training schedule to that list, than stare a 16 oz. ribeye that I can't eat.

Sorry about all the grammer mistakes. I didnt proof read until after I submitted.

I am going to take this in the other direction. I dont believe that cutting weight "makes you a better wrestler" A good wrestler worries not about the weight but about improving. When I say cutting weight I dont mean 3 or 4 pounds to be on top of the weight class I mean serious weight lost. My reason for cutting weight does not equal sucess is the following. How many times do you say a coach bump up a good wrestler to a higher weight class to help the team out, and that wrestler win the match. Wreslters are bumped up all the time. I think the mental toughness comes from your focus and getting in shape for wrestling. There are some heavy weights that are just plain tough that never cut a ounce of weight in their whole career. I think "tough" comes from a wrestlers will to get and shape and improve as a wrestler. Thats what I think anyways.

ha i like this one cutting weight sucks i know this one first hand but it does take mental toughness and alot of dedication to whatever goal u want to achieve at whatever weight class u want to be at kudos to the wrestlers who have this toughness and determination

Dman, prolonged dehydration and starvation can drive you mad in a way that you could care less about wrestling anymore. I have seen it many times where a mentally tough kid breaks due to excessive cutting weight throughout the year. It gets to a point that the competitive drive gets sucked away with the pounds.

Weight cutting was as important as wrestling back in the day - in looking back on those days I will say this -cutting weight all the wrong ways definately gave you some mental toughness that you can't get by doing anything else - i.e go without eating or drinking for a couple of days and blame it on your opponent - I used to do this all the time - i don't care how dehydrated or undernurished I was - I had a lot of animosity towards my opponents that I don't think I would have had without the weight cutting - That type of mentality was passed down - everybody cut weight - if you weren't at least 10 pounds over the day after a match you were in the wrong weight class - I have talked to many wrestlers who had this same mentality that Ben is talking about - although it appears obsurd looking back on it -If you are healthy - starvation and dehydration can drive you mad and if you can channel that towards your opponenets you have just gained an advantate that can't be measured.

8 weeks of training amounts to very little, no wonder you ran 3:26
if you can't run 70 mi weeks you probably shouldn't bother with a marathon.

Not trying to be harsh, just telling the truth

See Chad Mendes for proof. 125 ncaa qualifier to 141 ncaa runner-up.

Cutting weight at youth level is dumb because you should just grow, but once you get into highschool and college theres some factors like getting as lean as possible and making the line up because your teammate at your weight is cael sanderson.. but most kids that cut weight become muscle heads and catches up and it could burn them out

tell a senior that he shouldnt cut weight to make a lineup. If you go to a sweet school, cutting weight is a necessity as you got to find a spot to get varsity, then the experience will make you better, maybe making cutting weight not as neeeded

i don't like it one bit. if everyone wrestled what they weighed and ate normally
you would have 50% more people involved in the sport. it is the number one reason
some great athletes did not go out for the sport.

Weight cutting is not bad or evil. It is a part of the sport that a mature wrestler can do properly and handle. and if its a young wrestler then his parents and coach need to manage that. For some they feel they wrestle better when they dont cut weight and they probobly do, but losing a match because you're undersized even though you wrestled great is a crummy way to loose also. So for a few months out of the year, run a tight diet and sweat it out somedays. People that damage themselves and their wrestling from cutting weight are doing too much or suck at doing it.

no one can understand what you're trying to say, use some commas and periods instead of one big sentence.

Ben..
Thanks for your thoughts. I am always entertained by your blog. Keep Dorian going in the right direction!

Yeah, we do have a lot of leftist indoctrination going on: Everyone is a winner, the government's job is to spread the wealth, it might hurt their self esteem, we don't want to push them too hard they'll burn out, etc., etc.

I'm an Ayn Rand fan. The Cream rise to the top no matter how much weight you cut or don't cut. Don't be jealous of them, don't be afraid of them, if you can't help them or support them...then get of the tracks because the pain train is coming!

I HATE CUTTING WEIGHT!!

Many wrestlers have jumped up in weight classes and have been very successful at the college level.

i agree with your idea. Many wrestlers here in my high school keep bragging about how much weight they would cut and what not. I also saw that these wrestlers that were cutting weight were the ones that were winning the most matches. I think though that weight cutting is overrated and should not be involved with wrestling. We should start emphasizing on "DIETING" this is one of the things that my teamates do not really get.

I once had a teammate in high school who, at that time, was a senior (mid 1980s) and I beat him in the wrestle offs at 119 ounces...I mean pounds. He then moved up to 126 and was defeated week after week. He then wrestled me off again at 119 and lost so then cut down to 112 some weeks later and was still soundly defeated by the upper echelon wrestlers at that weight class. He finally decided late in the year to make a drastic cut to 105 knowing that most of his competition would come from 9th and 10th graders who were more prominent that year at 103 than upperclassman. Low and behold, he finally "found" a weight class where he could be successful and went to place 4th in the state. The top 3 spots that year went to seniors, this young man got 4th, and the other 2 placers (and 10 non-placers) were (true) 9th & 10th graders. And this was at a time there was no such thing as a "hold back." So my point, there are some wrestlers who look for a weight class devoid of upperclassman or high level wrestlers then make dramatic weight cuts to get there with the belief that their own lack of skills and lack of off season weight lifting/training will be offset by the fact that they will be wrestling 13 and 14 year olds. In this case, it worked, good for him.

This is a matter of personal opinion, but I ran a 3:26 marathon and trained about 8 weeks for it. I ate and drank as much as I wanted during this time....I would much rather do that, than go to bed hungry any day.

I think "cutting weight" lacks definition. My thought of cutting weight, is cutting water weight. Some parents think there fat kid who has to skip lunch and supper is cutting too much weight. But, in fact, he/she is just lazy and taking the easy way out. If he/she were to make better food choices and get some extra workouts in to trim some fat off the body, he/she wouldn't have to "cut" any weight.

This is what I don't understand about Cormier last summer. It wasn't like he was a lean and trim guy. Why didn't he just loose some fat weight months prior, and then his water cutting wouldn't have been so drastic?

I definitely see it as a mental advantage, but if the weight cutting starts to break you mentally you need to stop. I've seen alot of wrestlers cut significant amounts of weight, only to use it as a crutch.

firstly, i think cutting weight is way overrated. For many people it is the right move, dropping 3-5 lbs isn't going to affect your performance and it will give you lots of confidence and size compared when you drop down to a lower weight class. But i really disagree with the kids who cut 10+ lbs in one day, i have been one of these fools as well. your zapped from all your energy, its unhealthy, and it just makes you hate wrestling. and the kids that brag about this really don't understand the sport. they go into practice thinking about loosing weight and not becoming a better wrestler. I as well have done this, wearing sweats and not eating or drinking for the whole day really isnt the answer. i agree with the right way to cut weight, doing weeks before actual competition, but anything past 7 lbs is really pushing it in one day for me.

Now for the public's view on wrestling. People that don't wrestle have a hard time understanding the sport, so the beauty of hard work, the art of motion, and the drive involved many times is not picked up by people. But one thing that they always think is that wrestlers are crazy for all the weight loss. this to them seems stupid, strange, and turns them off from the sport. and this aspect makes them gawk at wrestling as a crazy sport not worth their time. The mystique about cutting weight makes the true beauty of wrestling overshadowed. But it will always be a part of our sport. the only way to really stop weight cutting is not the 2 hour weigh-ins, but mat side weigh ins will only stop it. and still kids will try to do it, and there performance will suffer.
And will anyone listen to me, probably not, but i really do think its overrated and needs to be monitored much closer than it has been currently.
And this is just my opinion.

I agree with many of the comments read. I believe that the essence of our sport is dedication to ones goals and in affect to our teams goals. Wrestling provided me with the ability of dedication to family and in my profession, providing society to the best medical care. I believe wrestling to be the sport which provides the tools to succeed in any profession. Wrestling should not be focused about weight loss but rather to the improvement of individuals for the society as a whole. I believe our sport has done this and will continue to in the future. Thanks to Mr. Askren for contributing to our sport!

Ben I argee with you but i still believe that sometimes cutting to much weight for some wrestlers who just can't handle it or their body can't handle is just wrong to do. Besides that, I agree with you completely.

that is very true. cutting too much weight has an effect on ur performance. sometimes its not the wrestlers decision but the coaches, so that the team would have a better line up. a lot of guys run cut down to wat they think is "easier" weight classes. a guy can cut 20 pounds in a week and think he is gonna dominate cuz he a lot bigger than those guys. but wat he doesnt think about is that once he has cut all that weight he is not as strong as before and there is no advantage cuz he weighs the same as the rest. and also there maybe other guys who have cut the same weight he has.

Cutting more than 2-3 pounds of water before a match will effect your performance negatively, especially for a one hour weigh in. I think in college that if a wrestler gets down to their optimal body fat percentage of around 5% by proper diet, than they should see where they are at and cut the 2-3 pounds per week to make the lower weight or just stay healthy and wrestle up. I've seen so many good wrestlers lose to inferior opponents because their body couldn't handle the cut.

Recently I went to a high school match. There was no doubt in anyone's mind who there had cut the most weight: it was the guy at 135 on the home team, who was a senior and probably stood 5'10". Was he the "toughest" guy in the gym? Not even close. He looked terrible, and everyone felt sorry for him. So why then did he cut all that weight? Simple: he couldn't beat the guys at the next 3 weights on his own team. It's sad, but that's the way it goes.

Ben, I have a question for you. If there's so much time to make weight and recover on the international scene, then why did so many guys on the US Olympic team last summer look like they had left everything they had in a rubber suit somewhere? Wouldn't you agree that poor/excessive weight cutting was a factor there? I agree with your point about the huge differences between the different weight classes. It's a shame we don't have 10 weights in international wrestling, but there you go.

cutting weight sucks but it must be done in order to stay fit if ur at ur natural weight wrestling ur going to eat the wrong foods and ur going to be huffing an puffing on the mat is sucks cutting weight but its for your own benefit and ur in better shape then if ur at ur normal weight

as horrible as this sounds... and it doesn't sound good, this logic is quite hard to deny but is also overlooking a quite large point (maybe you didn't overlook it, in fact i'm pretty sure you didn't). Someone's correct weight class may not be the lowest one, and when that person meets the "toughest" guy cutting the most weight, everything else is not equal neccesaraly. As I read this again I also realize that that is not the point you are making and if it was you would use more definitive words and phrases.

not many points, just kinda thinking to myself

I love flowrestling. This is great to be able to read and discuss comments like this. Sean Dunn made a point. Training hard is the bottom line. If you as an indivdual are growing don't be silly and cut weight intenseivly to try to be the weight you were the previous season. Adjust the body and training to the weight closer to what you are. Should not have to cut more the the (10lbs) at most and not in one night. You as an indivdual will be suprised that you will adjust. I've seen wrestlers cut so much weight that they start losing muscle mass and thinking they are stronger is not correct.

It would be interesting to see some honest poll data on where people are weighing in at pre-season vs. feb./mar. weight classes. I think we all know that the majority of the guys are dropping "excessively". I think the data would prove that guys are cutting to wrestle guys that ARE the same size.... not necessarily to gain some kind of an advantage or that it's fear based motivation. The motivation is to wrestle the guys that are your size.

I like your thoughts on how people are just happy with finishing the marathon. It's kind of like how in kids' sports today everybody wins; nobody loses. Everybody on the team gets a medal, or a ribbon, and there are no losers. This causes a mentality among the youth that they are all special, and that they can settle for anything. Kind of like how the guys in the marathon just settle for finishing. Kids need to learn how to deal with losing so they get that competitive spirit to win. After this, they will strive to finish that marathon in under 2:30. They will want to dominate, not just settle for a finish. They will not be happy they qualified for the NCAA tournament, they will want to win it.

To Rick I watched my mom run the chicago marathon for the second time last fall. There were plenty of people in this race that were far from what I would call fit. Finishing the race if you aren't worried about time is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other for 26.2 miles.
Let me clarify my thoughts on weight cutting. At the kids and HS level there are a lot of tournaments every year and kids are growing so cutting weight for these will hurt your growth process and force kids think more about weight cutting and less about wrestling and hate the sport, because we all know weight cutting sucks.
In college the one hour weigh in for all intensive purposes eliminates excessive weight cutting, every once in a while people will get away with it, but more often than not in the past 8 years people have benefitted from a move up in weight rather than down. It is impossible to recover and wrestle a highly ranked opponent on a one hour weigh in.
Internationally when you are only making weight 8-12 times a year and 75% of the time you get a 2kg weight allowance and approx. 18 hours to recover it only makes sense to cut weight. Couple this with the fact that weights are very spread apart and most international wrestlers are grown men who are done growing and you have a recipe for large weight drops. Right now I weigh 190 eating whatever I want. Most 84kg wrestlers weigh at least 200 lbs and are fairly lean, so wrestling at 84kg would put me at a significant disadvantage. 163 is very difficult for me, but I only had to make it 3 times over the course of a season, most of the time with the allowance it was 167.5

I firmly believe that most wrestlers would benefit from focusing on getting better at wrestling rather than weight cutting. Now with that out of the way.

In some ways I am with you on your logic train. But even then the best wrestlers kept there weight down. I ahve never heard of Smith, Gable, or Sanderson talking about massive weight loss. I know Gable said he was always within 5 pounds of fighting weight. He just worked out like a machine. Sanderson seemed to really focus on conditioning also. Which kept his weight down. I do not know of Smith's training ideals. But I am guessing that there is a theme here. The best guys do not focus on weight cutting because they work so hard that they never need to "cut" weight.
I also love the Flo interview with Taylor. He is what a wrestler should strive to be about. I can not tell you how many top level wrestlers have stated that large weight cuts only made them worse.

Excessive weight cutting (more than a couple of pounds off your post-practice weight) is more the result of FEAR than MACHISMO. Isn't that obvious? Guys are afraid that if they don't cut down to the lowest possible weight they'll lose. In essence, they fear wrestling guys their own weight. They fear themselves as they really are. They fear they aren't good enough. They fear they'll be shown up by the "big guys," even if they are big themselves. Their coaches fear the same things. So the answer is to cut more and more weight, instead of simply eating right and focusing fearlessly on getting better..

Your idea of weight cutting as macho... it def is tough. i'd like to know though why did you cut to 63? why not bump up to 184 or whatever the international weight is. I think you would of done better in china.

weight cutting is a big thing you could have a kid that belongs at a certain weight cause he has the weight to lose but yet he does it the wrong way and he cant perform. If he does cut weight correctly he can perform at a high level. Its interesting to see people get out of wrestling and they start training differently in there workouts and they weigh the weight they were killing themselves to get to but eating normally. For instance my brother is a runner now weighs the weigh he wrestled in high school. Just from training for marathons.

The (former) Soviets and Soviet bloc countries mentality, in general, was to build yourself up into your weight class by heavy weightlifting and endless drilling/position battling rather than major focus on weight loss and conditioning. I tend to think this is the way to produce a "better" wrestler, not necessarily a better weight cutter though.

Weight cutting.......... Danial Cormier

You are right. Get rid of the cert prossess, all it means when I cut down10-15 lbs is that I want it bad enough. And it gives me an ave. to out work my opponentas well as practice disclpline. Egalitarianism is killing this country. To the winner goes the spoils!!!!

weight loss is only 2% of wrestling, dont make it bigger than what it really is

Good topic. There is cutting weigh as in getting in the best possible physical condition- which is healthy. There is cutting weight as in laxitives, dieuretics, saunas and foolish diets - which is unhealthy.

You are right on in your abservation of the cultural changes that have neutered men in our society.
My daughter played school girl basketball. The youngest team would play games and score would not be kept because the fools in charge wanted to spare the youngsters the pain of losing. After the game the girls would talk about who won or lost - they kept the score.
Our society is a war with common sense. Competion is good and healthy. Winning is sweetest after tasting defeat.

Running a marathon in 2:30 is crazy but I don't think doing something that 90% of the population can't do (finishing one) is something easy or for the weak minded. I've done it while holding down a job, raising two kids, upkeep on a home blaha blaha. I cut some crazy weight in my day as well and it was much harded running a marathon than skipping meals. Ben, you're a great dude but way off.

i think the best way to wrestle at your fullest is wrestle at the weight u weigh after practice DONT CUT WEIGHT u will wrestle 10x better in my opionion

b.herold

The reason why cutting weight is so popular in wrestling has everything to do with ego. In fact, it's evolutionary. Let's be honest, wrestlers want to win, period. Consequently, to better insure victory, you see the bigger /stronger man wanting to compete against the smaller / (ostensibly) weaker man. In other instances, weight cutting becomes a necessary evil in wrestling so that a guy can find his spot on the team (think Darwin). If you can't beat the guy who is close to your weight, what do you do - you cut weight and beat out someone who's smaller than you. Either way, it's all driven by ego and survival of the fittest instinct. You see this in wrestling and you see it all the time in MMA. The egoic mindset goes something like this: "If I'm walking around at 195 pounds and am freak strong, then why take on other guys who are also 195 (or bigger), equal in strength and could beat me? But if could drop down to 174 lbs., just think much easier victory would be". Again, weight cutting is primarily driven by ego and the survival of the fittest mindset, which in the pursuit of winning, causes people to find an easier, more secure path to victory.

Having a hard time following your logic. I was a high school wrestler in 1982, and heavy weight cuttiing was definitely much more prevalant than it is now. Practice rooms were full of heavy sweats, sauna suits and trips on the bus were filled with jolly rancher spit. We were not tougher. Some of the best sport teams of that time also would not even compare to the athleticism or toughness of todays top athletes-see 82 Brewers.
You are correct, it was a badge of courage and the focus for some was more on making weight than getting better in the sport of wrestling. Today, the high school wrestler is much more focused on skill and conditioning than ever before (as a whole).
Finally, I believe the best answer for all the weigh cutting nonsense is to have mat side weigh ins.

I cut plenty of weight back in high school and I would never do it again. When the subject comes up I like to refer to the interview that Flo did with David Taylor after winning his last Iron Man. Great interview from Taylor on cutting weight. To make a long debate short I would simply say this. I think in alot of cases in regards to cutting in high school (not all) it is a mentality that things will be easier if you cut weight. Why not just work on your skills and be confident that you can beat the best. Remember I am talking about high school as college is a different. To be the best you have to beat the best. Perhaps the most important thing is that kids are in the wrestling room to cut weight and not work on improving their wrestling. Cutting too much weight may have been the dumbest thing I have ever done and I have done some pretty dumb things. Speaking for myself, I was as mentally tough as I ever have been in my life while being perhaps as mentally stupid as I have ever been. Great post Ben. Can always count on the "Funk Master" to get me into deep thought at 2:30 in the morning.

I don't think it is very hard to compare the time frames. You do make some very good point about diet and enhancements and my point is not to argue but let's also look at other things then. Equipment and training methods are extremely different for the marathons. Just look at the shoes. You can't tell me the shoes were better for your feet in 1982. Most of the people that I know that are really serious about marathons do have great diets and training regimes. Finally the enhancements now are much better plus some of the runners could just cycle on and off the stuff if they really wanted. Collectively, no offense but those could just be excuses. I know you are not making them for others so they are not your excuses but still. I think it is really behind their personal goal and what they are trying to accomplish. People do a lot of thing these days to make them feel good, so they can have a great story or put it on their life resume. They want to say they ran a marathon or hey I took some boxing or bjj classes. If you are talking about work they want to have excuses why thing are not working out for them. People love excuses! I think this is the big problem with kids and winning! They think they are entitled to things. You see it in so many sports and in activities in school. How many times do parents argue with teachers about test grades, yes sometimes it is merited but please! I help with my old high school wrestling team when I can and I have had parents come up to me after practices and tell me that I work the kids to hard the day before...that's crazy! I had parents get mad because there were practices the week before mid terms...my answer was I am not the head coach but last time I checked this is a college prep school and I never had a week off in college from football practice to study. I had to find my own time. I do know plenty of tough kids but I think many of you would agree we all are alittle overly protected by everything now "everyone wins," "that's not pc," "let's dumb it down," "I am afraid I will get sued," and so many more. Life is not an absolute level playing field. You have to earn what you want and don't cry if you don't get it the first time just grind it out. Most of the successful people, by various definitions, had to keep trying and trying, failure after failure, they were mentally tough people. They never quit they found their place and laid claim to it. They don't just say well I did it! They want to be great at it. You don't tell your boss I want to be the best mediocre employee and you are going to pay me x. You want to be the best and then demand x because you are the best. So, I think Ben has a point to reach your full potential in anything you need to find your place. The next thing is you need to be mentally tough. Great people make it happen! No excuses! Great people are macho!

so my understanding is that as not an endorsment.

ok in my opinion its kind of hard to evenly compare the time frames in which you have givn as examples. some things that should be taken into consideration is since 1982 there has been more testing for steriods and other enhancement drugs, also the diet of individuals in the US. in 1982 more ppl were eating healthier meals, that were home cooked, which his better levels of nutrition(vitamins and minerals) and also more "athletes" were using preformace inhancing drugs. now in 200__ most ppl eat heavily processed foods which takes many healthy nutrients out of the food and replaces them with many unhealthy additives. yes you can say that it is a form of comparision, but in reality NO! Also, something else to consider, i would say before the 1990's there was a huge encouragement for society to be envolved in "healthy lifestyles" consisting of exercise and eating healthy foods/ maintaining a healthy diet, but now with all the current technology, most parents allow their children to be couch potatoes which is why we have lower levels of children involved in athletics and higher levels of obesity/diabetes because children learn best by example, and why should they want to maintain a healthy life style when their parents dont live one, and arent as willing to spend the money to keep them in any type of a healthy life style, when they can just spend it on games that will help them make their health worse. the reality is alot of ppl in 1982 crossed that finish line due to 2 things, preformance inhancers and good diet due to societies "encouragement" of better life styles, and now the lower levels of finishers in the 2007 race is due to the complete 180 that society has taken, they've gotten ride of most preformance users, but the lower level of participating athletes and proper nutrition have the biggest issues in the finishs. hopefully things will get better, but the best athletes have a great diet, are in great shape, work hard, and encourage others to do the same... the last thing we need to fix as a society is the everyone's a winner modo, in some sports this is ok, but kids need to learn that to truely be successful, they need to win a continue improving because another reason child stop being involved in sports is because no matter how good they are, they are still seen just as good as and they see no real success in their accomplishments because there is no real way to prove everything they'ce done was worth something... im sry but children should be shown for being as good as they are and dont treat everyone equally when their not and then maybe we wouldnt have soo many ppl believing to be something their not, if their not good, their not good and when their good, let them know it!!! but then again this is my opinion!

You make a couple really intresting points.. One in particular i would like to comment on.. the " everyone is a winner". We as a society have definetly become brainwashed from a young age that participating and finishing is the same as winning.. Take into account that the age of competitive sports, it has been adjusted to accomodate this thought.. (I.E.) Little league baseball the age that everyone gets to bat..and paly in the field , has risen to 11-12 yr olds.. what is that teaching them at that age? Take a kid who is naturally gifted in school so he dosent have to study as hard as most to get an A ..So the kid that isn't as gifted in school should get the same grade? That is a logical argument for this thought procces of "everyone is a winner".. Most people would say no thats not fair.. and i say it works the same with sports some kids are naturally better than others and that is why they deserve to start instead of the others.. Now that kid that dosen't get playing time has a choice if he wants to play he must work harder... and its the same for the kid in school who isn't naturally smart.. he has a choice to work harder by studying more to get an A... let me know if I'm off my rocker on this please~!

one more thing. there were more than 15 sub 2:30 u.s. marathoners in 2007.

good arguement...modus ponens format, did you study logic? But your second premise i think assumes too much to be considered a truth. I think a guy can be tough enough to cut the most weight but just getting down to the weight does not guarentee he will be the most succesful wrestler. He needs to not only be tough enough to get down to that weight but also be tough enough to compete in a gruling 7 minute match, knowing in the back of his mind how much weight he is cutting and how exhausted his body really is, but have the confindence in his condtioning and have the mental strength to overcome the exahustion and still pull out the victory. just my feedback on the matter...your blogs are a good read

i was an avg hs wrestler. my bragging about weight loss is: day two of my state tournament (jr year) i had to make 104, i weighed in at 103. the next morning, a lil over 24 hrs. we got back to our school and i checked my weight and i was 119. so i gained 16 pounds in one day! i got 4th in state that year by inj def. in consol. finals
i suffered from the flu and maybe from too much weight loss my sr. year and got knocked out of st tourn early. i planned on taking 1st that year. i was undefeated...in all weight loss is ok if its in moderation. too much can be dangerous

weight cutting is stupid. the best year i ever had was when i stopped cutting weight.