After a long weekend of crushing too much food (multiple
times), getting a beat down in Scattergories and Easter egg hunts I figured
tonight was a good night to take a breath and do some writing. Still being
fairly new to all of this, my writing doesn’t come without inspiration. I still
have a hard time just brainstorming ideas to put to paper. I usually have to
have a significant experience or conversation to get me to hammer something
out. At least for now. Tonight’s blog topic came to me during a discussion I
was having with my girlfriend’s family members about their experiences in
athletic competition and strength and conditioning. One of her cousins is a 12
year old who participates in football and track and field here in Minot and the
other participates in football, wrestling and track and field as a freshman at
MHS.
The back and forth about athletic participation, work ethic,
values learned through athletics and strength and conditioning wasn’t much
different from other conversations I have with parents throughout the year. For
some reason though, during our discussion of the older sibling’s wrestling
experiences, I asked myself a question I can’t believe hadn’t come to me
before; “Why do wrestling programs still do things they way they do them?”
While talking with my girlfriend’s cousin he explained to me
that he was asked to lose 20+ pounds before the start of the competitive season
AS A FRESHMAN. Every program around
the state and nation is guilty of this in some form. But why do we do it? Why
is losing weight (and almost always
through fasting) the way our wrestling programs structure their rosters for
competitions?
Brain development in most of our youth is at its peak
between the years of 10 and 18 years of age. I know some families who start their
kids in wrestling at the age of 8 years old, some even younger. Let’s just say for
the sake of discussion, that those kids are asked to cut weight for half of
those years. That means they’re experiencing the deprivation of vital nutrition
for 3-4 months, year after year, for upward of 5-6 years during an extremely important
stage of physical and psychological development. I personally, find that absurd.
I tell my athletes/clients that in order to maintain their health and trim body
fat, that a realistic weight loss goal is 2 pounds per week in the first four
weeks and 1 pound per week every week after that. By those standards, in a
4-month season, a young man/woman could maintain their health and safely lose
20 pounds by the end of the season. Keep in mind, this particular athlete was
asked to lose 20 pounds by the start of
their competitive season!
So, to answer the question I posed earlier: “Why do
wrestling programs still do things the way they do them?” It’s simple; that’s the way they’ve always done them. I’d
like to propose a change. I’m going to urge local wrestling coaches to change
the way they ask their athletes to “make weight” to fit their competitive
roster. Instead of dropping weight, skipping meals that consist of essential
nutrition, and breeding weak, tired, and sluggish athletes, how about we try
this instead:
Let’s start promoting traditional strength training and
proper nutrition. Take my word for it; if the athlete is meant to lose weight,
this method will achieve that. This may be hard to believe, but generally when
I assess and train youth wrestlers they’re almost always sub par when it comes
to true strength. I think this is largely due to them not spending enough time
in the weight room performing the traditional movements. A lot of coaches
assume that if their athletes spend too much time Deadlifting, Squatting, and
Pressing heavy weight that they will gain weight, and in most cases, cutting
weight is the ultimate goal. If we flip flopped our way of thinking, however,
and allowed these athletes to GAIN weight to qualify for a weight class instead
of CUTTING weight to make a class, we just might breed a wrestling team of
strong and healthy individuals. I don’t think there is anyone that can argue that
a team of well-fed, well-trained wrestlers would have a significant advantage
over a team of sleep deprived and malnourished wrestlers. Call me crazy, but if
I come into a season at 150 lbs and add 10 lbs of muscle through strength
training and proper nutrition to compete at 160, wouldn’t you pick me over the
athlete who started at 170 and had to skip meals and weight room sessions to
get to that same class? To me it seems like a no brainer.
What I’m asking is that wrestling coaches around the area implement
a new approach to roster structure. I think they would see a world of
difference in their athletes. Less injuries, higher practice attendance,
increased attentiveness, and fewer in season struggles in the classroom could
make life a whole lot easier. If nothing else, the coach that has to take your
malnourished, 20-pound underweight athlete with hormone deficiencies for spring
baseball or track and field will stop pissing and moaning in the break room.
Thanks for reading.
Caleb Heilman
“The only thing I know, is I’ll never know everything” –
Jason Green
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