Making Weight
- Doctors Scales
- Price Computing Scales
- Jewelry Scales
- Detecto Scales
- Health O Meter Scales
- Seca Scales
- Ohaus Scales
- Pelouze Scales
- Analytical Balances
- Moisture Analyzers
Wrestlers at the high school and collegiate level are constantly battling with body weight. The day before a match, every wrestler on the team must step on the scale to “weigh in.” This weight is recorded as the official match weight, and will determine who the wrestler is allowed to wrestle. Teams win based on points gained in matches from each weight class. If a team does not have representation in a class, the other team wins default points. This can make it difficult for the team to win. To ensure that weight goals are met, wrestlers often take extraordinary measures to lose pounds in a very short time.
Most wrestlers work hard to compete in a weight class just under what their normal weight is. The idea is that a heavier person is stronger than a lighter person, so dropping down into a weight class below your standard weight gives a person a strength advantage over other wrestlers. This theory has wrestlers across the country working every week during the wrestling season to drop several pounds before the “weigh in.” The weight loss methods vary, but all are designed to lose weight as fast as possible.
Running is a time-honored tradition for wrestling weight loss. Two or three days before the match, the wrestler will know what his weight goal is and begin work to make weight. Wrestlers often wear heavy clothes, suits made of rubber, or even garbage bags over cloths to bring out as much sweat as possible. The wrestler does not care if he loses muscle weight, fat weight, or water weight, as long as he loses weight. Water weight is the easiest to lose. The heavy clothes induce excessive sweating while running which helps the wrestler lose water weight. This is dangerous, and can lead to dehydration, but it is a shortcut that is regularly used.
During wrestling season, coaches will often put the wrestlers on special diets. Meals will consist of boiled vegetables with very little meat or carbohydrates. The wrestler is never allowed to get “full” from a meal, and must work off whatever calories were consumed before the next meal. This keeps them constantly hungry. They are given enough food to keep going, but never enough to satisfy the appetite. To the wrestler, making the weight goal is more important than anything else, so he deals with the hunger and waits for the off-season when he can eat whatever he wishes.
Wrestlers have other more drastic measures for losing weight before a match. Some will go as far as using diuretics to induce water loss through urination, others will take laxatives to expel all food from the body, some even vomit after meals and immediately prior to weighing in for the match. These methods are even more dangerous than the others, and can lead to permanent physical harm if used too often.
Weight is one of the most important physical factors in wrestling. High school and collegiate athletes will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that they meet their weight goals prior to a match.