Too Much of a Good Thing

Physical activity is the best medicine. If everyone in America got out of the sedentary category and went to the gym for 30 minutes three or more times a week than their cholesterol would lower, their arteries would clear up, it would lower their chance of getting type two diabetes, and many more benefits by just working out, by just moving.

The numbers of overweight children and adults in America are out of control, children 2-19 are up to 33%,17% of these children are obese and 12% are morbidly obese, adults 20 and over are at 34% overweight.

Working out can counteract so many deficiencies that they will have in their future if they don’t start working out now. However, though most people in America need to workout we also have those who work out too much, who have too much of a good thing.

Wrestling is one of the oldest sports dated as far back as the lliad and has had many different variations over the centuries. But one thing remains united among wrestling, their size.

Wrestlers have been known for having huge muscle with low body fat. To achieve this point many result to anabolic steroids and eating disorders. Every four wrestlers there are three who have eating disorders.

On The College of New Jersey’s wrestling team Andrew Roberta lives this everyday.

“With a limited food and liquid intake and maintaining a lower body weight,” said Roberta “it is impossible to not feel tired and beat throughout your day and your practice but you have to adapt and learn to perform at peak level regardless.”

With many wrestlers starving themselves their work out regime is like an art, they are malnourished and still need to gain muscle. So they work out with high reps and low weight so they can maintain a longer period of excursion and gain the muscle the need.

Wrestlers goal is to have 4-5% body fat during the season which is way under the health measure of 7-13%. To get to this point they schedule their days around the gym.

“On average there is two-three hours of mandatory workouts a day,” says Roberta “plus about an hour of extra running and/or lifting a day with one day off of mandatory practice of a week, so on average four hours of practice per day.”

There are many cases where wrestlers have had fatal consequences because of the strain they have on their bodies by not eating and exercising excessively.

“When some guys start losing drastic amounts of weight,” said Roberta “it can be seen in different parts of their body. For me, the first thing people notice when I am losing weight is how skinny my face looks, usually accompanied by a pale complexion. While cutting weight, it is also extremely difficult to focus on activities that are not of great interest to me, like schoolwork or other things around the house that need to be done. During classes, I find myself "zoning out" more often then when I am not losing weight. Losing weight also effects activities that demand zero focus, like watching TV. While watching TV, it seems like every other commercial is advertising something "hot and delicious" or "new recipe," just pretty much anything that looks good. Even things that I wouldn't normally find appealing look amazing. Also, I find myself to be much more irritable, being bothered by little things that I wouldn't normally have a problem with.”

Wrestlers are in the cycle of losing weight during the season, by working out and not eating, while during the off season they gain a significant amount of weight. Our bodies were not built to withstand this kind of strain. Even though there are many people who need to work out, wrestlers are so obsessed with “making weight” when they exert themselves by working out for hours on end they may end up seriously harming their bodies so much that it can result into fatal incidents.

Most people don’t even understand why the wrestler need to lose weight to make the weight class.

“I understand how people view it from the outside,” said Roberta “but what most people don't understand is that even if you gain weight properly and are in great shape, it is still difficult to be successful if you aren't cutting any weight at all. In college wrestling, most guys are cutting between 15-25 pounds from their normal weight. It is a big advantage for someone who normally weighs and has the strength of someone who is 160 pounds going against someone who normally weighs 140 pounds. While it is difficult and takes a lot of hard work/suffering for that person cutting the 20 pounds, it makes a big difference when they are that much bigger than all of their opponents. So, while it seems like an easy enough concept to bulk up and gain 5-10 pounds and wrestle to the next weight class, there will always be wrestlers who are looking for the advantage of wrestling people who are smaller than them by losing weight and going to the lower weight class.”

Unfortunately because wrestlers constantly want to get ahead and have an advantage there is no way around the large amounts of weight lose among the wrestlers.

Eating Disorders in Wrestling

Eating Disorders are probably one of the most easily dismissed diseases of today. There are people who think that only women have been subjected by society to eating disorders because of the pressure to conform to the unrealistic ideals of beauty.

In reality eating disorders are just as much an addiction as alcohol and drugs. Not only do women suffer from eating disorders but so do men. They are everywhere, unfortunately, in the world, whether that person has genetic addictive tendencies or if the person has suffered a horrible experience or forced themselves to have a disease. Both males and females from the average Joe to world class athletes to celebrities suffer from bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating, chewlimia, work out bulimia, compulsive use of laxatives, and many other variations of eating disorders.

Usually, when someone has an eating disorder it is because they lack self-esteem or confidence. For others they are forced. Wrestlers, in particular, have the short end of the stick.

In wrestling they have to make weight. They have to have as much muscle as possible while having as little fat as possible on their bodies.

Wrestlers are known for what is called yo-yo dieting. They gain weight during the off season and lose weight during the season by throwing up what they eat or staving themselves with vigorous exercise. Yo-yo dieting is a fad that many other people use as well. It has been proven that young adults who do yo-yo diet are more likely to have bad eating habits when they are older which can result in diabetes, heart attacks, gallstones and many more harmful illnesses.  

One might think that wrestlers are extremely affected physically and mentally by barely eating and training so intensely.

However, on the TCNJ wrestling team, Rick Cordero feels otherwise;

“Most of the time in the season you have to make weight to compete.” said Cordero “We do high rep to keep up muscle build and try to get down to 18% body fat and even then you may be 20 pounds overweight, but it doesn’t really effect your performance because everyone is doing it so you are all on the same level playing field.”

Even though Cordero feels it does not affect his performance there are many instances where wrestlers have gotten injured because of dehydration, dizziness, and hunger due to trying to lose copious amounts of weight in to short a period of time.

“We are only getting rid of water weight.” said Cordero.

However the water they are losing can lead to serious injuries. Their bodies need water and when you deplete your body of such a vital substance, unfortunately, there are side effects that can lead to death.

Bill Saylor, Joe Larosa, and Jeff Reese were all wrestlers and all died within a 32 day span all trying to lose large amounts of weight. Before their deaths they all suffered roughly the same symptoms such as dehydration, dizziness, difficulty breathing, and faintness.

Saylor tried to lose 15 pounds in 2 days. At 2:45 in the morning, while working out, he had cardiorespiratory arrest and died. 

Larosa wanted to lose 4 pounds in less than 24 hours for a meet. Four hours after starting to try and lose weight, during a workout he voiced complaints felling symptoms listed above and died of hyperthermia.

Reese wanted to lose 6 pounds in less than 24 hours. Four hours after starting the intense regime to lose weight, he suffered cardioresperatory arrest and died.

Unfortunately, there are many more recorded incidents where wrestlers become so obsessed with their weight they die.

Though Cordero says it does not affect him, there is substantial proof that shows it does. He may just be unaware of the consequences of putting a body through that sort of trauma but the consequences do exist. What can be done about these unnecessary deaths among wrestlers? If the pressure of making weight is too great for one to handle, perhaps the rules should be changed so this pressure is lifted.

One idea might be to have their weight closely examined everyday by an inspector during the season and if they have a substantial weight lose within a week than they would be disqualified for the meet. The wrestlers are under such pressure to lose weight if there is a way to control how much they are losing than there would be fewer injuries and deaths.