Weight loss training has become safer in recent years due to tests that have been created to regulate the sports’ conditioning system.
Since 2006, all states are required to follow the National Federation of State High School Association’s (NFHS) guidelines for gaining and losing weight for a sport. Louisiana now requires every wrestler to undergo a weight management test before competing, in which a wrestler’s hydration levels are measured using a refract meter. If a wrestler’s hydration level clears, he or she is given the bio-impedance body composition test on the Tanita scale.
The Tanita scale resembles an everyday scale, but gives additional body readings. It is the first integrated body composition scale used in school sport programs around the world. The wrestler starts off by putting his or her gender, age and height into the scale, which then calculates the wrestler’s weight and body fat content. While standing on the scale, electrodes in the foot sensor pads send a safe, low signal through the body.
According to wrestling coach Robert Furtado, wrestlers may only lose 1.5 percent of their body fat per week for the safest, quickest weight loss process. Furtado has experienced the weight loss and gain process before and after the Tanita. “The test is simple and great. It ensures the wrestlers’ safety during sudden weight changes, unlike the program used in the past,” Furtado said.
In 1998, a Michigan college wrestler was found dead due to starvation, dehydration and excessive exercising for several days after being told to lose 22 pounds in four days to make the 150-weight class. After this incident, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officials began looking for a better system of calculating weight loss.
Freshman wrestler Aiman Hamide is new to the weighing system used to determine his weight class. Hamide said, “To lose weight I usually wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants when I run four miles. If I have to gain weight, I usually focus on eating meat and other high protein foods.” Through exercise and intense endurance workouts, a wrestler can lose their desired amount of weight quickly.
After the initial weight is determined, a male can only lose seven perecent of his body weight and a female only 12 percent. That percentage is then divided by 1.5 percent to give the wrestler the amount of weeks they have to lose the weight and how much weight he/she is able to safely lose per week.
With this set system, coaches set diet and workout plans pertaining to a specific wrestler for the safest weight loss/gain process. As this test becomes more popular around the country, wrestling has become a safer, more appealing sport.