Weight Issues In Wrestling :: Health Nutrition Essays

Weight Issues In Wrestling What do Billy Saylor (19 years old) at Campbell University in North Carolina, Joseph LaRosa (22) at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and Jeff Reese (21) at the University of Michigan all have in common? They are all dead now, victims of one of the ghastly secrets of college rassling. any three boys were engaged in dehydrating practices trying to lose weight in order to qualify for their first college-wrestling matches. Reese was trying to lose 17 pounds so that he could wrestle in the 150-pound weight class. His two-hour workout in a rubber suit in a 92-degree room cost him his life. He died of rhabdomyolysis -- a cellular breakdown of skeletal muscle under conditions of excessive exercise, which, combined with dehydration, resulted in kidney failure and heart malfunction (Iowa Gazette - December 22, 1997). LaRosa was also move a stationary bike and wearing a rubber suit when he collapsed and died. Saylor was riding a stationary bike in a predawn w orkout when he suffered a heart attack (Washington Post - January 14, 1998). Physicians are of the consensus that excessive dehydration as a means to lose weight can harm sensible functions, possibly leading to kidney failure, heat stroke or a heart attack. Why then do the wrestlers engage in these dangerous activities? Legendary University of Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable had this to say in an ESPN report They (wrestlers) think they are indestructible. But Ill tell you what -- those three athletes thought they were indestructible, too. And they arent around to conversation about it.Wrestlers believe that it is mind over body they can accomplish anything and nothing bad leave behind ever happen to them. So, LaRosas behavior on that fatal day in November wasnt anything out of the ordinary for many college wrestlers. He was wearing sweats over a rubber suit and riding a stationary bike in a steam-filled shower room. His body temperature reached 108 degrees. He was trying to make w eight for his match the next day, and wrestlings rules did little to discourage such dangerous practices. The logic in wrestling is to make the lowest weight you can in the weigh-ins, which are 24 hours sooner the match. Then you can replenish and rehydrate your body over the course of the 24 hours between the weigh-in and the match. This will give you an advantage in the competition because you really will be bigger and stronger then most of the wrestlers in that lower weight class.