1996_11 Insight November 1996

              Sports
NOVEMBER 13, 1996 ■
Dropping weight: the most dangerous diets
I Wrestlers may be
zapping energy while
cutting weight
by Robbie Miner
Staff Writer
Travis West isn't on a diet He's not
even overweight. Still, he says he's
dropped more than 20 pounds over a
three-dav period at least 100 times in
his tile.'
West, a wrestler at the Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs.
""It's torture." said the smiling, energetic 185-pounder of the weight-
cutting process.
West had reason to smile; he was
going to have a hamburger and fries
lhat nighl. He wasn't dieting then, bul
weeks later he was. and even the bun
thai held the hamburger wasn't on the
diet.
That's the life of this Olympic
hopeful and of thousands of wrestlers
■Culling' or 'pulling' weight is a
process that experts say a college
wrestler can conceivably undergo 200
to 300 limes throughout his career.
"Every wrestler has his own horror
story." said Chris'Mirabella. a wrestler at the Training Center.
Mirabella says he's never had a
problem. He says he'll drop from his
current 132 pounds to 114 before his
next tournament.
"I've done it dozens of times before." said the 5-foot 2-inch
Herculean figure. "I lost 12 pounds
in three days just a few weeks ago.
You just have to be willing to suffer a
little."
Fresno State coach Dennis
DeLiddo said cutting weight has been
a part of the sport for as long as he
can remember. He did it as an athlete,
and has seen it over and over again as
a c*oach. ■■■
"Wrestlers have always
been cutting weight." he said.
"No matter what changes are
made in Ihe sport to discourage cutting weight, kids will
find ways to gel around it."
Bobby Douglas is the coach
of collegiate powerhouse Iowa
State, where wrestling's more
than a sport—it's a religion.
Before his days of Olympic
wrestling. Douglas tried all the
tricks in ihe book. He said he'd ~—
try anything to take off the weight as
a youngster.
"During my freshman year. 1 lost
three pounds in a day once hy silling
close lo a furnace." he said. "Thai's
when I really became a wrestler."
DeLiddo smiled as he spoke of his
athletes' hinging behaviors. It's something thai he's been exposed to for so
long, he can't help bul laugh.
"Many of these guys' bellies will
bulge out later in life bul that's just
because their eating habits slink."
"I've seen some scary stuff," said
the Fresno State coach of 16 years.
"Some stuff, you wouldn't believe.
I've seen an athlete so weak that the
coach had to carry him to the scale.
I've seen a guy pass out on the scale
before."
Most wrestlers believe ihey can return to full strength by pounding,
down a big dinner after wtigh-in ana
drinking water until their guts hurt.
Ethan Bosch, who wrestles at 180.5.
niques are used. Some studies have
shown that it takes up to three days
of refeeding to return io maximum
performance levels.
Still, every wrestler has his own
weight-pulling techniques. DeLiddo
shook his head in amazement recalling a statement made by one of his
former athletes. "He said. 'I've got to
cat good tonight, coach. I have to have
energy sofhat 1 can cu» weight tomor-
"I've seen athletes so weak that the
coach had to carry them to the scale.
Guys.are spitting everywhere,
collapsing in their own sweat...it
makes for a real ugly scene."
—Fresno State wrestling coach
Dennis DeLiddo
said he'll drink up to 10 pounds of
water between weigh-in and competition, a period of less than 24 hours.
A common practice among athletes
trying to make weight is io load up on
carbohydrates prior lo competition.
This process, called glycogen loading,
quickly replenishes lhc energy lost during the weight-cutting process.
Despite the beliefs of most wrestlers, research has shown that athletes
do not perform best at their lowest
possible weight if starvation tech-
DeLiddo didn't allow his weight
management problems of the past to
dictate his future. He started wrestling
in high school al 137 pounds. After
his wrestling days were over, he got
up to 230 pounds. Through a gradual
change in diet and a constant light to
slay away from excess meals and fats,
DeLiddo dropped down to 190 and
has maintained the weight. For
DeLiddo's wrestlers, it's not quite as
simple.    „
"When these guys are starving
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themselves, food looks so tempting."
DeLiddo said. "When they get to eat
normal again, they sometimes get carried away."
Bad eating habits is one thing but
the problem goes deeper than that.
Long-term changes in metabolism
may result.
Weight cycling can cause one's
body io slow its metabolic rate during periods of heavy food restrictions
to protect itself from starvation. Each
weight-loss-regain cycle makes it
more difficult to reach the same
weight again.
Athletes who deprive themselves of
food and water will lose strength, lire
sooner and be more prone to heat exhaustion. They may have difficulty
concentrating or suffer from depression and irritability.
Long-term weight cycling may
even lead to health risks such as hypertension or coronary heart disease.
Rapid and excessive weight loss has
been connected to one death in Denver in 1979 and two deaths in Nevada
during the mid 1980s.
Few wrestlers realize the dangers.
Even top-notch wrestlers at the Olympic Training Center said they did not
believe that there were any serious
short- or long-term risks related to
their eating behaviors.
At the Training Center, there are
specialists who are available to advise
the athletes on nutrition. They have
few customers.
When DeLiddo wrestled, weigh-in
was five hours prior to competition.
In 1978. NCAA championship tournaments were modified to allow at
least 20 hours before weigh-in. The
international governing body later
adopted the"*20-hour procedure which
was designed to protect the athletes
from competing at low-energy levels.
"Those wrestling junkies back East
won't allow for a change in the system," DeLiddo said. "Even if the
NCAA and international bodies did
re-institute same day weigh-ins. athletes would find ways to fudge it."
DeLiddo believes the real motivation behind the change was to eliminate the embarrassing displays at
weigh-ins before every meet.
"Guys are spitting everywhere, collapsing in their own sweat...you name
it," DeLiddo said. "It makes for a real
ugly scene."
Just this year, NCAA wrestling has
instituted a rule whereas no collegiate
wrestler can compete in postseason
at a weight class that's different than
the weight he's wrestled at in atleast
75 percent of his meets during the
year. "We're hoping athletes will stay
at a more consistent weight as a result." said Kevin McHugh, chair of
the NCAA wrestling committee.
McHugh said he believes same-day
weigh-ins will be reinstiiuted in the
near future because of persistent pressure from the NCAA Competitive
Safeguards Committee.
"We've been pressured to change
for a long time now. "McHugh said.
"The committee's found there to be
too many risks in the current system."
While DeLiddo doesn't think the
problem will be completely solved,
he has made changes at Fresno State
to make the situation more tolerable.
"We never travel at night before
weigh-in anymore." DeLiddo said. "1
couldn't stand hearing those guys
begging for food the whole way up.
Then there's the heavyweight silting
in the back ofthe plane eating a candy
bar. Before weigh-in. everyone hales
the heavyweight."
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