The old days, how much weight did you cut?

hammen · March 27, 2014, 07:32:43 PM

Always got to eat before weigh-ins as a freshman in high school weighing a whole 88-91lbs. Had to start watching my weight as a Junior making 103. First tough cut was when I got up to 113 in the summer of my Junior year and went down to 98lbs. I have a feeling that really stunted my growth. Managed my weight well my senior year and didn't really get above 115lbs until college. Got up to about 135 in my redshirt freshman year, and was managing my weight from 145lbs my last year. However, getting down to 125 from 145 my last 2 years was not the "old school" way. Do that and the crowd will definitely notice, just ask some of the guys who cut a lot of weight at the B1G level. Not something any man wants to experience. Ended up lifting a lot of weights after my career ended and got up to 160ish in May. I stopped lifting weights 2 years ago and have been consistently 135-140 ever since.

imnofish · March 27, 2014, 07:39:36 PM

Freshman year of high school? Nada (natural 95 lbs.)
Sophomore year? Dropped from 128 down to 112. Almost made 103. This was the only year I dehydrated myself.
Junior year? Played football at 135 lbs. and never cut a pound. By mid-season, I was weighing 145 and wrestling at 145 and 155.
Senior year? Played football at 175 lbs. and cut down to 145 lbs.
College? Started the season at 190 lbs. Wrestled one match there, then a couple at 177, before dropping down to wrestle at 167 most of the year. Dropped down to 158 for tournaments. Never skipped a meal, either.

boowrestle · March 28, 2014, 01:16:02 AM

1985/senior yr cut from 116 to 98lbs not only to certify but wrestled 98 the whole season boy did i enjoy the 2lbs growth allowance after christmas.

bigoil · March 28, 2014, 05:06:09 AM

I'm with Tom. I think the dehydration caused me to be sick more than I ever was and I came down with Bronchitis every February. While we did not have official fat testing, I know most of us were well under 7% and that was before the dehydration.

I did not cut my senior year, I weighed less than our 32#'r right up to weigh ins.

Cutting, dehydrating should not be glorified and yes, I think I'm overweight today, and short because of it.

I'm 5'7" my brothers are 6'2 and 6'0, dad was 6'0.

uncle Fester · March 28, 2014, 09:01:15 AM

festers weight cutting school shut down 31 years ago....experienced a bit of difficulty...learned how to spit...cut off all my hair to make weight...cannot eat Hershey candybars after a near overdose of exlax....had a guy punch me in the nose to try and bleed out...found out blood doesn't weigh much...always made weight some times only for 10 seconds...the rest of my stories cannot be shared with the public at this time...

Big House · March 28, 2014, 01:14:50 PM

I know a kid that actually grew 2" in height over Christmas break ... that's over 1"/week ... because he could finally eat a little bit.

Those years were a dark time for our beloved sport.

imnofish · March 28, 2014, 02:00:25 PM

During my Soph. season, I grew 3 inches and outgrew my weight class by the end of the season. 5'9" was just a bit too tall for 112.

I learned that season that extreme weight cutting and dehydration does not help you wrestle better, even when carefully controlled. That's why my son did not starve himself.

Boot · March 28, 2014, 03:26:50 PM

I hated cutting in High School and when I left the sport after my Senior year I was happy it was done. Cutting weight really killed the sport for me, now as my son is entering High School in 1.5 years and is loving the sport ever since 1st grade I'm again concerned about the cutting in his future and the strain it's going to put on him and the family. I have seen a lot of kids hating life at the end of a season do to cutting. I'm not saying go out and be fat and happy, but lets get the kids to a good HEALTHY natural weight and let them be. To many kids are getting brain washed into the "I gotta be lighter to compete mentality".

It really is a black eye on our sport and we wonder why it's hard to get new kids out for it. Wrestling is the toughest sport around, before you add in the pressure of weight cutting.

DocWrestling · March 28, 2014, 04:14:02 PM

The truth is that our sport does not look fun when classmates are skipping meals and talking about how much they need to lose. We need fewer kids cutting and we need the rest not boasting about it. It seems that cauliflower ears and boasting about weight loss bring on some sort of wrestling badge of honor. If we could eliminate them our sport would grow at a rapid rate. It is also why I like the idea of all weight classes getting bumped up 5 lbs. It would mean fewer kids are cutting to get lower than their natural weight.

I also wish more parents and coaches would remember their days of cutting weight and not allow their athletes to do it. Most coaches responses are that they would not have enough athletes for the lower weight classes under 125 as there are not a lot of high school kids that weigh naturally less than 120.

Ghetto · March 28, 2014, 07:04:06 PM

I'll respectfully disagree that there aren't high school athletes under 125. 25% of my team was.

npope · March 28, 2014, 08:00:32 PM

Quote from: uncle Fester on March 28, 2014, 09:01:15 AM
festers weight cutting school shut down 31 years ago....experienced a bit of difficulty...learned how to spit...cut off all my hair to make weight...cannot eat Hershey candybars after a near overdose of exlax....had a guy punch me in the nose to try and bleed out...found out blood doesn't weigh much...always made weight some times only for 10 seconds...the rest of my stories cannot be shared with the public at this time...

Heck Fester, sure wish I would have known - I would have punched you for free

Quack · April 01, 2014, 07:06:48 AM

My senior year of football, I stepped on the scales at 225lbs, when I weighed in the second day of state I weighed 171lbs. We were really tough from 167-heavy. Our 167 was right there for weight, I was at 171lb in the 185lb class, and our Heavy was 189lbs. all three of us went to state that year.

imnofish · April 01, 2014, 10:34:43 AM

Quote from: Quack on April 01, 2014, 07:06:48 AM
My senior year of football, I stepped on the scales at 225lbs, when I weighed in the second day of state I weighed 171lbs. We were really tough from 167-heavy. Our 167 was right there for weight, I was at 171lb in the 185lb class, and our Heavy was 189lbs. all three of us went to state that year.

That's pretty remarkable, considering how light you all were! I had just the opposite situation. The fact that our team was loaded from top to bottom resulted in me cutting 30 lbs. to make 145, just to crack the starting lineup. Unfortunately, a late-season injury kept me out of tournaments.

Jimmy · April 01, 2014, 05:44:38 PM

WWF I checked records back to 1929 and can't find a 153 weight class. Did or does college have a growth allowance?

Lumpy · April 01, 2014, 06:01:17 PM

I used to keep my weight during football right around 315 to 320 and make my way down to 285. (Thank god for the bump up from 275)

Once before one of the christmas tournamenta I over did it at the family christmas party and went to weigh in the day bbefore weighins and i was nearly 15 lbs over. I made it though.

Not that old but I figured I could throw in my two cents. As a heavy, it was a little easier than say a 125 pound guy dropping 15.

Lots more to lose.