Wrestling is a vigorous sport in which athletes will burn more than 1,000 calories over the course of a practice session -- enough to keep weight for most people at a healthy and reasonable level. However, the structure of weight classes for wrestling motivates many serious wrestlers to compete below their natural body weight. If you're in this situation, you can support your efforts by changing the focus of your drills in practice from simply improving technique to also burning as many calories as possible.
Step 1
Drink water. Sip 8 to 16 ounces before practice, and take every opportunity to grab another mouthful from your water bottle or drinking fountain. As your body dehydrates, your metabolism slows, and you burn fewer calories.
Step 2
Double up on drills. If your team is doing one takedown per minute, step your efforts up to do two. One way to do this is to work with your partner to transition immediately from one repetition to the next, without pausing in between. If you're not up to literally drilling in "double time," start by aiming for five repetitions for every four, and gradually work your way up.
Step 3
Wear just your singlet during practice, unless your coach forbids it. The colder you are, the more calories your body expends just keeping you at body temperature. Halfway through practice, the combined effects of your whole team working out in the gym will minimize the benefit of this practice, but every little bit helps.
Step 4
Stay active between drills. Most wrestling practices consist of a cycle of instruction and practice. If you move during the instruction phases, you'll keep your heart rate elevated and keep your body burning calories at an accelerated rate. You might need to talk with your coach beforehand to work out an agreement about how you can do this without seeming disrespectful while he's talking.
Step 5
Eat after practice. Although many wrestlers engage in fasting to make weight, this actually slows your metabolism and makes long-term fat loss more difficult. If you eat regularly, with attention to calories and nutrition, you can lose weight at a safe and steady pace -- and keep the weight off. A diet of lean proteins and vegetables can provide you with the nutrition you need at a relatively low number of calories, while simultaneously feeding your body what it needs to make as much of your weight loss as possible come from fat, not muscle.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep in mind that weight loss is an all-day activity. The decisions you make before and after the drills have as much effect on your weight loss as your decisions during the drills. For example, drinking a milkshake after practice can gain back all the calories you burned during the drills.
- This advice is for long-term, sustainable fat burning. It's not suitable for the short-term "weight cutting" many wrestlers apply to make weight for an upcoming match. In fact, some of these steps will make those efforts more difficult. However, this kind of natural fat loss is healthier and safer than the water weight loss you would achieve by cutting weight, and the "yo-yo" effects weight cutting has on your body composition.
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