What are you willing to risk in order to lose weight? Giving up soda, candy, and other treats is an extremely minimal task compared to what most wrestlers go through. Are you willing to starve yourself, cut out liquids, or work your body to extreme levels of pain? Are you willing to risk your life for that final weigh in goal? Losing weight is a common goal for many citizens in the United States and in many other countries as well. The people who are looking to lose weight are generally overweight and want to become healthier and stronger in the process of losing weight. Wrestlers, on the other hand, are losing weight to qualify for a lower weight class. 78% of wrestlers are already in great shape, yet also have unrealistic weight goals placed on them. Why should they be punished to lose weight when they are strong, fit, and ready to compete all year round? Nine out of ten wrestlers at West Salem High School give up sweets or soda constantly to be the best athlete they can be during all of their sports. Adding water to the list of things they cannot consume is a horrible consequence for losing that final pound because water is a huge factor in losing or gaining weight. Dieting and dehydration can lead athletes to more extreme habits like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Most wrestlers use dangerous techniques to lose weight rapidly. The use of saunas, harsh diets, deliberate dehydration, and induced vomiting are just a few strategies for wrestlers use to compete at a lower weight class. The dangers with cutting weight are very serious and can cause a lot of damage to the body. Many of these strategies can cause death in extreme cases. Cutting weight should be eliminated from wrestling because it hurts both the ...
... middle of paper ...
...ger. It trains their mind into thinking that food is just an optional thing and not a necessity. In reality this “self discipline” is truly damaging the body and putting the body at risk later in life.
In conclusion, wrestlers should not cut weight rapidly or starve themselves. It can lead to psychological damage, damage to the wrestler’s current body, and their future health. They are willing to risk their lives, but we all should want them to rethink before they do such a thing. We need to show our care and compassion for saving a life. Coaches could take the next step and punish a wrestler for loosing weight too fast and make them sit out. Coaches should also educate the team on how to eat nutritiously and safely. All in all, the behavior of wrestlers has improved in the past twenty years, but there is more that everyone can do to help stop the cutting of weight.
Portion control is psychologically proven to lessen or limit an individual’s intake of any food. According to Dr. Katherine Appleton (2014), any given amount of food over the recommended serving size will be finished by an individual because it is considered normal to finish a plate for a meal. If the amount of food were to be changed, the amount of intake would change as well. This psychology study is based off of an individual’s perception on what is considered “a normal serving size” (Appleton, 2014). Portion control requires self discipline, but if Pam were to regulate her serving sizes, she could greatly decrease her caloric
Wrestling is more than just a sport; it is a way of life. And for those who enjoy its opportunities, it is something that takes the mind off of all of life’s troubling times, and puts one man against another to get their hand raised. Competition makes everything evolve, and there is no other sport that epitomizes what competition truly is. Wrestling spans the entire globe, and although it incorporates several different styles and many National and World events, remains overlooked by most.
The drive to compete can encourage wrestlers to lose weight, whether or not they have excessive body fat (Perriello 58). The major motivation for wrestlers to lose weight is the hope of achieving greater success at a lower weight class. According to Vito Perriello, “the perception may be based on the myth that wrestling at a lower weight for the same height improves leverage and provides an advantage over one’s opponent.”(58). Another reason wrestlers may drop to a lower weight class is to avoid competing against a wrestler in the athlete’s more natural weight who is significantly better or to help the team fill an empty spot. Although most wrestlers like to try and lose weight, there is no reason to believe that wrestling performance will improve simply by losing weight (Wrestling Nutrition and Weight Control). A major reason wrestlers decide to drop a weight class is because they believe they will be stronger and they may need to avoid tougher
Imagine, just for one minute that you were at the peak of you career, in a competition that would determines whether you sink of swim. You have the choice to go out all natural, or to give yourself a little boost, so it is definite that you will swim. What would you do? Would you run the risk of getting caught? The athletes that stoop to this level are cheats. They are afraid of losing. And as the old saying goes, “cheaters never prosper”. They are putting so many things at risk in their lives. They face being suspended and completely thrown out of their sport, they put their lives at risk, no to mention giving sport a bad name.
In most states, high school women who wrestle must be on the men's team. In a well-written essay, describe the situation and then discuss the reasons some people support co-ed wrestling and reasons some people don’t.Female wrestling is becoming increasingly popular.
They could use those skills for future use. Teaching children across the nation at an early age can increase the chances of them carrying no diseases in the near future. Having to eat so much is a problem and the authors have great ideas to help prevent overeating. Americans around the world need to stop eating so much because they play a role model to the youth and young adolescents. Healthy eating is the most beneficial, despite how it sometimes tastes.
Wrestling is the hardest sport both physically and mentally.The constant management of weight is what kills me the most, I can take all the cheap shots from opponents and the slams down onto the mat but the cutting weight part is the worst. It was the day before a tournament and I was 14 pounds over the weight I was going to wrestle that weekend. I had to lose it, so i did. I ran with layers of clothing on all night long and I didn 't eat or drink anything for two days, I made myself freeze at night so my body would burn more calories to keep me warm, me and friends drilled for hours to help me shed those final pounds. I went through hell and yet not one person tried to stop me or check to see if i was physically okay. They cared about the medal i was going to get that weekend rather than the fact that i was on the verge of dehydration and malnourishment. People should consider the mental and physical health problems wrestling has on a person such as dehydration, excessive weight loss,going days without eating,and the breakage of a person’s will, however all they think about is the titles and the medals they will receive if they can just make that weigh in.
With a growing interest in weight training younger children are beginning to lift weights. Which brings about questions about when children should be allowed to start lifting and what degree of difficulty should they be allowed to attempt. This topic has sparked a debate about whether or not a person under the age of eighteen should be allowed to competitively lift weights in the Olympics. Many believe that the risk of injuring children is not worth the opportunity for them to succeed in the Olympics. The risk is not as enormous as it is made out to be. Anyone who has a fully mature body and is over the age of thirteen should be allowed to participate in Olympic weightlifting. If done correctly lifting weights is a great way to stay active and healthy for a person of any age.
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, echoes through my head as I walk to the middle of the mat. "At 160lbs Aidan Conner of La Junta vs. Rodney Jones of Hotchkiss." All I can think of is every bead of sweat, every drip of blood, every mile, every push up, every tear. Why? All of this: just to be victorious. All in preparation for one match, six minutes. For some these six minutes may only be a glimpse, and then again for some it may be the biggest six minutes of their life. Many get the chance to experience it more than once. Some may work harder and want it more than others, but they may never get the chance. All they get is a moral victory. Every kid, every man comes into the tournament with a goal. For some is to win, for some is to place, others are just happy to qualify. These six minutes come on a cold frigid night in February at a place called the Pepsi Center. Once a year this gathering takes place when the small and the large, the best of the best, come to compete in front thousands of people. I am at the Colorado State Wrestling Championships.
Being physically fit inside and out is something that every person can control and achieve, but only through strong self-discipline. “The $52.9 billion fitness industry is constantly coming out with activities and products designed to get and keep us interested in working out” (Whigham-Desir 84). Two of these types of workouts, specifically Tae-Bo and Spinning, were created just for the purpose of keeping “us” interested in working out. Despite this revolution in the fitness industry, many false preconceived notions about losing weight persist and impede the movement. As the media bombard the American public with unrealistic images, a new obsession with fitness has hit the markets.
Turning someone’s health for entertainment show is unethical. The NBC show “The Biggest Loser” has been accused of putting entertainment before health with its focus on competitive weight loss where contestants absolutely at a greater risk of exhaustion, dehydration, and stress to win cash.
Foods and body types are labeled in polar terms such as good versus bad, right versus wrong, and fat versus thin. Through use of scare tactics, students are taught to a negative standpoint rather than a positive one. Telling children what not to do is not only less effective, but also creates a consequence of guilt if they don’t do what’s ‘right’. Even if balanced nutrition is taught in the classroom, interactions between school staff outside of the classroom often model food obsession. Through their own actions and insecurities, teachers many times unintentionally encourage food restriction and judgment of bodies seen as ‘fat’ (O’Dea et al.). Extreme-based educational processes, along with the grossly exaggerated claims on nutrition and body ideals that saturate society, foster defensive and guilt-ridden relationships between children and food. Reshaping nutrition education to encompass a whole-health based curriculum that teaches balance, self-acceptance, and the overall view of food as a source of life, is a vital step in ameliorating societies’ overall relationship with
Childhood obesity is a health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent in society’s youth. For a number of years, children across the nation have become accustomed to occasionally participating in physical activities and regularly snacking on sugary treats. In result of these tendencies, approximately one third of American children are currently overweight or obese (Goodwin). These grim statistics effectively represent all the lack of adult interference, in regards to health, has done to the youth of America. The habits of over consuming foods and under participating in physical activities are all too common in the children of today. Children cannot solve this issue alone, though. These young people need to essentially be given the opportunities to make positive health decisions and learn about good, nutritional values.
... the former. Health problems in America are approaching a point where it is no longer important who is technically to blame; rather our efforts should be focused on moving away from such unhealthy eating habits to begin with. The prevalence of overweight and obese Americans has created matters of greater concern, and it is time that mindful eating make a comeback. Public schools are beginning to enforce healthy diets in attempt to get their young students on the right track before it is too late, and it is movements such as this that our country needs more of. American culture may resist this kind of change at first, but, as Dr. Albers advises, we need to resist the “magnetic force” that is unconscious snacking, and move forward in a way that utilizes the vast technology and resources that Americans have available to them in a healthier, more constructive manner.