Final Research Paper

Stephen Ohl

ENC 1102-0038

Longhany

The Reality of Cutting Weight

Introduction

Cutting weight in sports is a term used to describe when athletes in a sport that requires a certain weight class lose the amount they need to lose in a short amount a time, usually between 5-10% of their body weight in a few days. There are many health risks that accompany starvation and forced dehydration, however what are the risks that occur after multiple weight cuts and over a very long amount of time? One researcher strived to shed light on a healthier alternative to dehydration and starvation (MacLaren). Most scholars and scientists have come up with an array of both physical and mental risks that are imposed on the body after “cutting” weight. These include dehydration (Warrington), adaptation of the body to the extreme (Steen), increased stress both mentally and on the body, and lower cognitive functioning (Sundgot-Borgen). One can better understand why and under what harm face these athletes by examining these three points, the Mentality of Athletes, the Health Risks that face the athletes, and how widespread weight loss is and what practices people use in order to cut or lose weight.

Mentality of Athletes

            Cutting weight practices can be associated with the mentality of athletes; the athlete becomes so dedicated to the sport that they put their health at risk without truly realizing the consequences. Most athletes believe the lower the weight the better; however this leaves them more at risk and can be harmful to the athlete without them truly realizing the implications.  Many scientists and doctors reveal that cutting weight is an acceptable practice among athletes.(Shepanski, Sundgot-Borgen, Herbert, Brownell) In Herbert’s study 86% of 802 judo athletes from ages 12-46 and all different skill sets said that they cut weight multiple times throughout their previous season. Sundgot-Borgen’s article shows how after the rules change and wrestlers learn the risk of cutting weight they have less extreme cuts and lose more weight before the season starts instead of cutting a lot of weight week to week.

Brownell adds to this topic by introducing male and female rowers to the discussion and how their mentality can at times be worse than people cutting to a specific weight because they attempt to become the lowest weight they possibly can. Brownell goes on to say that the lower weight rowers will implement extreme weight loss measures most likely because they have less body fat percent to actually lose. This highlights how extreme an athlete’s competitive nature can be and lead to health risks.

Health Risks

The next reoccurring theme that was apparent through research was the extensive health risks that are imposed on an athlete after multiple weight cuts and weight cycles. This topic also was most widespread throughout the articles, as it was also one of the main concerns and objectives to discover by the authors (Birgit, Kepchick, Warrington, Shepanski, Sundgot-Borgen, Cohen, Steen, MacLaren). Most of the articles discussed how dehydration was one of the most apparent symptoms throughout any forms of cutting, or sports (Birgit, Kepchick, Warrington, Sundgot-Borgen MacLaren), and in extreme cases can lead to death (Shepanski).

The hope for solving this problem of dehydration lies with the research of MacLaren. He uses one test subject and submits him to his normal length of times in between boxing matches. During this time the subject instead of using the time to get into competition ready shape and then cutting the remaining weight during the last week or two before competition, the subject slowly lowers the caloric intake he needs in order to maintain his current body weight making him lose the weight he needs to in a systematic and uniform process. Thus allowing him to stay hydrated throughout the process instead of dehydrating himself toward the end of the period.

The hole within his study however is the length of the study, the boxer was given a long cutting period, over a month, while most collegiate and high school athletes get between half a week to two weeks. Also many tournaments for wrestlers are multiple days and require multiple weigh-ins, one at the beginning of each day; therefore unlike a boxer who can weigh in the day before then prepare their bodies accordingly, a wrestler must reach a required weight and then maintain it over one or two nights only allowing a one pound limit for the next day. A study on if one can repeat the same process, gradually losing weight to ensure hydration, however in a shorter elapsed time would become a good follow up study.

Another risk that is imposed on an athlete while cutting weight is the psychological effect, this includes stress, eating disorders, lack of focus, and lack of mental cognition (Sundgot-Borgen). As an athlete cuts weight, they began to worry whether or not they will reach the desired weight, and might check their weight multiple times, weigh their food, try to overuse the bathroom, even spit to dehydrate the body. All of these tactics to manipulate one’s body to achieve the desired weight create mental stress that will be lifted once they step onto the scale and it reads the numbers they want, only to reoccur the next week when they repeat the process. The human body also naturally adjusts its metabolism to the amount of calories that it is in taking, and as someone lessens the food they eat, the body will adjust and make that amount of food provide as much as previous amounts had. This effect can be lingering and cause even a youth with stronger metabolisms to have an eating disorder (Steen).

Prevalence of Weight Cutting

The final subject I have found through research that is a combination of the first topic, Mentality of athletes, and the lack of awareness of the second topic, Health Risks while cutting weight, the Prevalence of Weight Cutting. Herbert's research shows some of the vastness of cutting weight in the sport of Judo. His survey came to the conclusion that 86% of all 802 judo athletes he questioned, from all different backgrounds and age groups, had in their previous season cut weight in order to make a lower weight class. Sundgot-Borgen goes on to add that most Olympic athletes also cut weight. This could lead to an assumption that as athletes progress and develop they tend to take the sport more seriously and cut more weight. Further research comparing two athletes of different skill sets, and of different experience could be done in order to see if in fact as self motivation to perform well at a sport, the more likely that athlete will put their body at harm by more intense workouts coupled with more intense sessions of cutting weight.

            Through analysis of the mentality of athletes striving to perform at their maximum abilities, weighing the consequences of cutting weight on the body and mind, and looking at how both prevalent weight cutting is and the extreme practices used by athletes, one can conclude that through their desire to be the best, a very high percentage of athletes in sports that involve weight as a factor, ignore risks of dehydration, mental and physical stress, changes in metabolism, and even eating disorders. They also use methods that lead them to dehydration and loss of mental cognition, some main concerns of cutting weight. These studies mostly included a group of athletes for only one cutting period, will multiple cuts pile on the health risks, increasing stress, altering thoughts, and even adjusting ones metabolism?

Methods

            Through research I have found experts and medical professional’s opinions, however how do the actual athletes feel about cutting weight? Do they believe that it is a dangerous habit, or do they think that since it is a widely accepted practice that it makes it safe? And if they did know the dangers, would their competitive nature continue to push them to cut weight for competition? Herbert’s research showed that among judo athletes many athletes were aware that they were cutting weight, 82% admitted in a survey that they regularly practiced in weight cutting practices. Through my own research I hope to find if this is apparent in sports outside of judo and if athletes are just unknowing of the risks or just neglect the risks in order to achieve more within their sport.

In order to successfully assess how knowledgeable athletes are about cutting weight and their feelings toward it and the risks I returned to my high school wrestling team and distributed questionnaires to members of the team. I handed out sixteen total questionnaires, I wanted to see how experience played a factor in the wrestler’s decisions, so I evenly distributed four questionnaires to each grouping of years of experience; the four groups are as followed: no experience, 1-2 years, 3-4 years, and over 4 years.

The athletes were asked to fill out the forms to the best of their abilities, there were 10 questions, seven of the questions are yes or no questions while two of those have a follow up question and another has an explain follow up, the last three have questions that help to understand the athletes feelings toward and methods of cutting weight. The most important question to understand whether or not the athlete agrees with the concept of cutting weight is question 10, which asks whether or not you would cut five pounds or gain five pounds to make a weight class.

Results

            Sixteen athletes participated in the survey, four from each different group of experience, no experience at all, one to two years, three to four years, and more than four years of experience. The distribution of experience helped to show how as athletes gain experience they tend to care more about performing better and less about the health risks. A visual representation helps to show this.

Group	Average Experience(Years)	Average weight willing to lose. (lbs)
No Experience	0	3
1-2 years	1.75	1.75
3-4 years	3.75	7.25
Over 4	7	10

            The drop in weight willing to lose from no experience to 1-2 years can be best explained that a couple athletes didn’t want to lose any weight after trying to their first year and choose zero as the amount they were willing to lose. But the general tread is an upward amount of weight lost correlates with the experience gained.

The best fit line for the graph between the points clearly show that as experience increases the weight athletes were willing to lose increased, however is it because they have found it to be a common practice among others, or because they believe the health risks are worth the advantage they may gain from cutting?

            Another important question I asked was “do you believe that cutting weight can help you win a match?” All 16 responses were yes, and the explanations varied little. All the athletes responded that cutting to a lower weight class would ensure that you were close to the most you could weigh, and that since you’re in a lower weight class you will wrestle smaller opponents. These two questions have helped to shape the mentality of the athletes, and show their willingness to cut weight, but a few other questions help to classify how much they are cutting, how they are cutting the weight, and if it is healthy.

            These questions I asked included, “do you cut weight, and if so how much?” The results came back 13 yeses, of those 13 these are the results:

This graph also shows the same trend, the amount of weight cut positively correlates with the experience the athlete has.

The next set of questions asked were about how wrestlers cut weight, three yes or no questions on unhealthy methods used to cut weight, sixteen possible responses to three questions adds up to 48 total possible yes or no’s. Since all of the questions were worded so that if a participant answered yes it was negative and an unhealthy method, the ratio of yes’s to no’s can be looked at to see if the athletes are using unhealthy activities to facilitate cutting weight. The first question there were fourteen yes’s, two no’s, the second a ten to eight ratio, and the third an even split eight to eight. This adds up to a ratio of 32 to 16. Twice as often these athletes are making the unhealthy choice to cut weight, including methods of starvation, dehydration through saliva, and inducing sweat by extra layers of clothing.

The last set of questions involve whether or not the athlete feels unorthodox in anyway. For example asking if they feel stressed or lose focus at times, and following up if those times coincided when they were cutting weight. Out of the ten that said yes, eight of them or 80% responded to the following up saying that yes it did coincide and they believe that cutting and worrying about weight caused their stress or lack of focus.

Conclusion

            Through researching topics from experts that have created studies and experiments to test the effects of cutting weight I have found that it leads to health risks, dehydration and physical and mental stress being the most common and harmful, and that it seems to be a common practice among many athletes. In my own research I confirmed that there are health risks and that it is common, but learned the reason why it is such a common practice, acceptance and ignorance.

            Although I have only done one study on this subject, I think that the reason to why cutting weight is such a common practice in sports where weight is an issue is because of the competitiveness from athletes and the ignorance of the complete health risks. Most people can tell you that cutting weight is unhealthy, but do they really know how unhealthy it is? Or the lingering effects? Some cases have been so extreme that athletes have died from cutting too much weight, although extreme everyone is different and the point to which your body gives up might be different.

            People believe that since “everyone else is doing it” it is safe and can’t be too bad. At times coaches sometimes push athletes into cutting weight. The combination between the acceptance of the practice and the ignorance of the consequences lead to major health risks down the road. However those are two easy problems to fix.

            I believe that through simple knowledge cutting weight can turn from a dangerous unhealthy practice, into a safe way to regulate one’s fluctuating weight. For example in MacLaren’s study a boxer was able to lose the weight required by steadily losing the weight over a given time, this was not only healthy but caused the boxer to be more physically ready to participate. I propose that if slowly more and more athletes integrated steady weight loss instead of rapid weight loss into their routine that they would not only be more healthy and avoid dehydration, but become more physically fit for the competition. The desire to win is what drives an athlete to do crazy things like starve themselves, however if steady weight loss proved to increase match performance, more athletes might switch over just to improve their chances.

Overall my study had many of the same elements that my researched sources did. Cutting weight is widely accepted and practiced, many are ignorant of the health risks, and extreme measures are used in order to cut weight. (Herbert, Brownell) I believe that all the facts and information about cutting weight is present and now there no longer is a need to understand it; however a need for movements and research to stop or curtail the health risks coming from it.

Work Cited:

Birgit Friedmann-Bette, et al. "Rapid Weight Loss And The Body Fluid Balance And Hemoglobin Mass Of Elite Amateur Boxers." Journal Of Athletic Training 48.1 (2013): 109-117. SPORTDiscus. Web. 19 Sept. 2013

JJ Kopchick, et al. "The Effects Of Weight Cycling On Lifespan In Male C57BL/6J Mice." International Journal Of Obesity 37.8 (n.d.): 1088-1094. Science Citation Index. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Giles D.2 Warrington, et al. "The Impact Of Making Weight On Physiological And Cognitive Processes In Elite Jockeys." International Journal Of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism 23.4 (2013): 399-408. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Don P. M. MacLaren, et al. "Making The Weight: A Case Study From Professional Boxing." International Journal Of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism 20.1 (2010): 80-85. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2013..

M Shepanski, et al. "Preliminary Investigation: The Impact Of The NCAA Wrestling Weight Certification Program On Weight Cutting." Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research (Allen Press Publishing Services Inc.) 16.2 (2002): 305-307. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Sundgot-Borgen, Jorunn, and Ina Garthe. "Elite Athletes In Aesthetic And Olympic Weight-Class Sports And The Challenge Of Body Weight And Body Composition." Journal Of Sports Sciences 29.Suppl. 1, Sp. Iss. SI (2011): S101-S114. Biological Abstracts 1969 - Present. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Antonio Herbert, Jr. Lancha, et al. "Prevalence, Magnitude, And Methods Of Rapid Weight Loss Among Judo Competitors." Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise 42.3 (n.d.): 436-442. Biological Abstracts 1969 - Present. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

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Kelly D. Brownell, et al. "Eating, Weight, And Dieting Disturbances In Male And Female Lightweight And Heavyweight Rowers." International Journal Of Eating Disorders 14.2 (1993): 203-211.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Steen, Suzanne Nelson, Robert A. Oppliger, and Kelly D. Brownell. "Metabolic Effects Of Repeated Weight Loss And Regain In Adolescent Wrestlers." JAMA: Journal Of The American Medical Association 260.(1988): 47-50. General Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Sept. 2013.