A Paper Tiger: Ohio Wrestling Site reveals a system for Beating the Weight Certification Rules

Tragedy struck the sport of wrestling in the fall of 1997.  Three collegiate wrestlers-  Billy Jack Saylor, Joseph Larossa, and Jeff Reese passed away within a month.  These wrestlers all died while cutting extreme amounts of water weight.  The deaths of these young athletes shook the sport to its core. 

At the time, collegiate wrestling competition had only a single weigh-in, 24 hours before the start of competition.  With that rule scheme in place, the amount of weight that could be cut was limited only by the amount of pain a wrestler could take.  Indeed, it was almost a twisted badge of honor among wrestlers to be “sucking” a great deal of weight.  In truth, you couldn’t help but admire someone with the discipline to lose 15-20 lbs in a single day.  At the collegiate level, extreme weight loss was required to keep pace with the other competitors.  If a wrestler elected to lose a more sensible 5-10 lbs, he would essentially be a weight class smaller than his opponent by match time.

The NCAA sprung to action following the death of the 3rd wrestler, Jeff Reese of the University of Michigan.  A seven pound weight allowance was given, with the caveat that wrestlers now had to weigh-in two hours before competition, rather than 24 hours before. The next season, the seven pounds became permanent and the new rules provided for weigh-ins an hour before competition, on each day of the competition.  The problem was solved- anyone who lost a dangerous amount of weight under this rule scheme simply did not have the time to recover, especially with multiple weigh-ins in effect.  In fact, it is telling that only one returning NCAA Qualifier (out of the nearly 200 who returned) used the additional weight allowance to drop a weight class- Steve Garland of Virginia, who dropped from 126 to 125 lbs. 

While the problem of excessive dehydration was essentially solved by simply changing the weigh-in policy, and thus making it ineffective, the NCAA insisted on saving wrestlers from themselves and implemented rules that said that wrestlers had to weigh-in at a specified weight while still being adequately hydrated, as determined by a “specific gravity” of urine test.  With weight cutting being a sort of lingering “black eye” of the sport, it was perhaps a matter of time before high school wrestlers were molly-coddled into a rules scheme that would determine how far they could “safely” drop. 

Why this Rule is a Disaster

The new Weight Certification rules have been met with approximately as much enthusiasm as a blinding with cattle-prod- and for good reason.  Making adjustments to get your best lineup on the mat is a necessary part of the sport. Say a team has a great 140 and two good wrestlers in the 130-135 range.  If the “Alpha weigh-ins” state that the 130/135’s can drop no lower than 131, said team is in quite a bind.  Now they have to put a vastly inferior wrestler in at 130 (or worse, forfeit) while a true 130/135 lb. wrestler competes at the highly unnatural weight class of 145- if he can crack the lineup here.  In other words, his season will be completely derailed by an inconsistent test that says he can’t drop to 130, though he could drop to 131 if there was such a class.  Simply put, this result is wholly arbitrary and ignores the reality that certain things need to be done for teams to get their best lineups in order.  Bob Preusse of Amateur Wrestling News put it well when he said “this is a pathetic way to treat such a great sport”.

The Good News

The good news is Ohio Wrestlng Site has  a simple way to beat this test.  The technique can best be illustrated with an example.

Imagine a hypothetical wrestler, who we will call, “Corey Contender.”  Corey is a returning Division II state place-winner at 171 lbs who currently has a “walk around” weight of 182.  Corey has been working for a state title for the past decade, but if the all-knowing “Alpha Weigh-ins” say he can only go to 172, his chances of winning that title just went out the window- as Big John Weakley is going to “blast double” this undersized 189 into the cheap seats.  So what does Corey need to do to go out on the “blaze of glory” he envisions- rather than be steamrolled by Weakley?  Follow these simple steps: 

1. The OHSAA Rules says that Corey cannot drop below his “Alpha Weight.”  Corey’s “Alpha Weight” will be determined by what he would weigh at 7% body fat according to his lean body mass on the day of Assessment.  The tricky part is Corey cannot even get an assessment done unless he passes a hydration (urine) test- i.e. the OHSAA has closed the potential loophole of guys making their lean body mass appear lower than it actually is through dehydration (since water-weight is lean body mass). 

Or perhaps, I should say, they‘ve tried to close this loophole.  Corey needs to follow this plan and he will be fine.  To illustrate, let’s say Corey is doing his Assessment on the first day possible, November 18th, at 3:00 p.m.  Here is what he needs to do:

November 17th- Corey’s diet should consistent entirely of sodium free, or very low sodium foods on this day, and very low carbohydrates.  By simply eliminating sodium and carbs for a day, the body will drop approximately five pound of water (lean body mass for our purposes), without affecting “hydration” as determined by this test, in the way that dehydrating through not drinking water or doing a big sweatdown would.  A general rule of thumb (and I apologize that certain parts of this article will have to be fairly graphic) is that if your urine is “clear”, you’re hydrated for purposes of this test.  If it’s not clear, you’re not hydrated.  Corey should drink a great deal of water on this day…..without the sodium and carbohydrates in his diet, his body won’t retain it.

November 18th- It is very important that Corey follow these instructions exactly.   Corey’s weight should be around 177 after eliminating sodium and carbs from his diet for a day.  Here’s the schedule for the day of the Assessment:

12:00 p.m. Drink a large glass of water- around 20 oz. is best.

12:30 p.m-2:30 p.m.- Do a vigorous sweatdown, getting as close to 171 as possible or better yet, under.  Losing six pounds. in two hours should be very feasible.   It is absolutely crucial to not use the restroom in this time frame…. yes this will be uncomfortable as 3:00 starts to approach.

2:30-3:00: Take a shower, and come to the assessment in street clothes as you don’t want the Assessor to be taking a closer look at you, you want to blend in like everyone else.  

3:00- Undergo the hydration test, pass with flying colors, and move on to working toward a state title at 171.

In summary, what Corey has done is lose around ten pounds of lean body mass according to the test, and therefore, enable a drop of ten additional pounds, while still maintaining “hydrated urine.”  By drinking the water a half hour before you begin to actually dehydrate, the water you drink will go through your system as if you were actually hydrated (which you were at the time you started the workout).  So, when you complete the workout, you’ll be dehydrated, but your urine won’t reflect that in the test.  It must be emphasized that drinking the water 30 min. before is absolutely crucial.  If you drink it immediately before the workout, you’ll just sweat most of it out, and won’t have hydrated urine when you take the test.  Drink it too far before, and you’ll be extremely uncomfortable during the sweatdown. 

Potential Questions:

From reading the message boards there are a number of recurring questions that come up about this test, as well as a few that this article will no doubt raise- so here are the answers, in advance.

Question: Isn’t this cheating?
Ohio Wrestling Site: No. It’s strategy.  Cheating would be using a prosthetic device of some sort to have a vial of hydrated urine in your clothes, or simply having the Assessor fudge the numbers.

Question: Are you advocating excessive weight loss?
OWS: Again, no.  It’s about options.  Just because the test says you may wrestle a low weight, doesn’t mean you have to wrestle there, but why not have the option to do so?

Question: What if my weight is far above where I’d like to wrestle? 
OWS:  Then you need this plan even more.  This plan can enable you to establish your alpha weight at approximately ten lbs. below where you otherwise would be, but you will still be constrained by the maximum of 1.5% per day week weight loss rule.

In effect, what this means is if Corey is weighing 190, follow the above strategy can get him hydrated at 180 lbs.  If he was, say, 12% bodyfat, his alpha weight at 7% bodyfat would still be under 171- but he would not be able to drop to 171 for roughly four weeks (i.e. mid-December).

Question: Can Corey wrestle 189 in the meantime?   
OWS:  Yes. You may wrestle one weight class above your alpha weight without affecting your alpha weight.

Question: What if Corey is under 7% bodyfat?
OWS:  In that case (fairly unlikely, especially for a 171) Corey will need to weigh-in below 171 lbs. to establish his alpha weight at 171. 

Question: So let me get this straight, if Corey weighs in at 170 but the test says he is under 7% bodyfat, and his weight at 7% bodyfat would be 172, he can still go 171?
OWS: That’s correct.
Question: Well what if Corey is at 190 lbs. with 7% bodyfat? 
OWS: Then he has no business at 171 anyway.

Questions: What happens if I fail the hydration test? 
OWS: No big deal really, you just have to wait 48 hours to do it again.  But if you follow the guidelines laid out above, you should be fine. Good luck getting past this silly obstacle so we can all move on to wrestling!