By Monday, West wrestler Hugo Hughes ’29 needs to be within seven pounds of his weight class. By Wednesday, the gap shrinks to four and a half. By Thursday afternoon, the margin becomes inadmissible; the number on the scale must match the number in his coach’s notebook. Hughes makes it through weigh-ins, but his whole body somehow feels heavier while a humming fatigue settles behind his eyes, making stepping onto the mat harder than the match itself.
Cutting weight is a common practice in wrestling and other weight-class sports, where athletes use dehydration, calorie restriction and other non-dietary methods to lose weight before weigh-ins in an attempt to wrestle in a lower weight class. An estimated 42% to 72% of adolescent wrestlers participate in weight-cutting methods, according to the National Library of Medicine.
“A lot of wrestlers cut weight,” Hughes said. “Even little kids will do it.”
With only one athlete per weight class on each varsity roster, if the athlete doesn’t make their assigned weight class, they don’t wrestle. To stay on the varsity team, wrestler Sylvia Broffitt ’26 pressures herself to maintain weight.
“I’ve never missed weight. In my mind, it isn’t an option,” Sylvia Broffitt said. “There are consequences if you miss weight, especially at a varsity level, since someone else could’ve wrestled in your spot.”
Weight classes are designed to ensure fair competition in wrestling, promoting safer and more balanced matches. Without these regulations, the sport can quickly become dangerous. Michael Mettenburg, the head coach for West girls wrestling, has witnessed the risks of disregarding weight classes firsthand.
“In one of my first years of coaching, we did this game called ‘King of the Mat,’ where you have to take somebody down,” Mettenburg said. “I didn’t respect the weight differences, as you should, and one of my heavyweights threw one of my little guys and broke his collarbone. I still feel bad about it to this day.”
This dynamic, in which athletes are stronger at a higher weight, incentivises them to drop into a lower weight class by cutting weight. Methods of cutting weight vary among athletes, but most are dietary. Hughes starts gradually, dieting a week before weigh-ins, then abruptly stops drinking water while sweating during practice to reduce water weight.
“To start the week, my meal plan for breakfast is two hard-boiled eggs and a piece of toast, and for lunch and dinner, most of the time I’ll do chicken and rice,” Hughes said. “Each day, I’ll drink a gallon of water, and then the day before, I’ll cut out water. Then, I can lose three to five pounds in a practice.”
Although cutting weight can help an athlete make weigh-ins, dehydration and glycogen depletion can worsen performance, causing low energy levels, diminished strength, stamina and focus. Even if wrestlers supposedly perform better in lower weight classes, Mettenburg recalls observing the consequences of athletes cutting weight just days before competing.
“They go out there and lose four matches. And I’m like, ‘Why did they even [cut weight] in the first place?’ It’s so frustrating,” Mettenburg said. “They got to the weight where they needed to be, and then they wrestled like a zombie, as expected. There are benefits to getting down to a lower weight class, but they don’t have strength because they’ve just drained their bodies.”
Hughes has had similar experiences. He finds that aggressive cuts can backfire, leaving little time to restore calories and hydration.
“When I wrestle soon after my weigh-ins, it can make me really tired,” Hughes said. “Sometimes, I’ll be gassed out in the first period just because I don’t have enough time to refuel after the weigh-in.”
Low energy is often the first and most visible consequence of rapid weight loss, but further complications can develop. These risks are well-documented in nutrition research, according to Hannah Sorrell, a registered dietitian nutritionist at the University of Iowa Sports Medicine.
“Consequences of rapid weight loss resulting from improper weight reduction techniques could include fatigue, impaired sports performance, increased risk of injury or illness, impaired mental health, loss of lean muscle mass, and nutrient deficiencies,” Sorrell said. “Low energy availability can also contribute to low bone mineral density, endocrine disruption, menstrual dysfunction, and cardiovascular strain.”
Additionally, the combination of performance pressure and weight-centric culture can lead to eating disorders. This can worsen physical and mental health, inducing anxiety and depression.
With disordered eating being twice as prevalent in females as in males, the calorie-focused sport is changing the culture of girls wrestling. As the head girls wrestling coach, Mettenburg notices the negative implications of a weight-cutting culture in female athletes.
“The weight aspect of the sport is different for girls. Some girls will talk about their weight loss as a flex, [but] that’s not something that should be celebrated,” Mettenburg said. “Girls have a different kind of burden with the weight aspect than boys do.”
Sylvia Broffitt notes that this culture also stems from weight management being different for girls than for boys.
“In general, girls are not going to be able to lose weight as quickly or may not ‘float’ as much at night,” Sylvia Broffitt said. “It might be different from what a guy might be used to.”
Because of this, Mettenburg consults Sorrell each season to help athletes make informed dietary decisions.
“[Sorrell] explains what types of food will help them maintain their weight, gain weight or cut weight in a healthy way,” Mettenburg said. “There’s been really positive feedback on that [from athletes].”
At the beginning of each season, Sorrell presents about performance nutrition for wrestlers to the girls team. Central to Sorrell’s approach is the concept of energy balance — a framework that explains why aggressive weight cutting can undermine performance.
“Energy balance is the relationship between energy in and energy out. Energy in includes the foods and drinks we consume, while energy out includes the energy we burn,” Sorrel said. “Physical activity energy expenditure is the most variable component and contributes to why athletes often need more fuel than their non-athlete peers. Overall, to achieve energy balance and support health and performance, energy in should match energy out.”
While Mettenburg supports the girls team’s wrestlers, the boys wrestling coaches look out for their athletes as well. After lightweights struggled to make weight and maintain high energy at their first meet of the season, the coaches decided to move each individual up a weight class and ban sweats during practice, promoting healthier weight management habits.
“[We were] coming to practice to cut weight instead of getting better, which [our coaches] didn’t like,” Hughes said. “They wanted us to get better in practice, but when you’re cutting weight, you’re really low on energy.”
Sylvia Broffitt also feels supported by coaches, but notes that it’s still up to the athlete to act responsibly.
“The coaches can help guide girls to safely lose weight, but in the end, it’s up to the individual to handle their weight,” Sylvia Broffitt said.
When Laura Broffitt ’98, Sylvia Broffitt’s mother and West alumna, was on West’s girls wrestling team nearly 30 years ago, she recalls not having nearly as much support as athletes have now.
“We did some amount of body composition testing at the start of the season to help determine weights, but I don’t remember being given as much guidance as the athletes get today,” Laura Broffitt said. “Losing water weight before weigh-ins was common, and wrestlers would wear rubber suits and ride the bike or spit into a cup. I know this still happens, but I don’t see our girls doing it.”
Contrary to old wrestling culture, Sylvia Broffitt takes a fresh approach to weight management: consistency over fluctuation. Sylvia Broffitt consistently stays around her weight class, making weigh-ins more manageable.
“Personally, I try to get down to the weight that I want to wrestle and stay there,” Sylvia Broffitt said. “Then, I can be comfortable for the rest of the season and not worry too much about cutting. I think it is important to make sure that girls have a healthy relationship with their weight outside of wrestling.”
Although Sylvia Broffitt has managed her weight for years, Laura Broffitt is hesitant about the harshness of wrestling’s culture impacting her decisions.
“It can be complicated to let your daughter make her own weight and food choices while also ensuring she’s being healthy and not skipping meals. I know there have been times when I’ve made her feel like she’s not doing a good job on her own. That wasn’t my intention, but it’s how it was received,” Laura Broffitt said. “I do think it’s important for parents to be involved and aware, but to do their best to trust that their athlete is doing it right and that the coaches and teammates are supporting them.”
Despite her hesitancies, Laura Broffitt recognises how wrestling culture has changed to focus less on cutting and more on results.
“I feel like everyone cut weight in some capacity when I was in high school. That’s not the case with our girls team,” Laura Broffitt said. “A lot of girls are wrestling the weight they started the season at.”
Additionally, Laura Broffitt acknowledges the strides made in policy protecting wrestlers.
“A lot of improvements have been made to weight management in wrestling,” Laura Broffitt said. “At the start of the season, wrestlers are given a weight descent plan based on their current weight and body composition. The plan outlines how quickly they can lose weight and the lowest weight class they could consider dropping to.”
To further protect high school athletes, the Iowa High School Athletic Association enacted the Body Composition Assessment. Based on athletes’ body composition at the beginning of the season, a descent plan capped athletes at losing a healthy amount of weight — no more than 1.5% of their body weight — each week. The BCA also established a minimum body fat percentage of 7% for boys and 12% for girls.
To ensure athletes’ safety, on the first violation, the athlete receives a letter of reprimand explaining future consequences; another violation results in the athlete forfeiting their matches, and both the athlete and the coach are suspended from the competition.
With weight playing a key role in every match, Sorrel drives home that athletes need to prioritise their well-being over everything else.
“Athletes should know that optimising energy availability, not just achieving a target weight, is essential for both health and performance,” Sorrell said. “If energy availability is not sufficient to support physiological functions, that’s when we can see issues like injuries, illness, and impaired performance. Athletes should focus on optimising energy availability to maximise performance and support overall health, rather than fixating on weight targets.”
Between navigating tough matches and tougher weight management, Mettenburg finds that he respects wrestlers not just for their performance, but for the pressure they navigate from peers, coaches and wrestling culture.
“One of the reasons why I have so much respect for wrestlers is that the sport isn’t just throwing a ball in a hoop. A [wrestler] told me that the hardest part of wrestling is weight management; not the practices, not even the tournaments,” Mettenburg said. “You have to be smart. You have to be able to track your weight and pay attention to it. You have to be mentally tough and sacrifice. Wrestlers are just different, and if they do it right, the sport makes them better people.”
