Being a male wrestler and participating in this competitive sport doesn’t just come with victory, but also with many hours of harsh workouts. The physical toll of this demanding sport can have lasting effects.

A well-known term in wrestling, essential to many wrestlers, is ‘cutting weight’. A wrestler’s opponent is determined  by their weight class. A few days before a wrestling dual, wrestlers may participate in a diet, where they eat next to nothing. The purpose of cutting weight is to make the weight class the wrestler is  assigned to, but be physically bigger and stronger than the opponent. This weight cutting can have negative side effects, such as eating disorders.  Eating disorders are becoming more common amongst athletes. According to Eating Disorder Hope, 45% of male eating disorders typically evolve from competitive sports.

Wrestlers may work under intensely harsh conditions when trying to cut weight.

“We workout every day from 2:00 to 5:30, besides the weekends, and the wrestling room is like 100 degrees. We’re just going hard the whole time, and we can probably lose up to 6 or 7 pounds every practice,” Ethan Presgrove, Ada High sophomore, said.

Wrestling workouts are physical and designed to get and keep wrestlers in shape. A regular workout at the high school usually starts out with about five minutes of cardio, before moving to a few minutes of stretching with bigger bands. Next, comes about 30 minutes of non stop one-on-one wrestling, followed by a workout routine filled with drills known as “milking it”, where wrestlers preform ab workouts and learn moves to compete with.

The tough and long workouts spent on the mats can take an emotional toll on wrestlers, as well.

“When cutting weight, times get hard, because no one else knows what you’re going through,” said Dylan Fisher, Ada High Junior.

Wrestlers have also been known to use different methods to cut weight quickly. The trash bag method usually involves doing cardio while wearing a trash bag to keep in heat and make the person sweat more during the workout. According to LiveStrong.com, a cream, Albolene, generally used as a makeup remover or moisturizer, is now being used by many athletes, including wrestlers. Athletes have started rubbing the cream all over their bodies to help sweat and lose weight faster.

In an October 11, Huffington Post article, the struggles of male athletes battling eating disorders were examined. It was determined that next-level athletes suffer from intense workouts and rough, restricted diets.  In particular, wrestlers were examined, and it was reported that many wrestlers attempt to keep low levels of body fat, even as low as three percent.

As wrestlers continue to use dangerous methods of weight loss, the health and body image issues will likely continue to be a growing problem.