True champion or not why can't parents (Dad) just let them wrestle if you can't beat the other kid you can't beat him work harder I feel it's a a chicken ---- way out the back door.Let it be fun for the kid's and let them eat and be happy some thoughts please.

People define cutting weight in deferent terms a parent and wrestler watching what they eat during the weeek and weghing in at 2 lbs less on friday than monday is not cutting weight. And is not wrong the bottom line is that most everyone watchs what they eat during wrestling season. And if thier going to have a wrestling career thier going to have to get used to it it only gets worse from here. The older they get the more it happens and the more they'll cut. My son weighs right at 61 lbs and thats what we'll wrestle now he could eat pizza every day and wrestle 64 lbs. But why not watch what he eats and wrestle the lower weight. honestly the 64lb kids are accually pretty big compared to him in size and muscle mass. But not because he can't beat someone. And I think most people feel about the same way.

1 or 2 pounds depending on the kid and parent isnt all that much but what i have seen is each bracket is going to have a couple kids that are very good and that have already did what alot of us have done to make our kid stand in that #1 spot and alot not always u have just as good of chance where ever your kid falls in weight and i agree with alot of people when they say 1 or 2 pounnds isnt bad when u do it the right way but also saying there kids and why run from anyone when in the later yrs its only going to make them better when it really counts

my wife has said, "why not just move him up a class?" If he is 55.6lbs and I move him up, I would want him to be as close to 58lbs as possible. So if he moves up and he bulks up then we are trying to maintain him right at 58.

If I monitor his intake and he practices and trains hard, he hangs right around the 55.4 mark. Worst case senerio is that he skips lunch for an evening weigh in and eats right after.

Believe me, with kids like Beeson and Deshayzer in Koltons age and weight If we were running from tough kids I would be letting him eat.

My sons all wrestle at the upper end of the weight scale. At that area (IMO) you can see a wider range of body styles. To come come down and find an area that you can be competitive at is IMO not running. At the very begining of the season my son wrestled 14U 165. He has lost 17 pounds this season. The "baby fat" has melted away and he is a very different kid. Were we getting throttled at 165?? YES! Were the kids built very different from us?? YES YES YES!
So did we "run" down?? I guess so. I like to think we made an awesome life change and my son LOVES the sport again.
My other son had a broken foot at the 1st of the season and all year long we have wrestled 10U 120 and we were very competitive. We only weighed 113 (at most) and now we are at 110. We have wrestled BIGGER kids all year long to make us a better/stronger wrestler. So did we "run" down??? I guess so!!!
I think its all in how you look at it.

Weight management is an important part of this sport.
Don't be quick judge people because they drop weight towards the end of the season. Some of it is very natural and some of it is very stratigic.
Either way, it is a part of the sport that will never change.

We have never cut weight on my boy and he always ends up getting beat by kids who do cut weight which is frustrating so this year we also wrestled up 2 brackets and it helped him more than i thought so now when we go to park city maybe he can be the kid who has the edge.

I agree cutting a couple of pounds at the end of the season probably isn't a big deal.

My question is how do most go about it? Anyone cut more than a couple lbs in a given week?

I believe cutting weight is the harsh dieting and massive work ouside side of practice to drop weight class to gain an advantage. My son started the season at 99 lbs wrestling 10&u 100. Throughout the course of the season his weight dropped to around 93 lbs. We did not "run" from anyone in the 100 lbs weight bracket. We put him where his natural weight settled into during the season.

I have major digestive problem that have been linked to massive weight cutting in high school. I discourage all kids from cutting weight. Eating more health and cutting out soda, pizza and fast food should not be conciders "Cutting weight" it should be concidered good health and good fitness. Both of which are part of being a coach for this great sport and any other sport.

Plus you must consider the % of body weight.
A kid @ 150 dropping 15 pounds is not as bad as a 58 pounder dropping 7 pounds.
Some people just don't have it to give.

It all depends on the kid. Some kids like my son come in to the beginning of the season "chubby" thanks to tv and video games. Since the season started, he has gone from wrestling 95 and now he is down to 82. He has done it by being disciplined throughout the season and by exercise in the form of practice. We have caught alot of crap from the faculty at the school, because he brings his own lunch and doesn't eat that much of it. He was one of those kids that never ate breakfast. Since the season began, he eats a good breakfast and is not hungry at lunch. He used to skip breakfast and by the time lunch came, he was starving so he inhaled whatever he could get his hand on. I believe there is a huge difference in "cutting weight" and simply managing the diet. His big thing is pastas and bread. You would be surprised how much a kid can loose GRADUALLY by cutting the amount of carbohydrates the he or she consumes. I am all for doing it over a long period of time, however I am not for a young kid coming into practice on Wednesday four pounds over and starving himself to weigh in on Friday evening. My son is I guess vertically challenged to be politically correct. Did he do well where he was at? Yes, but he was a little chubby and looked so much smaller than some of the kids in his brackets. The kid can eat all the fish, chicken, broccoli, and veggies that he wants as long as it is not breaded and lose .25 to .5 pounds per day and still keep his energy and muscle mass which is so important in wrestling. The extreme cutting sacrifices these two very important ingredients to make a good wrestler. Bottom line. Parents who are correctly involved with their childs wrestling know what is a safe weight for their child. They know the excercise level of the child and the metabolism. The win at all costs parents sometimes overloook the safety of their child. After all are we not in it for the kids?

My son wrestles 8 and under 70lbs. He started the wrestling season at 73lbs. But as the season went along he lost that 3lbs just by training hard. Now he is weighing at the upper end of 70lbs. if not right at 70lbs. Yes, we watch what he eats. We had him cut out breakfast cereal for one week and he lost 3lbs. Just by feeding him the right snacks, no junk food, and eating a healthy dinner has helped him; along with practices. We are not avoiding a bracket full of state placers, we are just trying to give him a chance to make it to state. Big difference between watching what they eat and making them cut weight to avoid competition. JMO.

I do not believe in cutting weight for kids because I think they need to be disciplined throughout the year and not just during 3 or 4 months. have your child eating well year around and getting plenty of exercise will maintain a healthy body. Wrestle where you fall and become the best you can be. When it is all said and done and you are in High School then by all means cut a pound or two if needed and work your way into become a true champion year around and not just during wrestling season.

As a football coach I want healthy kids not unhealthy so maintain the proper weight year around through proper diet is a great thing.

Good Luck to all