Not sure how this relates,a couple days ago I watched part of a program on PBS showing how kids were heaver than ever in this country.A panel of healthcare experts all agreed this was a very unhealthy trend,infact they called it a deadly epidemic.
It is true that there is an overweight problem in America today but have our extremely low weight classes in wrestling done anything to stop it? Our low weight classes have been in place for years and the rising weights in children continue to climb. The rising weights are not all due to obesity situations. Kids are also taller today. My dad was bigger than his dad, I was bigger than my dad and now my son looks like he will soon be bigger than me.
I also agree with wrestlingparent's comment that most of the wrestlers that my son encountered in 285 this year were not obese but football player type athletes in good muscular condition. Another thing that contributes to the heavier weights in athletes is the fact that they start hitting the weight and strength training rooms earlier and more often today. In the late 1960's when I was playing high school football it was rare for someone to be lifting weights in high school. I was around 200 pounds as an offensive and defensive tackle and I was considered big. Today at that weight that is probably not even considered that big for a running back. Today some schools actually have weight trainers in their high schools and also have weight rooms with a lot of equipment. Athletes are bigger today due to the natural evolution of growth between generations and due to this extra weight training.
Yes there is a weight problem in America today but let's not mix it up with the issue that we need more weight classes for the upper half of our student population over the 50% median weight. If we want to be concerned about a weight problem in wrestling perhaps we should be concerned about how our low weight classes might contribute to excess cutting of weights for our lighter wrestlers and excessive back and forth of their weights during the season. I have seen some articles that point out that this too is dangerous for an athlete's long term health and may also stunt their long term growth development. I think this is a more significant weight problem in wrestling today than an obesity problem with our wrestlers.
