Let me clear a few things up. When you dehydrate your body you are not losing weight, you are cutting weight. I promise you it will come back as soon as you start replenishing your fluids. Ultimate fighters and boxers alike will do this to their bodies about once every three months (sometimes less than once a year) on the professional level. Then, they will have up to 24 hours to recover. In that time they may actually gain back every bit of the 20 pounds they have cut, giving themselves what they perceive as a real advantage. Wrestlers do it once to twice a week. I would not suggest subjecting your body to that form of abuse.

Marbla,

First off, age is not a factor. Lets just say I'm younger than most and have extensive experience in the "dehydration dept" from college/high school.

Most coaches preach to their kids the importance of staying hydrated throughout the day. To many kids, this means grabbing a Coke. As a coach, you do what you can on your end and hope the kids are doing the same when they are away from you. As we all know, this isn't always the case. From all the links you gave, you'll see that's an overriding factor.

You'll also notice that in each article you linked to that they are built on a concept that the athlete is properly hydrated and or fed at that point in time. Again, that is under the assumption that the athlete is doing everything on his part.

Now the reality is that wrestlers skip meals and do other things dangerous to their bodies that would through all the information you provided right out the window.

Therefor, the key issue is not one of hydration, but nutrition. You will not hear from any athlete I have coached in the past of my condoning that type of behavior and will in fact, quite often hear of me "jumping" all over them because they are not taking care of their bodies through nutrition. If they do all that they are suppose to while out of the wrestling room, they are better prepared for the grind of practice.

You will also notice that one of the articles you chose says that doing everything that you should with a combination of hydration will help prevent fatigue. There's a big difference between fatigue and death. Fatigue is a point athletes push themselves to reach for physical and mental preparation. It should be done at various levels (another topic altogether) to help athletes reach their peaks.

Again, I'll point out that I do give water breaks during my practices, but there is a difference between water for survival and water for a wind break.

I just read the last two articles, the other two deal with outdoors - another deal altogether. Next time, try to get articles that don't contradict themselves. The "football deaths" article says that athletes should get all the water they want (true, pads, August, heat are a deadly combination), while at the same time, another article discusses proper nutrition along with the Sport Medicine recommendations will help performance. The article says nothing about, athletes cutting weight and depriving themselves of the nutrition they need and how much water should be given.

There should be your biggest complaint. Is the coach promoting proper nutrition? Are the athletes following those guidelines? Or, are they starving themselves/cutting back on fluids to make weight and a coach is not adamantly telling his athletes he won't accept that kind of irresponsibility?

The heat in your wrestling room is another issue altogether. I prefer the room a little warmer, but don't like the sweats/extra layers because it restricts movement and that overheats a kid. All they are doing is pulling water out of their system and aren't getting any better.

A blanket statement like, "coach won't let us drink" is irresponsible. First, as you've provided in one of your links, if a person is properly hydrated, 16 fluid ounces is suggested between each hour. So, if the athlete has done his part before practice that would only be one pop can of fluid in the middle of practice. They could get the second after practice was over.

I could be wrong, but I've never read a story of the perfect athlete, who's eating what they should eat, drinking what they should drink, ever die from not getting 16 oz. of water in the middle of practice.

I will fault, however, the coach if he is not promoting the "right way to do things." Again, I'm not saying I don't give breaks, I do, but there's a lot more to the story than provided.

Those are all great points, coach, and I wasn't implying that you don't give water breaks, I was simply trying to point out that dehydration could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I wasn't argueing against your statements in your earlier post. Again, I was just pointing out that dehydration could be a contributing factor.

Coach- I was commenting on the dehydration and not the weight lose per say. There is a huge difference and I understand that but saying a kid will dehrydrate during practice if no water is given is just hard to figure when you watch something like the Boxers cutting 24 lbs in 24 hours and not dehydrate. I know it could happen but it has to be more then an hour and 30 minutes I would think. if the wrestlers drinks all day long he should be fine in practice.

Hydration is a funny thing! Dan Gable contends he has never passed a hydration test. The other night, in the UFC show, where the Doctor contend a man who loses 20 lbs. in 24 hours was not De-hydrated, was clearly talking about something else.

I am confident, that the warrior from UFC could not pass a hydration test! A good rule of thumb is ... if your urine is clear ... you are hydrated. If your urine is stained or straw colored … you are not hydrated.

The last few pounds of water weight, once an athlete reaches a certain level, is robbed from the visceral lining of the vital organs, including the brain. I'm not really sure but that doesn't sound too healthy to me!

That, accompanied with three deaths of wrestlers a few years back, is why a knowledgeable coach should not condone this method of “cutting weight”. When an athlete starts having stomach cramps and becomes lethargic they need water.

Hey Scooby, I see what you are saying and that does make sense to me. It just struck a nerve because I had a couple of young impressionable wrestlers watch the same episode. I just wanted to make it clear that you can't compare what a UFC fighter does to what we might have to do. Our weight cutting has to be me more permanent and easier to maintain over a period of time.

On the point at hand, my old High School coach was an old school guy that believed anyone who couldn't cut a few pounds was mentally weak. Although I do not share his beliefs about cutting and starving, he did have one very good policy on the mat about drinks. He made us bring our own water bottles and would not allow us to leave the mats to get a drink. He found it disruptive if you left the mat to get a drink. He also pointed out that it allowed you to take a mental break from practice, something he hated. We were allowed however, at any time to take a small swallow of water and then get right back to practice. I use this same policy in my practices.

exactly

Sorry Marbla,

The football deaths comment struck a chord with me.

That's alright. No harm, no foul.

If wrestles need water during practice they can bring a water bottle. A water "break" is not only disruptive to practice but it takes an overwight wrestlers mind from losing weight to getting a drink.

My practice now consists of drinking pop and sitting? Anyone else partake in this action?

What, no GTA? My thumbs are huge now that the season is over....

I don't understand why some wrestlers starve themselves anyway. These are young kids who are still growing and need adequate nutrition. Obviously, if a kid is out of shape and works hard in practice they are going to lose some fat. But, after that these kids are just losing muscle mass and vital water weight that their body needs to function properly. Things like liver, brain and kidney function. When and why did this start happening. Sadly, I see this in my own sons age and weight (8/61) and I scares me!