Holiday weight gains are well-established, but for some Redhawks, winter break wasn’t about adding extra pounds. For some members of the wrestling team, break was all about maintaining weight, and making sure the calories count didn’t get too high.

“We want to get rid of as much baby fat and keep the lean muscle on,” co-head wrestling coach Justin Koons said.  “Every year, we have to get weight-certed, meaning we have a certified trainer who certifies us in our weight. They weigh us, see our hydration levels, and do a skin-pull test, and all that will indicate if we’re at a healthy weight in the first place. Whatever the test shows, it allows us to see how much weight that person can lose safely on a daily basis. We’re not trying to shred pounds or be the lowest we can because the certification we have only allows us to go down so low.”

Safety is like the holy grail to Centennial High School athletic coordinator Jennifer Lamabe, who is responsible for weight-certifying wrestlers across Frisco ISD. For Lamabe, it’s about trying to ensure wrestlers don’t try to drop too much weight.

“The idea of weight loss for this scenario being a gradual rather than sudden process and the certificate saying ‘you must weigh at least this much’ ensure that there are no unintended side effects and still allow wrestlers to maintain a healthy weight,” Lamabe said.

Getting rid of baby fat is not the only thing weight loss does, however. It also makes them more agile and gives them an advantage over their competition.

 “The conditioning the wrestling coaches have the team doing are very useful and important for getting faster and just really moving around the mat,” freshman Dani Banks said. “An example could be going against less experienced guys/girls and being faster and able to have a better opportunity to use the techniques you didn’t or weren’t able to use before dropping weight.”

To help the wrestlers in following through with their individual weight plans, the coaches employ an arsenal of methods such as weight-lifting, conditioning, and practice matches. While some of it is familiar from other sports, other aspects are unique to wrestling.

“Running conditioning doesn’t translate over to wrestling conditioning at all,” senior James-Ethan Harris said.“Instead of running we wrestle ‘scrimmage’ matches called going live that helps us prepare for our meets.”

Whether it’s running or wrestling, exercise isn’t the only thing that helps the athletes lose weight, as eating right is also important.

“It’s on each athlete in our program to take care of their diet and their nutrition,” Koons said. “When they’re training, we try to encourage them to eat as clean as possible, meaning not a lot of junk food, not a lot of fast food, more proteins and carbs and fruits and vegetables–the way we should be eating.This maintains energy levels and also maintains a proper body weight as much as we can, but it allows them to lose as much and be as lean as they can.”

While the wrestlers understand the reasons behind dieting, it can sometimes be challenging for them.

“A healthy diet is probably the hardest thing about wrestling,” Harris said. “If I were to eat a Big Mac or a 10-piece nugget meal before a match, my body would ache and I wouldn’t have a good source of energy for my matches. That’s why I usually eat chicken and rice with some vegetables before a match. I have healthy carbs and lipids my body can utilize.”

When the season is done, many of the athletes bulk back up until it’s time for the next season to start. 

“The benefits of bulking after the season is to gain muscle and when the season starts we cut weight so all that’s left is muscle, water weight, and some fat,” Castillo said. “It’s beneficial because it allows us to know what weight class we would classify and which ones we can choose to go to based on our weight.”

This constant cycle of weight gain and loss isn’t ideal according to Lamabe, and in Frisco ISD wrestling, it’s something that’s carefully monitored. 

“In general, teenagers should avoid sudden weight changes because they have the potential to interfere with growth and bodily functions and lead to the onset of medical problems,” Lamabe said. “And in cases like this one where it’s even somewhat justified, we still have to be very, very careful.”