Are you cutting weight?

Stop accepting poor practices just because it’s the way things have always been done ❌❌❌.

One of my hobbies is jiu jitsu 🥋. Cutting weight for a tournament is a normal practice. However, many times I hear of people resorting to extreme measures to make weight. These measures may include eating very little leading up to the tournament, restricting fluids and sodium, trying to sweat as much as possible, and using diuretics/laxatives.

Sounds horrible? It is. 🥵 But yet we do this and pass these “techniques” on to new competitors because it’s “how things are done.”🤦🏽‍♀️

Studies have shown a higher risk of a poor performance when larger weight cuts are attempted. This is thought to be linked to the abusive behaviors athletes participate in to reach a lower weight class. (PMID: 31117325) These behaviors have much larger impacts on our bodies than just feeling tired or unwell.

Of course many athletes have no problem with weight cutting and perform very well. Which in similar studies, weight cutting has been seen as a neutral tool ( PMID: 29698457). 🤔

I believe this comes down to the implementation of weight cutting. If done correctly, it can be effective in helping us compete in a weight class that is beneficial to us. 👍🏽 If we engage in abusive behaviors to make weight, we may severely affect our ability to perform at our highest ability. 😰

Feeling exhausted and depleted will only defeat the purpose of attempting to compete in a lower weight class.

Just a reminder that weight cutting is a practice observed in many sports at many different levels. From beginner to Olympic level competitions. 🏋🏾‍♀️🤼‍♀️🥊

Next time you are considering a weight cut, take a step back and ask yourself if this is a potentially harmful behavior. At the end of it all, we want to feel our best for our competition and be at a peak performance level.🏆🥇

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