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| A great quote, would be a crime to not share |
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| Science doesn't need to prove this is true |
Maybe
this is just me, or maybe others hear it too, maybe someone will say I’m out of
my mind. At least twice a week I
hear an ad on the radio or see one online about how to lose weight fast. Maybe these ads are targeted at me
because a good marketer has figured out that I wrestle based on what matches
I’ve watched online. Anyhow, I
don’t buy into any of this and I don’t think others should as well. This post may be a little controversial
for people, but this is just what I’ve seen and is my personal experiences.
To
start off, the one ad that I hear the most is lose ten pounds in ten days. The first thought that comes to my mind
is just ten days? Ten permanent
pounds off in ten days seems a little too good to be true. Other questions I have begin to arise,
like where is that weight coming off coming from? Is it water weight?
Muscle? Body fat? Here I will say I don’t know because I
have never done one of those. I
truly believe that there is a better system or for losing weight out there, and
being healthy in general overall.
I’ve
been told I must be crazy for wrestling, in reality my “normal” is different
from other people’s. If you’re
reading this, you probably know I wrestle for the University of Northern
Iowa. I have wrestled every year
since seventh grade. I have cut
weight every year since my freshman year of high school. Just participating in the sport of
wrestling has done more for me than anything else I have ever done. Self-discipline, accountability,
nutrition, exercise, physical and mental training, and a clear focus are the
some of the things that wrestling demands.
In
high school, wrestling season went from November to February. In college the season goes from
November to March. I am not
including summer wrestling or freestyle in the mix, any athlete dedicated to
their sport to the level of a division one athlete will tell you they rarely
take an extended period of time off.
My point here is, wrestling is a long season; it is probably one of the
two longest in college athletics along with men’s and women’s basketball (not
counting the preseason).
My
point is I’ve had a long period of time to change what I ate, how much I ate,
how I ate, how I slept, worked out, lost weight, and felt good doing it. A change in lifestyle is not easy, but
if one desires to change bad enough then it will be worth it. In my honest opinion, anyone outside
the sport of wrestling should never have a workout goal to cut weight.
I
was shown how to cut weight right, and I learned throughout the process. I was miserable at times, but only in
tight competition. I recall one
match where I had a 5-1 lead and was really tired with ten seconds left and
gave up a two-point reversal. It
was the meet before I could wrestle at 160, I weighed-in somewhere in the low
60s. I was giving up 8 or 9 pounds
when I stepped out there to compete at 171. This match was for first place too, I won (5-3), but not the
way I wanted too. That was
probably the worst I felt my sophomore year when I cut from 185 pounds to 160
pounds over and 8 week span for wrestling.
Those
25 pounds that came off were body fat, I felt leaner and stronger. I had some great practice room partners
that pushed me into becoming a good wrestler. Colton Vosberg (unbelievable strength), Stefan Breitling
(placed 8th at state at 215 weighing 190 pounds in 2009), Scott
Klinkel (Lat-dropped me on my head more times than I wanted), Taylor Knight
(most defined athlete while at Ames High in my opinion) Quentin Ring (A guy I
thought never got tired, he had amazing cardio), Josh Marker (straight funky
monkey style of wrestling), Ben and Luke Swalla, and Jake Agnitch (had to
mention these three), all pushed me to get better and all bring back great
memories. There are more but these
were guys who I either went to state or wrestled on a consistent basis in the
practice room. Over four years of
high school I wrestled Scott and Josh the most.
Back
to losing ten pounds in ten days, I am under the assumption that an individual
is probably doing this plan by himself or herself. That is the first flaw I have with it, doing it by oneself
is going to make one miserable.
Wrestling provided me a support system of everyone sacrificing for the
team. The second issue (not really
a flaw), is this is a short term plan.
I understand if someone has a wedding in ten days and needs to look good
and wants some extra help, this is for them. For someone who wants to lose weight, what about the ten
days after? If you want ten
permanent pounds off, this short term plan or system is not the way to go, the
weight will come back.
The
third flaw, is these ads messes with people’s personal feelings about
themselves as it relates to the way they think society wants them to look. Like I said before, weight loss is a
terrible goal for anyone outside of wrestling. Individually if you are going to workout or have a plan, the
only goal is for you to feel good about yourself. A healthy heart goes a long way, you can have a healthy
heart by cutting weight (like I did) or by just adjusting little things, but
they have to be long term adjustments.
That is going to be my focus when I say good-bye to wrestling but when I
still work out, one healthy heart.
To anyone considering buying a magic pill or workout program like a ten
day one, don’t my advice is to focus on heart health (just my opinion, not a
fact)
The
best example I have of this is my Dad.
He is in his 50s, and last year he had a check up at the doctor’s office
to see how his body was doing. In
my head the picture I have is my Dad in workout gear with a mask on and wires
hooked up to his body measuring his heart and other body functions. The treadmill is then cranked up to a
high level and they see how high my dad’s heart rate can go. My Dad weighs around 265, I think,
better give or take 5 pounds (yes, a little above his Olympic weight of 198
pounds, but he earned it). He got
his heart rate up to 212 or something around there, I am told that is good. When he was running at that high pace
for over 30 minutes his doctor was stunned. My dad’s doctor had just seen the healthiest heart in one of
his patients in a long time. My
dad told him he could have run for a longer time as well.
At
this age my dad is not trying to lose weight. He is reaping in the benefits from over twenty years of
consistent hard exercise along with eating healthy. Permanent weight loss is a long-term objective in my
mind. It should only be left to
wrestlers, as for everyone else, I don’t think an individual should cut weight
just because they want too. There
are more ways to do it wrong than right.
This short term lose ten pounds in ten days idea is for the birds
(unless you have a big life coming up, it is marketed and sold for a reason, I
understand that side of it).
People
buy these products, I hope before the next one does they read this post. Ten days is short-term, it is not
permanent weight coming off (it is all water weight, our body is 70%
water). When you’re body senses an
imbalance it will correct it and the weight comes back (the human body is
pretty incredible in its own right, but that’s a whole other blog). Ten pounds in ten days to me doesn't exist, ten pounds in say four or five weeks is more realistic. That was my strategy I used to drop ten pounds this preseason, today I made my goal (I weighed 174, the weight which I plan to wrestle at this year). I hope this post winds up in front of
someone who really needs it. Until
next time, laugh with everyone, but never at someone.
Riley
Banach
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| Keep going because whatever you're doing is making you stronger. |
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| Our coach has driven this idea in my head for four years now. He's right. |
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