A Way of Life

Wrestling is a lifestyle. It is not unusual to have kids who have been wrestling since they were 5 years old. More times than not wrestling is a family tradition. It is difficult to get away from the sport. I do not quite fit this mold. I was the first person in my family to wrestle, and I didn't start until my 7th grade year. Whenever wrestling was mentioned my family thought I was talking about Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. They were surprised when they found out I was speaking of the sport not the World Wrestling Entertainment. It was my best friend who convinced me to give it a shot. He came from a wrestling family and participated in the sport ever since he knew how to walk. He got me into wrestling, and I never looked back. Wrestling helped me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. When I first started, I was a very chunky kid. I was always quiet, shy, and kept to myself. Wrestling helped me change all that. I developed the skills needed to watch my weight, and it also helped that wrestling was by far the most physically demanding sport I have ever played. I would easily lose three pounds a practice without much effort. Once the pounds started shedding off, I gained a little more confidence and eventually came out of my shell. However, wrestling is sort of a double edged sword. It can have numerous positive effects, but at the same time, it can also negatively affect a person. A wrestler’s eating habits are normally the first thing people question. When dieting is done incorrectly, it can harm the body. It is physically and mentally exhausting to continually exert so much energy and effort every day at practice and tournaments without being able to refuel the body appropriately. The most amount of weight I had to lose in one day was 10 pounds. This is accomplished by not eating, sweating out water weight, and the small little tricks that every wrestler has. Some like to spit in bottles. Others will constantly chew gum to try and burn that extra tenth of a pound. There are thousands of little rituals that wrestlers will do to lose that weight. Most people who have never wrestled before are startled when they hear about everything that wrestlers put themselves through. It is difficult to understand, but hopefully, I can clear this up with this blog.