This week I competed in the World Cup in Belarus and next week I will compete in the Grand Prix Abu Dhabi. This will mean I have have competed in 5 competitions over a 6 week period, having to make weight each time.
For some athletes "making weight" is harder than for others. At the International events I suspect that the majority go through a "process" of making weight rather than sitting comfortably under. The perception (whether it is real or not) is that you don't want to give away any weight to your opposition. To do this you need to maximise your strength/weight ratio. Many athletes will then artificially reduce their weight through dehydration prior to the weigh in. Once weighed in they can then "top up" this fluid loss.
The big question here is what is an acceptable amount of weight loss prior to a competition? Many experienced judo players have got on that "merry go around" of making weight where they think...well last time I lost 3 kg in a week...so 3.5kg will be ok this time....and next time its 4kg and on it goes. Before you know it you are losing unsafe amounts of weight prior to the competition. It's not just your pe
rformance that suffers, but it can also be your health.
In the World Cup in Belarus, I watched with interest as an athlete from another country struggled to make weight. This athlete was from a well respected Judo nation and the thought of not making weight would not be entertained or acceptable. It was even suggested that a failure of her to make weight would make the nightly news in their country.
Athletes will use a number of alternatives to "sweat out" that last bit of weight. This includes saunas, hot baths, running in sweat suits etc. However it was made more difficult here due to the lack of these facilities. No sauna, bath, and it was freezing outside. The night before the competition, the athlete went to bed 1.5kg over. On the morning of her weigh in, I could here her running the corridors of the hotel in her sweat suit from 330am! This went on up until the official weigh in of 7am where she failed to make weight by 400 grams. So in a period of 3.5 hours, the athlete was only able to lose 1.1kg! That generally means one thing...that she was already extremely dehydrated. One can only guess at the amount of weight she must have lost prior to this last 1.5kg.
So the question remains...what is an acceptable amount of weight loss?
Studies have shown that even a 2% decrease in body weight through water loss can cause detrimental effects, with reports of up to a 20% decrease in performance! So for a 63kg Judo athlete that's just 1.26kg!
Some of the physical and mental signs of dehydration include:
- Higher heart rate
- Impaired aerobic capacity
- Reduced concentration and decision making
- Slower reaction times
- Impaired judgement
All of which are not ideal to the sport of Judo!
However, I watched with interest an experiment on effects of dehydration on sports performance which can be viewed at :
This experiment had a professional Rugby player complete an obstacle course whilst hydrated. They then had him lose 14 pounds running in a sweat suit under hot lights. The Rugby player than completed the same circuit. What was amazing was that he improved on his performance. The experiment explains in small detail the theory behind this. However it also cautions that such weight loss is not healthy.
- A sweat session in Venezuela last year
The one thing that remains certain is that the need for a Judo athlete to make weight will always be there. What must be decided is what amount does the athlete believe is acceptable without having major effects on their health and performance? Having competed in the same weight division for 18 years, I learnt that there is not a magic figure. All athletes are different. Men and women are different. The main issue here I believe is ensuring that you don't find yourself on that "Merry go round" because its gets hard to get off. Find a base and stick to it. You will enjoy your competitive years in Judo a lot more.
