Weight control for high school wrestlers

Anthropometric measurements were obtained from 141 Nebraska State Tournament wrestlers in order to predict their ideal minimum wrestling weight via the Tipton-Tcheng predictim equation. An r of .93 was found between predicted weight and actual weight for 131 of the state tournament qualifiers (excluding heavy-weights). Data indicated that the winners more nearly approximated their predicted weight than did the losers. The mean percent difference between actual weight showed that the upper weight classes (138- 185) more closely approximated their predicted weight than the lower weight than the lower weight classes (98-132). The results indicate that a prediction equation can reliably predict a wrestlers ideal weight and could be used to eliminate unwise weight reduction practices.