zaki

Seen many boxers and other athletes wearing lots of layers of clothing while doing cardio to help speed up Weigh loss but does it work very well and is there any down sides?

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Decent question, and i havent a clue what teh answer is

DaveMCMkIII

hello mate,

in my current thesis im doing a study on hydration and have covered the topic of weight cutting via increasing sweat loss through the processes you have discussed (e.g. cardio with layers on, in a sauna with layers on etc). The process it trigers is hypohydration, which means your body is going into a stage where it is lossing more water than it is gaining, causing a water deficit. This causes a number of physiological triggers and problems:

- impaired heat loss, resulting in increased body temperature
- increased HR due to the fact your heart has to beat faster to maintain the same volume of blood ejected from the heart because of a decrease in the amount of blood it ejects per beat (stroke volume) this is called 'cardiovascular drift' and obviously impairs performance
- impaired blood flow which will also impair performance due to higher reistance so its harder for blood to move
- Cause losses of electrons (sodium, pottassium and chloride) which help things such as fluid balance
- can cause heat related illness

as you can see theres alot of things it causes that impair performance. Obviously doing what you say does reduce your body mass but not in a positive way!these guys do it to reach weight restrictions at the last minute and not out of choice (well i hope not!). In my opinion tho they have long enough to train and reach weight restrictions so they shouldnt to do this as it will markedly impair there performance in the ring for example.

Basically i strongly advice you NOT TO do this, its dangerous, not only because it will impair your performance at the gym but can very easily cause heat related illnesses, such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion and hyponatremia. There have been a number of cases in american wrestlers for an example who have died from adopting this form of weight cutting and the call by organistions to discourage and ban its use. Keep very well hydrated, most people are under hydrated, even elite athletes before during and after competition. Hydration is something which is always talked about loads but is usually over looked, not achieved, or not done properly. I'll post the abstract of my findings once ive done my thesis and this will give everyone all the info they need on hydration

dexterc

Guys, they are only doing this when they are actually cutting weight, not losing it permanently. Cutting is the practice of getting under the required weight for the weigh in, which happens the day before, by dehydrating yourself.

Then, of course, you rehydrate as soon as the weigh in is done, but its tricky, and there are only a few guys that have it down to the science that it needs to be to be done well, for the reasons noted above. Ive seen people lose fights over not doing it correctly.