Why weight cutting is harder for women in combat sports

India’s youngest Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat had to lose 4.6kg in 10 hours to be eligible to compete in his crucial medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That was just a few days after Vinesh Phogat, who had reached the final in the women’s 50kg wrestling event, was deemed a stubborn 100 grams overweight on the day of the gold-medal bout.

Prior to competition, athletes from combat sport such as wrestling, boxing, judo and mixed martial arts, among others, are required to have their body mass verified.

Combat sports categorize athletes into weight divisions to minimize disparities in size, strength, range and leverage between competitors. To ensure that athletes meet the weight requirements for their respective divisions, official weigh-ins are conducted before the bouts.

To make weight, athletes often undergo the gruelling process of weight cutting or weight control. Phogat failed to make weight during the weigh-in, resulting in her disqualification.

Weight cutting is a well-known practice across weight category sports. But if Sehrawat was able to shed those 4.6kgs overnight, why did Phogat fail despite doing the same things?

The process of weight cutting, undeniably tough, is often more difficult for women.

This argument also formed the basis of Phogat’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS, where her team sought a shared silver medal.

They contended that a tolerance should be applied, given that the 100-gram excess could be attributed to factors like water intake and water retention, especially during the pre-menstrual phase.

While it’s important to uphold rules and set precedents as CAS did, Phogat’s case highlights how weight cutting differs between men and women.

Why is weight cutting tougher for women?

Menstrual cycle

According to research and the consensus of several sports scientists, hormonal fluctuations before and during the menstrual cycle affect weight and many women then also crave additional food when it comes to the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle compared to the follicular phase.

“Depending upon whether they are in the pre-menstrual or post-menstrual phase, 200-300 calories make a significant difference in the metabolism of an athlete,” explained Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of sports medicine of the Sports Authority of India, to Scroll.

Nutrition scientist Stacy Sims, in her book ROAR, argued that cutting water weight becomes more difficult for female athletes during the high hormone phase before their menstrual cycle. These imbalances in estrogen and progesterone, whether too high or too low, cause the body to retain more water in the tissues and reduce sweating due to a decrease in blood volume, leading the body to resist weight loss.

For instance, in her first weigh-in on the morning of her gold medal bout, Phogat was 150 grams over 50kg. She was able to reduce 50 grams before her second weigh-in but the last hundred grams refused to budge.

Hormones and muscle mass

“In addition to the menstrual cycle, hormones such as cortisol and thyroid in the body are affected by lack of sleep and increased stress,” said Mehar Panjwani, a clinical nutritionist to Scroll. “This last-minute mental agony can cause weight gain due to water retention and hormonal changes.”

Phogat had neither slept nor rested the night before and underwent rapid weight loss through running, skipping and exercising by raising body temperature in sweat suits or saunas.

Meanwhile, a larger presence of testosterone in men compared to women also makes a significant difference. Testosterone is an anabolic hormone. This category of hormones are responsible for promoting and maintaining muscle growth and mass, bone density, and the synthesis of proteins in the body.

“Lower levels of testosterone in women certainly have a role to play in the unnecessary deposition of fats and adipose tissue in the muscles,” added Ahuja.

Another significant difference in weight cutting lies in metabolism. Women generally have a lower Resting Metabolic Rate – the amount of energy the body needs to maintain basic physiological functions while at rest – and lower energy expenditure compared to men.

Due to this disparity, men can shed calories and expend energy more efficiently than women. With higher lean muscle mass, men burn more calories even at rest.

“A male combat sport athlete has a higher amount of lean muscle mass compared to his female counterparts,” explained Dr Samuel Pullinger, the head of sports science at the Inspire Institute of Sport to Scroll. “So in essence, males can lose weight quicker because they have higher glycogen stores and less glycogen associated water stores.”

Sweating

Men are prolific sweaters, which is an advantage when it comes to weight category sports.

Dehydration is the key method to cutting weight rapidly. The body cannot burn fat, carbohydrates, muscle mass, or bone mass that quickly. Water is the only component in the body that can be rapidly reduced.

Because women tend to sweat less than men, they often require more extreme temperatures or methods to achieve significant sweat-induced weight loss.

Pullinger said that there are many harmful weight loss strategies employed by Indian combat sport athletes which go beyond the saunas, sweat suits and running in the heat to get rid of the last few traces of water in the body.

“These methods will literally range from severe fasting to complete fluid restriction to vomiting,” he said. “It also moves to the use of diuretics or laxatives which have been shown to result in positive doping cases.”

Besides gender differences, what else matters?

Age. Sehrawat is 21. Phogat turns 30 on August 25.

According to Dr Nikhil Latey, a leading sports science and rehabilation expert, Phogat wouldn’t have struggled as much if she was younger.

“At a younger age, your body recovers much faster,” Latey said to this publication. “Cutting weight is a kind of abuse you are doing to yourself and when you are younger, the body is able to take more abuse.

“Now at age 21, it’s easy. At 25, it’s not so easy but doable. At 29, it is still possible but difficult. But beyond that, once you cross 30, where your body’s recovery really slows down and the fat percentage is slightly increased, it becomes much harder to lose weight and come back.”

For Paris, Phogat had no choice but to compete in the 50kg category, which is at least five to six kilograms below her natural walking weight – the weight she maintains when living her typical lifestyle without engaging in extreme dieting or excessive exercise. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Phogat had competed in the 53kg event.

Ahuja agreed, stating that at 29, it is unlikely that Phogat could continue to maintain weight at the 50kg category.

Belonging to a heavier natural weight category and cutting down to a smaller one is regular among wrestlers. Age, however, makes it more difficult to make weight.

Also read: Pro Kabaddi League – How athletes of the league deal with staying within weight limit

Is weight cutting damaging?

When Phogat stepped on to the mat for her first Olympic bout, her sunken eyes, the shrivelled facial muscles,and the absence of her usual braids made it clear that every possible measure had been taken to bring her down to the required 50kg mark.

Many athletes experience intense pressure and mental stress, particularly when deprived of food and water just before their weigh-ins.

“Athletes essentially starve their bodies to make weight, only to rapidly rehydrate and refuel once they are cleared to compete,” said Panjwani. “However, this cycle is not sustainable for long-term health.”

The damage is both physical and mental, in both the short and long term.

“Physically, these methods can lead to endocrine dysfunction, liver damage and even heart and brain issues,” said Pullinger. “Dehydration, a common consequence of severe weight cutting, severely impairs kidney function, leading to decreased urine output, concentrated urine, and protein leakage, all of which can have harmful effects. Research suggests that for every 1% of body weight lost, the risk of injury increases by approximately 10%, especially as competition approaches.

Pullinger added that rapid weight loss is linked to mood swings and increases anxiety, “which can negatively impact an athlete’s concentration, memory, and cognitive processing, ultimately reducing overall performance.”

In combat sports where knockouts, victory by fall and submissions are some of the common ways to win a fight, the risk of long-term damage is further heightened due to these extreme weight cutting methods.

“When you lose so much of water weight, water is lost not just from underneath the skin, blood, but also from the cerebrospinal fluid – the fluid inside your spinal cord that also covers the brain,” explained Latey.

If the quantity of fluid goes down, then the protection to the brain goes down. If the athlete sustains enough knock-outs in a dehydrated state, it can lead to injuries and eventually also be fatal, as it has happened in many cases, including American boxer Patrick Day.

Should we expect changes?

In an ideal world, rules and laws that are draconian should be subject to review or amendment. While CAS appears to recognise the severity of these regulations, it’s unlikely that there will be significant changes for female athletes in weight category sports.

If the rules remain unchanged, the focus shifts to addressing issues within the Indian context.

Ahuja points out that while basic data on Indian Olympic athletes (such as age, height, weight, and BMI) is available, detailed information on body fat percentage and lean body mass is lacking, even at the grassroot level.

Rather than strategically improving or reducing muscle mass, the focus is often on lowering body fat percentages without a clear approach.

“Asians differ significantly from Africans and Europeans,” Ahuja said. “We need to improve how we quantify factors such as food intake, energy expenditure and variations due to gender and ethnicity for Indians.”

Pullinger advocates for moving away from severe fasting methods and instead using blood profiling and screening for personalized support. This includes a Resting Metabolic Rate test to tailor diets based on individual needs, training, age and gender.

“We try to stay away from these severe fasting methods used for extreme weight loss and instead, conduct blood profiling and screening to offer personalized support to each athlete,” he said.

“Additionally, we have a female athlete health support system that tracks menstrual cycles, energy levels and injury patterns to minimize injury risks and ensure menstrual health.”

Besides phasing out the weight control process over three to six months, experts encourage athletes to consider fighting in higher weight divisions instead.

Manny Pacquio, for example, has been a world champion across different weight classes – from 49kg to 67kg. Instead of cutting weight, he gave up on his titles in specific weight categories and put on muscle, got bigger and chose to move up categories.

Similarly, female athletes might benefit from moving up a weight class, especially considering factors like gender differences and age. Boxer Mary Kom, who won World Championship titles in the 48kg category but earned her Olympic bronze in the 51kg class, illustrates this point.

“Many athletes believe that being slightly bigger in a smaller weight category is a huge advantage –and it is, as long as you’re young enough to cut weight,” said Latey. “However, once you get older, wiser and smarter, it’s not a bad idea to move up a weight class. You’ll have more room to build muscle and other advantages.”

The process is complicated and more nuanced than the current rules suggest, but it can boil down to one simple thing. An athlete may prepare to compete in a specific category in a structured manner but it might not always be the one that they naturally belong to.