For serious athletes, preparation is everything. While lifting hard or watching film often take center stage, dieting is a key aspect that seems to fly under the radar. From a lineman bulking up to a wrestler cutting weight for a bout, food intake and eating habits are critical to performance in virtually every sport.
Strength and Conditioning Coach Kevin Dilworth, a former professional track athlete, knows firsthand the importance of dieting correctly for athletes.
Dilworth says eating clean foods at consistent times and their water intake are of the utmost importance for athletes trying to maximize their potential.
While principles like that are true across the board, the difference in dietary habits of some athletes is night and day.
“A wrestler that’s trying to cut weight wouldn’t do the same thing as a lineman that’s trying to gain weight,” Dilworth said. “We always want our linemen’s plates to be big.”
There are potential dangers to both ends of the spectrum.
“Wrestlers who cut too much risk losing muscle,” Dilworth said. “And for linemen, eating too much high cholesterol and fried foods will slow you down.”
Senior offensive lineman Matei Oprea has worked closely with Dilworth to build a diet that works for him.
“We really focus on having a plan,” Oprea said. “Things to avoid, things to really target, and overall trying to build healthy habits.”
For a lineman like Oprea, extra meals and high doses of protein and carbohydrates afford the energy necessary to compete at a high level throughout the season. During the offseason and the summer leading up to competition, the consumtion varies.
‘The way I’ve approached it is that the offseason is your time to bulk up,” Oprea said. “You’re not as worried about being in shape for your sport, so you’re really just trying to gain as much strength as possible.”
Last offseason, Oprea climbed to around 290 pounds. Then, during summer workouts, he quickly shed 10 pounds as he got into game shape and honed in on his diet. Oprea intends to maintain that weight for the rest of the season.
Football often calls for yearly weight fluctuations, but those pale in comparison to the drastic weight changes wrestlers undergo in just a couple of weeks, sometimes even days.
Sophomore wrestler Ferris Gotlich follows a meticulous regimen to make weight for competition.
“The week before, I’ll start to be in a calorie deficit. Then the week of, on Monday, I’ll have as much protein as I can eat. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ll try to cut my protein down and have foods that don’t have a lot of fat and salt, and I’ll be drinking a lot of water because on Thursday and Friday I won’t drink much water,” Gotlich said.
Because practices like this can be dangerous if performed improperly, all wrestlers coordinate with our athletic staff.
“We have to do a weight certification that takes our body fat,” Gotlich said, “Then we’ll see Trainer Matt and he’ll tell us what our limit is to cut down to.”
Wrestlers see the impact of this diet in all facets of life.
“I’m really tired all the time and it can be a little harder to focus in class.” Gotlich said. “It’s really a drain mentally, really intense.”
In recent years, fitness influencers have flocked to social media to share their personal food plans. Many have attracted large followings by proposing alternative and often obscure diets. Last December, Junior rower Walker Stevens saw a variation of the carnivore diet on Tik Tok and decided to give it a try.
“People were saying that it’s a great way to boost your energy,” Stevens said. “I did it primarily for crew because I was relying a lot on caffeine and energy drinks to carry me through the day.”
Stevens felt the carnivore diet could mitigate his reliance on caffeine, provide him with a clean source of energy, and greatly reduce his intake of processed foods. While these benefits all sounded great, Stevens ultimately found there were some serious drawbacks.
“I thought the problem with it was a lack of carbohydrates,” Stevens said. “In most diets, you have bread, rice, and other grains, but in this diet, sweet potatoes were the only type of carbs I got, so it was really restrictive.”
After a month, Stevens felt less energized than before and discovered through his Whoop Fitness Band that his blood pressure had dropped. Although he does not recommend this diet to anyone, Stevens feels there are intense diets out there that can be beneficial.
“If I found a kind of hybrid carnivore diet that didn’t have any processed sugar in it, I’d definitely try that,” Stevens said.
From trendy tiktok diets to rapid weight fluctuations, athletes can go to extremes to maximize their performance. Staying healthy, talking to trainers and coaches, and knowing your limits are crucial during these processes.
“The most important thing is to listen to your body,” Dilworth said.
