Booze and Training

[tigertron]

well i doubt drinking is a good thing while trying to be serious about training...

BUT i do still like to have a few pints of beer on the weekends with the boys
i usually train in the mornings...but for what ever reason last saturday i went to the gym around
7pm...got home, ate got cleaned up...and headed out for a nite out with my friends

i didnt really drink any more then usual just a moderate amount but for some reason it TOTALLY destroyed me

i was just wondering if anyone knew any sort of connection between the 2? or if was just some sorta freak occurrence?

[Leanstrong]

I would have credited it to drinking on an empty stomach, but you said you ate. I don't think there's any real relationship, when is the last time you got drunk before that day? Your tolerance lowers the longer you go without drinking, to a point.

[Firehawk]

Workouts tend to really drain you of energy and - more importantly - dehydrate you. Thought you might feel like you were properly hydrated (and if you are like most of us drink fluids while working out) it's more than likely you were at least slightly dehydrated. This can make a big difference in how drunk you feel. I'd recommend trying to space out drinking and your workouts and if you do drink the same day as a work out make sure you drink lots of water.

But generally speaking, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Could have just been a coincidence as well.

[potto]

I used to drink most nights. It wasn't til I stopped drinking frequently that I realised just how great you feel if you don't drink. I remember travelling for a month and binge drinking every night. The first day I woke up after that month without having had a drink I was like "this is a strange feeling". Took me an hour to realise that it was the feeling of not being hungover.

These days I tend to avoid the chode juice. It just depletes me of energy, makes me crave all the wrong kinds of foods, and generally wastes the entire following day because I'm too lazy to move. Try alcohol free beers. They taste 80% the same (probably still full of calories though).

That said, if u want to drink, then drink. Shit happens, and we all have our vices. I'd rather train and drink than drink and be tv-aholic.

[satyricon]

2 shots of Bushmills pre work out=true strength. just kidding. i feel as long as you eat before you indulge and dont do it in excess (too much in one evening or too often during the week) things should be fine.for bodybuilding probably not a good idea, but i can say that i drink a decent amount of whiskey and ale and have yet to see any negative results as far as strength gains and adding # to the bar.

[Jerzi78]

Working out speeds up your metabolism and the blood flow is much more rapid in your body. The water in your body will also have a dilution effect on alcohol so make sure you are properly hydrated, some believe beer is a quicker hydrate than water. These are the reasons why the alcohol is processed at a quicker rate.

[ezravdb]

This is for sure: Alcohol limits the ability to build muscle.
What is does to strength..I don't know. I think it does the same. I guess you have to find out yourself.
After a weekend of drinking I usually don't feel well recovered.

Btw, alcohol depletes you of vitamins en minerals en dehydrates you.
So it's easy to say it has a bad effect on your recovery in general. (strength and muscle)

[mutt]

to much beer totally screws me up. sometimes for a few days, although, i'm 26 .. when i was 18 it didn't matter at all. i'm sure for the older guys, they can attest it gets worse with age and becomes something to really watch out for.

just be smart about it, to much alcohol screws up more than just your strength gains. it also makes you fat over time.

beer, the cause of, and solution to all of life's problems...

[jdkent]

I'm 30 now and I can't drink like I could 10 years ago. In fact, I'm ready to go to bed at 10pm...granted...I also wake up at 6am now. I finally discovered that light beer is your friend (e.g. bud light), as it has less calories and less alcohol. You're less likely to get destroyed.

[Jcraig]

Are on the Anabolic Diet?

[Mason01]

I used to Love to drink...still do however after a year of training and proper dieting...my appetite has somewhat diminished...in my humble opinion after doing alot of reading on the subject the worst thing about alcohol is not the empty calories or the carbs but

1. It slows down your metabolism for 24 hours after drinking
2. when you drink alcohol your body prioritizes things to get rid of it before it does anything else as it is considered a toxin...so all of the unprosessed food you ate before or whatever you eat during the time you are consuming alcohol is just turned to fat...

both of these things I am trying to avoid...

[americanadian]

I can't remember the exact science behind it, but the ghist was: if you plan on drinking heavily that night, don't bother going to the gym. Something about after working out, your body needs nutrients from FOOD to repair itself and when you deprive it of that, it begins to eat itself. This is never more prevelant than after working out- hence the whole eat some carbs and protein post workout craze (a couple of chugs of chocolate milk will do fine), so if you plan on poisoning your body (alcohol is a poison- I'm not some religious nut tea-totaller), don't damage your body first. You don't break even, you lose muscle.

A full beer (not light or lite) though can give you energy, B vitamins, and goodness. In moderation (1-3). Light beers don't have any of the heart healthy attributes of full beers.

That, and the whole thing about dehydration.

[pulseman]

Working out and booze don't mix. I do like a drink of Cognac, Brandy, Tequila, Saki, once in a while, ( I'm not a beer drinker) but not during one of my training sessions. If I'm working out I have notice it interferes with my recovery and makes me feel kind of sick. If I'm not working out its totally OK, my body handles it no problems. Remember the liver controls your metabolism and it is the organ in charge of processing alcohol, which is a poison. Alcohol lowers your testosterone levels too, see the relationship? It also depletes the body of vitamins B1 and B6 and I think B12.
The following formula will help a hell of a lot after a night of drinking, 1 gram of amino acid cysteine, 1 gram of vitamin B1 and 5 grams vitamin C. If you do not take C in this proportion to cysteine you could develop gallstones. Eggs have a lot of cysteine in them.
You can throw your gains back a few weeks just because of alcohol, not worth it as it makes you feel no gain in the gym. Instead drink non-alcoholic beer.
One more note, sweet alcoholic beverages will really hurt you. Avoid them at all costs!

[Young Athlete]

drinking is bad for muscle tissue quality

[un8eliever]

I used to drink a lot when I was younger, but age and kids meant it was increasingly not worth it any more.

When I started getting fit in mid-2008 I made an effort to cut right down and avoid binge drinking. After a few months I realised there was a six-pack in the fridge that hadn't been touched for weeks and was just taking up space. This is totally unheard of in my life - in the past a six-pack would do well to last three days, and would just be a starter during the weekend.

At Christmas I had a few glasses of wine with my dinner but no longer felt the need to keep drinking. So when it came to New Year and I was into sl5x5 I decided what's the point? I'm now teetotal and feel great about it.

Granted, this would have been much a more difficult decision in the days before fatherhood when I had a somewhat more active social life, but looking back I wonder what I could have achieved by now if I'd made the same commitment then.