Effects of Alcohol on progress

[bigphishy56]

I know that nights of excessive drinking hinder growth/progress, but i was wondering what effect casual drinking would have.

[VikingMan]

Define casual drinking. One or two drinks or beers once a week? Probably not going to hurt anything. Getting drunk once a week, probably not going to do you any favors.

[:::JMANN:::]

Originally Posted by VikingMan

Define casual drinking. One or two drinks or beers once a week? Probably not going to hurt anything. Getting drunk once a week, probably not going to do you any favors.

Especially the night before you lift again. That day in the gym will suck. Depending on how serious lifting is to you, will determine how much you drink. I try to drink as little, if any as possible. Though I am sure there are plenty of people that lift weights and drink, for others it's not an option.

[SmallStrength]

Yea, I try to only drink on special occasions and it always hinders my progress..... because I get destroyed when I drink

[bxbombers]

i made the best gains of my life when i was in college. i would go out about 3 nights a week, but it never slew me down

[:::JMANN:::]

Originally Posted by bxbombers

i made the best gains of my life when i was in college. i would go out about 3 nights a week, but it never slew me down

There could be many reasons why you had gains those years, not related to alcohol. There was a point at which I drank everyday, so when training it didn't seem like it had an effect, becuase it was a constant effect, but now, that I don't drink, I can see the effect when I do because it's not constant. The benefits of not drinking and training out weigh the benefits of drinking, but like I said, how serious one takes it is up to the individual themselves, it's not to say you can't drink and lift weights.

[rake922]

1. Alcohol negatively affects protein synthesis - this is a known scientific fact guys and one that is obviously a big hinderance to our goals considering decreased protein synthesis means decreased muscle recovery and growth. though you may blow it off thinking it's effects can't be that dramatic, think again. alcohol can decrease our bodies ability to synthesize protein by up to 20%.

2. Alcohol adversely affects growth hormone and igf - this applies not only to exogenous, but endogenous gh and igf as well, and the effects are quite significant, particularly on igf. alcohol can lower igf levels by as much as 30-40%.

3. Alcohol causes dehydration - in order to break down the alcohol, the kidneys must filter a large amount of water. considering our muscles are made of 70% water and water plays a huge role in muscle recovery and growth, this is obviously a big problem. for those mistakingly thinking the dehydrating effect isn't that significant, here's something to think about... Alcohol can cause up to a 3% loss in body weight from water loss in a 4 hour period.

4. Alcohol lowers testosterone and increases estrogen levels - this occurs due to alcohols increase in our bodies aromitization process. now, anyone with even a basic knowledge on testosterone and estrogen would know this is a very unfavorable effect on our bodies. long story short, it's effects include reduced muscle growth/recovery, increased fat storage, and other feminization effects.

5. Alcohol depletes our bodies of vitamins and minerals - the most prominent of those being the b vitamins (b-6,b-12, etc), vit a, vit c, phosphorous, calcium, and zinc. Obviously lacking in these nutrients can seriously hinder muscle growth, recovery, and even maintenance.

6. Calories from Alcohol are primarily stored as bodyfat - best said in this quote "carbohydrates found in alcohol are not converted into glucose and are used to make fatty acids that are stored as fat typically in the liver which eventually alters the metabolism of proteins and the liver’s function leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis (irreversible liver damage)" (article 3). . nuff said.

7. Alcohol negatively affects our bodies kreb's cycle - this is our bodies ability to burn fat as an energy source. so if our body doesn't burn fat as an energy source, the alternatives are blood glucose, muscle glycogen, and muscle protein, the third of which of course us bb's try to avoid at all costs.

8. Alcohol negatively affects our REM sleep - this occurs even in minor alcohol consumption (2-3 drinks). it negatively affects the duration of our REM sleep, it's quality, and the overall time we're in REM during our resting period. see article 5 below for more info.

9. Alcohol decreases our bodies immune system - considering gear can lower our immunity systems as it is, alcohol can increase our chances of getting sick or getting infections even more, and quite dramatically, even in small amounts. obviously being sick means less time in the gym, or at least a decreased ability to recover while working out.

10. Alcohol increases cortisol production - cortisol is one of the worst chemicals we can have floating around in our bodies as far as negatively affecting our muscle mass. if you don't know what cortisol is and why you want to avoid increasing it's production, just do a wikipedia search about cortisol and you'll see why. basically, it will break down muscle mass into amino acids as a stress response.

[COOP1]

Good post man! New Years is comming up quick, better drink lots of water before you go to sleep!
There are several serious weight lifters at my local gym the get drunk around 3 times aweek, maybe I should show them this post!