To Drinkers: It’s OK to drink alcohol the night you workout, here’s the REAL Science!

[fatacad]

We’ve all seen it and heard it. If you Google “Is it ok to drink alcohol after a workout?” or “Is it ok to drink the night before a workout?” We are bombarded with a million articles all saying the same thing: Drinking too much alcohol is evil. Drinking will destroy our gains and annihilate protein synthesis. It will mess up our physiology and **** with our hormones and testosterone production. Drinking alcohol the night BEFORE your workout is worse than skipping it. It’s evil! Well no, it’s all bull**** propaganda. Let me explain:

First of all I I’d like to state that I do not condone excessive drinking. I think it goes without saying that constant excessive drinking is dangerous, unhealthy, and can lead to major health issues down the road. That being said, this article is aimed towards the large majority who lift weights and have a social life, those who do enjoy drinking and want to know its actual effect on muscle growth. And I’m not talking about 1-2 drinks a day, this article is for weightlifters who like to go out and get DRUNK. Myself included. As someone who regularly drinks A LOT of beer and has never noticed any decline in performance or gains, I wanted to research it more deeply. And for those of you who drink a lot, here are the REAL studies I found on alcohol vs. muscle growth:

This article basically explains a statistically significant study on the effects of heavy drinking and protein synthesis after a workout. The study showed that there was no effect in strength or protein synthesis with heavy drinking after a workout with “familiar” moves (squat, bench, deadlift, etc.) However, it did show a slight decrease in recovery with brand new exercises and weight movements. Here’s the article:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/59k3...drinking-after

Here is the scientific study:
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/A...Affect.16.aspx

2: Of course we are all probably familiar with the infamous study “athletes pounded 6 shots of vodka within 4 hours of workout and their muscle synthesis dropped 37%, but only 24% when they consumed a whey protein shake”. What isn’t well known or even acknowledged in a lot of these articles is that this study was performed with 8 people. Yes a whopping eight people. All athletes, and all junk science. Here’s the actual scientific study:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0088384

When it comes to drinking excessively the night before you work out, well that’s just common sense. You might not be able to perform as well if you’re hung over and dehydrated, but it’s not going to effect your muscle growth. If you put 80% into your workout because you’re hung over, you’ll still get 80% gains. The drinks you had the night before won’t cause you to not gain any muscle for the same amount of effort.

The truth is that there is hardly any research available on the effects of alcohol after a workout. All studies mostly deal with working out while intoxicated, which is not something any normal lifter would do. All articles on Google tell us how horrible it is to drink after our workouts based on 1 or 2 studies with 8 people… and their politically correct anti-drinking crusade. Every single article you read will quote that 37/24% thing, and if they are lazy they won’t even quote that and just tell you it’s bad with no basis. I can tell you that I drink and I am still building muscle, so it’s ultimately up to you and how you feel. If you choose to drink, it’s not going to make that much of a difference based on current research. Go out and live your life and get laid.

[desslok]

I see you are new here…

[Tommy W.]

We’ve all seen it and heard it. If you Google “Is it ok to drink alcohol after a workout?” or “Is it ok to drink the night before a workout?” We are bombarded with a million articles all saying the same thing: Drinking too much alcohol is evil. Drinking will destroy our gains and annihilate protein synthesis. It will mess up our physiology and **** with our hormones and testosterone production. Drinking alcohol the night BEFORE your workout is worse than skipping it. It’s evil! Well no, it’s all bull**** propaganda. Let me explain:

First of all I I’d like to state that I do not condone excessive drinking. I think it goes without saying that constant excessive drinking is dangerous, unhealthy, and can lead to major health issues down the road. That being said, this article is aimed towards the large majority who lift weights and have a social life, those who do enjoy drinking and want to know its actual effect on muscle growth. And I’m not talking about 1-2 drinks a day, this article is for weightlifters who like to go out and get DRUNK. Myself included. As someone who regularly drinks A LOT of beer and has never noticed any decline in performance or gains, I wanted to research it more deeply. And for those of you who drink a lot, here are the REAL studies I found on alcohol vs. muscle growth:

This article basically explains a statistically significant study on the effects of heavy drinking and protein synthesis after a workout. The study showed that there was no effect in strength or protein synthesis with heavy drinking after a workout with “familiar” moves (squat, bench, deadlift, etc.) However, it did show a slight decrease in recovery with brand new exercises and weight movements. Here’s the article:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/59k3...drinking-after

Here is the scientific study:
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/A...Affect.16.aspx

2: Of course we are all probably familiar with the infamous study “athletes pounded 6 shots of vodka within 4 hours of workout and their muscle synthesis dropped 37%, but only 24% when they consumed a whey protein shake”. What isn’t well known or even acknowledged in a lot of these articles is that this study was performed with 8 people. Yes a whopping eight people. All athletes, and all junk science. Here’s the actual scientific study:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0088384

When it comes to drinking excessively the night before you work out, well that’s just common sense. You might not be able to perform as well if you’re hung over and dehydrated, but it’s not going to effect your muscle growth. If you put 80% into your workout because you’re hung over, you’ll still get 80% gains. The drinks you had the night before won’t cause you to not gain any muscle for the same amount of effort.

The truth is that there is hardly any research available on the effects of alcohol after a workout. All studies mostly deal with working out while intoxicated, which is not something any normal lifter would do. All articles on Google tell us how horrible it is to drink after our workouts based on 1 or 2 studies with 8 people… and their politically correct anti-drinking crusade. Every single article you read will quote that 37/24% thing, and if they are lazy they won’t even quote that and just tell you it’s bad with no basis. I can tell you that I drink and I am still building muscle, so it’s ultimately up to you and how you feel. If you choose to drink, it’s not going to make that much of a difference based on current research. Go out and live your life and get laid.

Bottom line is the more serious you are about diet and training the less you'll drink

[snailsrus]

Bottom line is the more serious you are about diet and training the less you'll drink

unless your an alcoholic….

[Tommy W.]

unless your an alcoholic….

Alcoholics don't do well in the fitness\diet world. There is one very well known diet\fitness guru who had a terrible problem then fixed it and is now doing infinitely better with everything

[AdamWW]

Alcoholics don't do well in the fitness\diet world. There is one very well known diet\fitness guru who had a terrible problem then fixed it and is now doing infinitely better with everything

You mean...

[Tommy W.]

You mean...

yeah...

[GayCumLord]

I lose strength after a hard cider


nothanksjeff

[Xpiro]

Alcoholics don't do well in the fitness\diet world. There is one very well known diet\fitness guru who had a terrible problem then fixed it and is now doing infinitely better with everything

When I drank 24/7 (20/7 technically I guess) I ran 3 miles a day, not exactly ****faced but pre-run was a shot of rum. Or 2. I didn’t get into lifting until I recovered, but you wouldn’t have been able to guess just by talking and looking at me that I carried a fifth in my backpack and airplane shot bottles in my pockets at all times. Not that I’m advocating it.

[desslok]

When I drank 24/7 (20/7 technically I guess) I ran 3 miles a day, not exactly ****faced but pre-run was a shot of rum. Or 2. I didn’t get into lifting until I recovered, but you wouldn’t have been able to guess just by talking and looking at me that I carried a fifth in my backpack and airplane shot bottles in my pockets at all times. Not that I’m advocating it.

yep, its only when you get to higher levels of contests, that 99.99% of forum members will not attempt(nor want to), that drinking in moderation really has any noticeable affect on. for me personally though I won’t lift after drinking as I lose strength and energy and it just isn’t worth my time. So i tend to just drink after workout or off days.

[snailsrus]

yep, its only when you get to higher levels of contests, that 99.99% of forum members will not attempt(nor want to), that drinking in moderation really has any noticeable affect on. for me personally though I won’t lift after drinking as I lose strength and energy and it just isn’t worth my time. So i tend to just drink after workout or off days.

I got my first npc pro card at 19 on a fifth a day and even more than with my first PL meet I placed gold in.

Not recommending anyone should, I just cut all carbs for gin and did 2 hours of cardio a day. Doing that, probably sped up the havoc lupus and other aspects of things you do to compete at higher end figure comps, has had on my body. Even more so specifically my kidneys. Kinda surprised they functional at all tbh it’s definitely boarding kidney decease though and I have a fatty liver. My organs are screwed up. :/

It’s definitely a good way to ruin your body and isn’t sustainable

[EliKoehn]

I suppose I'm still young enough where it's too early to say if the amount I drink is going to cause cirrhosis or other problems, but reducing consumption would be wise, anyway. Only on weekends and then a stray weekday here or there. I won't even try to argue that it's healthy, but how harmful isn't easy to say. Leads to foolish decisions and is statistically linked to a higher likelihood of death in any form - accident, health, etc.

As far as gym performance goes, I haven't noticed any problem but it certainly tends to speed up weight gain immensely.

EDIT: So, succinctly, the short-run problem here is that "eating enough food to recover" and "getting DRUNK" as you say, is pretty much always going to mean a huge calorie surplus, unless you're tiny or eating PSMF or something.

[snailsrus]

I suppose I'm still young enough where it's too early to say if the amount I drink is going to cause cirrhosis or other problems, but reducing consumption would be wise, anyway. Only on weekends and then a stray weekday here or there. I won't even try to argue that it's healthy, but how harmful isn't easy to say. Leads to foolish decisions and is statistically linked to a higher likelihood of death in any form - accident, health, etc.

As far as gym performance goes, I haven't noticed any problem but it certainly tends to speed up weight gain immensely.

EDIT: So, succinctly, the short-run problem here is that "eating enough food to recover" and "getting DRUNK" as you say, is pretty much always going to mean a huge calorie surplus, unless you're tiny or eating PSMF or something.

What’s psmf?

[EliKoehn]

What’s psmf?

Protein-Sparing Modified Fasting

The method of eating virtually only protein and the trace carbs or fat that nearly pure sources of it contain, like a few carbs in low-fat cottage cheese or the single gram of fat in a can of tuna are ok, but it's 90%+ protein only.

In that case, I guess you could eat adequate protein to recover and get drunk after a workout but that is obviously far from ideal... My point in mentioning it was to say that you'd have to revert to an extreme if you don't want to be in a huge surplus getting trashed after a sizeable meal.

[XinXom]

It seems fairly well known that it blunts MPS while your body processes it. Over a long period of time its hard to say if you would notice as you still recover so ok you lose a single MPS activation that doesn't seem so bad tbh not much different than night time fasting after a lift form what I understand. It is not optimal by any means and I would assume if you drank after every lift there would be a noticeable difference in gains than if you didn't as then you would be tossing multiple possible MPS activations . As Eli said my issue was always the calories it has and my personal tendency to binge 6000+ calories while drunk that make it something I can not do much. TLDR sure you can drink and make gains but it certainly makes it harder and staying lean while getting drunk is even harder and IMO not worth the trouble for me to do with any real normal frequency.

[snailsrus]

Protein-Sparing Modified Fasting

The method of eating virtually only protein and the trace carbs or fat that nearly pure sources of it contain, like a few carbs in low-fat cottage cheese or the single gram of fat in a can of tuna are ok, but it's 90%+ protein only.

In that case, I guess you could eat adequate protein to recover and get drunk after a workout but that is obviously far from ideal... My point in mentioning it was to say that you'd have to revert to an extreme if you don't want to be in a huge surplus getting trashed after a sizeable meal.

ya that’s basically similar to how I drank/ate when drinking. Super lean proteins and veggies, bare minimum fats sometimes not even minimums

It was green veggies, egg whites, 0% Greek yogurt and carb master yogurt, whey isolate (150 g of protein) and a chit ton of gin

[EliKoehn]

ya that’s basically similar to how I drank/ate when drinking. Super lean proteins and veggies, bare minimum fats sometimes not even minimums

It was green veggies, egg whites, 0% Greek yogurt and carb master yogurt, whey isolate and a chit ton of gin

You did that on purpose to maintain the deficit, or you just did that by habit anyway?

Since about a year ago, I am careful not to eat more than a medium portion if I'm also going to drink. Takes a lot to really get to me, anyway, but the calories are still there either way.

[snailsrus]

You did that on purpose to maintain the deficit, or you just did that by habit anyway?

Since about a year ago, I am careful not to eat more than a medium portion if I'm also going to drink. Takes a lot to really get to me, anyway, but the calories are still there either way.

this was because I was an alcoholic. I felt I had to drink daily and quite a lot to not begin to withdrawal. I had a very bad problem with drinking. Easily I would finish a fifth in 1-2 hours at night. I ruined my organs. I have lupus and stopped taking the medication to manage it. I was also using workout supplements to maintain muscle mass. All of that bound together permanently damaged my kidneys, made the epilepsy I have from lupus much worse and gave me a fatty liver. This year I’m also showing signs of pancreatic cancer unfortunately, even though it’s been over five years since I have drank even a drop. My levels of CA 19-9 are super high, my ct scans are not normal :/

It is what it is. Drinking is god awful for people like me. It almost killed me

[Strawng]

It seems fairly well known that it blunts MPS while your body processes it. Over a long period of time its hard to say if you would notice as you still recover so ok you lose a single MPS activation that doesn't seem so bad tbh not much different than night time fasting after a lift form what I understand. It is not optimal by any means and I would assume if you drank after every lift there would be a noticeable difference in gains than if you didn't as then you would be tossing multiple possible MPS activations . As Eli said my issue was always the calories it has and my personal tendency to binge 6000+ calories while drunk that make it something I can not do much. TLDR sure you can drink and make gains but it certainly makes it harder and staying lean while getting drunk is even harder and IMO not worth the trouble for me to do with any real normal frequency.

I don't have any binge eating tendencies and I usually have relatively normal meals while drinking, but the NEXT DAY...all bets are off. I'm starving when I'm hungover.

You did that on purpose to maintain the deficit, or you just did that by habit anyway?

Since about a year ago, I am careful not to eat more than a medium portion if I'm also going to drink. Takes a lot to really get to me, anyway, but the calories are still there either way.

No need to PSMF. My parents are alcoholics and remain low BF%'s. They eat Mexican food, McDonald's, & other processed foods for every single meal. My dad moves a lot and they just don't eat much, especially my mom. I spent the whole day with her last week. Her one meal of the day was a regular hamburger and medium fry from McD's, both of which she split with the dogs (they probably got half). She weighs 90 lbs. The rum she drank herself into slurring, incoherent state of chitfacery with that night didn't put an ounce on her.

[Tommy W.]

this was because I was an alcoholic. I felt I had to drink daily and quite a lot to not begin to withdrawal. I had a very bad problem with drinking. Easily I would finish a fifth in 1-2 hours at night. I ruined my organs. I have lupus and stopped taking the medication to manage it. I was also using workout supplements to maintain muscle mass. All of that bound together permanently damaged my kidneys, made the epilepsy I have from lupus much worse and gave me a fatty liver. This year I’m also showing signs of pancreatic cancer unfortunately, even though it’s been over five years since I have drank even a drop. My levels of CA 19-9 are super high, my ct scans are not normal :/

It is what it is. Drinking is god awful for people like me. It almost killed me

A fifth, isn't that equal to like 17 drinks?

[EliKoehn]

this was because I was an alcoholic. I felt I had to drink daily and quite a lot to not begin to withdrawal. I had a very bad problem with drinking. Easily I would finish a fifth in 1-2 hours at night. I ruined my organs. I have lupus and stopped taking the medication to manage it. I was also using workout supplements to maintain muscle mass. All of that bound together permanently damaged my kidneys, made the epilepsy I have from lupus much worse and gave me a fatty liver. This year I’m also showing signs of pancreatic cancer unfortunately, even though it’s been over five years since I have drank even a drop. My levels of CA 19-9 are super high, my ct scans are not normal :/

It is what it is. Drinking is god awful for people like me. It almost killed me

Wow, well great job knocking it. That surely took a lot of fortitude.

Of course I can't speak to anything else which may or may not stem from it, but wish you the best on it. Your lifts and physique are really good; maybe that could counteract it somewhat?

[snailsrus]

Wow, well great job knocking it. That surely took a lot of fortitude.

Of course I can't speak to anything else which may or may not stem from it, but wish you the best on it. Your lifts and physique are really good; maybe that could counteract it somewhat?

I still worked out 2 hours every day pretty intensely, I was younger too and other “factors” helped

I would never go back to that hell then again I’d be dead too if I tried.

A fifth, isn't that equal to like 17 drinks?

yup. Near the end of my drinking I was at a handle a day. Aka 40 shots. But I was going into this thing called Alcoholic myopathy, I couldn’t even digest calories correctly.

I don't have any binge eating tendencies and I usually have relatively normal meals while drinking, but the NEXT DAY...all bets are off. I'm starving when I'm hungover.


No need to PSMF. My parents are alcoholics and remain low BF%'s. They eat Mexican food, McDonald's, & other processed foods for every single meal. My dad moves a lot and they just don't eat much, especially my mom. I spent the whole day with her last week. Her one meal of the day was a regular hamburger and medium fry from McD's, both of which she split with the dogs (they probably got half). She weighs 90 lbs. The rum she drank herself into slurring, incoherent state of chitfacery with that night didn't put an ounce on her.

I don’t understand how your mother is alive tbh Not saying she is lucky as it sounds like she is struggling with her own demons but the fact her body is still working is amazing

[Strawng]

I don’t understand how your mother is alive tbh Not saying she is lucky as it sounds like she is struggling with her own demons but the fact her body is still working is amazing

I don't either. She's lived that way since she was a teenager. It seems like a medical marvel for someone to survive so many decades of alcohol, starvation, and malnutrition. I say the same for my dad who at least eats closer to normal portions of food, but his mind has very rapidly deteriorated into what seems like signs of early dementia. I suppose some people's bodies can put up with more abuse. Some people have heart attacks at a healthy weight and BF %, other people are 600+ pounds and keep trucking along.

[paulinkansas]

Some people have heart attacks at a healthy weight and BF %, other people are 600+ pounds and keep trucking along.

Jim Fixx died of a heart attack. He wrote a book back in the '70s that started the craze in running/jogging. I think this is a duplicate post of mine from a year or two ago.

[Xpiro]

yep, its only when you get to higher levels of contests, that 99.99% of forum members will not attempt(nor want to), that drinking in moderation really has any noticeable affect on. for me personally though I won’t lift after drinking as I lose strength and energy and it just isn’t worth my time. So i tend to just drink after workout or off days.

Man, maybe it’s age but I don’t even like the way it make me feels while I’m drinking it anymore. Plus I value sleep a lot more now because goals and it just goes to **** after a night out. Now I just smoke or eat weed at the end of my day, great for insomnia induced by an inability to shut my brain up.

[Tommy W.]

I don't have any binge eating tendencies and I usually have relatively normal meals while drinking, but the NEXT DAY...all bets are off. I'm starving when I'm hungover.


No need to PSMF. My parents are alcoholics and remain low BF%'s. They eat Mexican food, McDonald's, & other processed foods for every single meal. My dad moves a lot and they just don't eat much, especially my mom. I spent the whole day with her last week. Her one meal of the day was a regular hamburger and medium fry from McD's, both of which she split with the dogs (they probably got half). She weighs 90 lbs. The rum she drank herself into slurring, incoherent state of chitfacery with that night didn't put an ounce on her.

if she stayed in a weekly deficit with the booze she wouldn't gain fat

[Strawng]

if she stayed in a weekly deficit with the booze she wouldn't gain fat

Exactly my point. There are plenty of rail-thin alcoholics who stay in a deficit because they drink instead of eat.

[fatacad]

I don't have any binge eating tendencies and I usually have relatively normal meals while drinking, but the NEXT DAY...all bets are off. I'm starving when I'm hungover.


No need to PSMF. My parents are alcoholics and remain low BF%'s. They eat Mexican food, McDonald's, & other processed foods for every single meal. My dad moves a lot and they just don't eat much, especially my mom. I spent the whole day with her last week. Her one meal of the day was a regular hamburger and medium fry from McD's, both of which she split with the dogs (they probably got half). She weighs 90 lbs. The rum she drank herself into slurring, incoherent state of chitfacery with that night didn't put an ounce on her.

Exactly the point of the article. Alcohol will not "directly" influence protein synthesis like the current bro science and articles claim, however it can influence it significantly indirectly. If you feel the need to ingest 1,000 calories of pizza when you drink, then yes your body composition will be affected. If you like to get drunk and then workout, then yes of course you wouldn't be able to perform at peak and your body composition will be affected. If you are an alcoholic who chooses to drink over diet and workouts, then of course you will not see benefits. This article isn't aimed towards alcoholics, it's aimed at the younger bodybuilder crowd who like to go out to bars and clubs and socialize and have a bunch of drinks. I didn't go into detail about the hazards of heavy drinking here because we all already know them. The agenda of this post and the scientific articles presented is simply stating: As a "direct" relationship, alcohol has absolutely no impact on your ability to build muscle. I've shown you the "real" scientific studies that can even be considered close to science, and yes there are a whopping 2 real studies. Maybe more will come in the future. But both show that if someone wants to lift weights and get trashed, there is absolutely no effect on your muscle synthesis from your workout earlier that day. This is of course not considering your own personal bad habits whilst intoxicated!

[XinXom]

Exactly the point of the article. Alcohol will not "directly" influence protein synthesis like the current bro science and articles claim, however it can influence it significantly indirectly. If you feel the need to ingest 1,000 calories of pizza when you drink, then yes your body composition will be affected. If you like to get drunk and then workout, then yes of course you wouldn't be able to perform at peak and your body composition will be affected. If you are an alcoholic who chooses to drink over diet and workouts, then of course you will not see benefits. This article isn't aimed towards alcoholics, it's aimed at the younger bodybuilder crowd who like to go out to bars and clubs and socialize and have a bunch of drinks. I didn't go into detail about the hazards of heavy drinking here because we all already know them. The agenda of this post and the scientific articles presented is simply stating: As a "direct" relationship, alcohol has absolutely no impact on your ability to build muscle. I've shown you the "real" scientific studies that can even be considered close to science, and yes there are a whopping 2 real studies. Maybe more will come in the future. But both show that if someone wants to lift weights and get trashed, there is absolutely no effect on your muscle synthesis from your workout earlier that day. This is of course not considering your own personal bad habits whilst intoxicated!

I mean I think its not very hard to understand. Everyone knows you can make gains when drinking or eating sub optimally but its just no ideal. If you have 25 MPS activations a week nuking 1-2 wont be super notable but 23 is still less than 25. Its just like fasting you can eat everyday in an 8 hour window and make great gains its just not ideal or min maxed. I don't think this is anything new though we already know this most people just seem to have other issues with drinking. "But both show that if someone wants to lift weights and get trashed, there is absolutely no effect on your muscle synthesis from your workout earlier that day." I read them I don't see what i would call proof of this to me. Why would my body prioritize muscle building when it thinks its being poisoned to death that just doesn't even make sense. What does make sense is missing 1-2 activations to get hammered having a negligible impact that could be passed by even adding another lift day. I feel like you want to believe it doesn't have any impact but the reality is it does its just not a huge deal to miss a few MPS activations.

[fatacad]

I mean I think its not very hard to understand. Everyone knows you can make gains when drinking or eating sub optimally but its just no ideal. If you have 25 MPS activations a week nuking 1-2 wont be super notable but 23 is still less than 25. Its just like fasting you can eat everyday in an 8 hour window and make great gains its just not ideal or min maxed. I don't think this is anything new though we already know this most people just seem to have other issues with drinking. "But both show that if someone wants to lift weights and get trashed, there is absolutely no effect on your muscle synthesis from your workout earlier that day." I read them I don't see what i would call proof of this to me. Why would my body prioritize muscle building when it thinks its being poisoned to death that just doesn't even make sense. What does make sense is missing 1-2 activations to get hammered having a negligible impact that could be passed by even adding another lift day. I feel like you want to believe it doesn't have any impact but the reality is it does its just not a huge deal to miss a few MPS activations.

No, not everyone already knows this. There is a lot of misinformation out there claiming that drinking after a workout will absolutely destroy your gains. That you would undo all of the hard work you put in at the gym if you have a few too many. I would hope that everyone has enough common sense to know that binge drinking can lead to major health issues, and of course it’s not “ideal”. This post isn’t about that, and of course I knew it’d be controversial. I am simply stating that there is not enough research done to show that alcohol alone “does” affect your muscle building ability after a workout. Something that most articles on the subject seem to vehemently oppose based on unsubstantiated claims and one junk science experiment. I do not “want” to believe this is true, I could care less. If real science can prove that alcohol directly and negatively affects protein synthesis, then fine with me. But there is nothing to show that, and I’m just tired of all the biased and unsubstantiated claims in the articles surrounding this subject.