How Does Alcohol Affect Your Workout?

As the owner of Beer N Biceps, I feel particularly qualified to answer this question. The entire point of my website is to celebrate good beer and great health. Most of us enjoy a drink, but can drinking affect your workout?

Benefits of Alcohol

There are many negative sides to alcohol, addiction, health issues, and hangovers! But it is not all bad news, alcohol also has many health benefits associated with low to moderate drinking [1].

• It can reduce your risk of CVD

• May reduce the risk of Type II diabetes

• May strengthen bones

• Can improve cognition in the short term

Obviously, these benefits are associated with low to moderate drinking, heavy drinking can have the opposite effect on each of these benefits.

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Workout?

First things first, we need to address the pink elephant in the room. If you train drunk you will not see good results! Nor should you train while hungover (the negatives outweigh any potential positives). You should also rethink exercising before going out to the pub.

The reason? Alcohol is a diuretic. It supresses a hormone that is responsible for preventing you from needing to urinate [2]. Meaning that for every pint of beer you drink you will urinate slightly more. Creating a hydration deficit.

If you are in the pub after a workout you are already going to be dehydrated, the addition of alcohol to this equation can lead to further dehydration and you standing half naked on top of the table while your friends try to pull you down!

Alcohol does not only dehydrate you though, it can actually slow down your recovery from a workout. Heavy alcohol consumption can reduce muscle protein synthesis – the process that turns protein into muscle. It can also delay recovery. Your muscles may ache more the next day, and for longer.

Alcohol can also affect sleep, which is tied up with recovery (and performance the next day). Long term chronic alcohol consumption can affect testosterone levels in men, and oestrogen levels in women [3]. It can also affect cortisol levels.

How to Combine Alcohol and Exercise

Obviously, you do not want to be combining them at the same time. But it is perfectly possible to enjoy a few beers on the weekend while also building a stronger, fitter, healthier body.

The trick is to separate the two activities as much as possible. If you know that you are going to the pub later, then maybe reschedule your workout? Or if you know that you have a tough workout in the morning, then the pub might be worth skipping.

If the two activities are unavoidably linked, then what you need to do is have a plan. Here are a few things you should consider:

• Drink Water: Rehydration after a workout is important, particularly if you are about to drink alcohol. Being thirsty and walking into a pub is a problem because it leads to you drinking faster. This can get you drunk quicker. Order a soft drink first, and drink it at a slow pace. Once you have started drinking, try to get a half pint of water every once in a while.
• Refuel: A post-workout meal is always important, particularly if you are about to start drinking. A protein shake or bar might be a good call. Worst case scenario, you can always grab a pack of peanuts while at the bar. But try to get yourself a good meal if possible.
• Avoid Caffeine Mixers: Sleep is going to be especially important if you are to recover from this workout (or recover from the hangover so that you can work out). Avoiding vodka redbulls, Irish coffees, or similar is a good idea, as the caffeine will stay in your system for hours and prevent you from sleeping.

Do NOT skip Breakfast: If you have read our articles on getting the most out of breakfast then you should already appreciate why breakfast is important the day after a workout or a heavy drinking session. Some overnight oats the next morning is an ideal antidote to the previous night’s festivities.

Final Thoughts

Provided your workout was not too intense, your recovery practices are on point, and your drinking is moderated, there is no reason why you cannot have it all. As we find time and time again, low to moderate drinking is harmless or even beneficial. But chronic drinking and binge drinking can cause numerous health problems.

Make sure that you are drinking sensibly and ensuring that your workouts are not being affected by it. If this is the case, then keep up the good work!

References

[1] https://beernbiceps.com/can-beer-be-good-for-you/

[2] https://beernbiceps.com/does-beer-hydrate-you/

[3] https://beernbiceps.com/how-does-beer-affect-your-hormones/