Everyone knows that students in college drink. There's no way around it, it may not be good, it may not be legal, but it still happens. But how is it helping you with your muscle gains and fitness goals in the gym? IT'S NOT. This article went over a few very important key factors to being the best you can be in the gym, and alcohol was NOT one of them. In fact, alcohol is very detrimental to your workouts, and here is why:1) Empty calories - for every "shot" of alcohol, there is about 100 calories in that little class, and that's about the same for every beer, well, a Light beer. Having anywhere from 5-10 of those a night will add an extra 500-1,000 empty calories to your diet, probably between the late hours of the night and early morning.
2) Dehydration - we already know how much water we should be drinking during the course of a day, and drinking alcohol severely distorts the retention of water your muscles should have. Without that water it is harder for your muscles to contract and relax and therefore affecting growth.
3) Lowers testosterone - little did we know that drinking alcohol does not make men "more manly", it actually decreases testosterone levels and increases estrogen levels, causing some side effects in men looking to "bulk up".
Along with many other reasons why one should not drink, or drink in moderation, just in case you DO decide to drink, here are some tips to help you out so you do not decrease severely in your fitness levels or muscle gains.
- drink plenty of water before bed to a) help dehydration and get that needed water back into your muscles and b) prevent that hangover that will keep you from skipping meals and missing the gym the next morning
- drink a protein shake or eat something dense in protein before hopping in bed
- and the next morning, eat a big breakfast filled with protein, calcium, phosphorous, and iron
So I'm not saying that no one should enjoy themselves but the fact of the matter is that alcohol does NOT help you "fitness wise" and it should be avoided, or used in moderation. Besides, most college students aren't even of age to drink yet, so if that doesn't hold you back, maybe these facts will.
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/bigalcohol.htm
I totally agree with you James. Alcohol should be used in moderation because of all the negative benefits. In one night someone could consume over a thousand empty calories. That should definitely take most of the fun out of drinking for someone that does. Thanks for the facts, there really interesting!!
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