Alcohol and Bodybuilding

A large proportion of people lifting weights in a bodybuilding style in the gyms throughout the country are 18-35 year olds. A lot of people in this age group also like a few beers on a weekend, including myself, but what effects does it have upon your training?

Well, the three most important aspects of any successful training program are:

1. Diet;
2. Training; and
3. Rest

Diet

- Eat 6+ meals per day, or at least every 3 hours;
- Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day;
- Consume 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, split evenly between each meal;

Training

- Train very high intensity, following an appropriate training program;
- Consume a post workout recovery shake;
- Workouts should last no more than 50-60 minutes, with no more than 4 workouts per week

Rest

- Sleep for about 9 hours per night
- Go to bed at the same time each night for improved sleep
- Rest as much as possible when out of the gym

Drinking Just A Few Beers, Once a Week Or Less?

If you are just having a few beers, then you should still be able to follow the above, but you would need to drink additional water, to offset the diuretic effects of alcohol. Also, due to the large amount of carbohydrates in beer, there would be an effect upon body fat levels.

Drinking More Than A Few Beers?

Rather than explain the biological effects of getting smashed, I will explain the negative effects that a night out had on my own training and nutritional programme below:

Saturday 27 June 2009 – very hot day!

7am
100g fine milled Oats + 1 banana, blended in 450ml water
25g whey protein in 250ml water

9:30am
2 slices of wholemeal toast
4 boiled eggs

12pm
Pro-Mr

2pm
Pro-Flapjack
Pint of semi skimmed milk

4:30pm (BBQ)
Fillet Steaks
Salad
3 bottles of beer – then into Leeds City Centre! (this is where everything went wrong)

6pm – 3am
about 16 bottles of beer
crisps

The Next Day…
I got up at 10:30am the next day and had breakfast at 11am (beans on toast), then didn’t eat till 4pm, when I had a Domino’s pizza. I then cancelled my training session at 6:30pm Sunday night, because it would have been a wasted workout. I got my diet back on track at 7pm.

I’m going to the gym tonight, but I will have lost about 2 week’s progress, due to dehydration, raised cortisol levels, increased body fat, reduced nutrient supply to muscles, all leading to catabolism… not to mention that I spent a fortune!

Summary

Everyone has a night out now and then, but you need to accept that if you do, then you are going to mess up your training efforts. Now you know the facts, are you still going to go out and get smashed? Yeah, course you are!

Tip 1: Every third pint could be dilute orange, to maintain hydration.
Tip 2: Try and eat every 3 hours, even if it annoys your mates. Chicken Fillet burgers from KFC are high protein and better than most other options on a weekend in the City Centres!
Tip 3: Don’t drink enough to leave you feeling sick in the morning, or your routine will be further messed up.
Tip 4: Consume a whey protein shake as soon as you wake up and get your diet back on track as soon as possible.

Regards,

Martin.

Related Posts

• No Related Post