07/04/2021
ᴀʟᴄᴏʜᴏʟ 🍺 ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ 🏋️
From time to time we all like to let our hair down via having a few drinks with friends, family etc. There’s is no reason why once in a while we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves (responsibly, of course).
BUT.......to achieve results in the gym, you need a combination of exercise, nutrition and recovery.
Many assume because they’ve a good diet, alcohol will not affect their body or results. Unfortunately, this is not true. Having a good nutrition plan does not outweigh the negative effects of alcohol.
So how can alcohol affect our training and results?
* When you consume Alcohol, it is used as a primary source of fuel by your body to make energy. The excess glucose and lipids from your food end up as adipose tissue or fat.
* Alcohol disrupts your REM sleep, and we all know that sleep is a key component of good recovery! Without it we can’t recover from training sessions and get results!
* Alcohol consumption can cause the body to become dehydrated, leading to you experiencing low energy levels and decreased athletic performance in your workouts etc.
* Alcohol can cause you to gain body fat. It increases your appetite making you want to consume more food. Alcohol also has calories, they can rack up quickly, with 7kcal per gram. Both of these EASILY leading to excessive calorie intake = extra body fat gained.....UNLESS of course, they can account for this in their diet.
* Alcohol is also associated with increased inflammation, a process which will increase muscle tissue breakdown and alter hormone production, which could prevent any muscle gain and fat loss from the workout, it can even cause muscle loss and weight gain
Do you need to be T-totaler to get results?
OF COURSE NOT! A few drinks every now and then in MODERATION won’t do much harm.
Just be mindful of these effects of alcohol on your training😁