Can alcohol and bodybuilding go together? A lot of people are wondering whether they can drink alcohol and still make gains. This is a very popular topic on the internet and there are mixed opinions about it. Some bodybuilders suggest that you should give up on the beer to smash your gym goals, but others claim that some moderate amounts won’t hinder your gains, and may even lead to some health benefits. Yet, there are also those who say that it also depends on the type of alcohol that you drink.
- So, what is the truth about alcohol and bodybuilding? Can these two go together?
Before we continue, it’s pretty obvious that binge drinking is a huge problem that won’t only hinder your bodybuilding goals, but will likely lead to health issues (which ultimately hinder your goals), and may even lead to mental or social issues. Regardless if you’re enjoying a drink every once in a while or you tend to limit your alcohol consumption as much as possible, do not ever drink regularly, especially heavily and regularly.
Alcohol and Muscle Growth
Alcohol beverages are solutions that contain ethanol. This is a psychotropic substance that is having a depressant impact on the nervous system of a person. Ethanol has a relatively lower toxicity and is leading a psychoactive effect.
Nonetheless, even this lower toxicity will still harm muscle growth and strength gains. According to research, even small quantities are going to hinder muscle growth and strength. Of course, the smaller the amount, the smaller the impact. But if it comes to regular or heavy drinking, this could have a huge impact on muscle growth.
That is why alcohol and bodybuilding DO NOT go together. And you’re likely to hear a pro bodybuilder say that they can’t remember the last time they had a single alcoholic drink. So, as long as you are not competing, you may have a drink once in a while. But it is important to remember that regular consumption of alcohol, even in small quantities will lead to plateau and will almost surely hinder muscle growth.
Keep in mind that if you have a heavy drinking session where you are becoming severely intoxicated with alcohol, this can significantly reduce your performance in the gym for about one week. This will also hinder your muscle growth, in one way or another. But when it comes to just one drinking session with mild intoxication, it has the same impact as about skipping just one workout.
With this information, it is up to you how much and how often you want to drink alcoholic beverages. It all occurs because alcohol has a negative impact on different parts of the body. Let’s check it out.
Alcohol’s Impact On The Body
Reduces Muscle Protein Synthesis
This is the exact opposite of what you’re searching for when you are bodybuilding. That’s one of the main reasons why alcohol and bodybuilding do not go together. According to studies, consuming alcohol will slow down the process by about 20%. But protein synthesis is basically the process of building muscle mass – it’s the process that unitizes amino acids in a specific sequence to build muscle.
Reduces Growth Hormone Levels
Another study suggests that alcohol is suppressing the secretion of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and Human Growth Hormone (HGH). These are key hormones when it comes to muscle growth. Ask any bodybuilder and they will tell you that these are essential hormones to grow muscle. That’s another reason why alcohol can inhibit muscle growth. The following couple of days after drinking, the levels of these hormones decrease.
Drinking Alcohol and Testosterone
If you consume alcohol, it will not only impact and decrease your IGF-1 and HGH levels that are extremely important for muscle growth, but it also decreases your testosterone levels – another crucial muscle building hormone. Moreover, it will also increase your estrogen levels. This occurs because of various reasons. For example, the number of proteins that bind testosterone together will increase. Moreover, the conversion of testosterone to estrogen will significantly increase. The metabolites of alcohol can stimulate estrogen receptors, plus, some alcoholic beverages like beer contain estrogen-like substances too. So, alcohol can impact your testosterone, and it can also impact your sperm quality too. It affects your swimmers both directly and indirectly (by lowering testosterone). Moderate alcohol consumption every week will lead to lower sperm quality in healthy men according to research.
Alcohol and Hydration
Alcohol causes dehydration and that is a huge problem when it comes to achieving your goals. Proper hydration is extremely important for your bodybuilding goals and it supports muscle growth. Alcohol is causing dehydration in a dose-dependent manner. I guess everyone knows the pounding headache and dry mouth feeling the next day after drinking too much. That’s caused by dehydration. When we are drinking alcohol, our kidneys are working hard in an attempt to flush it out from our system. Since kidneys are overworking, they flushes out water from our system too, leading to dehydration. That all happens because our bodies “sees” alcohol as a toxic substance, which it actually is. When we are dehydrated, we experience dry mouth, headaches, and numerous other negative symptoms.
That’s a huge problem as water plays a crucial role in building muscle mass. Muscle growth stops when we’re dehydrated. Moreover, the body attempts to flush out the toxic substance, focusing on that, instead of building muscle mass. In fact, dehydration could lead to the breakdown of muscles. Low alcohol consumption is unlikely to cause it, but it still may limit muscle recovery time.
Alcohol and Vitamins (and Minerals)
When we consume alcohol, it can lead to deficiency in specific vitamins and minerals. In particular, it causes deficiencies in vitamins A, and C, almost all B vitamins, zinc, calcium, and phosphates. All of these vitamins and minerals are crucial for making gains in the gym and building muscle. They are important for building muscle (protein synthesis) and synthesizing anabolic hormones (the ones I was earlier talking about).
Alcohol and Fat
Not only will alcohol stop muscle growth (and may even cause muscle breakdown – that’s why alcoholics tend to have very little muscle mass), but it can cause fat too. That’s why alcoholics tend to have little muscle mass, yet carry fat. As said, the body is focusing on getting rid of the toxic substance (alcohol) first, so it doesn’t focus on the processes of muscle building AND fat burning. Moreover, I guess most of us noticed that while we’re drinking alcohol, we tend to have an increased appetite. Also, due to a blurred mind, we tend to eat junk food too. Both add to the calories we consume.
Not only that, but do you know that alcohol is calorie dense? A single gram contains seven calories. According to the studies, most energy (calories) from consumed alcohol turns into fat, as that’s an “empty” calorie when the body can’t use it for muscle growth.
Alcohol and Sleep
Many people mistakenly assume that alcohol increases sleep quality. That’s a common myth. However, alcohol is actually disrupting your sleep. Whereas you may fall asleep easier, alcohol does not allow you to stay as much in the actually resting REM sleep where all the “magic” of sleep occurs. That explains why people can sleep a lot after drinking, but they are still waking up very tired. The body simply doesn’t get enough REM sleep, so it does not have the beneficial impact of sleep on your muscles, mind, and overall body. The crucial healing effect is not as effective.
Alcohol and Brain
The brain is our almighty organ that can do way more than we think we can. Alcohol, however, will kill brain stem cells, reducing the production and development of new nerve cells. Chronic alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts, will affect the brain, in a negative way. We all know that it impacts short-term memory, cognitive function, and so on and so forth. But chronic alcohol consumption will negatively impact your brain long-term too.
Other Negative Impacts
While it may be fun drinking alcohol, it pretty much has no physical or psychological advantages. Some suggest that alcohol may help improve social life, as it relaxes you psychologically. Assuming that’s true, that’s pretty much the only advantage. On the other hand, there are a lot of well-studied and proven negative effects of alcohol. Besides the ones that I already mentioned here, there are numerous others too. One of the worst – alcohol consumption increases your risk of cancer developing. It’s obvious that this may not occur after one drink, but why would you want to increase the risk of cancer at all?
Build Muscle Mass Without Alcohol
- You do not need alcohol to achieve your muscle building goals. In fact, it can actually negatively affect muscle building potential and speed. It can negatively impact your gains, stop you from achieving the best performance (both in the gym and the bedroom), add fat, disrupt your sleep, negatively impact your hormones, and other negative effects.
Instead, you can make serious gains with the help of anabolic steroids that can increase anabolic hormone levels and enhance your performance in the gym. Whereas they can come with side effects too, you can learn how to cope with them. Not only that, but anabolic steroids provide a lot of benefits, unlike alcohol which has no health benefits. The side effects of steroids can be kept under control while you get the best results from them.
To do that, you need to learn how to use them correctly. Moreover, you need to buy the best quality steroids. That’s common sense because low-quality and/or bunk steroids not only will be less effective, but they are even more likely to cause more unwanted side effects.
The good news is that you can get all of that and even more at HGH.to. We provide 100% quality bulking and cutting compounds that are extremely effective and low in side effects when you use them right. Luckily, we can also help you determine which steroids are best for you and your goals, based on your needs and stats. Not only that, but HGH.to is also going to help you save money as we have the most affordable prices for the best brands on the market!
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