Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Training

From experience, I've noticed that days after nights of moderate drinking (1-5 drinks) I feel stronger and more energized. I've observed this even those being nights of less sleep. Perhaps, this is because the alcohol makes me sleep better(deeper) or the alcohol itself energizes me physically after metabolization. I don't know. I did read an article recently saying that moderate drinking increased longevity and even abusive drinkers outlived abstainers in a 20 year study. Although it maybe unrelated, it is definitely interesting. I'm going to start drinking 1-3 drinks a day and experiment more with my theory. I will update any results. If anyone else has any comments, please reply.

Haha this just sounds too wrong... maybe it's because I've never been a moderate drinker

lol i had a feeling you'd post here razz,

anyways sounds like a fun experiment im sure you wont have trouble getting more people to join in and compare results with you

I remember my friend saying he stopped drinking and got weaker, then started getting stronger again when he started drinking again.

I don't drink so I would have to lean to this being a rubbish theory, but I am open to results. Maybe you just feel stronger the next day but then your body is weaker after.

I remember reading somewhere that a lot of people set lifting PRs after a night of little sleep, because the nervous system is primed after it. Of course that doesn't mean "the less I sleep, the heavier I lift".

I'm interested to see how this turns out. I'm russian, so my father makes fun of me to no end for not drinking.

I have had many of my best workouts when I was nice and buzzed, but I certainly seem to have no problem getting stronger when I don't drink.

Lol with the amount I consumed yday I should be able to full planche today if this theory worked haha alright jokes, it's interesting but I honestly cannot believe this to be healthy in any way.

treemantyler,

Are you a low carb dieter? If so, you could see an up-tick in performance after a night of drinking carbohydrate containing alcoholic beverages or high carb junk food that often comes along with drinking.

There is no correlation between drinking alcohol and increase in longevity, and no strong correlation with red wine consuption (see the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Paradox).

Alcohol actually modifies the sleep pattern, which can be worse for somebody (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_use_and_sleep).

And we are all familiar with alcohol consuption and reduced equilibrium.

Beer is howerever a good source of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, and B vitamins.

Moderation and variety is key to enjoy alcohol products. Being drunk sucks most of times.

A question: what paleo diet tells about rich alcohol spirits?

Felipe said:

There is no correlation between drinking alcohol and increase in longevity,

What do you base that on?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10636266

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8996044

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20941640

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20338495

I could go on and on...

Here are a few studies in a quick google search: The Time magazine article is the one that I read originally.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/02/he ... d-so-good/

http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 32,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/08/3 ... udy-finds/

There are always studies conflicting other studies, so we will never know the truth. Everyone is different, so maybe it's only true for some. All I know is what I've experienced. I was a religious Paleo Dieter for a year and suffered through it painfully unfortunately; no grains, no dairy, no beans, etc. When I started eating grains again, I quickly regained energy and cognition, thus letting me know that Paleo was energy deficient for me. Now I live off of grains and dairy, including cereal, oatmeal, milk, cheese, etc. , and have gotten stronger since I quit the Paleo eating; however, I do continue to eat plenty of fruit and veggies. Although being as lean as ever when paleo dieting, I lacked energy, motivation, sense of well being, strength, endurance, etc. and was hungry All the time! I hated the feeling but I persevered because I believed that one day all that would end and obviously because I liked the way I looked. It never ended until I started eating normal again. Now I realize that strength/performance is priority, not the way I look. Paleo works for some ppl but not for all. One of my friends does it consistently and has no problem with energy; however, he has more body fat than me. Even now that I don't do Paleo anymore, I'm still low in body fat. The point being is that everyone's body is different. I ,too, am skeptical that alcohol will improve physical performance and I always will; however, I think it has more to do with the psychological effects. I will experiment with it and see what happens. I do enjoy it and if it gives me energy to promote strength/performance gains, so why not give it a try.

Razz said:

Lol with the amount I consumed yday I should be able to full planche today if this theory worked haha alright jokes, it's interesting but I honestly cannot believe this to be healthy in any way.

Haha that's funny..I agree, on nights that I get wasted (lol), I feel like crap the next day. But on moderate drinking nights (and even slightly more than moderate drinking nights 4-6 beers), I feel great the next day. But like a said, perhaps it is a psychological effect and not physical.

Actually I just remember I have a friend who never gets hangovers but once told me that he feels better than usual every night after drinking..

You may be confusing correlation with causation. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the alcohol, and something else was causing it that you hadn't realized. Just because there is a correlation between two things absolutely does not me one is the cause of the other.

Could be anti oxidants from wine or something..Alcohol is poison and I doubt it is the alcohol itself but more like it is the substance in which the alcohol is, such as the wine or the beer or whatever..

element3904 said:

You may be confusing correlation with causation. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the alcohol, and something else was causing it that you hadn't realized. Just because there is a correlation between two things absolutely does not me one is the cause of the other.

Your're one of the few who doesn't spend too much time on PubMed but knows logic implications. Which some research haven't (see Rippetoe interview http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... _beginners he was litterally mad because of "a study that concluded a one-rep max bench press performed on a standard flat bench was the same as one performed on a Swiss ball")

Razz said:

Could be anti oxidants from wine or something..Alcohol is poison and I doubt it is the alcohol itself but more like it is the substance in which the alcohol is, such as the wine or the beer or whatever..

Exactly. Alcohol beverages includes hundreds of different types of beverages.

There is also the fact that it takes a while for our bodies to completely flush alcohol, and while alcohol is technically a depressant moderate consumption lowers neuromuscular inhibition without impeding coordination enough to impact maximal strength. Interestingly this effect is much smaller in trained lifters, but a deadlift test was done a while back with both trained lifters and non-lifters/non-athletes. Both groups had an increase in their max after a few drinks (I think it was 3-4 but I could be off a little. I know they weren't completely wasted) but the untrained lifters were all doing 2-3x their normal max and the trained lifters had way less than a 50% improvement. I think the study was in reference to the feats of strength performed during extreme situations and was designed primarily to demonstrate that our bodies are capable of far more than they will let us do on a daily basis, and that consistently exposing our bodies to more physically demanding situations allows us to tap into more of that potential on a voluntary basis.

So unless someone wants to go in with me on "Biceps Beer," "Six Pack Abs Ale" and "Quad Cabernet" ...

Alcohol is not the ideal pre-workout drink, but neither is most of the stuff on the market lol!

Felipe, would you like to address the studies in my post above?

my friends and i have seen performance degredation with even a few drinks the next few days. we're not even talking about long nights or lots of drinking (which I'm not wont to).

I pretty much try to abstain from alcohol for the single reason that I have the worst workout of my life after a day of drinking. This is despite the fact that I never drink more than 3 drinks and normally never more than 2. I do enjoy red wine and certain kinds of ale but like I said I don't normally drink and NEVER the day before a workout is scheduled.

As much as I like a drink, I find that drinking the day (or more specifically the evening) before a workout will almost guarantee that the morning workout goes poorly. Even two drinks over the course of a meal, and with no buzz or effects, has this effect.

In all likelihood this is due to the alcohol preventing a proper sleep cycle from occurring, and as a result, getting a restless and poor night of sleep. (some studies on that, no time to dig around)

I used to run and race pretty seriously when I was younger (early / mid 20s), and take my word for it, a 5k race just doesn't work when you are still in the bag from the night before. Memories...

David

funny.. Many people believe that a beer before bed calms them down and lets them sleep better..

Razz, no doubt it helps you get to sleep quickly. It is more what happens after you sleep, with the disruption in your sleep patterns.

I did a quick google (damn this working life) and found the following article. Not the original study I read, but it is a short summary of what happens when the lights go off.

http://www.lmu.edu/Page25070.aspx

yours,

David

Interesting. Thank god I never drink just to sleep better In fact I'd say I never sleep after drinking...it's more like passing out which fits what the article talks about

I just find out that being drunk also means the death of approximately 100k neurons (the quantitative of a day...a bad one I wish, I dont know how our brain ages!), which is a permanent damage. After this I will never ever be drunk again :roll:

source (in italian): http://droganograzie.dronet.org/com/fil ... 2&lingua=1

Actually new studies show that brains cells do indeed regenerate just at a much slower rate. So being wasted once a week is indeed permanent because they never get a chance to regenerate but once in a blue moon isn't.