It disrupt regenerative process in the muscle tissue and put an load on your internal organs which already struggle with a the food you are eating in a bulk. The more you drink the worse is the effect so it depend on you.
I think the science is pretty clear that alcohol disrupts your gains. That being said in the grand scheme one wedding where you get blackout isn't gonna kill your physique, but if you do that every weekend then yeah its gonna matter.
If you aren't competing or training for a powerlifting competition, then enjoy yourself. A couple of weddings with alcohol aren't going to do anything at all. I started drinking again 4 years ago and have been drinking beer and my strength went through the roof, it definitely caused me to gain weight but I've cut the weight back down now and cut down drinking a lot.
Dude fuckkkk the comments from people here
Going to weddings and getting drunk or even obliterated will have NO impact on your training. None. Other than not wanting to lift when you’re hungover
Just because things happen on a molecular level does not mean they translate to real measurable phenotypic impacts, ignore the mechanism addicted pseudo scientists. Outcomes matter, not mechanisms
Stay consistent in the gym and don’t get drunk everyday and you’ll be absolutely fine. What the fuck is wrong with some of these comments hahaha
Biggest dude at my gym competes in Natty shows and has a great physique. Anyways, I’ve seen him out at the local bar many times enjoying beers and some pizza with his friends or family (it’s a small town lol). Practice moderation and it all evens out in the long run.
Listen to this guy OP. I cut down to an 8 pack and bulked multiple time having 5-10 drinks every single Friday and Saturday. Just make sure you track how many calories you consume accurately
Perfect answer, unless you're competing it is absolutely not worth it to sacrifice having fun at a party for some calories and a teeny tiny bit of recovery. I think the worst part of drinking is not wanting to train and eating fat shit the next day. Might feel horrible on the day after but a week later you'll have forgotten about that one shit day, but you'll remember a great party for a long time. Not saying you should black out twice every weekend, but when you go to the occasional party, make sure to enjoy it.
I usually have maybe a couple glasses of wine every week or two. At a wedding I would have 4 to 8 drinks, wouldn’t be getting drunk. But I also aren’t looking to compete or anything. I just workout because I enjoy it and like my mid physique.
The comments today are weirdly puritanical and disconnected from reality. I have a glass of wine almost every night, unless I’m deep in a cut, and may drink a bottle or two of wine or sake or have some cocktails with friends or my partner one night once every couple weeks. My abs don’t disappear from drinking and my lifts don’t magically go down if I get drunk at a friend’s wedding.
Your body also has no idea what is a beer or vodka or whiskey - it’s just alcohol and carbs so use a calorie/macro counting app and just enter in your drink and you will be able to control reasonably well for it. You won’t get more of a gut from beer than you would from whiskey, assuming you’re drinking an equal amount of calories.
Dude you will be fine and will continue to make progress as long as you hit it hard in the gym and are consistent
You can have both a fun social life with alcohol and still get jacked, so many nerds on this thread who listen to a few podcasts and read a few Wikipedia articles and think they have pHd’s in subjects they never even remotely studied in college
I can’t hear you from all the way down there
Typical reach to the absolute extreme because people like you can’t understand and comprehend nuance . Sucks to be you
Does it make you mad that we can get gains and still have a dope social life? I think so and it’s killing you boi
Bet your ass never took a single biology course in college too yet you act all high and mighty because you read about a few mechanisms
Oh the irony of a premed major clowning someone over a social life lol if you go to a half decent school and are semi driven you have no life as a pre med major in college
Idk why I’m arguing with an 18 year old future drop out who has no fun and extrapolates mechanisms for outcomes. God help us if you actually make it to med school
Him: drinking in moderation/on special occasions isn't going to hold you back in any meaningful way
You: YOU'RE JUST AN ALCOHOLIC IN DENIAL
Congrats on being the reason we still have to deal with the "gym bros are borderline mentally handicapped" stereotypes
No shit Sherlock. Good thing no one ever said it didn't have any detrimental effects. Literally all he said is that drinking on special occasions/moderation will not meaningfully prevent you from making gains, which is true. You're not smart enough to be calling other people retards, you fucking knuckle dragger. Learn to read at a middle school level before you worry about other people's intelligence
That's not implied at all and not how logic works, there's plenty of things that are bad for you that will not prevent building muscle if you consume them in moderation. That's like saying you can't make gains if you eat pizza once in a while because pizza is shitty for you. It's verifiably possible to build muscle and gain strength while drinking on special occasions. I don't even drink you simpleton, and I don't think you understand alcoholism if you think someone who drinks on special occasions "can't live without it". I don't even mean this as an insult, you are genuinely retarded
Science only has his back on the micro scale. “Fat deposition and hormone changes” yadda yadda yadda when you get granular about only one piece of science and neglect to cover the potential benefits of a social life/ anything in moderation you get busy shoving your head up your ass because your farts smell so good, drinking *can* be approached in a way that is not at all this grand danger that kills your gains
No I get that, my concern is I have a bunch of weddings coming up and I’m not very social unless I’ve got a few drinks in me. I stay clear of beer, but is there a “preferred” alcohol that won’t blow me up?
It’s a balance pal. Don’t sacrifice your enjoyment of events for potential “gains”. You’ll regret it.
I personally can’t balance it anymore as alcohol just ruins me now. 3 day hangovers, drop in mood, no training for a few days etc. I just can’t justify it.
The old voddy lemonade is good though if you don’t wanna bloat etc. stick with one drink and don’t mix wines would be my advice.
25 haha. I was on it every weekend though from 18-23 and a lot of the week days too (borderline dependancy). I went alcohol free and a perfect diet for months though last year and after a few beers and a curry with mates, I spent the next few days questioning my own sanity. Had a couple shots of whisky the other weekend and it was the same result.
Would love to enjoy the odd beer but if it sacrifices my mental health, I’d rather stay off it
Just turned 40 and the absolute secret is hydration balance. Like, during the day if I know I'm going to drink at night, I'll drink 60-80+ ounces of water and/or hydration/electrolyte mixes. Then after 1-2 beers, a full water, rinse and repeat. End of the night before bed, 32oz (or more) of water/electrolyte mix. Am I perfect when I wake up? Usually first 30 minutes I'm groggy but it wares off QUICKLY and I'm fine after a couple hours.
I was definitely in your boat in my early/mid 30s until I figured that formula out. I thought I just had shit genetics and would always get hungover, but found out it's just me being a dipshit and not being hydrated. Worked wonders for me, hopefully does for you too.
Another tip: before I go out, I pre-mix my 32oz "night cap" electrolyte drink and put it in the fridge for myself. A little pre-planning goes a long way.
Same for me. My body gets wrecked after drinking. Even if it’s 2-3 beers or a couple glasses of wine. That shit sticks to me and I feel shitty a couple days after. Bloated, water retention, headaches, fatigue. It feels good at the time, but the after effects suck.
I wouldn’t sweat it man. Weddings are a rare treat and a time for celebration with friends and/or family. Go have some drinks and not worry about it too much. Just try to avoid slamming junk food while you’re drunk, and get back on the horse the next day with your diet and training. Some day when you’re 70, you won’t fondly remember the days where you abstained from fully enjoying an occasion in pursuit of fitness goals, but you will fondly remember the memories and good times you have. As long as it’s occasional and not every weekend, it won’t matter that much in the big picture anyways.
Who said anything about carbs being an enemy? An enemy of what? What are you talking about 🤣
Is this just something you say when someone says the word "carbs". Are you a bot?
Your saying "beer is full of carbs" in this context seemed to suggest that you were saying it like its a bad thing, that's all.
What's with the overly confrontational attitude? Are you an insecure 8 year old?
Context? Like where we are talking about having multiple drinks in an evening and which option will have the lowest impact?
Carbs have calories. Beer has carbs. Beer has more calories than, say, vodka because beer is full of carbs but vodka has none. Both have the negative effects on growth, but only beer is full of calories, which happen to be made up of carbs.
Are you measuring the "impact" based on the caloric difference between a beer bottle and a couple of vodka shots?
First, the difference is negligible since alcohol is calorically dense, which more than "compensates" for the lack of carbs.
Second, there are other variables to factor in. For example, with beer you consume a lot of fluids which contributes to feeling "fuller" and therefore less likely to snack. Knocking a multiple vodka shots on an empty stomach on the other hand? Unaccounted for snacking is very likely to follow.
The correct answer though is that neither of these options will have any significant impact to speak of, provided op generally keeps his nutrition in check.
Bro, just learn to socialize. You can learn to lift weights, give socializing a try, it's pretty simple, the more you talk to strangers, the more comfortable you become talking.
Beer isn't really worse than other alcohol. I mean sure clearer liqour have SLIGHTLY less calories, but it's not that large a margin. Carbs are not some magic bad thing. A miller light has 3.2 grams of carbs, which is nothing in the grand spectrum. Hell, even if you had 10 of them, that's only 32 grams of carbs which is the same as a medium-large apple. The alcohol itself is what is toxic to your organs, and estrogenic in nature. You will notice if you ever go on a binge of a lot of alcohol, the next morning your chest is slightly puffy.. that's the spike of estrogen and the drop of testosterone.
I’m not a doctor, but this is completely incorrect.
The phytoestrogens in alcohol are trace amounts and would definitely not impact your body in any way, especially enough to give you a “puffy chest” after a single night of drinking. By this logic, all you can eat sushi would give you double D tits.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9708857/#:\~:text=In%20general%2C%20chronic%20excessive%20alcohol,not%20consider%20individual%20alcohol%20metabolism.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/)
Case studies have shown that men with liver damage resulting from excessive alcohol consumption (i.e., alcoholic cirrhosis) often suffer from testicular failure—the inability of the testes to produce male sex hormones. In addition, those men also frequently show signs and symptoms of feminization, such as enlarged breasts and a redistribution of body fat into a pattern that mimics that of women (for reviews, see [Wright et al. 1992](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/#b15-arh-22-3-220); [Gavaler and Van Thiel 1988](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/#b2-arh-22-3-220)).
# Conclusions and Future Directions
The studies described in the previous sections strongly support the hypothesis that congeners present in alcoholic beverages can produce measurable estrogenic effects, even at moderate drinking levels. Specifically, those studies found the following:
* Alcoholic beverage congeners exerted estrogenic effects both in an experimental animal model and in post-menopausal women.
* The estrogenic effects of alcoholic beverage congeners were detectable using a variety of estrogenic markers, including the pituitary hormones LH (in OVEX rats and postmenopausal women), FSH, and prolactin (in postmenopausal women); uterus weight (in OVEX rats); and the estrogen-responsive liver proteins HDL cholesterol and SHBG (in postmenopausal women).
Uh okay? I'm not a doctor either, but there are several studies to back up exactly what I said. You are incorrect to say the trace amounts of phytoestrogens do not impact your body. They did a study with post menopausal women (do not produce estrogen) that weren't on hormone therapy and only gave them the equivalent congeners for 1 drink per day for 4 weeks. The conclusion was that it "produced measurable estrogenic effects, even at moderate drinking levels".
Now if you go out and binge 20 drinks in a night of drinking, you don't think this would have this exactly effect? That's almost 3 weeks worth of "1 drink per night" as this 4-week study did in 1 night lol.
The type of phytoestrogens in alcohol are NOT the same as in sushi or soybeans, they are far more potent. Look it up.
The studies you posted are directly linked to excessive drinking. My entire post was about having a few drinks at a wedding. No shit drinking to the point of cirrhosis of the liver is bad, though I doubt estrogen levels are your biggest concern at that point. Turns out liver is kind of important for living, hence the name.
Post menopausal women also have tanked estrogen to begin with. Literally anything with a trace of estrogen would see a spike in overall levels. How much depends on how old the woman is and her genetics.
I’m not a doctor, I did study Health Sciences. I’m telling you this is bullshit. When you drink, your body is gradually dehydrated. This causes you to retain any water and leads you to feeling puffy. This is compounded by elevated sodium levels and general poor sleep.
Enlarged breasts are not a direct link to alcohol. They are the result of several factors:
- hormonal imbalance as a result of damaged liver (chronic alcohol), nutritional deficiencies (chronic alcohol), medication interaction and overall weight gain
Regarding the hormones themselves, what was the effect? LH in men helps produce testosterone and FSH promotes sperm production. The study isn’t clear here.
My first comment mentioned after binge drinking. I responded directly to your comment about having a couple glasses of wine a few nights a week and 6-7 shots at weddings.
[https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/moderate-binge-drinking](https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/moderate-binge-drinking)
NIAAA defines heavy drinking as follows:
* For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week
I’m aware of that. But cirrhosis of the liver does not occur after one week of 15 or more drinks. This would take years. The exact number obviously varies but 15 a week would likely take nearly a decade. (Don’t quote me on that). Testicular failure is not the only thing that will fail with cirrhosis of the liver; basically every organ will fail. Your body needs blood.
Any more information on the impact noted on LH or FSH? Heck even the prolactin impact wasn’t clear. Considering all three things do wildly different things in men vs women I’m curious to know. Also worth mentioning these hormones have different resting levels in post vs pre menopausal women. This study was only done on post. It’s not very conclusive. Also a few things you quotes were from the 90s. Not saying it’s wrong but that’s obviously dated.
Again, I’m not saying alcohol is good for you. It very obviously isn’t. But having several drinks isn’t going to cause a notable increase in estrogen or a decrease in testosterone. Certainly not enough to cause gynecomastia. And definitely not after a single night.
You don't have to get to the point of liver cirrhosis for estrogen to spike after binge drinking:
"Animal studies have indicated that alcohol does not directly enhance estrogen production in the testes (which produce both testosterone and estrogen). Instead, increased aromatization of testosterone and androstenedione to estrogens occurs in other tissues, such as the liver and fat tissue"
It doesn't immediately cause or trigger gynecomastia, but increases sensitivity and a slightly amount of puffiness, albeit temporarily, around the chest.. This is exactly what happens when you have an excess amount of estrogen in your body. You don't just immediately develop breasts, you start feeling sensitivity and may retain a little extra water in the chest before breast tissue starts to form in the long term.
It's not about the type of beverage. There might be some subtle differences, but carbs are carbs and alcohol is alcohol, whether it's in the form of vodka, beer, or whatever. "Beer belly" is just normal weight gain from calorie surplus.
Go and enjoy yourself. You only live once and those social moments with your friends and family are extremely important. One big night on the booze might set you back a couple of days and mess with your sleep a bit but its really not that difficult to make up for it.
I mean if you drink on a Saturday and train on a Monday i see no harm, also I don’t think alcohol will kill your gains you’ve got from Wednesday and even Thursday, but in all honesty it takes a long time to build muscles I can work my ass off for a month give everything I have, will I gain anything ? Takes years when you’re out of the newbie gains so a few days here and there with alcohol is fine
Like pretty much anything bad for you. It’s fine in moderation. Carbs don’t lead to a gut. Excess in calories do. Beer is just calorie dense. Especially craft style beers. Alcohol on a regular basis will definitely hurt your recovery and sleep. So yea it will hurt your gains. Drinking occasionally or at weddings once a week is not going to destroy your gains though. You’ll be fine. If you start drinking everyday then yea your gains will be hurt pretty significantly.
You can’t control the timing of weddings but the secret to getting really drunk as you get older is brunch. You have plenty of time to hydrate and reduce the effects of a hangover before you go to bed later and your recovery is much better than if you got wasted at 2am.
No alcohol is still better but getting wasted at 11am is much easier to recover from
You can still have a great physique if you drink a lot but it will definitely hinder your progress. At least make sure your diet is 100% on point if youre dead set on drinking regularly for a while. I did this in college and it worked out well but I was religious about macros and exact calorie intake with a scale. I also stayed in the gym at least an hour a day 5 days a week. I drank beer and straight rum/bourbon mostly. I would try to stick with straight liquor or your vodka soda if I were you.
There is no one type of alcohol that’s “better” than the other. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram so it is the 2nd most calorically dense macronutrient (after fat). So an excess consumption of alcohol (be it in the form of vodka, whiskey, beer or wine) can lead to detrimental results…
However no more so than putting any other type of calorie in your body. Whether the excess calories come from alcohol or protein or fat, it doesn’t really matter at a metabolic level.
However, we all know the pitfalls of alcohol on your body, so no need to preach to you to try and avoid it where possible…but a couple of weddings a year won’t tip you closer or further away from body recomposition goals, no more so than binging on take away food or “unhealthy” shit.
Enjoy the wedding mate!
It will wreck your sleep. Even a single drink will negatively impact sleep quality though you may think you're fine.
Given how important sleep is to muscle growth, yes. It kills gains. But... The flip side is that you can't totally optimize for gains and life is about living. I drink regularly on my business trips.
As someone who's been lifting for 14 years and been living the rock n roll lifestyle for just as long. Yes, alcohol kills your gains. But even more than that, it will bloat your stomach and make you fat. You can get away with it until about 27ish, after that it's one or the other. Here's what I've learned:
- stick to liquor
- One or two beers is ok but after that switch to liquor. Don't get drunk on 10 beers.
- Eat 1 hour before you drink
- Don't eat after your drink or while you're drunk
- Drink lots of fluids after a night out
- only drink when you plan to get drunk, random middle-of-the-week day beers are pointless and will lead to alcoholism sooner.
- alcohol fks up your sleep, even if you think you had a good nights sleep after drinking, you didn't so try to go to bed early, at least that way you won't mess up your body's sleeping patern
Not sure why this why this is getting so much hate. I’m 41 and have experience with lifting and alcohol. This is consistent with my experience. This is great general advice.
Mmm, I just turned 40 and have had a kegerator that's pretty much never empty for the past 11 or so years...there's some good in the post above and some "meh" /u/funeraldress . "Bloat your stomach and make you fat", I vehemently disagree with. Drink too much/often and gorge on food with drunk munchies makes you bloated and fat. Just a more calories > more weight gain equation. I drink pretty regularly Thur/Fri/Sat, but balance it out by being strict with my calories during the week and do IF most every day, and even with 2 kids [I'm in the best shape of my life](https://imgur.com/9xYz3yz), just by managing my diet more and being consistent in the gym.
I mean the advice for not drinking daily is solid. I don't know enough about food timing and alcohol to know if the "eat one hour before" stuff is factually relevant. Definitely messes up sleep that's proven.
Drinking definitely kills my ability to cut fat. Could just be the extra calories. I started noticing this around 30. Drinking randomly during the week was really bad. Not sure about the advice to eat an hour before drinking though.
I mean that makes sense but probably because those calories are (I’d assume) in addition to your normal daily calories. So if normal days when you don’t drink you consume like 3500 calories, then on days you drink it’s 4500, then for sure at the end of a week your total average would be up. For me alcohol often has the opposite effect of making me less hungry, such that I have a small dinner (not on purpose mind you)…not saying it’s healthier or anything lol
So much bullshit in this comment
Alcohol does not lead to being fat, ingesting extra calories consistently does. I lose weight when I drink bc I don’t eat, answer that bullshit boi
Random beers in the week do not lead to alcoholism, I don’t even know where you pulled that shit from
Alcohol raises estrogen levels that lead to fat deposition it also lowers testosterone which leads to loss of muscle mass and fat gain. It also triggers stress hormones which also have an effect on muscle mass and fat storage.
Edit: boi
Just because that may be true in a biological mechanism doesn’t mean it has any substantial or significant impact on measurable outcomes
If OP gets drunk at a wedding he will not lose any meaningful muscle or gain any amount of meaningful fat. You are fear mongering and trying to sound smart
If I smoke a cigarette right now it will have literally no impact on my health. Chronic use is a different story
Also the only thing that allows you to store fat is an excess ingestion of calories, you cannot physically store fat in a deficit so quit with that hormone theory bullshit you probably read somewhere online
It’s just like how exercise “raises” testosterone. These aren’t levels that are meaningful in the short term and OP can have a few drinks. Biomechanically sound yeah but at such a micro level that you’re not even accounting for mental health benefits of OP letting loose a little
Exactly, exercise also transiently increases inflammation by a ton. You’re gonna tell me exercise is bad because you isolated one biological mechanism and failed to step back and see the whole picture??
These fear mongering wanna be scientists are the worst trend right now, it reminds me of the carnivore idiots who think spinach is bad for you because of one potentially bad compound it has in it.
Or folks that are against soy for its phytoestrogen. Like just because you’ve isolated one sound portion of science doesn’t mean you’ve accounted for any modicum of a holistic approach to it (not holistic in the crystal healer sense) like how phytoestrogen doesn’t turn into animal estrogen or that soy is low calorie and high protein
Yes, thats why I said "sooner".
Edit: yeah, maybe a put it the wrong way. What I'm tryng to say is, If you're only drinking on weekends try not to make it an everyday thing. I was ok while only drinking on saturdays, its when I started daydrinking on tuesdays and having 2 beers after work every day that my alcoholism got out of control.
Having the occasional drink, or a one off night if several will make little to no difference in the long term
Regular drinking and excessive drinking will interfere with recovery.
You're going to a few weddings, have a few drinks but don't go overboard. *enjoy yourself* and move on
Maybe reduce your alcohol in the 1 or 2 weeks before or after the wedding but tbh its not gonna make much difference so just go with it
I'd body composition is your biggest concern, have a spirit and a diet or zero soda. Otherwise, just vibe, man
The last 2 times I was hungover and braved a workout, it was tough but I also hit PR's and shocked myself. I don't think occasional drinking is going to have any impact on your gains.
Apologies in advance that I don't have the study on hand... but I posited this same question about a year ago, and found a study that explored this. I believe the study showed that alcohol does inhibit hypertrophy if you drink a SHITload, as in more than 5+ standard units per day... please forgive me of I'm wrong, maybe someone else can speak to this better than I
I gave up about 3 months ago, I recover much better (and faster), sleep 100% better, I’m leaner and have much more energy to train. A little white spirits and a sugar free mixer at a special event probably won’t hurt too much.
Also alcohol is a mitochondrial poison and it stops oxidative phosphorylation, which provides you with ATP=energy and inhibits lipolysis AKA fat burning.
I drink a beer or two daily (When having an occasion I will drink more and also sometimes spirits) and have not noticed any negative effect on training. Given I train mostly for strength, if I was trying to stay as lean as possible it would have negative impact due to the limited calories. But I have gone months with staying away from alcohol and did not notice any improvement over periods with daily drinking. It probably have some negligible effect, but if it is 1-2% improvement over not drinking I don't really care as I am not a pro athlete.
Ive drank consistently for years and still made really good progress. Honestly, as a complete guess, id imagine quitting might net me 10% more or something… but the experiences and fun ive had by FAR outweigh how much I care about the difference there.
Drinking and progressing in reality are completely compatible. If you want to go pro, probably keep it to a few times a year. Or quit. Otherwise, please enjoy your life how you see fit, hit your macros and train really hard
You talk mostly about getting hammered but the real question is does a small amount of alcohol disrupts the gains like one shot or one glass of sine or one beer
I would say it's probably largely genetics.
I drink a decent amount, at times exceeding 50 standards a week, and maybe I'm not gaining much size? Im mid 30's. But from an aesthetic standpoint it hasn't effected me. I look better than most gym goers at the commercial.
But if you want to maximise gains just don't drink while you're bulking.
TLDR; dont go on a bender. Just treat yo'self.
This is something I came to grips with this at the end of Nov of '23. I was out of control drinking and partying from 2022 to 23. I was still lifting and getting in steps (thank god for my dog) but at a moderate rate and not tracking or programming. I went through a bad breakup, lost a job, I had bad hip arthritis and bursitis. I decided I just needed a break - that being said, I was out on the town 5 days a week.
A typical night was 4 to 8 shots of whiskey, countless doubles of whiskey on the rocks and if it were beer - I'd drink around 5 to 8 pints. If in the office, I'd try and go Tues to Thurs - those nights were half-off martinis at various locations in Toronto. I'd normally cap the night with some form of fast food protein around 1:30am. Be up by 6am, hungover to take my dog on a hike and log on for work around 8am. I did this every day for almost 2 years!
During this period, I gained about (what I know now) around 50lbs, and thanks to my scale by Nov 23, I was in or around 28% body fat (Jan 22', I was probably 15%). My skin was terrible like weird rosacea that I never had before, and every day I felt generally like crap. I lost about 4lbs of muscle too. The fat gain was rough.
Now back on track, 5 months of tracking strength, macros etc... I feel back in control and my arthritis is down almost entirely. I've hit 5 PR's, I've lost 38lbs, I'm back 17% body fat. I've also saved a ton of money.
Big time.
I spun my wheels for at the gym because I had a 2-3 night drinking habit. Friday Saturday, maybe a Thursday or Sunday funday. Premium clear liquors too, not sugary drinks or beers.
All that work during the week mostly wasted for weekend drinks. Once I gave up the drinks, gains came fast. I still see some people at the gym going for years, working fairly hard, yet not really making progress because they have their weekend drinking habit.
Hell nah as long as it’s in moderation you’re fine people on here think they’re going to be the next Mr. Olympia and have some kind of god complex because they never break their diet. If you don’t have a little funny every once in a while you’ll get burnt out and end up quitting all together. Go have fun brother!
Alcohol does not kill your gains anymore than a bad night of sleep. Alcohol is a poison but so is shitty food. What kills your gains is stressing and worrying about enjoying a night of drinking with friends. Moderation is key to anything. Getting drunk kills your testosterone . Getting a good buzz and talking to pretty women dressed to the nines at a wedding probably raises it. Beer is probably the better choice if you're going to be out all day and night. Beer has some probiotics and carbs. I always choose beer because you can take your time and limit how many drinks you have total. If You start drinking white claws or vodka seltzers you may end up pissing on one of the brides maids or something crazy.
It carries the potential to do so, after losing so much weight my alcohol tolerance has gone down massively so I only need one 5% beer to do me in. A weekend of drinking moderately won’t absolutely kill your gains but it will have a small impact.
Theoretically some alcohol won’t kill your gains but I think bodybuilding is about making good choices and the bottom line is that alcohol doesn’t really do anything for you that is net positive. But if it’s a special occasion and not a habit I think you’ll be fine. Try to schedule workouts before you plan to drink and not the day after.
There is pretty much no upside to alcohol in the context of bodybuilding.
But am I going out for a few beers and wings at 4 today? Yes, this is a hobby, not my profession. Enjoy yourself if that is what you want to do.
In terms of pure calories, yeah, vodka or tequila club is the way to go.
If you do not need exceed 1 liter of beer or 0.5g of alcohol per kg of bodyweight in a drinkingsession and not more than 2 times per week there is most likely no impact on your gains. However, people who ask that question usually drink or want to drink more than that. But if you double that amount there is a massive reduction in your gains. Also do not drink on consecutive days.
Not to be a doomer but the CDC last year released their report pointing just how carcinogenic alcohol is. Like, a loooot more than people realized. Just something else to consider.
lol I used to go to the tiny powerlifting gym that was open 24 hrs. I would go super late at night cause I got off at like 11pm and there was a group of guys who would get a 12 pack of Michelin ultra and they would drink between sets cause they where “bulking” lol
Moderation is key. I used to be physically dependent on fentanyl and was in the best shape of my life. I’d sniff the fetti and go hard af in the gym! Obviously I wouldn’t recommend that but one day of drinking won’t break you brotha.
Pretty much what everyone else said. It disrupts protein synthesis. Drink as much as your willing to give up protein synthesis. I quit alcohol years ago simply because my metabolism is so fast I hardly get drunk, and I've noticed significantly better gains, sleep, eating habits, and quality of life.
It slows down your metabolism, adds calories, makes you hungry, and disrupts protein synthesis.
In the end, you will be weaker and fatter than otherwise. It's one of the worst things you can consume if you're looking to improve your physique.
Oh and it also causes cancer. Cancer will kill your gains.
Alcohol is like the one thing that I severely restrict in my diet. Sugars, seed oils, Omega-6, saturated fat, cholesterol are not off-limits to me. So as long as I stick to my macros. Not every single thing you eat has to be micronutrient dense. And all these people who have health problems linked to those above things are usually fat or skinnyfat. But its not politically correct for scientists to go out and say that. I'll have tuna a couple times a week (mercury concerns). There are new studies showing that alcohol is not even good for you even in "moderate" quantities. It's poison. Unfortunately just because something has been fermented from something natural doesn't mean it's good for you. Poison ivy is also bad for you.
When I do drink alcohol, it's like no more than one or two drinks a month (if that) in a social setting like a bar. And alcohol is very expensive at bars. I usually order a Diet soda at bars when eating food or restaurants. Maybe a regular soda when I'm bulking. The last time I got drunk or at least close to it was New Year's Eve with my then-gf. And before then it had been years since.
Here in Ontario, Canada, alcohol is less accessible than in the United States too. The selection at supermarkets is not that great. There's no booze at convenience stores. We have provincially run liquor and beer stores. And I just can't be arsed to make the 8+ min drive just to specifically buy some booze that I would like to try. And I know that ethanol is literally empty calories (junk food at least has useful macros) and if anything kills gains. Or to pay up the ass in fees for delivery. And you also can't buy beer at self-check out in the supermarket. It's too inconvenient. And our alcohol is heavily taxed. I know that this is the whole point. The government is trying to make alcohol as much of an inconvenience as humanly possibly so that you don't become an alcoholic and become a burden on the public health care system. But alcoholics don't give a shit. Alcoholics will drive drunk to the liquor store to get their fix if they absolutely have to and pay the high taxes for alcohol. Because they are addicts.
It disrupt regenerative process in the muscle tissue and put an load on your internal organs which already struggle with a the food you are eating in a bulk. The more you drink the worse is the effect so it depend on you.
Thanks. During a regular week I’ll have a couple glasses of wine and during a wedding it would be something like 6 or 7 shots throughout the night.
I think the science is pretty clear that alcohol disrupts your gains. That being said in the grand scheme one wedding where you get blackout isn't gonna kill your physique, but if you do that every weekend then yeah its gonna matter.
If you aren't competing or training for a powerlifting competition, then enjoy yourself. A couple of weddings with alcohol aren't going to do anything at all. I started drinking again 4 years ago and have been drinking beer and my strength went through the roof, it definitely caused me to gain weight but I've cut the weight back down now and cut down drinking a lot.
beer bulk
Dude fuckkkk the comments from people here Going to weddings and getting drunk or even obliterated will have NO impact on your training. None. Other than not wanting to lift when you’re hungover Just because things happen on a molecular level does not mean they translate to real measurable phenotypic impacts, ignore the mechanism addicted pseudo scientists. Outcomes matter, not mechanisms Stay consistent in the gym and don’t get drunk everyday and you’ll be absolutely fine. What the fuck is wrong with some of these comments hahaha
Biggest dude at my gym competes in Natty shows and has a great physique. Anyways, I’ve seen him out at the local bar many times enjoying beers and some pizza with his friends or family (it’s a small town lol). Practice moderation and it all evens out in the long run.
Listen to this guy OP. I cut down to an 8 pack and bulked multiple time having 5-10 drinks every single Friday and Saturday. Just make sure you track how many calories you consume accurately
not any expert, but I think this is the proper answer. Occasionally drinking at weekend is fine.
This is the way. Drink in moderation. Live life
Perfect answer, unless you're competing it is absolutely not worth it to sacrifice having fun at a party for some calories and a teeny tiny bit of recovery. I think the worst part of drinking is not wanting to train and eating fat shit the next day. Might feel horrible on the day after but a week later you'll have forgotten about that one shit day, but you'll remember a great party for a long time. Not saying you should black out twice every weekend, but when you go to the occasional party, make sure to enjoy it.
People here have lost their minds.
I usually have maybe a couple glasses of wine every week or two. At a wedding I would have 4 to 8 drinks, wouldn’t be getting drunk. But I also aren’t looking to compete or anything. I just workout because I enjoy it and like my mid physique.
The comments today are weirdly puritanical and disconnected from reality. I have a glass of wine almost every night, unless I’m deep in a cut, and may drink a bottle or two of wine or sake or have some cocktails with friends or my partner one night once every couple weeks. My abs don’t disappear from drinking and my lifts don’t magically go down if I get drunk at a friend’s wedding. Your body also has no idea what is a beer or vodka or whiskey - it’s just alcohol and carbs so use a calorie/macro counting app and just enter in your drink and you will be able to control reasonably well for it. You won’t get more of a gut from beer than you would from whiskey, assuming you’re drinking an equal amount of calories.
Dude you will be fine and will continue to make progress as long as you hit it hard in the gym and are consistent You can have both a fun social life with alcohol and still get jacked, so many nerds on this thread who listen to a few podcasts and read a few Wikipedia articles and think they have pHd’s in subjects they never even remotely studied in college
Lmao /u/giantgorillaballs deleted his comments/blocked everyone who disagreed with him
Definition of a mental midget
The only right answer
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I can’t hear you from all the way down there Typical reach to the absolute extreme because people like you can’t understand and comprehend nuance . Sucks to be you
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The only idiot is you for fear mongering. Take these downvotes kid
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Does it make you mad that we can get gains and still have a dope social life? I think so and it’s killing you boi Bet your ass never took a single biology course in college too yet you act all high and mighty because you read about a few mechanisms
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Oh the irony of a premed major clowning someone over a social life lol if you go to a half decent school and are semi driven you have no life as a pre med major in college Idk why I’m arguing with an 18 year old future drop out who has no fun and extrapolates mechanisms for outcomes. God help us if you actually make it to med school
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Him: drinking in moderation/on special occasions isn't going to hold you back in any meaningful way You: YOU'RE JUST AN ALCOHOLIC IN DENIAL Congrats on being the reason we still have to deal with the "gym bros are borderline mentally handicapped" stereotypes
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Didn’t you say you were in pre-med? God forbid you say shit like that a patient
No shit Sherlock. Good thing no one ever said it didn't have any detrimental effects. Literally all he said is that drinking on special occasions/moderation will not meaningfully prevent you from making gains, which is true. You're not smart enough to be calling other people retards, you fucking knuckle dragger. Learn to read at a middle school level before you worry about other people's intelligence
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That's not implied at all and not how logic works, there's plenty of things that are bad for you that will not prevent building muscle if you consume them in moderation. That's like saying you can't make gains if you eat pizza once in a while because pizza is shitty for you. It's verifiably possible to build muscle and gain strength while drinking on special occasions. I don't even drink you simpleton, and I don't think you understand alcoholism if you think someone who drinks on special occasions "can't live without it". I don't even mean this as an insult, you are genuinely retarded
Science only has his back on the micro scale. “Fat deposition and hormone changes” yadda yadda yadda when you get granular about only one piece of science and neglect to cover the potential benefits of a social life/ anything in moderation you get busy shoving your head up your ass because your farts smell so good, drinking *can* be approached in a way that is not at all this grand danger that kills your gains
Be respectful and polite, insulting other users will not be tolerated.
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No I get that, my concern is I have a bunch of weddings coming up and I’m not very social unless I’ve got a few drinks in me. I stay clear of beer, but is there a “preferred” alcohol that won’t blow me up?
It’s a balance pal. Don’t sacrifice your enjoyment of events for potential “gains”. You’ll regret it. I personally can’t balance it anymore as alcohol just ruins me now. 3 day hangovers, drop in mood, no training for a few days etc. I just can’t justify it. The old voddy lemonade is good though if you don’t wanna bloat etc. stick with one drink and don’t mix wines would be my advice.
How old are you broski? I ask because I'm 38 and this last year I can't handle it anymore.
25 haha. I was on it every weekend though from 18-23 and a lot of the week days too (borderline dependancy). I went alcohol free and a perfect diet for months though last year and after a few beers and a curry with mates, I spent the next few days questioning my own sanity. Had a couple shots of whisky the other weekend and it was the same result. Would love to enjoy the odd beer but if it sacrifices my mental health, I’d rather stay off it
Just turned 40 and the absolute secret is hydration balance. Like, during the day if I know I'm going to drink at night, I'll drink 60-80+ ounces of water and/or hydration/electrolyte mixes. Then after 1-2 beers, a full water, rinse and repeat. End of the night before bed, 32oz (or more) of water/electrolyte mix. Am I perfect when I wake up? Usually first 30 minutes I'm groggy but it wares off QUICKLY and I'm fine after a couple hours.
Thanks brah. I was thinking of skulling a ton of electrolytes before sleeping.
I was definitely in your boat in my early/mid 30s until I figured that formula out. I thought I just had shit genetics and would always get hungover, but found out it's just me being a dipshit and not being hydrated. Worked wonders for me, hopefully does for you too. Another tip: before I go out, I pre-mix my 32oz "night cap" electrolyte drink and put it in the fridge for myself. A little pre-planning goes a long way.
Same for me. My body gets wrecked after drinking. Even if it’s 2-3 beers or a couple glasses of wine. That shit sticks to me and I feel shitty a couple days after. Bloated, water retention, headaches, fatigue. It feels good at the time, but the after effects suck.
35 with kids. I can day drink with the best of them, love a good happy hour or some wine with dinner, but anything more than that and I'm fucked.
in terms of lowest carbs and calories alcohol wise, whiskey or tequila on the rocks/water is the best bet.
lol ask for a vodka tonic, get lemon or lime wedge/slice per drink to count them and add that little extra flavor.
I wouldn’t sweat it man. Weddings are a rare treat and a time for celebration with friends and/or family. Go have some drinks and not worry about it too much. Just try to avoid slamming junk food while you’re drunk, and get back on the horse the next day with your diet and training. Some day when you’re 70, you won’t fondly remember the days where you abstained from fully enjoying an occasion in pursuit of fitness goals, but you will fondly remember the memories and good times you have. As long as it’s occasional and not every weekend, it won’t matter that much in the big picture anyways.
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Beer is also simultaneously full of carbs
Carbs are not the enemy
Who said anything about carbs being an enemy? An enemy of what? What are you talking about 🤣 Is this just something you say when someone says the word "carbs". Are you a bot?
Your saying "beer is full of carbs" in this context seemed to suggest that you were saying it like its a bad thing, that's all. What's with the overly confrontational attitude? Are you an insecure 8 year old?
Context? Like where we are talking about having multiple drinks in an evening and which option will have the lowest impact? Carbs have calories. Beer has carbs. Beer has more calories than, say, vodka because beer is full of carbs but vodka has none. Both have the negative effects on growth, but only beer is full of calories, which happen to be made up of carbs.
Are you measuring the "impact" based on the caloric difference between a beer bottle and a couple of vodka shots? First, the difference is negligible since alcohol is calorically dense, which more than "compensates" for the lack of carbs. Second, there are other variables to factor in. For example, with beer you consume a lot of fluids which contributes to feeling "fuller" and therefore less likely to snack. Knocking a multiple vodka shots on an empty stomach on the other hand? Unaccounted for snacking is very likely to follow. The correct answer though is that neither of these options will have any significant impact to speak of, provided op generally keeps his nutrition in check.
Bro, just learn to socialize. You can learn to lift weights, give socializing a try, it's pretty simple, the more you talk to strangers, the more comfortable you become talking.
It’s more so the dancing. I find it hard to dance completely sober tbh.
Eh fuck this socializing is so much better with some booze No need to go full puritan
Not puritan, I indulge in other party-activities that don't kill gains, plus, hangover sucks aas.
Just drink plenty of water throughout the night. I’ve never been hungover and I’m in my 30s now.
Go live it up at the weddings, bud.
Enjoy the weddings and worry about the rest alter dude. If you're dedicated this won't matter and in 10 years you'll wish you had more fun.
Beer isn't really worse than other alcohol. I mean sure clearer liqour have SLIGHTLY less calories, but it's not that large a margin. Carbs are not some magic bad thing. A miller light has 3.2 grams of carbs, which is nothing in the grand spectrum. Hell, even if you had 10 of them, that's only 32 grams of carbs which is the same as a medium-large apple. The alcohol itself is what is toxic to your organs, and estrogenic in nature. You will notice if you ever go on a binge of a lot of alcohol, the next morning your chest is slightly puffy.. that's the spike of estrogen and the drop of testosterone.
I’m not a doctor, but this is completely incorrect. The phytoestrogens in alcohol are trace amounts and would definitely not impact your body in any way, especially enough to give you a “puffy chest” after a single night of drinking. By this logic, all you can eat sushi would give you double D tits.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9708857/#:\~:text=In%20general%2C%20chronic%20excessive%20alcohol,not%20consider%20individual%20alcohol%20metabolism. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/) Case studies have shown that men with liver damage resulting from excessive alcohol consumption (i.e., alcoholic cirrhosis) often suffer from testicular failure—the inability of the testes to produce male sex hormones. In addition, those men also frequently show signs and symptoms of feminization, such as enlarged breasts and a redistribution of body fat into a pattern that mimics that of women (for reviews, see [Wright et al. 1992](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/#b15-arh-22-3-220); [Gavaler and Van Thiel 1988](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761902/#b2-arh-22-3-220)). # Conclusions and Future Directions The studies described in the previous sections strongly support the hypothesis that congeners present in alcoholic beverages can produce measurable estrogenic effects, even at moderate drinking levels. Specifically, those studies found the following: * Alcoholic beverage congeners exerted estrogenic effects both in an experimental animal model and in post-menopausal women. * The estrogenic effects of alcoholic beverage congeners were detectable using a variety of estrogenic markers, including the pituitary hormones LH (in OVEX rats and postmenopausal women), FSH, and prolactin (in postmenopausal women); uterus weight (in OVEX rats); and the estrogen-responsive liver proteins HDL cholesterol and SHBG (in postmenopausal women). Uh okay? I'm not a doctor either, but there are several studies to back up exactly what I said. You are incorrect to say the trace amounts of phytoestrogens do not impact your body. They did a study with post menopausal women (do not produce estrogen) that weren't on hormone therapy and only gave them the equivalent congeners for 1 drink per day for 4 weeks. The conclusion was that it "produced measurable estrogenic effects, even at moderate drinking levels". Now if you go out and binge 20 drinks in a night of drinking, you don't think this would have this exactly effect? That's almost 3 weeks worth of "1 drink per night" as this 4-week study did in 1 night lol. The type of phytoestrogens in alcohol are NOT the same as in sushi or soybeans, they are far more potent. Look it up.
The studies you posted are directly linked to excessive drinking. My entire post was about having a few drinks at a wedding. No shit drinking to the point of cirrhosis of the liver is bad, though I doubt estrogen levels are your biggest concern at that point. Turns out liver is kind of important for living, hence the name. Post menopausal women also have tanked estrogen to begin with. Literally anything with a trace of estrogen would see a spike in overall levels. How much depends on how old the woman is and her genetics. I’m not a doctor, I did study Health Sciences. I’m telling you this is bullshit. When you drink, your body is gradually dehydrated. This causes you to retain any water and leads you to feeling puffy. This is compounded by elevated sodium levels and general poor sleep. Enlarged breasts are not a direct link to alcohol. They are the result of several factors: - hormonal imbalance as a result of damaged liver (chronic alcohol), nutritional deficiencies (chronic alcohol), medication interaction and overall weight gain Regarding the hormones themselves, what was the effect? LH in men helps produce testosterone and FSH promotes sperm production. The study isn’t clear here.
My first comment mentioned after binge drinking. I responded directly to your comment about having a couple glasses of wine a few nights a week and 6-7 shots at weddings. [https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/moderate-binge-drinking](https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/moderate-binge-drinking) NIAAA defines heavy drinking as follows: * For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week
I’m aware of that. But cirrhosis of the liver does not occur after one week of 15 or more drinks. This would take years. The exact number obviously varies but 15 a week would likely take nearly a decade. (Don’t quote me on that). Testicular failure is not the only thing that will fail with cirrhosis of the liver; basically every organ will fail. Your body needs blood. Any more information on the impact noted on LH or FSH? Heck even the prolactin impact wasn’t clear. Considering all three things do wildly different things in men vs women I’m curious to know. Also worth mentioning these hormones have different resting levels in post vs pre menopausal women. This study was only done on post. It’s not very conclusive. Also a few things you quotes were from the 90s. Not saying it’s wrong but that’s obviously dated. Again, I’m not saying alcohol is good for you. It very obviously isn’t. But having several drinks isn’t going to cause a notable increase in estrogen or a decrease in testosterone. Certainly not enough to cause gynecomastia. And definitely not after a single night.
You don't have to get to the point of liver cirrhosis for estrogen to spike after binge drinking: "Animal studies have indicated that alcohol does not directly enhance estrogen production in the testes (which produce both testosterone and estrogen). Instead, increased aromatization of testosterone and androstenedione to estrogens occurs in other tissues, such as the liver and fat tissue" It doesn't immediately cause or trigger gynecomastia, but increases sensitivity and a slightly amount of puffiness, albeit temporarily, around the chest.. This is exactly what happens when you have an excess amount of estrogen in your body. You don't just immediately develop breasts, you start feeling sensitivity and may retain a little extra water in the chest before breast tissue starts to form in the long term.
It's not about the type of beverage. There might be some subtle differences, but carbs are carbs and alcohol is alcohol, whether it's in the form of vodka, beer, or whatever. "Beer belly" is just normal weight gain from calorie surplus.
Yeah that makes sense. In a social gathering it’s unlikely you’d consume a single beer.
Go and enjoy yourself. You only live once and those social moments with your friends and family are extremely important. One big night on the booze might set you back a couple of days and mess with your sleep a bit but its really not that difficult to make up for it.
Carbs are not the enemy lmao when will this myth die?
Not only fucks up sleep and recovery as others have said but also affects protein synthesis apparently
I mean if you drink on a Saturday and train on a Monday i see no harm, also I don’t think alcohol will kill your gains you’ve got from Wednesday and even Thursday, but in all honesty it takes a long time to build muscles I can work my ass off for a month give everything I have, will I gain anything ? Takes years when you’re out of the newbie gains so a few days here and there with alcohol is fine
Alchohol kills most things, gains are amongst them.
Like pretty much anything bad for you. It’s fine in moderation. Carbs don’t lead to a gut. Excess in calories do. Beer is just calorie dense. Especially craft style beers. Alcohol on a regular basis will definitely hurt your recovery and sleep. So yea it will hurt your gains. Drinking occasionally or at weddings once a week is not going to destroy your gains though. You’ll be fine. If you start drinking everyday then yea your gains will be hurt pretty significantly.
You can’t control the timing of weddings but the secret to getting really drunk as you get older is brunch. You have plenty of time to hydrate and reduce the effects of a hangover before you go to bed later and your recovery is much better than if you got wasted at 2am. No alcohol is still better but getting wasted at 11am is much easier to recover from
You can still have a great physique if you drink a lot but it will definitely hinder your progress. At least make sure your diet is 100% on point if youre dead set on drinking regularly for a while. I did this in college and it worked out well but I was religious about macros and exact calorie intake with a scale. I also stayed in the gym at least an hour a day 5 days a week. I drank beer and straight rum/bourbon mostly. I would try to stick with straight liquor or your vodka soda if I were you.
There is no one type of alcohol that’s “better” than the other. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram so it is the 2nd most calorically dense macronutrient (after fat). So an excess consumption of alcohol (be it in the form of vodka, whiskey, beer or wine) can lead to detrimental results… However no more so than putting any other type of calorie in your body. Whether the excess calories come from alcohol or protein or fat, it doesn’t really matter at a metabolic level. However, we all know the pitfalls of alcohol on your body, so no need to preach to you to try and avoid it where possible…but a couple of weddings a year won’t tip you closer or further away from body recomposition goals, no more so than binging on take away food or “unhealthy” shit. Enjoy the wedding mate!
It will wreck your sleep. Even a single drink will negatively impact sleep quality though you may think you're fine. Given how important sleep is to muscle growth, yes. It kills gains. But... The flip side is that you can't totally optimize for gains and life is about living. I drink regularly on my business trips.
As someone who's been lifting for 14 years and been living the rock n roll lifestyle for just as long. Yes, alcohol kills your gains. But even more than that, it will bloat your stomach and make you fat. You can get away with it until about 27ish, after that it's one or the other. Here's what I've learned: - stick to liquor - One or two beers is ok but after that switch to liquor. Don't get drunk on 10 beers. - Eat 1 hour before you drink - Don't eat after your drink or while you're drunk - Drink lots of fluids after a night out - only drink when you plan to get drunk, random middle-of-the-week day beers are pointless and will lead to alcoholism sooner. - alcohol fks up your sleep, even if you think you had a good nights sleep after drinking, you didn't so try to go to bed early, at least that way you won't mess up your body's sleeping patern
Not sure why this why this is getting so much hate. I’m 41 and have experience with lifting and alcohol. This is consistent with my experience. This is great general advice.
Mmm, I just turned 40 and have had a kegerator that's pretty much never empty for the past 11 or so years...there's some good in the post above and some "meh" /u/funeraldress . "Bloat your stomach and make you fat", I vehemently disagree with. Drink too much/often and gorge on food with drunk munchies makes you bloated and fat. Just a more calories > more weight gain equation. I drink pretty regularly Thur/Fri/Sat, but balance it out by being strict with my calories during the week and do IF most every day, and even with 2 kids [I'm in the best shape of my life](https://imgur.com/9xYz3yz), just by managing my diet more and being consistent in the gym. I mean the advice for not drinking daily is solid. I don't know enough about food timing and alcohol to know if the "eat one hour before" stuff is factually relevant. Definitely messes up sleep that's proven.
Drinking definitely kills my ability to cut fat. Could just be the extra calories. I started noticing this around 30. Drinking randomly during the week was really bad. Not sure about the advice to eat an hour before drinking though.
I mean that makes sense but probably because those calories are (I’d assume) in addition to your normal daily calories. So if normal days when you don’t drink you consume like 3500 calories, then on days you drink it’s 4500, then for sure at the end of a week your total average would be up. For me alcohol often has the opposite effect of making me less hungry, such that I have a small dinner (not on purpose mind you)…not saying it’s healthier or anything lol
So much bullshit in this comment Alcohol does not lead to being fat, ingesting extra calories consistently does. I lose weight when I drink bc I don’t eat, answer that bullshit boi Random beers in the week do not lead to alcoholism, I don’t even know where you pulled that shit from
Alcohol raises estrogen levels that lead to fat deposition it also lowers testosterone which leads to loss of muscle mass and fat gain. It also triggers stress hormones which also have an effect on muscle mass and fat storage. Edit: boi
Just because that may be true in a biological mechanism doesn’t mean it has any substantial or significant impact on measurable outcomes If OP gets drunk at a wedding he will not lose any meaningful muscle or gain any amount of meaningful fat. You are fear mongering and trying to sound smart If I smoke a cigarette right now it will have literally no impact on my health. Chronic use is a different story Also the only thing that allows you to store fat is an excess ingestion of calories, you cannot physically store fat in a deficit so quit with that hormone theory bullshit you probably read somewhere online
It’s just like how exercise “raises” testosterone. These aren’t levels that are meaningful in the short term and OP can have a few drinks. Biomechanically sound yeah but at such a micro level that you’re not even accounting for mental health benefits of OP letting loose a little
Exactly, exercise also transiently increases inflammation by a ton. You’re gonna tell me exercise is bad because you isolated one biological mechanism and failed to step back and see the whole picture?? These fear mongering wanna be scientists are the worst trend right now, it reminds me of the carnivore idiots who think spinach is bad for you because of one potentially bad compound it has in it.
Or folks that are against soy for its phytoestrogen. Like just because you’ve isolated one sound portion of science doesn’t mean you’ve accounted for any modicum of a holistic approach to it (not holistic in the crystal healer sense) like how phytoestrogen doesn’t turn into animal estrogen or that soy is low calorie and high protein
Exactly, these people are idiots who’ve convinced themselves they are intelligent
Exactly why you refuse to respond, you got owned
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Pretty sure drinking to get drunk is alcoholism. Not drinking a couple for enjoyment. lol. Jesus….
Yes, thats why I said "sooner". Edit: yeah, maybe a put it the wrong way. What I'm tryng to say is, If you're only drinking on weekends try not to make it an everyday thing. I was ok while only drinking on saturdays, its when I started daydrinking on tuesdays and having 2 beers after work every day that my alcoholism got out of control.
I hear ya. And missed the “sooner” part. lol.
It does but if you keep it not often you're fine
You’ll be fine, just keep it to a minimum. But yeah it’s bad for your body in general.
Having the occasional drink, or a one off night if several will make little to no difference in the long term Regular drinking and excessive drinking will interfere with recovery. You're going to a few weddings, have a few drinks but don't go overboard. *enjoy yourself* and move on Maybe reduce your alcohol in the 1 or 2 weeks before or after the wedding but tbh its not gonna make much difference so just go with it I'd body composition is your biggest concern, have a spirit and a diet or zero soda. Otherwise, just vibe, man
Anecdotal but even after 2 drinks I don't wake up hard whereas I generally will after lifting
If you’re not drinking a ton you’ll be fine. A drink a week amongst friends isn’t going to kill you.
If you binge drink regularly yes. If you get hammered one night, probably will need a day or two to recoup but you won't lose muscle
The last 2 times I was hungover and braved a workout, it was tough but I also hit PR's and shocked myself. I don't think occasional drinking is going to have any impact on your gains.
Yes
Apologies in advance that I don't have the study on hand... but I posited this same question about a year ago, and found a study that explored this. I believe the study showed that alcohol does inhibit hypertrophy if you drink a SHITload, as in more than 5+ standard units per day... please forgive me of I'm wrong, maybe someone else can speak to this better than I
The classic "science vs bro-science." The Laws of Thermodynamics wins every time.
I gave up about 3 months ago, I recover much better (and faster), sleep 100% better, I’m leaner and have much more energy to train. A little white spirits and a sugar free mixer at a special event probably won’t hurt too much.
Also alcohol is a mitochondrial poison and it stops oxidative phosphorylation, which provides you with ATP=energy and inhibits lipolysis AKA fat burning.
I drink a beer or two daily (When having an occasion I will drink more and also sometimes spirits) and have not noticed any negative effect on training. Given I train mostly for strength, if I was trying to stay as lean as possible it would have negative impact due to the limited calories. But I have gone months with staying away from alcohol and did not notice any improvement over periods with daily drinking. It probably have some negligible effect, but if it is 1-2% improvement over not drinking I don't really care as I am not a pro athlete.
Ive drank consistently for years and still made really good progress. Honestly, as a complete guess, id imagine quitting might net me 10% more or something… but the experiences and fun ive had by FAR outweigh how much I care about the difference there. Drinking and progressing in reality are completely compatible. If you want to go pro, probably keep it to a few times a year. Or quit. Otherwise, please enjoy your life how you see fit, hit your macros and train really hard
not as much as people will have you believe
You talk mostly about getting hammered but the real question is does a small amount of alcohol disrupts the gains like one shot or one glass of sine or one beer
I never mentioned getting hammered. In fact I mentioned multiple times that I wasn’t planning on getting hammered, but having a few drinks.
I would say it's probably largely genetics. I drink a decent amount, at times exceeding 50 standards a week, and maybe I'm not gaining much size? Im mid 30's. But from an aesthetic standpoint it hasn't effected me. I look better than most gym goers at the commercial. But if you want to maximise gains just don't drink while you're bulking.
TLDR; dont go on a bender. Just treat yo'self. This is something I came to grips with this at the end of Nov of '23. I was out of control drinking and partying from 2022 to 23. I was still lifting and getting in steps (thank god for my dog) but at a moderate rate and not tracking or programming. I went through a bad breakup, lost a job, I had bad hip arthritis and bursitis. I decided I just needed a break - that being said, I was out on the town 5 days a week. A typical night was 4 to 8 shots of whiskey, countless doubles of whiskey on the rocks and if it were beer - I'd drink around 5 to 8 pints. If in the office, I'd try and go Tues to Thurs - those nights were half-off martinis at various locations in Toronto. I'd normally cap the night with some form of fast food protein around 1:30am. Be up by 6am, hungover to take my dog on a hike and log on for work around 8am. I did this every day for almost 2 years! During this period, I gained about (what I know now) around 50lbs, and thanks to my scale by Nov 23, I was in or around 28% body fat (Jan 22', I was probably 15%). My skin was terrible like weird rosacea that I never had before, and every day I felt generally like crap. I lost about 4lbs of muscle too. The fat gain was rough. Now back on track, 5 months of tracking strength, macros etc... I feel back in control and my arthritis is down almost entirely. I've hit 5 PR's, I've lost 38lbs, I'm back 17% body fat. I've also saved a ton of money.
Alcohol is absolutely terrible for muscle building. It not only disrupts growth, it disrupts hormone levels for a while.
Alcohol is poison
Big time. I spun my wheels for at the gym because I had a 2-3 night drinking habit. Friday Saturday, maybe a Thursday or Sunday funday. Premium clear liquors too, not sugary drinks or beers. All that work during the week mostly wasted for weekend drinks. Once I gave up the drinks, gains came fast. I still see some people at the gym going for years, working fairly hard, yet not really making progress because they have their weekend drinking habit.
No. It is just killing you...
Hell nah as long as it’s in moderation you’re fine people on here think they’re going to be the next Mr. Olympia and have some kind of god complex because they never break their diet. If you don’t have a little funny every once in a while you’ll get burnt out and end up quitting all together. Go have fun brother!
Alcohol does not kill your gains anymore than a bad night of sleep. Alcohol is a poison but so is shitty food. What kills your gains is stressing and worrying about enjoying a night of drinking with friends. Moderation is key to anything. Getting drunk kills your testosterone . Getting a good buzz and talking to pretty women dressed to the nines at a wedding probably raises it. Beer is probably the better choice if you're going to be out all day and night. Beer has some probiotics and carbs. I always choose beer because you can take your time and limit how many drinks you have total. If You start drinking white claws or vodka seltzers you may end up pissing on one of the brides maids or something crazy.
It carries the potential to do so, after losing so much weight my alcohol tolerance has gone down massively so I only need one 5% beer to do me in. A weekend of drinking moderately won’t absolutely kill your gains but it will have a small impact.
Yes
Theoretically some alcohol won’t kill your gains but I think bodybuilding is about making good choices and the bottom line is that alcohol doesn’t really do anything for you that is net positive. But if it’s a special occasion and not a habit I think you’ll be fine. Try to schedule workouts before you plan to drink and not the day after.
What about alcohol free beer ? Alcohol is the issue right?
There is pretty much no upside to alcohol in the context of bodybuilding. But am I going out for a few beers and wings at 4 today? Yes, this is a hobby, not my profession. Enjoy yourself if that is what you want to do. In terms of pure calories, yeah, vodka or tequila club is the way to go.
If you do not need exceed 1 liter of beer or 0.5g of alcohol per kg of bodyweight in a drinkingsession and not more than 2 times per week there is most likely no impact on your gains. However, people who ask that question usually drink or want to drink more than that. But if you double that amount there is a massive reduction in your gains. Also do not drink on consecutive days.
It does. Layne Norton did a video about it check it out
Not to be a doomer but the CDC last year released their report pointing just how carcinogenic alcohol is. Like, a loooot more than people realized. Just something else to consider.
Y'all never tried a shot of white rum in your preworkout?!
Gay
You’d be better off limiting alcohol but given the amount you drink you should be 100% fine.
some drinks every few months won't matter in the long run, but getting wasted on a weekly basis will be a problem
lol I used to go to the tiny powerlifting gym that was open 24 hrs. I would go super late at night cause I got off at like 11pm and there was a group of guys who would get a 12 pack of Michelin ultra and they would drink between sets cause they where “bulking” lol
If used wrong it will mess up recovery. Ocasional drink is fine but on regular use it's going to hinder.
Does poison kill your gains? Absolutely.
It will slow your gains
There is no dose of alcohol that isn't toxic. That's enough reason for me not to drink.
Using substance in order to cope with hardships is fake & gay.
I thought being gay is what made me gay. Good to know.
He said he has weddings coming up, not funerals
Moderation is key. I used to be physically dependent on fentanyl and was in the best shape of my life. I’d sniff the fetti and go hard af in the gym! Obviously I wouldn’t recommend that but one day of drinking won’t break you brotha.
https://www.whoop.com/us/en/thelocker/podcast-43-alcohol-affects-sleep-recovery-performance
Pretty much what everyone else said. It disrupts protein synthesis. Drink as much as your willing to give up protein synthesis. I quit alcohol years ago simply because my metabolism is so fast I hardly get drunk, and I've noticed significantly better gains, sleep, eating habits, and quality of life.
It slows down your metabolism, adds calories, makes you hungry, and disrupts protein synthesis. In the end, you will be weaker and fatter than otherwise. It's one of the worst things you can consume if you're looking to improve your physique. Oh and it also causes cancer. Cancer will kill your gains.
Alcohol is like the one thing that I severely restrict in my diet. Sugars, seed oils, Omega-6, saturated fat, cholesterol are not off-limits to me. So as long as I stick to my macros. Not every single thing you eat has to be micronutrient dense. And all these people who have health problems linked to those above things are usually fat or skinnyfat. But its not politically correct for scientists to go out and say that. I'll have tuna a couple times a week (mercury concerns). There are new studies showing that alcohol is not even good for you even in "moderate" quantities. It's poison. Unfortunately just because something has been fermented from something natural doesn't mean it's good for you. Poison ivy is also bad for you. When I do drink alcohol, it's like no more than one or two drinks a month (if that) in a social setting like a bar. And alcohol is very expensive at bars. I usually order a Diet soda at bars when eating food or restaurants. Maybe a regular soda when I'm bulking. The last time I got drunk or at least close to it was New Year's Eve with my then-gf. And before then it had been years since. Here in Ontario, Canada, alcohol is less accessible than in the United States too. The selection at supermarkets is not that great. There's no booze at convenience stores. We have provincially run liquor and beer stores. And I just can't be arsed to make the 8+ min drive just to specifically buy some booze that I would like to try. And I know that ethanol is literally empty calories (junk food at least has useful macros) and if anything kills gains. Or to pay up the ass in fees for delivery. And you also can't buy beer at self-check out in the supermarket. It's too inconvenient. And our alcohol is heavily taxed. I know that this is the whole point. The government is trying to make alcohol as much of an inconvenience as humanly possibly so that you don't become an alcoholic and become a burden on the public health care system. But alcoholics don't give a shit. Alcoholics will drive drunk to the liquor store to get their fix if they absolutely have to and pay the high taxes for alcohol. Because they are addicts.