The Effects of Alcohol on Building Muscle Mass
Bodybuilding and Alcohol
You’ve been out for a few drinks with the lads and it’s come to their notice that you’ve been putting on a few pounds. You’re developing a gut and it looks like you’ve eaten all the pies. You decide that today is when you’re going to start building muscle mass and losing fat. But, does bodybuilding and alcohol go together? Will you still be able to enjoy a drink or two?
There’s a good reason why today may not be a good day to start. Alcohol and body building do not mix. That doesn’t mean to say that you have to give up drinking completely. It just means that you need to regulate your drinking and plan your weightlifting exercise training sessions at times when you will not have alcohol in your system. If you are going to drink, you should do it in moderation and not straight after a muscle mass workout session.
Alcohol has a specific effect on muscles. It doesn’t reduce them but it prevents the muscles from getting the necessary support from the body which help them to recover from small tears and pulls. The blood system carries oxygen and other natural resources to the muscles to fix injuries. If the blood contains alcohol (which is a toxin) this system becomes less efficient. Oxygen carriage is impeded so that you take longer to recover and your training, therefore, becomes less effective. If you are returning to weight training without having totally recovered, you are more likely to injure yourself.
These small tears often occur without your even noticing. The body, given the right conditions, is constantly repairing itself. Alcohol in the system upsets the balance and will slow down the recovery process. If you are going to have a drink, plan it just as you would plan your exercise regime. For example, if you have a block of three days off in a row, day 2 is the best time to go for a drink or two so that you do not mix bodybuilding and alcohol.
For many bodybuilders, getting into the gym and working up a sweat can be the highlight of the week. Your time in the gym gives you time to clear your mind, a time to re-focus on the important things, an opportunity to forget about work and all it entails. However, you do need to take a break from your muscle mass workout programme every so often.
Your weightlifting exercises are doing your body good; you’re using up fat, you’re building up muscle mass and you’re making your body into a more efficient working machine. To be effective, however, you must consider pacing yourself properly. It’s easy to overdo it, and if you don’t take proper breaks and rest periods, your exercise workout will be inefficient and you will not be building muscle mass as quickly as you would like.
The benefits of regular exercise are obvious. You feel better, you look better, your body works more efficiently and you live longer, but it is important to make sure that your exercise regime includes time to have a break and relax. Working flat out can be very detrimental to your health, especially at the outset of a training programme. You can ‘burn yourself out’, both physically and mentally, so be prepared to be aware of how your body feels and make sure that you have regular relaxation breaks to allow your body to recover. Overdoing exercise can do you more harm than not exercising at all.
If you make the mistake of letting your exercise take over your life, you are missing out on all the other things that you need to be happy and healthy. It’s like having a balanced diet. We all get a lot of pleasure out of eating fatty foods, but you can’t live off them for a long time without them having an adverse effect.
When the body is relaxed and happy it releases chemicals which help to maintain a good mental balance. Without this mental wellbeing, an exercise regime will do you no good. If you feel mentally unsettled, frustrated or angry, you won’t feel the benefit. It’s to do with thinking of the body and mind as a whole. They both need to be working efficiently for you to feel good and to enjoy life.
