Alcohol vs. Muscle...

*Given that we’re just coming off of a lengthy holiday period where alcohol consumption is a part of the tradition, the timing of this information couldn’t be better. Please forgive me!*

In general, fitness enthusiasts are more health conscious about the foods we put into our bodies than the average person. But what about alcohol? There is evidence out there suggesting that alcohol has many negative effects on muscle building. Weall know that the worthless calories from each drink can add up, especially if your mission is to increase lean body mass. Let’s examine what alcohol does to the body in relation to the athlete who’s trying to build muscle.

The REAL Effects of Alcohol on Your Body

Many of us associate the effects of alcohol on the body with the heart, lungs, liver, brain, memory, etc. Furthermore, if asked about effects of drinking alcohol in terms of our fitness goals, most people will talk about the infamous beer belly. We’ve all seen it, right? If you drink too much you end up storing too many calories as fat. To avoid this, many people will choose low calorie or low carb alcoholic drinks in an attempt to avoid the fat storage issue. They feel that by making this choice the only bad effects of alcohol (increased fat storage) will be minimized. But what you may not know know is that only about 5% of the calories from alcohol are stored as fat! Yikes.

The effects of alcohol on the body are far more damaging than can be predicted by the number of empty calories in some alcoholic beverage. The truth is…

Alcohol really affects the amount of fat your body can and will burn for energy!

In a study done by the American Journal of Clinical Research they concluded that a mere 24g of alcohol consumption showed whole-body lipid oxidation (this is the rate at which your body burns fat) decreased by a whopping 73%! Personally, that’s a number that I can’t ignore. When alcohol travels through the liver, it creates a by-product called Acetate. It is this acetate that puts the brakes on the fat burning process.

We talk all the time in our nutrition consults about how your body uses protein, carbohydrates and fat as fuel. In many cases, the fuel used by the body is dictated by its availability. Trouble is, your body tends to use whatever you feed it for fuel right? As your acetate levels increase, your body burns more acetate as fuel. Are you still following me? This means that fat burning takes a back seat!

What it all boils down to is this… a) You consume a few alcoholic drinks. b) Your liver metabolizes that into acetate. c) Your body uses the acetate instead of fat as fuel.

Decrease in Testosterone and an Increase in Cortisol

A study of 8 healthy male volunteers observed that after drinking alcohol, the effects of a significant decrease in testosterone and an increase in cortisol (a muscle destroying hormone) lasted up to 24 hours! If you are serious about building muscle and burning fat, you want all the free testosterone levels you can get and you want to reduce cortisol in any way you can. That means go light on the drinking because it does affect your hormones. What’s more is that the effects were even worse if you exercise before drinking. This means that if you are going out and will be drinking more than a small amount of alcohol, you might as well skip the gym. Uh Oh!

Decrease in vitamin and mineral absorption

When you consume large quantities of alcohol, your liver is busy converting the alcohol to acetate and any vitamins and minerals that it might process are taken up by the detoxification process. Alcohol interferes with the metabolism of most vitamins, and with the absorption of many nutrients. Food in the stomach will compete with ethanol for absorption into the blood stream. It has been well proven by research that alcohol competes and influences the processing of nutrients in the body.

Decrease in protein synthesis of type II fibers

Short story. This means the actual building of muscle is slowed down by 20%+ or more.

Dehydration

A common side effect of alcohol is dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic. Considering how important water is to muscle building and general health, it’s clear that dehydration can put a damper on your progress.

Sleep

Alcohol consumption, especially at the times when you would normally sleep, can have effects on the quality of sleep. Clearly high quality sleep is extremely important to the rebuilding and growth process of muscle. Without proper rest and recovery, your gains will be affected.

The next day

This may seem like a rather obvious statement, but if you plan on drinking on a Friday nightto excess, the workout you thought of doing on Saturday morning probably won’t be top notch. It takes awhile to recover, for your body to detoxify, and for you to be mentally prepared to workout. Not to mention you need energy for the WOD ahead!

At this point you might be totally discouraged to ever drink any alcohol again. (Then again, probably not.) And of course, The best option is always abstinence, as you already know. But there’s some good news. It’s simple: Moderation is the key! 1-2 drinks per day is considered moderation for the general population. As a fitness enthusiast looking for the best possible muscle gains, maybe 1 drink per day or even 1 drink per week would fit into your goals. However, 6-7 drinks would be detrimental to your muscle building efforts.

The bottom line? The effects of alcohol on your body when it comes to building muscle and burning fat are quite clear. It is a lot more than just some extra calories stored as fat. If you consume too much, it can derail your goals a lot longer than after your head has hit the pillow and you’ve gone to sleep.

by Crossfit Zone