Don't Mix Alcohol And Muscle Building

You may find it hard to believe but there are many people that are unsure if alcohol has an adverse effect on their muscle building efforts

. The answer is a resounding yes. Alcohol will have an adverse effect of your workout.

Most serious body builders will reach for a protein drink before anything else. There is a very good reason for this. Protein is critical to effective muscle building and protein synthesis should not be interfered with. Alcohol will definitely impair protein synthesis.

The process that joins amino acids together to form complete proteins is called protein synthesis. When a person drinks alcohol the process is slowed by 20%.

Another critical factor in muscle building is the testosterone level in the body. You have probably noticed that women don't build the amount of muscle mass as me do. There reason for this is the low testosterone levels in women; women normally have 15-20 times less testosterone in their bodies than me do.

But what does testosterone have to do with alcohol consumption? Alcohol is known to decrease the testosterone levels while increasing the estrogen levels.

Hydration is also affected when you consume alcohol. In order to process the alcohol, the kidneys have to produce a massive amount of water. When this occurs, it is easy for the body to become dehydrated.

Nerves control muscles and nerves produce the stimuli to contract muscles from electrolyte minerals dissolved in water. Further more water lubricates the joints and protects them from injury during workouts.

Alcohol will rob the body of key vitamins such as vitamins A, B, and C. It will also deplete the body's supply of phosphorous and calcium. When you realize that the vitamins that are most important to muscle building are B and C, it makes sense not to drink alcohol while trying to build muscle.

When you build muscle, you are looking to deplete stores of fat and increase muscle mass. Alcohol works against this effort. Alcohol contains what nutritionist call empty calorie, which is calories with no nutritional benefit. It also has twice as many calories as carbohydrates and protein.

While we are discussing calories, it should be noted that calories taken in while drinking are the first ones that are burned for energy. This means that all of the fat that is stored will remain in storage. It will not be burned for energy until every last alcohol calorie is burned. This is not a very good combination for a person that is trying to build muscle or lose fat.

While we have looked at most of the major points on alcohol and bodybuilding; however, you have to consider the other affects of alcohol on the body. Prolonged use can lead to liver damage, diabetes and a host of other medically related problems. It will be increasingly difficult to build muscle if you suffer any one of these. Is it really worth the cost?

by: Ricardo D Argence

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