Should You Drink Alcohol After You Exercise?
They say a beer can replenish you, but does it? The answer may surprise you...
You may definitely deserve a beer after suffering in the gym, and we're not going to argue. Some even say that a post-workout beer is just what your body needs to replenish (it's a good mix of sugary carbs, electrolytes, and trace minerals).
But when it comes to drinking after exercise, alcohol screws up everything.
Not only does alcohol further dehydrate you, but it also floods your body with empty calories (messing up any weight loss or calorie restriction regimen). But the harmful effects go further than that.
Your muscles need time in the hours after a workout to recover, strengthen and grow. Unfortunately, alcohol both interrupts and inhibits this process.
Scientists at the University of Connecticut took a look at the effects of alcohol after resistance training, and found that it interrupts the post-exercise testosterone response. Testosterone is responsible for muscle growth, and your body uses the hormone to rebuild any muscles you've broken down during exercise. But that cheeky post-workout beer basically throws a wrench in this process, inhibiting your physical recovery and stimying any gains you may have made.
So why spend hours punishing yourself in the gym if you're just going to sabotage your body with booze? Best keep the beer cheat days for the weekend, and enjoy your beautiful, hard-earned body the rest of the week.
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