Alcohol is a biatch if you wanna gain mass!

[madgame]

That's right. You heared me. Alcohol is a biatch if u wanna gain mass. I had been partying around for like half a year and drank lots of alcohol and I couldn't really figure out what I did wrong, cause I always thought the only negative effect of alcohol on weight lifting was that you might be too tired to work out or neglect your nutrition. But anyways I turned out to be wrong. I cut down on drinking like 1 1/2 months ago and increased my bench press by 11lbs ever since. The results I had gotten during the 6 months when I drank like 3 times a week (now only once sometimes twice a week and a little less in general) were less than during the last 1,5 months.

I don't mean to say dont drink at all (unless you wanna become a professional bodybuilder) but dont overdo it. Its been proven that alcohol has a negative effect on the cells or something..thats the theory part..and for the practical part I really see a huge difference!

 

[victor von doom]

brilliant contribution to the board and stuff.

 

[madgame]

I bet a lot of guys who work out dont know how bad the negative effects of alcohol on your muscles are. Actually I couldn't find a single post about it when I was wondering how detrimental alcohol really was to your results. Then I did some research about it, tried it out myself, now I drink half as much as before and my gains have gone up drastically.

Actually I do think its a brilliant contribution to the board, cause its one of the only subjects I couldnt find a single post about it while you read the same stuff about other subjects like 10 times.

But hey really constructive critic on your part...

 

[victor von doom]

let's see: it messes with your recovery, it slows down your metabolism, it lowers your test and inhibits GH release.. anything else you need?

I was being sarcastic because it should be intuitive to any serious trainer that you shouldn't be drinking if you're going to be hardcore. no justification for it.

BTW, how exactly does one increase their bench by approximately 11 lbs

 

[Lt dan]

i was wondering about those 11 pounds too. those are some really small weights. anyway. about the slowing metabolism, from what ive heard when theres alcohol in your body you dont burn fat, you ust burn the alcohol

 

[madgame]

"let's see: it messes with your recovery, it slows down your metabolism, it lowers your test and inhibits GH release"

(Slowing down your metabolism would actually be beneficial if you wanna gain mass though..)

Good point all in all, but you talk like everybody on here knows it all. There are so many threads asking "I wanna get big! What am I to do? What supplements will do best for me??..." and I bet none of those guys really tries to keep their drinking to a minimum cause it might harm their mass gaining results. Everybody tells them. Train hard. Eat at least 1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight..take creatine...rest properly...but Ive NEVER seen anybody on here say "Keep your alcohol consumption to a minimum". I had started a thread about it before (when I hadnt known how harmful it really was to your results...look it up please) and people said stuff like: "cant be that bad I use beer as a post-work out drink"............. For those who dunno about the negative effects of alcohol on gaining mass this thread is GOLD!

I dunno what's so funny about increasing my bench press by 11 lbs (= 5kgs where I'm from) in 1 1/2 months. That equals an increase of 40kgs (88lbs) a year. That'd be more than I'd ever wish for ;-)..especially cause I had hit a plateau before and because Im not a beginner anymore (I would have been more than happy if I had been able to get these results when I was a beginner...)

(Maybe you thought I increased my bench by 11lbs ever since I started lifting weights?? Sorry if I made a mistake..Im not from an english speaking country.)


Seriously though, I think aclohol is like the most neglected topic in this forum.

 

[victor von doom]

Originally posted by madgame
[B(Slowing down your metabolism would actually be beneficial if you wanna gain mass though..)[/b]

not necessarily..but it will make you fatter.

[

Seriously though, I think aclohol is like the most neglected topic in this forum.

because we know that if you're serious about lifting, you are probably not a big drinker.

 

[madgame]

because we know that if you're serious about lifting, you are probably not a big drinker.

I bet you there's a shyt load of guys who wanna pack on muscle mass, work out properly and eat properly, but dont see much wrong with drinking (maybe even getting hammered ;-)) both days of the weekend. Actually I know many of them.

Just meant to share the experience I made with them.

 

[Duff]

erm what is considered minimal drinking? I've decreased my drinking down alot. but when i drink i like to drink. Is once a week ok if it is a bit of a binge? i work out in the week and rest at weekends.

Also anyone have any idea what type of alchohol is the best to drink? or should i say not as bad.... I try not to drink beer anymore

I know the lighter the drink (in colour) the less hangover you will get.

 

[madgame]

I think it doesn't really matter what type of drinks u drink. It just depends how much alcohol those drinks contain. In Vodka theres like 8 times as much alcohol as in beer. So it wouldnt really matter if u drank 0,5 liters of vodka or 4 liters of beer ;-).
(You can just calculate how much alcohol the drinks contain as it always says the perecentage of alcohol the drinks contain..)
Besides 0,5 liters of vodka contain almost as many empty calories as 4 liters of beer would. So it`s actually stupid when people say beer makes u fat vodka or hard liquor doesnt.


But anyways..I can only speak for myself. I cut down on drinking and I usually go out once on the weekend and drink like 5 to 6 beers. Sometimes when I do go out twice I try to not drink more than 4 beers. (Maybe it`d be a little less for other people cause I have a pretty big frame).

Besides you should scheudle your workout in a way that you dont have to work out the day after you were out drinking...whcih u probably already do cause u said u rested on the weekends (and probably dont drink on sunday :-D)

Anyways, I think it doesnt matter at all what kinda liquor or beer you get drunk from...how much do you usually drink when u drink?

 

[Lt dan]

i think the reason people thoght 11 was strange is because its such an odd number. thats what i thought anyway, the smallest weight ive seen is a 2.5 pound. but if its kilograms i guess it would be different

 

[madgame]

First I thought I had made a mistake..but I looked it up..it says 2.5 kg / 5.5 lbs on these weights. I have others on which it says 1.25kg (which would be 2.75 lbs) ;-)
Maybe we have different weights over here in Europe...

 

[Duff]

ah so beer is jsut the same as spirits? thank god. spirits r too expensive........lol

err ok lets take last friday for instance.

I began in my local. had 4 pints of stella. oon the journey to the next place i had a bottle of bud. from this moment on i seem to drink anything. i got another 2 pints in the next place, by now im pretty pissed and drink what ever is offered. i think! i had a scotch and coke, a barcardi breeza bottle and a vodka redbull.

how bad is that? that's not too bad for one day a week is it?

is drinking more than normal amounts of water the next day good??

when i get back in i drink quite alot of water if i remember!

 

[madgame]

Spirits is liquor i guess?...Actually it doesnt matter whether you get drunk of liquor or beer. At the end of the day, it just depends on how drunk u get (which means how much ALCOHOL u actually drink). I usually get pretty tipsy I guess lol...but I dont get so drunk that I cant walk no more or anything....u can simply find out if its too much if u look at your results..if they r good enough to you keep on drinking ;-)

Oh and I dunno bout the water..I once read its good if u drink a lotta water in the same night that u drank...but some german pro bodybuilder (www.bambamscorner.com is the adress I guess) who I used to ask a couple of questions by Email told me that water wasnt a big help at all.

 

[Duff]

water isn't good for when u've been drinking or in general?

 

[thegamedontwait]

Water is definetly good for you. Drink lots of it. It helps your system stay clean and thus has indirect benefits to working out. He didnt tell me it wasnt good (which would sound like its bad to me) he only said that it didnt help u reduce the negative effects of alcohol on your muscles. On the other hand I once read an article saying that you should drink water after u were out and got drunk, cause it will reduce your hangover and has water flow back into your muscles or something (alcohol has a dehydrating effect). All in all, Im not quite sure about it. I only know drinking water cant definetly not be bad, I dunno if it helps tho. Maybe somebody else on here can help us with that?

...Victor do you know something bout that? Im asking you cause u seem to know something about that topic

("let's see: it messes with your recovery, it slows down your metabolism, it lowers your test and inhibits GH release")

or maybe anybody else?

 

[Duff]

well apparently drinking too much water is bad??
i do drink lots of water but now i'm not sure what kind of amounts? i was drinking 3 litres a day but now i drink around 1.5-2 litres?

what do u guys drink?

 

[Y Trallwng Am Byth]

I began in my local. had 4 pints of stella. oon the journey to the next place i had a bottle of bud. from this moment on i seem to drink anything. i got another 2 pints in the next place, by now im pretty pissed and drink what ever is offered. i think! i had a scotch and coke, a barcardi breeza bottle and a vodka redbull.

Ok, let's see.

4 pints of Stella = 11.2 units
Bottle of bud = 1.6 units
2 pints (Carling?) = 4.6 units
Scotch = 1 unit
Bacardi Breezer = 1.7 units
Vodka = 1 unit

Over 20 units, that should be a maximum weekly intake. Now I ain't one to preach as I drink loads myself when at university, but is doing you no good in many ways.

it's a binge however you look at it. However, if you do it once a week, and can make sure you don't get into trouble while drinking, then there is no problem doing this over a few years.

What I've found with drinking is that 20 units once a week turns into 20 units once a week, plus 10 units twice a week. Then 20 units twice a week, and then you're getting to 100 units a week. I've been dry for four days now since I left uni, and feeling much better for it.

I'd estimate those drinks you had carried you about 1400 calories, that could have been 300 grams of protein.

Instead you're carrying about an extra two fifths of a pound of fat around.

 

[Y Trallwng Am Byth]

I drink about 2.5 litres of water a day.

Excess intake is something like 4 litres of water in an hour.

Any benefit of over 5 litres of water a day is going to be small. 2 litres is minimum.

 

[Y Trallwng Am Byth]

But the absolute worst thing you do is being seen drinking Bacardi Breezer. Cut it out now!