Heavy Drinking Affects Muscle Building

Bodybuilding

Now before you start thinking "Thanks Captain Obvious", I want to you realise how many people actually don't understand the consequences of drinking while training. Theres been a television campaign in Australia for many years about the consequences of drinking and driving. The catchphrase was "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot". I like to put my own spin on this. "If you drink and train, you're a bloody idiot".

This might sound a bit harsh to you, but it's not. If you're serious about building muscle and getting into shape, then drinking is the last thing you want to do. If you are only half assed about training, then that's fine. Train and go and drink until you can't stand up. I have no problem with that at all.

What I do have a problem with is people training half assed then complaining that "it's not working". If you do drink, realise that it will negatively affect your muscle building. Just accept that.

Now why is drinking so bad? Let's get started....

The first reason is because drinking screws around with your hormones. Having more than a few drinks actually lowers your testosterone level. Testosterone is the hormone that makes men men and is also responsible for allowing us men to build more muscle mass. I'm sure you realise how potent steroids are. Well, steroids are basically testosterone, so you can see that it is not something you want less of.

Drinking also increases the levels of estrogen in your body. This is the female hormone. Ever noticed that heavy drinkers often have man boobs? This is no coincidence since estrogen is the hormone that gives women breasts in the first place. Think about it, do you really want to be known as the guy with man boobs?

Not only will drinking play havoc with your hormones, but it will also make you fat. You see, 1 gram of alcohol has 7 calories. This is nearly double the calories of a single gram of carbohydrate or protein (fat=9). So if you're spending your weekends at the pub, knocking back 10 or 15 beers, pull out your calculator and do some maths. If you can't be bothered doing that, all you will need to do is look downwards towards that big beer belly of yours. It doesn't take Einstein to realise that drinking large quantities of alcohol will make you fat.

So, in conclusion, I don't want to come across as "anti-alcohol", I just want you to realise the implications and then make your decisions accordingly. After all, it's your body.

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