Why You Shouldn’t Drink Alcohol Before or After Your Workout If the feast cannot be avoided, we will tell you how to do it right so as not to harm your health.
After the feast – in the hall
Let’s consider the first situation, when the training will be after the holiday with alcoholic libations. Ideally, you need to endure at least a day after the feast, and then go to the hall. But even so, there should not be any enhanced training aimed at burning the calories received.
Remember that the use of alcoholic beverages, especially strong and in large quantities, leads to intoxication of the body and its dehydration.
If you train intensively in this state, there will be an excessive load on the cardiovascular system. This can even in a healthy person provoke damage to the heart muscle (myocardium) and serve as a pretext for the development of arterial hypertension and even heart failure.
If there is a need for training after the holiday, let it be restorative, that is, it will take place in a gentle mode. Dedicate a session to stretching, or light cardio exercises.
Excellent options in this case would be moderate walking, yoga, Pilates, stretching, various breathing exercises. Most of the training should be devoted to the load in the heart rate zone 50% of the permissible maximum. Calculate using the formula “220 minus your age in years”, and then divide by 2. The resulting heart rate will be optimal for training after a feast.
Experts advise drinking more water than usual during such an activity. This will allow you to quickly remove intoxication and replenish the loss of fluid.
After class – to the party
Another situation that we will consider is a party with alcohol after a workout. If the load was intense, with an off-scale pulse, or power with a decent weight (dumbbells or a barbell were so heavy that the exercise could be performed 6-8 times), then remember the rule – between such activity and a feast, you need to maintain an interval of 4 hours at least.
So you can ease the load on the heart and blood vessels. If you are planning a holiday with alcohol, it is better to give up sports on this day altogether. Or sit down at the table after the easiest workout.
Experts remind: any alcohol, even a couple of sips of weak wine, affects the hormonal background. This reduces the effectiveness of exercises by 10-15%. This reaction of the body is explained simply: intense training is always stress, in which hormones are released.
In the period after exercise, when the hormonal background is restored, it is precisely the increase in endurance, the increase in muscle mass, the consumption of the fat layer, and the strengthening of the cardiovascular system. But if immediately after a workout “take on the chest”, the body will refuse to start the recovery mechanism. As a result, the benefit from the lesson will be “zero”.
By the way, do not drink alcohol before bed to fall asleep faster after a high-impact workout. The body will not rest well, and sleep will be restless.