alchohol - how it effects your fitness level

[spudgun]

i've got a 5 day 500 mile ride at the end of the month so i've have no alchohol for last two and a half weeks and feel fantastic. i have found after a weekends cycling (of say 170 miles) not drinking 8 pints of guinness but instead eating a good meal and taking it easy has really helped my recovery. my levelof fitness is pretty high playing a few sports, but for a specific trip like this i have tried to pull out all the stops.
i guess my interest in this is because as an amateur sportsman, be it golf, cricket cycling etc one would rarely reach a peak level of fitness, because it will be restricted by other things you do such as your job, social life etc etc. so i was wondering how much effect on your fitness drinking socially has. im not what i would term a big drinker but it would be reasonable to assume 8-12 pints total over a friday and saturday night, occasional mid week wine but not that often. it's all a bit of a compromise i suppose. anyone on here cut down or given up the booze and if so why?
cheers!

 

[HLaB]

i've got a 5 day 500 mile ride at the end of the month so i've have no alchohol for last two and a half weeks and feel fantastic. i have found after a weekends cycling (of say 170 miles) not drinking 8 pints of guinness but instead eating a good meal and taking it easy has really helped my recovery. my levelof fitness is pretty high playing a few sports, but for a specific trip like this i have tried to pull out all the stops.
i guess my interest in this is because as an amateur sportsman, be it golf, cricket cycling etc one would rarely reach a peak level of fitness, because it will be restricted by other things you do such as your job, social life etc etc. so i was wondering how much effect on your fitness drinking socially has. im not what i would term a big drinker but it would be reasonable to assume 8-12 pints total over a friday and saturday night, occasional mid week wine but not that often. it's all a bit of a compromise i suppose. anyone on here cut down or given up the booze and if so why?
cheers!

Thats definitely a big drinker to me these days. I used to drink around that sometimes when I lived in Dublin but I never cycled as a sport then, it was just a means of transport. Now I'm taking cycling more seriously I notice the effect of pints the next day and hardly drink unless its a social occasion; I probably have less than 8-12 pints a year now.

 

[gregsid]

8-12 pints over two nights sounds a lot. That's upto 24 units per week if you have nothing else the other days.

Average healthy max is 21 units/week for a male. Everyone's different though so hard to judge accurately. It's a useful guide at least.

I don't understand the actual medical implications of alcohol on fitness, but it's understood by most that it's not a good thing. People like to mention that a small amount of red wine is good for you, but we're not talking about wine here... or just a small amount either.

Add up your other days' units and see what your weekly total is.

 

[jay clock]

i

m not what i would term a big drinker but it would be reasonable to assume 8-12 pints total over a friday and saturday night

that's a massive amount. I have never drunk much and this year have virtually given up due to Ironman training. Luckily I can easily live without it (unlike cakes and snacks!).

I find one glass of wine the night before a long ride or other training session is noticeable

 

[gregsid]

Luckily I can easily live without it (unlike cakes and snacks!).

No one can live without cake. Medical fact... probably

 

[amaferanga]

I thought that one of the reasons that alcohol is detrimental to performance (especially if you have 8-12 pints over a weekend) is that it affects your sleep - you may get to sleep quicker, but the overall quality of sleep is reduced.

8-12 pints is a lot of empty calories as well.

 

[postman]

I also used to drink a fair amount of G but started to cut down after this years Well Man Clinic.Told i was overweight.I also found that i cycled better.So now it's a bit of red wine at the end of the week only when i am not cycling.But last weekend i hit the G in a big way thanks to a meeting of ex workmates nine pints over three days.And thanks to the weather not been out yet this week.

 

[BSRU]

Not that I drink much normally but during the late spring/summer months I completely stop drinking.
It means I always get a good nights sleep and any cold/flu/bugs going around have a very minor effect on me, so minor they do not interfere with cycling.

Someone commented on another thread that apparently alcohol inhibits fat burning for 2 or 3 days.

 

[gregsid]

Someone commented on another thread that apparently alcohol inhibits fat burning for 2 or 3 days.

Blummin'ek. Good reason alone to not drink!

 

[spudgun]

thanks for your replies. i would say on an average weekend it would be more like 8 than 12 pints (for the record, before someone posts a link for AA!). two weekends ago, after a very healthy week and no friday night drinking i cycled 90 miles and felt awesome, so i just thought it couldn't be a coincidence. in fact i've felt so good that i'm thinking of becoming a very occasional drinker. i also agree with the comments re quality of sleep. the reason i have found it harder to judge the effect is that with me it isn't really physically noticeable thing ie i am lean (skinny!) 30 yrs old and prob 11 stone. it just effects fitness level and overall feeling of wellbeing i guess.

 

[theclaud]

8-12 pints over two nights sounds a lot. That's upto 24 units per week if you have nothing else the other days.

Average healthy max is 21 units/week for a male. Everyone's different though so hard to judge accurately. It's a useful guide at least.

I don't understand the actual medical implications of alcohol on fitness, but it's understood by most that it's not a good thing. People like to mention that a small amount of red wine is good for you, but we're not talking about wine here... or just a small amount either.

Add up your other days' units and see what your weekly total is.

That's not so much an "average healthy maximum" as a government guideline plucked more or less out of thin air...

 

[oliglynn]

all this said, I'll still be having a nice pint at the pub stop on my ride later. A mid-ride pint hardly seems to touch the sides!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

That's not so much an "average healthy maximum" as a government guideline plucked more or less out of thin air...

It's more like what I like to call "lunch".

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I'm not a heavy drinker (at least, I don't think I am), but I am a pretty frequent one. It's very rare a day goes by where I don't have a beer, usually after work in the mornings. At weekends I sometimes drink two or three pints of an evening, and occasionally I have a proper blowout and sink a load of beer. I don't know why I'm telling you all this, except to say that I really don't care if it inhibits my fat burning or makes me cycle a bit slower ... I like beer, and my life would be poorer without it.

 

[Wednesday]

I rarely drink more than 4 units in a session and regularly go for months without any booze. I'm still rubbish though .