If you're serious about your training and want to build a stronger, leaner physique, then read the below points to find out what alcohol does to your gains.
1) Your recovery slows | Even without the after effects of a workout, the morning after a night of boozing can be bad enough. If you throw in the fatigue of an intense workout, you're going to feel like you're in hell the next day. Alcohol can slow your recovery by prioritizing the disposal of the booze first, which leads to reduced protein synthesis.
2) Increased tiredness | This is down to reduced quality of sleep because of the alcohol. While a night of boozing can send you to sleep quickly, you can very easily wake up in the middle of the night, feeling terrible and struggle to fall back to sleep. Your body and mind are very active during an alcohol induced sleep, which is why the sleep quality is often poor. Sleep is vital to building a strong, fitter, leaner physique, and if you can't get regular, quality sleep, then you're not going to be progressing at the rate you would like.
3) Fatter, not fitter | Alcohol contains 7kcal per gram, which is only 2 less than fat, so it's easy to see how too much alcohol could pack on unwanted body fat. However, fat still contains nutrients, even with a lot of calories, whereas alcohol contains nothing that your body is interested in.
4) Unwanted cravings | After an intense workout, your blood sugar levels are low, hence why many post-workout shakes contain sugar. Alcohol will then lower those levels even more, which can lead to unhealthy food choices - when you have low bloody sugar, you don't tend to get cravings for a chicken salad! This means you could either opt for a fatty kebab on the way home from the pub, or a greasy fry up in the morning - or both!
Lee Gregory Fitness